Contents
- 1 Do You Know the Benefits of Blogging?
- 1.1 1. Authority / Trust
- 1.2 2. Growing your Traffic
- 1.3 3. A Flexible Work Schedule
- 1.4 4. Flexible Work Environment
- 1.5 5. Fine Tune Your Writing
- 1.6 6. Learn About Your Target Audience or Target Clientele
- 1.7 7. Influence
- 1.8 8. Become an Expert in Your Field
- 1.9 9. Create a Constantly Expanding Network
- 1.10 10. Sell a Product/Service
- 1.11 11. Start / Grow Your Business
- 1.12 12. Build an Online Portfolio
- 1.13 13. Land a Job
- 2 What's Next ?
Do You Know the Benefits of Blogging?
For many, blogging is for pleasure and for others it is to grow a business. These days, it seems that everyone has a blog to leverage their business, share their travel adventures with friends or fine tune their writing skills. Whatever your reason, the benefits of blogging are endless and should not be overlooked.
In this post we've laid out the 13 benefits of blogging and ways that blogging can boost the success of your business, your professional network and your personal life.
1. Authority / Trust
- Blogging expands your authority in the topic or service you’re offering to your readers and potential customers
- By creating and expanding your content base, you will grow to become a trustworthy source of knowledge for your readers
- Readers will recognize your product or service as legitimate if they see that you know what you're talking about and have experience with it
- Demonstrating your expertise will make you a trusted source
Consider this: would you trust that someone is an expert in online sales if they had no proof of their expertise available? Show the world you are a good source by sharing your knowledge. Display your experience proudly!
Once you gain authority you gain the chance to be recognized by major companies, like Derek Halpern who teachers webinars that are featured on Forbes, Entrepreneur and Inc.
2. Growing your Traffic
- By expanding content on your site through blogs, you can draw traffic to your site for virtually no money
- Increasing awareness of the product you’re selling and views on your site will ultimately translate into better business
Creating great content that also drives eyes to your website? It's a Win-Win. The best salesperson is YOU so use that to your advantage and make your writing impossible to ignore –> your content will become impossible to ignore as well.
Neil Patel is a great source for understanding how to grow traffic. His courses teach you “how to generate 195,013 visitors a month without spending a dollar on ads”. Through his blogs, he was able to grow his own online traffic while landing writing positions for Forbes Inc, Huffington Post, and Entrepreneur as a columnist.
3. A Flexible Work Schedule
- Blogging as a profession allows you to work for YOURSELF or, at the very least, make your own schedule
- Whether you’re blogging as your sole profession or as a side job, the flexibility of blogging allows you to fit it into your schedule, blogging as little or as much as that allows.
Many people pick up blogging as a second or even third job. Some choose to blog as a hobby and watch it expand into a business unexpectedly. The great thing about blogging is that it can be done in-between shifts, during out of office hours and even during quiet hours at another job.
Tim Ferris wrote a book on making a Four Hour Work Week a reality. Only FOUR hours a week?! Sign me up!
4. Flexible Work Environment
- Blog from virtually everywhere: the flexibility of a blogger means you can work from your bed, a coworking space, a cafe, even an airplane
- Blogging for a job allows you to work other jobs, take care of a family, have free time, travel the world, all while still maintaining your business
Especially today, there is WIFI almost everywhere. Even if you can't find free WIFI at a restaurant, internet cafe or public space, you can buy WIFI to hook up to your computer from anywhere. Speaking from experience, even the most remote island towns or white sandy beaches can have WIFI.
5. Fine Tune Your Writing
- Becoming a better blogger means learning to be a better writer
Bloggers often receive feedback from readers which means they can learn quickly from their mistakes. The volume in which you write will also improve your writing; practice makes perfect so post as much as possible!
As you fine tune your writing you will increase your rates, like Carol Tice did. Her blog helps you learn how to improve your writing.
6. Learn About Your Target Audience or Target Clientele
- Blogging lets you gain almost immediate feedback from your audience, be that others interested in your content or those you’re hoping to sell a product to
- Feedback through shares, comments or emails can help you gauge your reader's reactions from a wide audience
A great way to grow traffic and sell your product is to gain information on your target audience. Once you know exactly how your potential customers or readers feel about what you're offering, you can adjust it to make it better. Blogging offers a unique opportunity to have a personal connection with the online world you're interacting with. It allows your to feel closer to your clientele and customize a product to their true needs.
You can use comments on articles to learn about your target audience and use it as constructive feedback, as Neil Patel does on every one of his articles.
7. Influence
- You have the opportunity to make a difference in your field… and in the world!!!
- Through just your thoughts and actions you can influence thousands, many miles away who you otherwise probably wouldn’t have reached
The concept of a viral post or viral video is a relatively new one. Often with little effort on your part, you can create something that is shared hundreds and even thousands of times, reaching people from all over the world. This gives you the ability to have an influence and an impact on something seeming out of reach to you.
As you increase your influence, you will notice your shares rise. The image below, taken from an excellent source, BuzzSumo, shows an example of a content piece that has been shared many times using the keyword “travel blogger”.
8. Become an Expert in Your Field
- As you expand the content you create, you can grow into an expert in that area
- By adding to your repertoire of knowledge, you will become more well respected, trusted (see #1) and recognized as a go-to source on that subject
The best way to learn is from experience and from absorbing everything you possibly can. By reading others blogs and researching for your own posts you will take in large amounts of information and grow your expertise.
James Clear is one of the best examples of this. With the help of his blog, he became a bestselling author and is one of the most highly regarded authors within his field as a habit coach. James is a great example of how blogging can increase your authority and expertise in a subject.
Check out James Clear on changing your habits on YouTube.
9. Create a Constantly Expanding Network
- The blogging community is always growing with new readers visiting each day
- Having an online network and professional network helps to build your professional authority and opens opportunities for career advancement
- An online network also allows for you to reach out to anyone in the world, at any point
Having a network is extremely important in today's professional world; it is often not what you know but who you know that takes your business to the next level. Having a blog connects you with like-minded professionals from around the world. Your blog opens doors that previously may not have existed.
10. Sell a Product/Service
- By blogging, you will drive traffic to the site on which you sell a good or service
- You are your best salesman to your own product —> Internally link your product
Your blog is the place that you can shamelessly showcase your product. Writing about things related to your product then internally linking to where you sell your product will draw traffic and, ultimately, sales. It truly is the best way to advertise your product because it demonstrates the legitimacy of your product while being free, or almost free, to you.
Take Melyssa Griffin for example: since 2013, she has grown her monthly income sales to over $280,000 through with the start of her blog. Take a look at her income reports and explore the rest of her site to see how her sales jumped from under $10,000 to almost $300,000!!
11. Start / Grow Your Business
- Start a blog, grow your customers, it really is that easy
This one should be a no-brainer; having a blog is the quickest and most low cost way to start your business. Overnight you can: build your site, start researching and posting content and drawn in customers, all from the comfort of your home or nearby cafe. Whether you have a business already or are looking to start one, beginning with a blog is a great first step.
12. Build an Online Portfolio
- By building content, you can develop an online portfolio to share with those within your professional network
- All content is contained online in an easy to access format
Having an online portfolio makes sharing your writing style and abilities easier; with everything in one place, you don't have to search through multiple platforms each time you want to share with someone new.
Using Contently, freelance writer Kristi Hines has created an excellent online profile that acts as her resume. Using this profile, she easily displays her best articles and pieces while showcasing the shares she received on those articles.
13. Land a Job
- Blogging can expose your skill to potential employees who may want to hire you
As you write more and more, you will become a better writer which can ultimately transfer to your professional life.
A member of our 30 Day Blog Challenge recently landed a guest blogging job and attributes it to the challenge.
“The 30 Day Blog Challenge was very empowering for me. It helped me start writing again, develop a beautiful and professional website, and land a paid writing job I actually enjoy. As a stay at home mom, my life instantly changed for the better. I can't say enough good things about this program! What a game-changer!”
What's Next ?
Now you have an idea why so many people start a blog. The benefits of blogging are truly endless. Starting a blog can help build an online profile and fine tune your writing skills to land you a new job. It can grow your influence and authority in a subject, making you an expert. It can even advertise a product for sale or help you launch a business, organically.
With a little time and effort (and little to no money), you will see these benefits firsthand.
Start a blog today & join the 30-Day Blog Challenge for the best tips, tricks and online community to help you every step of the way to become a better: writer, salesperson, listener, creative thinker, networker in the next 30 days.
What exactly do you want to benefit from blogging? OR, if you've already started, comment your favorite benefit below to inspire others to take the plunge!
Christie Cole says
want to attract people my website and eventually sell them products
Anthony little says
Great article love the tips and knowledge of the benefit that we have as bloggers. This truly amazing looking forward in reading more of your content . Thanks