Ten Benefits of Blogging
I started blogging around 2008 or 2009, first on the Blogger platform before getting more serious and moving over to WordPress. Since that time, blogging has become a great tool for me. Although there are periods where I am too busy with other projects or touring to do it with regularity, it’s still had a strong presence in my career.
Over the years, I’ve met many people who have told me they appreciate my blogging. I’ve also met many other people who have been thinking about getting into blogging, but haven’t made the dive yet. These people, not totally sold on it, often ask me what the benefits of blogging are. So I want to take a quick second to talk about the benefits of blogging. While everybody may do it for different reasons, I will list the ten benefits of Blogging in hopes that it helps others understand how it might become helpful to them.
So, here are ten benefits of blogging:
1. Become a Better Writer
There are many people who have great writing ideas who aren’t what the literary world would consider great writers. Often times, these people hesitate to write because they aren’t confident in their writing. What they fail to see is that, no matter what level they start at, blogging will make them a better writer. It’s no different than any other skill that you practice–eventually you will start to get better and better simply because you are doing it with regularity. I never claim to be a great writer, but I know for a fact that the level I currently write at is much higher than where I started. And I never would have gotten there without blogging regularly.
2. It Enforces Routine
As I described in my previous blog about my writing process and habits, I tend to set writing goals for myself. These goals help me create a routine for writing that increases my output and writing confidence. Without setting these goals I would probably only write when I felt like it or when I was inspired. But committing to blogging, even if it’s just writing one blog a week, forced me to get into a set routine. Eventually the routine I had for blogging resulted in more output and higher quality writing.
3. It’s The Building Block of Book Writing
From what I’ve seen, “writing a book” is probably the most popular item on almost everybody’s bucket list, yet most people who want to write a book are not blogging. They are missing out on a huge opportunity. Blogging, at least in my opinion, is the gateway to writing books. It allows you to write regularly, try out ideas on a live audience, and build a following–three things that will help you become a successful author. And depending on what your book is about, the writings from your blog can be adapted and used for your book idea.
4. It Engages Your Followers
As an artist, one of the things I hate most is trying to explain who I am or what goes on behind the scenes simply with my art. A sixteen bar verse is cool, a song is even better, but by no means do all ideas work well in song-format. Plus, songs and albums can’t be released as often as blogs can. Blogging gives me a way to engage and interact with my followers without having to release a new album. It also gives me a way to engage with my fans about topics that may be relevant, but have nothing to do with my art. This wouldn’t be possible without blogging.
5. Forms a Deeper Connection with Followers
Most businesses are known simply for the products they sell or the services they provide. Therefore when it’s time for customers to make a decision about purchasing from them, price is usually the only factor taken into consideration. However, businesses and artists that blog, are judged differently because their blogs create value and give the customer a more personal connection even when they aren’t making sales. In a very competitive market, blogging can help you stand out and build a deeper connection with your people.
6. It Builds Traffic to Your Platform
If you’re doing business on the internet, traffic is everything. No traffic, no awareness. No awareness, no sales. Blogging gives you an opportunity to draw people to your platform. Once they are on your platform, they can learn more about you and what makes you special enough to support. But that can’t happen without traffic that blogging helps create.
7. It Helps you Sell More
Providing value with blogging shows people that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re serious about your craft; the building blocks of trust. And without trust, you can’t sell anything online.
8. It Demonstrates Expertise
Anybody can say they’re an expert in a particular field, but there’s nothing like proving your expertise through your writing about a particular topic to show that you’re an expert. If you really understand your craft, you should have no shortage of topics to blog about. These writings will demonstrate your expertise and create your following at the same time. It’s great promo for your product or service and it can be done at little or no cost (besides your time of course).
9. Sharing Experiences Helps Others
It often goes understated just how much you can help people with your blogging. No matter who you are, or what you know, there is somebody out there searching the internet for help on that topic right now. They are literally looking for what you know right now. Your experiences can help them transform their thinking, their knowledge, and their lives. But only if you start sharing it.
10. Builds Your Audience
This was mentioned in many of the earlier points, but I will say it again: blogging helps build an audience. There are many blogs with shoestring budgets that get more visits per day than billion dollar news outlets like CNN or MSNBC. Through dedication, great writing, and providing value they were able to slowly build their audience. They all tell stories about how they started blogging for fun or just as a personal outlet, but over time their audience continued to grow, all because they kept at it.
CONCLUSION
There are probably more benefits I could name, but I will stop here. I hope this is helpful to anyone considering starting a blog. If you find any of this helpful or have any questions for me, let me know in the comments below.
Word is Blog.
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