So you’re reading this and thinking ‘what’s so great about blogging? Is it even relevant these days in a world full of Instagram, TikTok and Facebook?’ Well I’d like to change your mind about why you should start a blog now…
Why should you start a blog? There are countless reasons, especially since the pandemic started.
Working from home is more popular than ever before since the pandemic began. With the amount of layoffs that have gone on in the past 2 years, everyone is looking for a way to make money from home. That brings me to reason #1:
1. Make Money!
If you’re just starting out, then blogging is a great way to make money, directly or indirectly. What do I mean? Well, when you blog, not only are you showcasing your own talents — writing, editing, website creation and editing, design skills, etc… — but you’re also able to attract potential clients to hire you to do any or all of these things for them as well. When you start a blog, it shows potential clients that you possess all of these skills and they may end up contacting you to do it for them as well. Your writing really matters here. Check out other skills you need to be a great content creator in my post about copy vs. content vs. freelance writing here. This can help you get started in making money very quickly. Another way to make money through your blog is by selling your own products whether that be a digital product, a physical product or a course. For the digital products, I would recommend checking out Alissa Rose’s Youtube channel here. If you’re interested in creating a course through kajabi, then check out one of my favourite youtubers, ErinOnDemand, here. If you’re interested in doing it through thinkific, then check out one of my other favourite ladies on Youtube, Latasha James’ video here. If you’re interested in learning more about my top Youtubers of choice when it comes to business, check out my post here. The final option is to sell physical products. Mind you, the other two options are much simpler and much more passive (create once and let people buy without having to do anything more to fulfill the orders, just automate the transaction: customer buys, product is emailled to them directly) but if you’re creative then this might be the path for you. You create the product, someone buys, and then you fill and ship out the order to your customer. (same idea as Etsy except on your own website. The problem with this however is that you need to pay for a Shopify extension on your website.)
2. When you start a blog, it helps to improve your skills
It allows you to share your thoughts, feelings and knowledge with the world and in turn, helps you improve on developing and expressing your own thoughts. It helps you to become a better writer and communicator in general!. Not only that, but it also helps with your professional life. No matter your field of choice, having a blog/website, helps with connecting you with potential employers. Let’s face it, in this day and age, everything has become digital, if you’re not online SOMEWHERE, then people will assume that you’ve been living under a rock somewhere. When you go for an interview somewhere, the potential employer will be highly likely to google or search you in some way, shape or form. If they come across your website, it will act as somewhat of a digital resume/CV on your behalf. Not only that but you may also find some connecting points with your potential employer through some of your posts. What do I mean by this? Well, say you go into an interview and the interviewer has come across your website. They might skim through some of your posts just to see what you’re all about and like what they see. During the interview, that will give you the opportunity to talk more about what you do and discuss your post with them and ‘show em what you’re made of’…so to speak.
3. Building/creating life-long relationships/friendships
If you’ve been here for awhile then you know I absolutely LOVE Ali Abdaal and his videos. In one of his videos, he talks about why you should have a website (inspiration for this post). In the video, he talks about ‘exposing yourself (in a non-weird way — his words, not mine) to alot of different opportunities. He uses the analogy, and I quote “It’s like back in the day, imagine if you like if you just lived in a single village and you never interacted with anyone outside your village. The amount of impact you can have, the amount of opportunities you can have, is pretty small because it’s confined to your little village. But, if you’re the sort of person, back in the day, who would, every weekend, you’d visit a different village, neighbouring village and you’d be travelling around and you’d be making friends, saying hello to people, and having conversations; that sort of person just, automatically exposes themselves to alot more interesting opportunities, and can also have a far bigger impact on the world. And if you’re one of those people who insists on not having an online presence in some capacity, not having like your best foot forward, not having a professional reputation that’s on the internet, that’s sort of the modern day equivalent of just being confined to your little village where the only people that you’re really going to interact with will be the people that you meet at work or at school…university and maybe if you go to a conference or a networking event, maybe you’ll run into someone.”
4. It gives you an outlet
It gives you a place to dump out your ideas and work. It gives you an opportunity to show your work to the world (another awesome book by the way — definitely one to check out #notsponsored). It lets you share your ideas with the world and potentially help others with your knowledge. You never know what someone is searching for and perhaps you could be the one who changes their lives for the better just by writing about what you know!
…And if you’re one of those people who insists on not having an online presence in some capacity, not having like your best foot forward, not having a professional reputation that’s on the internet, that’s sort of the modern day equivalent of just being confined to your little village where the only people that you’re really going to interact with will be the people that you meet at work or at school…university and maybe if you go to a conference or a networking event, maybe you’ll run into someone.”
Ali Abdaal
5. Gives you a level of trust and credibility
If you’re on Pinterest, then you know exactly how important blogs are these days. Even if you do a Google search these days, most likely, the majority of your search results will be blogs written by a regular person like you and I who just know a whole lot about your specific enquiry. Having a blog gives you the opportunity to share your knowledge with the world and gain credibility for whatever your specialty is. Having a blog especially helps when you have a business whether it be a brick and mortar or a digital business, it gives you the opportunity to showcase your talents to the world and educate people more on what it is that you do.
6. If you have a business, starting a blog can attract new clients
As mentioned previously, if you’ve got a blog, it can attract new prospective clients. You can give your audience value, you can teach them about your product or service. If you’re a freelancer, you can offer tips and tricks in your field of specialisation and really show your reader that you’re the real deal! You know what you’re talking about! Your readers are more likely to keep coming back (and buying from you) when you’ve given them that bit of free value.
7. When you start a blog, it gives you the opportunity to never stop learning
Having a blog REQUIRES you to ALWAYS keep learning. You constantly need to research your topic, you constantly need to ensure you’re putting out the most accurate and truthful information in order to be considered trustworthy by your audience. Not only that but tied in with the learning is also the fact that you get to teach others your knowledge, which, in turn, solidifies your own knowledge as well which, is awesome!
I could go on and on about why blogging is so important this day in age but I’m sure you’ve got a blog to start now after reading this so I’ll let you get to it and I’ll catch you in my next post!
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