I started blogging seriously in August this past year and have been at it since then. This is my official 100th post to this blog – I was quite surprised when I looked at my stats summary and I was sitting at 99 posts. I thought I had posted much less… probably an indication of just how much I’ve enjoyed blogging and contributing to the blogosphere from my own little corner of the net. Rather than write something marketing related with this milestone post, instead I would like to share 10 things I have learned from my experience blogging so far:

1. No matter what topic you are passionate about writing, there IS an audience. The more narrowly focused, the better.
2. Don’t linkjack… it’s bad etiquette. Wasn’t sure what “linkjacking” was until I committed this offence on reddit.com. I had written a post with comments praising the owner of Craigslist.org, with a subsequent link to the original story (appears to have been removed since) at CNN Money. I submitted the post to reddit.com. Someone commented that this was linkjacking – pointing readers to your post and not directly to the original story. I quickly posted a comment to the link with the original story link in it, asking readers to go directly to it. Lesson learned… chalk it up to being a newbie.
3. Blog posts are very search engine friendly and get good page rankings. I am amazed at how many users have come across my blog by simply searching on a keyword in Google, Yahoo! or MSN.
4. How therapeutic the whole act of writing about what you are passionate about in a free, open and shared environment.
5. How rewarding it is to have others comment, enjoy and use the information you write about.
6. How much more informed I feel I’ve become by following other blogs on a daily basis through my RSS feed reader (netvibes.com). I can’t begin to tell you how many things I have put in to action from the tips and information I’ve gotten from other bloggers. A self-confessed news junkie, I find myself increasingly turning to blogs and social news communities to stay informed.
7. Web 2.0 is for real.
8. It’s so easy, anyone can do it, and everyone should do it. Thanks Wordpress.com!
9. Modification to #8: not EVERYONE should do it, there is a lot of crap and clutter out there.
10. Forget about old-school thinking of “protecting” what you know – share it instead. All of it. Concerns of giving away too much info will lead to people deciding not to use your services or buy your products are completely baseless. In fact, if people like what you have to say, and put your suggestions in to action, the demand for your services will actually increase, along with your credibility and profile. I promise.