To blog or not to blog?  People often ask me if blogging is worth all the time and effort especially now that other forms of social media are so strong.  I have been looking for the best way to answer the question.

Lying in bed last night I was thinking of someone I used to know and it occurred to me that this was the best way to answer.

My mind was wandering in a half awake-half asleep way and it wandered along a well trodden path, asking “Where are you, Walks Far Woman?”

Walks Far Woman was the author of a blog called “Kissing the Dogwood.”  I’m not sure how I found her but I think it was through a blog carnival back in the time when carnivals were very popular.  Something in the way she wrote and the way she saw the world caused me to stop and pay attention.

I left a comment on her post.  She replied with a considered response, not just with thanks.

I came back and read her next post and the one after that.  We got to know each other through our blog posts.  I enjoyed her view of the world and the warmth and wisdom that shone out of her work.  There was so much more to read and connect than I could ever have found through other forms of social media.

One day I went to her site to read the lastest blog post and found a short, cryptic post that really didn’t say anything at all.  It was enough to tell me that something major had happened and her world was shattered.

The next day her blog was gone and with it went any way of contacting her.  I never found her again.

This was way back in 2007 and yet I still think of Walks Far Woman and her blog today.

Should you be blogging?  Let me ask you this question.  If a total stranger blogging on something quite general can have such an impact on me, what impact could you have on your customers by blogging on topics that are really important to them?

To blog or not to blog?  There is only one answer.  Blog.

Go and blog, and thank Walks Far Woman for showing us what a good blog can do.