In todays post I will give you 10 reasons to start a blog. And I am really hoping you start your blog today. We’re waiting 🙂
If you are passionate about a topic and want to share what you know, start a blog to give yourself a platform.
Or maybe you’re thinking about creating extra income or considering changing careers so that you can work from home. Blogging is a great choice.
This post was originally published January 23rd, 2018 and has been updated to be current with new information. This post may contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure is here.
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My name is Irma and I help new bloggers to learn the ropes. There is a lot to take in that first year of blogging, from choosing a niche to changing your mindset from worker bee mentality to that of successful entrepreneur.
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What Exactly Is A Blog?
Blogging started out as an online journal for anyone who wanted to share their thoughts with the world.
As people discovered the useful content, more people were encouraged to share what they know. Now, instead of only a few experts, there are millions.
You can go online and learn from multiple people daily, learning from folks who live all around the world.
And blogging is now big business
Bloggers discovered that they could promote other peoples products and earn a commission. Bam! Affiliate marketing became a cash cow.
Not only can you learn interesting things from strangers, you can now purchase products reviewed by them. win-win.
Or you can put ads on your website and earn income. Or create products and sell them. The possibilities are endless.
There are tons of ways to earn money from home.
So if you think it’s time to ditch your 9-to-5 job for something more fulfilling, put blogging on your short list.
What Do I Need To Start A Blog?
You need:
- A name for your website (domain),
- The platform with which to write your blog posts (a content management system like WordPress),
- Website hosting, which gives you the www address for your website (we recommend Siteground)
- And most importantly, a niche (the topic of your website)
These items help you get set up. But what you really need is a strong desire to help others by sharing your knowledge.
10 Reasons Why You Should Start Your Blog Now
1. Blogging is one of the least expensive ways to start a business.
When you consider that you can write blog posts and then put affiliate links on your website and generate an income, there is no better time to get started.
It is realistic that, over a period of time, you can replace the income from your 9-to-5 job. Or more.
Yes, it does take time to get to this point. But it takes time to start earning with a brick and mortar business as well. So start now!
How long it takes to earn money with a blog depends on how often and how much content you create.
Content is:
- Blog posts
- YouTube or Tik Tok videos
- Instagram posts
- Other informative sharing
Creating lots of content is how you find out what your audience is most interested in. Then you create more of it.
Creating lots of content quickly lets you find out faster what to create and promote.
You may think “well can’t I just create what I want?”. Well, sort of.
In the beginning you should do that. Over time, specific topics will rise to the top. Those popular topics are where you will focus your money-making efforts.
And those popular posts are the ones that you use to get more people to visit your website. Popular website = income.
2. Google loves bloggers.
Google loves to give plenty of options to people searching online.
The better your content is, the higher your website shows up in the search results, the more people find out about you.
Google has plenty of helpful tools and programs to help you do better in ranking.
Google Search Console and Google Analytics are free and helpful programs that show you who visits your site, how old they are, where they live, and sometimes even their hobbies (based on searches).
This helps you improve your posts and make your site as user friendly as possible.
Google has its own “affiliate” program called Google AdWords.
The program allows you to put ads of different sizes, shapes, and even colors on your website.
These banner ads let you earn money when someone clicks on it. Ads are tailored to the theme (niche) of your website. You have probably clicked many of these ads without even knowing!
Google also likes to help you with optimizing your website and has a huge knowledge base of articles that help you tweak your site to get the most traffic.
This optimizing is called SEO, or search engine optimization.
There are thousands of websites with articles on best practices, and you will learn a lot as you move forward building out your site with great content.
Did I mention that you can start today?
3. Starting a blog helps you to help others.
If this is not the best reason to start, I am not sure what is.
Taking your personal knowledge on of a subject, writing it out, publishing it, all to help others. What could be better?
Not only do you get to clarify your knowledge, but people will ask you questions about your niche. This gives you more ideas for subjects to write about.
You can become the “go-to” person on your topic. The blogging world is creating all kinds of authorities for all manner of subjects. You can do it too.
4. Become an authority while you learn to write better.
You learn how to express your thoughts on the subject so that you can explain concepts to others.
And you learn more about your niche, which in turn gives you more stuff to write about! How cool is that?
And if you discover that your audience is only interested in a tiny section of your niche/topic…even better!
The more drilled-down the topic, the easier you will rise to the top as an authority.
If you can blog for people – instead of blogging for the money – people will be able to tell that you are someone who wants to help them.
Then they will be more likely to trust you and then hopefully buy from you later.
It is imperative that you build up trust while serving others before you try to sell.
5. You will meet new people and make connections with other niche authorities.
To meet fellow bloggers, you can join groups of other like-minded people from around the world. Learn from them and they can learn from you.
As well, you can spy on the competition in your niche and see what they are writing about.
Then see what they are not writing about so that you can write about it!
Visitors will come to your site, read your blog posts and ask questions.
This gives you more opportunity to explore what you know and what you need to learn. The most popular blogs are the ones that are trying to help people first.
There is so much benefit for your personal well-being when you are blogging. Learning, inspiring, and teaching are just some of these benefits.
And all of these will make you a better person! Start today!
6. You will find mentors. And you will become one.
It is inevitable that you will be an authority for your niche. So naturally, other people will come to you to:
- Find out what you know
- Discover how they can do what you are doing
You can even have a section on your website for people who want to start their own blog.
Don’t worry about competition…no one knows your topic in the same way that you do. There’s plenty of room for everyone.
Plus you are already ahead of them. And maybe you will learn a few tricks from them as well.
7. You learn new skills
Setting up a blog, learning WordPress (hint: not that hard), and becoming a better writer may be new skills for you.
Writing is very cathartic; information that has been on your mind for a while will be freed and made available for others.
As well, the longer you blog, the more things you will learn. You go from beginner, to intermediate, to a full-time professional. Your skills can be used for not only mentoring others, but you can be a consultant locally.
You can teach classes to help others get set up or just give pointers to assist new entrepreneurs on which way to go next.
8. How much income you earn is up to you
Blogging income is based on scaling:
- Scale how much content you create to free up time, but earn less.
- Increase your content creation to reach income goals faster.
Once you start earning income, you will know that your efforts are working, so you do more of what works.
For example, you may decide to create paid ads on Facebook to generate more website visitors.
Perhaps your first ad generates 20 new customers.
Next time, you run your ad longer or increase the target audience in the hopes of getting 50 new customers.
It’s up to you whether you are okay with where you are at or if you want to increase your efforts.
9. You learn more about yourself as a person
Learning how to blog can be challenging at times because there are so many options and ways to go.
As you make choices, you may also have new doubts. Mistakes will be made.
In the example above, maybe you decide to run your Facebook ad longer the second time. And it ends up costing you money for no new customers.
Do you quit?
Or do you pick up the pieces and move on?
All the successful bloggers that I know persevered, learned from their mistakes, and came out victorious.
You don’t learn skills like that in grade school. You learn that from doing something challenging…from trying.
10. People are waiting for you to help them
And here is the best reason by far to start your blog…people are waiting on it.
We now have a global marketplace. And that market needs your input.
You are the only person who can explain your topic in your own unique way.
And that is the only way some people will “get it”. Your website copy will explain it in just the right way that can (possibly) change peoples lives.
They deserve that change. And you deserve to be the person that gives it to them. Really. Think about that.
Conclusion
Have I encouraged you to start thinking of a niche idea for your own website? I certainly hope so.
Starting a blog has been a rewarding experience for me, so I try to encourage others to try it for themselves. There is nothing like having people write to you to ask for tips or help. It’s a good feeling.
Are you interested in adding Affiliate Marketing to your new online business? Get my quick guide to see if it could be an option for you.
Have a great week and happy blogging!
-Irma 🙂
