Starting a blog is easier than ever. While the blogging pioneers of the 1990s were unusually tech-savvy for their time, you no longer have to be a HTML expert to launch yourself into the blogosphere. Platforms like WordPress, HostGator, Blogger, and SquareSpace have made creating sites and posting content online remarkably simple.
There are so many reasons to get blogging right away. Whether you’re an individual trying to find your voice or a business looking to drive growth, a blog can be a useful and immensely powerful tool. Here’s a list of just some of the many and varied benefits of blogging:
1. You’ll improve your writing skills
American novelist and short-story writer Louis L’Amour once said, “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” If you’re a budding writer of any kind, blogging is a great way of turning that faucet. Commit yourself to a schedule of regular posts and you’ll soon find your own flow.
2. You’ll develop a portfolio
This is another one for those who aspire to a career in writing. Not only will a blog help you to hone your craft, but it will also allow you to create a body of work and establish an online presence. This is particularly important if you have not yet been published elsewhere.
Even if you’re not aiming to become a full-time writer, blogging is a great way of displaying your expertise in your chosen field and drawing the attention of your industry’s leaders—as well as prospective employers.
3. You’ll draw more visitors to your company’s website
Cheap but extremely effective when used correctly, blogs can be wonderful marketing tools for both small and large businesses alike. By creating engaging content, you can improve your SEO rating with Google and increase the flow of traffic to your website. Though you won’t always be pitching products directly, your blogs will help to create brand awareness, establish trust with your readers, and ultimately drive growth.
4. You’ll stimulate useful feedback
For writers looking to improve their skills and for businesses seeking more information about their target clientele, feedback is absolutely crucial. There are few better ways of stimulating a conversation than with a blog. Your comment’s section will be a treasure trove of vital info, and you can coax even more from your readers using interactive polls. Not everything that you’ll read will be helpful or constructive, but if you have the right mindset you can learn a lot.
5. It’s like keeping a journal, only better
A blog is an ideal platform on which to journal about your life, or certain important aspects of it. Are you a new parent? A blog is a beautiful way to document those scary but exciting early days. Undertaking a major challenge for a worthy cause? By sharing your experiences on a blog, you’ll not only create a lasting record but also shine further light upon the efforts of the charity you’re supporting.
6. You’ll help and inspire others
Whether you’re an expert doling out educated advice or just someone sharing the knowledge gained from relatable personal experiences, your blog has the potential to both help and inspire its readers. You may not benefit directly from this, but it’s satisfying to know that you’re making a difference in the lives of others.
7. You’ll build a new support system
This relationship with your readers works both ways, however. Blogs can establish real online communities, and this also offers a support system to the writer. When things get tough, your readership can offer advice and encouragement. Even if your readers aren’t a particularly interactive group, simply sharing your thoughts and feelings in a post can provide catharsis and help you to move forward.
8. You’ll discover an outlet for creativity and self-expression
Perhaps you’re not looking to further a writing career or grow a business, but you just want a creative outlet and a platform for true self-expression. In that case, blogging is the ideal hobby for you. You’ll have complete creative control and you can cover the topics that really stir your passion. If you’re interested in design, you can also let your artistic side flourish by personalizing the look of the site. Having such outlets is hugely important for stress relief, work/life balance, and overall well-being.
9. The sky’s the limit
While you may have modest goals for your blog, you never know where the journey will take you.
Just look at Julie Powell, for example:
In 2002, Powell started a blog on which she charted her attempts to cook every single recipe from Julia Child’s book Mastering the Art of French Cooking in just one year. The blog later became a memoir entitled, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. And in 2009, it was turned into a movie called Julie & Julia, starring none other than Meryl Streep.
Ahead of the movie’s release, Powell told the Associated Press that she only started the blog in search of an outlet for her creativity.
“It was really sort of a personal project to cut out a piece of my daily existence, purely for me, that gave me a creative outlet so the rest of my life didn’t seem so stultifying,” Powell revealed.
Powell herself admits that she was in “the right place at the right time” and the chances of replicating her success in today’s crowded online market is relatively low. However, that said, the web is crawling with other blogging success stories: stories of bloggers who became best-selling authors and top journalists, or of businesses who turned their fortunes around with the content on their blogs.
Groove, a company that provides help desk software for start-ups, was on death’s door before they came up with a unique and original idea for their blog. They promised to tell the story of their own struggles—warts and all—while charting their path to $100,000 in recurring monthly revenue. Given that their target market was other start-ups, this really resonated with their audience and things quickly turned around. Groove reached its goal of $100,000 two years later, and today the company is worth some $5 million.
The moral of these stories is, if it connects with a particular audience and you’re consistent with your posts, your blog has limitless potential.
If you’ve been blogging for a while and you’ve got something to add to this discussion, please feel free to share your experiences in the comments section below. But for those of you who haven’t started yet: procrastinate no further, folks. It’s easy to get started and the benefits are clear. Open up that desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone, and get blogging right away. You won’t regret it!
Seamus is a Content Specialist at Zazzle. He is quite happy in the role. So, if you’re following, that makes him a content Content Specialist. Seamus likes to write, read, watch sports, drink good beer/coffee, and spend time with his two beautiful kids. To say that he doesn’t like ketchup is an understatement.
