Why Starting Your Own Blog Isn’t Just Business, It’s Also Fun!

It seems like everyone has a blog these days. Blogs to promote their products, their writing, lifestyle,  to complain about the weather, or just share their journey through life. There’s a reason blogs are so popular: they can get the word out about something important to you, and your personal take on it. You can give your blog as much or as little time as you like, though you may find it quite addictive! Most people don’t get much opportunity to hold forth on their favorite topics without fear of interruption or their audience melting away, so this can be your time to shine, or at least get your thoughts out there for someone to find. Blogging can be a great way to get the word out there about your business and to talk about your products or services. People who are passionate about their work can talk at great length about it and can give the world their expert or insider knowledge. With a number of platforms now offering free and user-friendly setup and hosting for your blog, there’s no reason not to.

Blogging for Business:

• Showcases your skills. Self-published authors in particular report great results in reaching a wider audience when they start to spread the word about their writing through blogs and other social media platforms. It’s an opportunity to show people the way you think, the way you write, anything to pique their interest.
• Builds your brand – you can let the world know what you have to offer and get your brand name or your product, service or enterprise out there. Give people visual cues, snappy descriptions, and keyword rich text so that you’ll be the first thing on their mind when they want something you offer.
• Improves your search engine traffic. Giving a little consideration to search engine optimization means you’ll be easy to find. It’s free advertising.
• Improves discipline. You’ll get more hits with regular, timely blog posts, feature higher in search results, and stay fresh in your customers’ minds, so try and organize your time to get blog posts out there.
• Can be tailored. Whatever you offer, there’s a blog that’s just right. You can decide whether it should be very visual; if you produce items that are useful or beautiful, you can show them off, and explain your products and their creation and inspiration. Maybe you work in cutting-edge software technology, in which case you could blog about advances in your field and what that means for the world in general. Consider your target audience – if you make toys or baby products you could focus on things that might interest parents, like lists of gift ideas or some supportive, funny observations about modern parenting.
• Broadens your network. You might find some useful contacts in your area or field of interest – not just consumers and clients, but a group of people who can support you and help your business grow. Maybe you can be part of that support network for someone else, too.

Blogging for Fun:

• Lets you share your passion. You have a captive audience – a blog is not a conversation. It’s your take on the world and your chance to say everything you want, without interruptions. If your work is your passion then so much the better, both for your blog and for enjoying your life!
• Can get you positive feedback; everyone loves a pat on the back. It’s an absolutely lovely feeling to get a bit of positive feedback from someone who likes what you do. And they’ll tell their friends… and they’ll tell their friends…
• Can find your friends around the globe – instant, worldwide communication means bringing together people who would never meet in the outside world but who might just have a lot in common. Or maybe you’ll meet people with whom you don’t yet have anything at all in common, but who you can share new interests and experiences with, introducing each other to new things. These can be part of your business network, or might just be someone you think you’d like.

Blogging for a Better You:

• Isn’t just fun, isn’t just business, but the enrichment of your knowledge as you find yourself broadening your field of research to write with authority on your chosen subjects. The odd scholarly reference doesn’t go amiss – people love statistics.
• Improves your critical thinking, language and communication skills. Some of us haven’t really sat down and written anything much since we were in school. Writing means thinking in a different way, a change in the way you organize your thoughts to convey them through this one-sided platform.
• Gives you a chance to have a rant! Raging into the void about something that annoys you can be really cathartic. You might just hit a nerve with someone, too; sometimes the people you resonate most with are the ones with the same bugbears as you. You might find ways to tie this to your work too. Maybe use this to (fairly) review your competitors – there’s a reason you started your business in the first place – you might have seen a gap in the market, or you thought you could create something better than what was already available. Use your blog to tell us why!
• Might get a negative response… there are a lot of keyboard warriors out there who feel an obligation to start a fight whenever they think someone is wrong on the internet. That sounds pretty exhausting. Remember you don’t have to engage with it. For every loudmouth who doesn’t like you, there are numerous people who’ll really like what you have to say. Or maybe someone disagreeing with you can help you to learn and improve. The internet can be an echo chamber, and hearing different opinions is really important.

Blogging is fun, it’s addictive, and it helps to grow your brand and increase your business traffic. It’s good for the mind and soul, giving you a place to organize your thoughts and dust off those rusty writing skills. It’s free advertising, a captive audience, and it might even be your legacy. Enjoy it.