Jumping in, late on the scene with Darren Rowse’s latest writing project on blogging goals.

I’ve thought about it for a few days, but my hands refused to type what my brain was thinking. Maybe that’s because my brain was jumbled up with too many thoughts. So, I cleared my mind, had a shot of Jagermeister (which is one of my new favourite drinks thanks to a recent stag party and wedding), and went to work.

My blogging goals are:

* To generate exposure for IGotNewsForYou.com the business. With a minimal advertising budget (ok, there isn’t one right now, squeezing money out of my partners is harder than getting water from a rock), and no real expertise at PR (any PR people out there reading this? I know you are!), I turned to blogging. I started the blog in January 2006, four months before launching the business, specifically to lead up to the launch. And now I continue to blog as a way of bringing attention to the business itself, hoping people will come to the blog, read it, enjoy it, and then move on to spending money at IGotNewsForYou.com.

* To be creative. Blogging affords me the opportunity to express myself in a creative way. To share my sense of humor, wit and sarcasm with the world. To think outloud in a creative way.

* To build relationships. Blogging has to be one of the best ways of building relationships with people that you otherwise wouldn’t have met. Or certainly not as easily. I’ve talked to dozens of people because of the blog, and formed what I would consider friendships. Those relationships, irrespective of what happens to IGotNewsForYou, will survive and prosper.

* To become famous. Who doesn’t want to be famous? Ok, some people prefer anonymity, but I can’t help myself. I’ve got a massive ego that needs stroking. (Did I just admit that? Wow.)

* To find new business opportunities. I’ve always dreamt of building more and more businesses (think: serial entrepreneur + massive ego…there I go again!) and through blogging, expressing myself creatively and building relationships I think I’ll also find new opportunities to create businesses, help others with theirs, and so on.

* To learn. I’ve been involved with the Internet and web development/software development for 10+ years but I hadn’t really thrown myself into the social Internet, social media, and a lot of the evolving things going on. Blogging gives me that chance. And, it’s not just about Web 2.0 or funky buzzwords; I also want to learn more about marketing, PR and entrepreneurship – so that’s a very clear blogging goal.

For me, it boils down to this:

Blogging creates opportunities you otherwise wouldn’t have had.

There’s a lot wrapped up in that one sentence, and “opportunities” (like “goals”) can be different for everyone, but my ultimate goal is to create opportunities I couldn’t have otherwise had without blogging. Those opportunities may be precisely listed in my goals above or they may come out of left field. In fact, I suspect some opportunities will come out of left field. That’s the beauty of blogging. Lots of people can read your stuff, you never know everyone that’s reading it, and you never know what you might say that might connect with someone and create an opportunity.

* This post begs a follow-up (maybe several follow-ups) in the future about whether I’m meeting my goals or not…so stay tuned.