Make Your Blog Stand Out

If you’re not clued in, ‘blog’ is short for ‘weblog.’ People use blogs to write about their lives so their friends and family (and strangers) can see what’s going on. Think of it like an online journal.

I started blogging three years ago. I wrote about life, and I also waxed philosophically about current events with religious undertones. I enjoyed writing and mainly used my blog as an outlet to improve my writing and develop some samples in case I needed to use some to land a swanky gig at a major newspaper.

But then I found out about what was happening in Darfur. Over the last few years, the Sudanese government has been responsible for killing innocent citizens. In other words, genocide is happening in Darfur, Sudan.

And I was shocked that about the lack of coverage of this issue in the American media. I read up about what was going on. And I decided, that in the words of Jello Biafra, “Don’t hate the media. Be the media.” Well said.

So, I decided that I would spend a few minutes every Monday blogging about Darfur. I set up my own blog (for free) using Google’s Blogger platform. It took less than five minutes to set it all up, and I spent part of my morning at the beginning of every week catching up on the latest news I could find about Darfur (usually on the BBC).

I would offer a roundup of the latest events. I wrote about my opinion on current initiatives aimed at curtailing the violence. I showed people things they could do where they were to help out.

Although I haven’t been as consistent as I’d like to be lately, my blog, Darfur Mondays, has been a valuable tool for folks looking to stay informed about the genocide. And although I’m not an ‘expert’ on the matter in the sense of being booked on talk shows and CNN, there are certain folks who expect my commentary and enjoy reading what I’ve got to say.

What can you blog about? What causes are important to you? You know you’ve got knowledge to share with the world, and today it’s easier than ever to get this knowledge in the hands of the people who can act and make a difference.

Start typing.