For some people blogging is a hobby, but for Bethany Keeley-Jonker, blogging has become a lifestyle. Jonker, who is now a professor at Trinity-Christian College, began her blogging journey over 10 years ago and has had enough success to support her and her family.

After traveling from Illinois, Jonker came to Keene State College to share her blogging knowledge with interested students.

John Keefe / Equinox Staff

Jonker created her first successful blog in 2005 as a first-year in college.

She began what would soon be a rewarding journey with the hope of creating something witty to relieve some stress of school work. She said she used luck, curiosity, silliness and good timing to achieve the goal of a successful blog.

“I was interested in creatively communicating through computers and technology,” Jonker said.

She said she was intrigued by chat rooms and web pages, and discovered a love for a new way of communicating.

Jonker said the internet was new to her but was drawn to “the big open space” where people can easily find information.

As a curious college student, Jonker wondered what people would think of her writing.

She began writing a daily blog to “build relationships through writing.”

Silliness played a large role in Jonker’s blogging style, she said.

After pointing out silly grammar mistakes on business signs with her family, a light bulb turned on in Jonker’s head. She decided to blog about unintentional grammatical errors.

Jonker’s blog, “The ‘Blog’ of ‘Unnecessary’ Quotation Marks” has become a huge hit. She posts pictures of business signs, food labels, advertisements, etc. that have unnecessary, but unintentional, quotation marks.

Her biggest concern, Jonker said, is that people “wouldn’t know the difference between sarcasm and silliness.”

She said she is afraid of business owners getting offended by her blog.

“I’m not interested in making people feel bad, I’m interested in making them laugh,” Jonker said.

She wanted to create a way to “build relationships” with people who care about similar topics as her.

After many “shares” and “likes” of the blog, Jonker’s success escalated. She began to receive thousands of daily visitors and viewers of the blog. Jonker said that spikes happen unexpectedly for the blog and some days have more visitors than others. Jonker said she receives hundreds of pictures of unnecessary quotation marks from readers of her blog.

In 2007, The Associated Press shared a link to Jonker’s blog, which created more “traffic” and thousands of people were exposed to “The ‘Blog’ of ‘Unnecessary’ Quotation Marks.”  By allowing advertisements on her blog, Jonker receives a small income. As the number of ads and views increase, Jonker’s wallet grows bigger. In 2009, Jonker received the offer for a book advance regarding her blog. She enthusiastically accepted.

The greatest part of writing a book, Jonker said, was fulfilling a lifelong dream of hers.

“This was a life goal I was able to check off my list,” Jonker said. She said that the earnings from her book helped her to pay for her wedding and honeymoon.

Jonker was asked to write for a group blog, a blog with several writers. She still works with the group blog, www.thinkchristian.net, and occasionally sends in a piece for the site.

Jonker’s only complaint is not having as much freedom as an independent blog. “Sometimes the editor may ask me to revise or edit my work,” she said. Jonker said she enjoys the sovereignty of writing her own blog. She said group blogs are great to add to a portfolio. As for advice to future bloggers, Jonker encourages people to “take the opportunity to use [their] voice.” She said small blogs can introduce [bloggers] to a larger spectrum.

Krystal Bunnell, a student at KSC, attended the event as extra credit for a class. “What surprised me the most was how much work is involved in a blogging website,” she said regarding Jonker’s talk. Although many students sat in on the discussion for extra credit, Kelsey Walsh was there to learn.

“I want to blog,” Walsh, a student at KSC, said, “I just always have so much to say about everything.” Walsh said she was amazed by how many emails Jonker receives every day about her blog.

“I was once told that I never had a thought I didn’t share, so I might as well share my stupid thoughts for money,” Walsh said. She said she is looking forward to starting a blog in the near future.

Jonker is currently teaching at Trinity-Christian Coll ege as an Assistant Professor of Communication Arts. Her book, “Book of ‘Unnecessary’ Quotation Marks” can be found on Amazon.

MacKenzie Clarke can be contacted at mclarke@kscequinox.com