Why Everyone’s Blogging, and Why You Should Too

It has never been easier to establish your own presence on the Internet. Anyone can create a blog now as long as you have an email account – and anyone can create an email account as long as you have access to the Internet. WordPress, a popular blogging site, boasts a monopoly of 33% of the websites on the Internet…that’s huge. Why are so many people starting their own blogs, and why should you start blogging too?  

Your Blog is Your Resume

Gone are the days of handing in one-page resumes to your potential employer. Nowadays, a hiring firm can simply look you up online and find out all they need to know about you. Your blog is also a great business card to hand out at networking events, and it shows a step up in professionalism. Most importantly, blogs are dynamic, and a good blogger should always be updating their blog with new and relevant content. (Think search engine optimization, which is a topic for another article.)

Regardless of whether you are blogging as an individual or as part of an organization, blogging is great for showing people what you are all about and why they should be looking forward to working with you. Tell them about what you’re doing and let them be part of your journey as you blog about it step by step. 

Your blog can even reach people where your networks can’t. We usually only physically interact with people we actually meet, but on the Internet, anyone could potentially stumble across your blog even if they have never met you in person. Having a blog is like extending your resume to a greater audience anywhere in the world. 

It’s Like a Journal

Journaling may do it for some people, maybe not for others. But sitting down for a few minutes a day and penning down your thoughts can help you in a number of ways. Firstly, it helps to get things out of your mind if you’ve been thinking about a few things lately. Writing your thoughts down also helps you to organize things mentally and could provide a fresh perspective on matters. 

To start a blog, you don’t have to write a thousand words a day, and you don’t even have to post every day – just whenever there’s something on your mind. It’s easy to keep a notepad or an app on your phone where you jot down anything that might strike you in the moment. Think about blogging as something you do for yourself. If someone reads it, great. If nobody reads it, no problem! It can be tempting to fall into the habit of counting likes and subscribers, but blogging really isn’t about that at all. In fact, it can be much easier to keep a journal and be truthful to yourself when you are writing to yourself in private. 

If or when you decide to post that journal entry on your blog, you don’t have to tell the world everything about it, but it definitely helps to be a little vulnerable. Who knows? Perhaps your advice or thoughts there may help someone else in a similar situation. 

Blogging Hones Your Writing Skills

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be good at writing to start blogging. A blog does not have to have perfect language, nor does it have to be long and wordy. As long as you’re able to write a text message, you’re able to blog. If you’d really rather not write, you can always blog in other forms, such as drawing, talking or posting videos. However, it’s very rewarding in the long run to work on your writing skills, even if you write just a few sentences in every blog post. 

These days, writing is a must-have skill in almost every industry, where you’ll put it to work when sending emails, applying for a job and getting connections. It never hurts to spice up your writing skills, and skipping out on blogging entirely just because you don’t write isn’t worth missing out on all the other benefits. After all, you can’t get better at something if you never practice it. 

You Can Meet New People

Most blogging platforms run on a network that allows you to explore other bloggers’ sites, especially those with similar interests. Even if your interests are very niche, when we’re talking about the whole world, there is bound to be someone you can share some thoughts with. Blogging provides a new avenue for people to meet like-minded individuals. If you blog about a topic you’re interested in, someone else will also find it interesting and can potentially share your content with their network. 

Sometimes, you may not even know that someone is reading your blog until they contact you. The interaction is not just limited to others discovering your blog, either – you could similarly stumble on someone else’s blog and find yourself a new connection. 

Blogging is Free

Blogging, at its core minimum, is easy and free to set up and you can be ready to blog in just a few minutes. The larger blogging platforms also come with mobile apps that you can download on your phone, allowing you to blog on the go. It doesn’t cost much in terms of both time and money to start a blog. Later on, if you are enjoying the feel of blogging and decide to go on with it, you could look into add-ons for your blog, such as a custom domain to improve your blog’s search engine visibility. 

Don’t Just be a Consumer

These days, it’s easy for people to get caught up in consuming media. The technologies at our disposal shape us up to be a society focused on consumerism and hardly any production. Social media provides us with the “endless scroll”, where we can spend hours of a day absorbed in looking through other people’s media – which, if we’re being honest, is not a very productive activity. Setting aside some time every few days to reflect on things you’ve learned or thoughts you’ve come across gives you a voice out there in the Internet and can result in bigger payoffs down the road. Why just be a follower when you can be a leader as well? 

Conclusion

Some critics like to say that blogging is dead, but it has never been more alive, with more and more apps being developed just for blogging purposes. As long as the Internet is out there, blogging in some form will probably still exist. Above all, blogging is writing, and words will never be dead, whether they exist on an electronic screen or on the walls of a cave. With a blog, you can have a voice in a world that focuses on consuming. There is no time like the present to break the flow and create a corner of your own.