Talk on art of blogging

As part of the Tuesday Talk series interaction on art of blogging was addressed by blogger and digital marketer Mr. Deepak Kanakaraju. He started by highlighting the importance of blogs in the digital world. He mentioned that the result of blogging is not constant, at times the outcome might be 10x times and sometimes it might be zero or even negative. Mr. Kanakaraju remembered his days of starting as a blogger and how he began as a moto-blogger. He shared his experience of his visit to China for ECIMA and, he stated that in his early learning period, “he learned Digital Marketing without even knowing what Digital Marketing is.” The speaker stressed that most decisions we take are a buffer against rejections and we as a generation are scared to accept rejection and hence are afraid to take any bold step. He countered his statement by providing the example of 'rolling of a dice' as a probability of obtaining results, the more we roll, the better probability to succeed. Mr. Deepak expressed that blogging is not merely about attracting customers but it is concerned with building an audience and trying to sell, as blogs attract traffic but do not make sales. He observed, “don’t create content and then try to sell but see what sells and then create the product. As efforts always yield results, it is important for us to take initiatives and start at the cost of our efforts. When we fail to act on it, every idea is an opportunity cost. Hence Go ahead and grab every opportunity. Indeed, it will be associated with embarrassment, but we need to take the initiative and move forward. Whenever we discuss an idea or seek help from family and friends about our decisions, it implies that we are not confident about it. Any day, it is better to 'ask for forgiveness rather than permission”. According to him, the best way to write a Blog is by choosing a self-hosted domain. Platforms like medium.com, blogspot.com and wordpress.com are also good options to consider. He felt that it is good if the writing is professional but in the end, it should be direct and easily understandable by everyone. He thought that one can start by writing about 500 words on any casual topic as if it is a conversation with a friend. The speaker suggested to the audience to develop the habit of writing a journal as it slows down the process of thinking and enables one to frame the sentences better. He compared writing to a way of thinking. He also gave an overview of the CATT framework for blogging, which is to Create content, Attract an audience, develop Trust and then Transact with them. The session concluded with an attempt at writing a blog addressing friends assuming that they are presently in the year 2025. The talk on the art of blogging was organized by the MBA department on December 21, 2021.