7 Benefits of Starting a Blog

The figure might seem kind of low these days, but on average American argue about twenty times per month. Nowadays, much of it happens online. For healthier and more productive dialogue, many turn to the comment threads of blogs, where challenges are tempered by shared interests. Who are the people who create blogs that are the catalysts for these dialogues? Well, one of them could be you! Read on for seven great benefits to starting a blog.

You Will Engage People with Similar Interests

The most universal and arguably most rewarding benefit is engaging with people you may not have otherwise engaged with, reaching people with similar passions and interests, and creating meaningful dialogues. Many bloggers find themselves with a passionate following if their blog is relevant and successful enough. They get to know people away from the blog and the digital realm, often meeting and finding friendships with people in the real world. And these connections can inform and enrich your blog. Truly, engaging people is the primary function of a blog and blogging, so it deserves its number one status here.

You Will Learn A Lot

As any teacher will tell you, there’s no better way to learn than to teach. And teaching is, at its essence, what blogging is: you are sharing your knowledge and experience with others who lack that knowledge and experience or have similar backgrounds and interests. Following relevant topics online, researching material for blog ideas, and engaging with readers in comments threads will all teach a blogger a great deal, even if they are already experts. If you blog about ecology and forest sustainability, for example, how fulfilling would it be to learn and share tantalizing facts like the average number of sheets of paper used by every office worker in the U.S. (10,000!) each year? Or if you choose to blog about your passion for cars, that the Mercedes 300 SL when introduced way back in 1954 was the fastest production car to date, with a top speed around 150 miles per hour? Nothing is more rewarding than diving and learning new and stimulating things about subjects you have a passion for.

Beyond that, there is a ton of technical knowledge you will likely gain and utilize by blogging. Most blogging interfaces are known for being relatively intuitive, but master-level manipulation will come with pushing and prepetition. In addition, marketing, promoting, and advertising your blog will have a very rewarding learning curve. From social media management to search engine optimization, the nuances of growing your blog and brand online are numerous and rich, and getting good at it is rewarding in a number of ways.

You Can Utilize Your Expertise

Many people who start blogs are writers or aspiring writers. Others are retirees from a wide array of industries. Many are white-collar workers, travelers, and even school teachers. While as much as 80% of private school teachers possess advanced degrees, it isn’t necessary to have any degree to be an expert! Mechanics, landscapers, machinists, athletes, engineers, scientists, publishing industry professionals and even home cooks have launched successful blogs by writing about what they know.

You Can Improve Your Writing Skills

Making anything a focused part of your routine will make you better at it and writing is no exception. Writing is an underrated skill: many believe they can do it, but few are truly good at it. The only way to become good is to do it a ton (and to read widely!). Blogging can make you a great writer. And becoming a better writer can be extremely rewarding in a number of different ways. Being an effective writer improves your ability to engage people, speak publicly, read deeply, and comprehend and manipulate language on a greater level. Writers who master their primary language also find themselves able to absorb new languages with greater agility.

You Can Work with Freedom

Among the very best things about blogging is that you can do it on your schedule, your way, from anywhere, anytime. And if you can earn an income from it, congratulations: you will be living the gig economy dream. The freedom afforded by blogging also enables you to research and pursue blog subjects more intimately: travel bloggers, for example, make their living by visiting appealing places around the world and writing about them on their blogs. Many bloggers complete their research online and in print sources, of course, but few activities lend themselves so readily to getting out in the world and learning new things to share.

You Can Earn Money

That being said, likely the most appealing element of blogging for many potential bloggers is being able to earn an income from doing something they’re passionate about and enjoy, with near-absolute autonomy. You can earn money by blogging! Many bloggers earn a living, with few other significant sources of income. Others use blogging revenue as an extra or ancillary source of income. Bloggers earn income in a number of different ways. The most common source of income for bloggers is ad revenue. Businesses post advertisements on blogs and pay blog owners through an arrangement related to views, click-throughs, or product sales. Others sell products themselves, either from an inventory related to their blog or from affiliates that pay commissions. Another way bloggers earn money is through patron or donation systems: some solicit payment via their blog while others use third-party companies like Patreon. Most successful bloggers use a combination of all of these, as well as other less common methods.

Your Blog Could Grow

Yes: your blog should grow! And there are so many ways that it can! Many bloggers start with a single blog and add more subjects, related and unrelated to the original until they have a network of blogs. Others see their blogs grow so rapidly that they must contract other writers to keep up with demand. In many instances, blogs have become so popular that they have turned into print successes, like newspaper or magazine columns, as regular print media features, and even as successful books. What could your blog grow into? The only way to find out is to start, maintain, and work hard at it. The sky is the limit.

Informative, provocative, entertaining, and educational, blogs are a new way of reading, engaging, and, more than anything else, writing. If you have the expertise, passion, or simply a unique perspective, you could be a great and successful blogger. You can teach, inform, entertain, provoke, and engage; and there’s no limit to what your blog or blogs could become.