The thought of starting a blog may have crossed your mind. You may have a big burning question, of why should I start a blog in the first place?
There are many reasons to start a blog. Blogging is a great way to generate an income, writing about things you’re interested in. You can earn income blogging passively or actively, and if you’re a business owner, you can increase your revenue by integrating a blog onto your website.
I am here to break it down to you why someone would start a blog and why you should too, especially if it is something you have been thinking about doing for a while.
1. As a business owner having a blog makes you an authority figure
Whether you already own a business or are looking to make blogging your business, by starting a blog, you can become an authority in the industry of your specialty.
If you already have an online presence and a business, a blog is a great way to expand your business. You become an authority in the industry you are in by sharing your knowledge and expertise.
When you have a blog on your website, and you provide useful information, then it shows that you are knowledgeable. People will look to you as an authority figure in the business that you are in, and they will trust you and your business.
Many highly successful business people, share their knowledge, write books, and therefore, you see them as authorities in their given industry.
Writing a book can be daunting and can feel overwhelming; that is why a great way to show your authority is by creating a blog.
2. You keep your current customers happy
By having a blog, you can keep your customers informed. They can learn what you and your business are up to, as well as any changes your company makes. Doing so creates a friendly relationship between yourself and your clients.
It shows that you are changing and growing in your industry while keeping them up-to-date with any new things your business is doing.
When you provide cool tips and information to your clients, it keeps them happy because it shows that you put them first and you care about them.
I remember when I first added a blog to my business website, my clients enjoyed reading the articles I wrote for them. Your clients appreciate these small efforts and extra added value and thus, makes your customers loyal.
It does not take much to share a little advice here and there, which, you would be sharing with your customers anyways. Now, you create a platform for this advice and can direct your clients to your blog to gather more information. Having this platform saves you time since you are providing them with a written article or a video which they can share, save, and refer to over and over again.
3. Generate more sales and new customers
There are many things you can share on the blog pages of your website. You can share advice, tips, specific tools, as well as certain feature products that you are currently selling. Therefore, you can use your blog as a way to sell your products and services to your customer base.
With your blog exposed to the internet, and by getting your current customers to share your content through their social media, you will have a farther reach. You can bring new customers to your website who could potentially purchase your products or services. Therefore, allowing you to expand your customer base.
According to Yahoo Small Business, companies who blog daily, 90% of them acquire at least one customer (probably much more) through blogging.
4. A blog is another revenue stream
No matter which business you’re in, one crucial business practice is to have multiple streams of revenue. Business owners know that trying to find new customers is the most challenging part of growing the business. One of the best pieces of business advice I received is that it is better to sell to your current customers than it is to find new ones.
What this means is that you should find ways to offer more to your current customers. You can upsell them or come up with new products or services that they would be interested in purchasing.
Since they are already customers, and they are loyal to your business, they are easier to sell to than someone who does not know your business well enough.
With your blog website, you can also create affiliate links to products or services that you highly recommend. We regularly give our clients and customers advice and tips of things that they should do. Affiliate links allow you to make some money from the information that you provide them.
Since you’re giving great advice, you might as well make some money from it, don’t you agree?
You may be offering advice on other products/services, which are outside of what your business sells. This way, you can monetize your knowledge and create another income stream by sharing your advice and getting paid through affiliate links.
I recommend that when you provide advertisements or affiliate links that you have integrity. Don’t oversaturate your website with ads, for example, from Google or Amazon. Only recommend high-quality products and services which you believe in and that you use yourself. By doing so, it will keep your credibility with your clients, and they will continue to be loyal to you.
Fact from Yahoo Small Business, 80% of the US online consumers, trusts the information they get from blogs.
5. You will be helping others
I think one of the greatest things about blogging is that you’re helping people. When I started, I was not aware of the value of a blog. I would write and feel as though no one was reading it, and it was a waste of my time.
I assumed that nobody was reading my articles, which is why I had stopped writing. Only when my customers realized that I was no longer sharing my tips and advice, they mentioned to me that they looked forward to reading my articles, and they appreciated it very much. They were sharing with me how my articles made them think, challenge them to new ways of thinking and that I offer great advice, which helps them make positive changes in their lives.
As I grew as a business owner, I learned that the more people you help, the more money you make. I now approach everything I do from this standpoint.
My blog is all about helping others succeed in business and life.
I’ve learned that for me to be successful in business, I must put the customers first, and do what is best for them. Providing them the best product or service, I end up generating more money.
Things shifted when I change my business model. Rather than focusing only on making money, and the bottom line, it is now all about helping people.
When you write online, you have a further reach, and what you write can have a hugely positive effect on their life.
As business owners, we sometimes lose our drive when we focus on the bottom line.
When we make it about the customers and want to make a difference in their lives, then we are driven by something beyond money.
By creating a successful blog and trying to help people, making money will be a result. As a bonus, you will feel better as a human being.
When you let go of the idea that your business is all about making money and you care about helping somebody else. You feel great about your business and what you do and how you live your life.
6. You share useful information
Well, I hope that your intention for your blog is to give people helpful information.
There are many blogs out there that slap on any content and have no integrity; they flood the page with Google ads and try to make money that way.
Blogging is a long game; don’t expect overnight success. Eventually, those no-good blogs will get phased out and will disappear on their own as people are smart and realize an excellent blog from a bad one.
Having a blog with great information on it and great content will be shared more frequently. As more people share your blog posts, then more people are coming to your website, and of course, now you can make more money.
Help others, because by doing so, you will be rewarded, either by them becoming a customer, or by driving more people to your website, and therefore you can generate more income.
Did you know, 61% of US online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog? (According to Yahoo Small Business).
7. Keeps you up to date with information
When you’re a writer, you often read to obtain information and knowledge. Being responsible for a blog forces you to stay on top with current things and changes in your industry.
You can do research, join conferences and events to learn new things. It is more important now, since technology changes rapidly, it’s a good idea to stay informed.
It forces you to stay up-to-date, and it shows that you are still an authority figure in your business by showing that you are current and knowledgeable.
By being caught up with what is happening in your industry and the world, you remain relevant.
8. A place to express your opinions/thoughts
A blog is an excellent place for you to be able to express your views, your opinions, and your experiences. It is a unique platform for you to share your ideas.
As humans, it is natural for us to want to share our thoughts and opinions with others. I do feel that we have a lot of things to share, and sometimes we’re not able to get it all out in a conversation.
I have a lot of opinions that I want to share, but I find that I’m not very good in social settings. There are many times where I feel that I have cool things to share with others, but, many times, I am quiet.
With my blog platform, I’m able to say my thoughts and opinions concisely, and I feel that I can share my thoughts much better.
9. You can become an author and write a book
You can turn all the articles that you’ve written into a book.
When you want to write a book, it feels very overwhelming, and you don’t know where to start. We have all these great ideas, and we don’t necessarily know how to bring them together in a concise way.
When you write articles for your blog, they are broken down into digestible forms.
After you’ve written quite a bit of blog posts, you can look and review all the articles you’ve written and start to piece them together to create your book.
Without even thinking about it in a sense and having to stress about it, you have all the words the content that you need to create your book. When you break things down into smaller parts, writing a book becomes more achievable.
My recommendation is from the very beginning do the best writing you can for each of your articles. By doing this, you’ll have less effort when you put your book together.
Having a published book and being an author also gives you more credibility and makes you an authority figure, as we mentioned earlier.
10. Expand your business
Many people have started blogs to generate income. For business owners, one thing you can do to generate additional income is to create digital products.
You can create digital downloads, digital courses, and sell them online. Not only will you have more products to sell to your current customers, but, now you have a wider reach of potential customers who find you online.
Having a digital product for sale is fantastic because it can become a passive income source since you create the digital product once and you sell it over and over again.
For example, by creating an ebook from all the extensive information, you have on your blog, you can sell your ebook on your website or through Amazon.
11. Keeps your brain sharp
As a blogger, you do research, you keep your mind busy, by trying new things, going to new places, and testing things out.
Just as our bodies need physical exercise to stay healthy, we should also be doing mental exercises.
Having a blog allows you to exercise your brain. You are coming up with new and creative ways to share your thoughts and opinions, coming up with new topics to share.
It’s a significant side effect besides making lots of money.
12. Keeps you connected to people
Now, this may not be one of the most significant reasons to start a blog, but I’m going to mention it here because I think it’s quite essential.
I find that nowadays people are less social, I know it seems counter because of all the social media that’s out there.
The reason why I say we are less social is that I find that we are in this age for everybody wants to live this life free of stress and more time for themselves. What happens is, we end up working so hard just so that we can retire early or able to take those vacations we want.
From my own experience, I work many hours to figure out how to make money so that I can travel. I don’t like to have budgets when I go on vacation because to me that almost defeats the purpose of why I’m on vacation in the first place. I end up having to work many hours to save plenty of money for me to enjoy my vacation.
To me, that sounds a little strange. I have to exhaust myself before I can enjoy my life. I’m guessing that’s probably the same thing with people who run a business or are starting one. Having a business can be time-consuming, especially when you’re starting. We’re spending more time trying to build our business then enjoying life and engaging with other people.
I feel that having a blog brings the connection to people because the conversations become authentic than the comments that we leave, for example, on Facebook, Instagram, or, Twitter.
On a blog, we share details, and they seem to be a little bit more intellectual as we share our opinions with one another. In the comments section, where people provide their feedback and share their thoughts, you can have great conversations with like-minded people.
If you are stuck behind the computer, since you are spending a lot of time growing your business and yourself, then a blog is a great way to stay connected with the real world. You never know who you will meet and connect with online.
13. You have freedom
Since I’ve started blogging, I feel free. It was hard for me to enjoy vacations because you don’t make money if you’re not working when you have an active offline business.
Through blogging, the guilt has gone away, because I can take my work with me. I can work from anywhere and anytime. Honestly, it doesn’t even feel like work most of the time. That’s the thing when you do things you enjoy, your work feeling inspired, and it no longer feels like you are working.
While I am vacationing, because I feel so free, I often feel inspired, that I take out my laptop or smartphone and start writing.
With the freedom of being anywhere, I can have many different experiences. I’m ready to share all the things I’ve learned through my blogging journey.
With my blog, even though I do set deadlines for myself there more manageable, I’m not confined to a set time and place to working on my blog.
14. Make the world a better place
Any product or service that you’re selling I’m guessing that the reason you’re selling it is that you want to make the lives of your customers better.
That’s why I say that creating a blog makes the world a better place.
Successful bloggers have great intentions; they want to share quality information with people.
One of the reasons I got into blogging is because I realized I learned a lot of information from blogs.
When traveling to new cities, I always check out many different blogs to learn about places to go and things to do. By doing this, I can put together my agenda, and it also gives me confidence in creating an excellent adventure.
I also learned a lot of great tips from blogs. I’ve received good health advice to just becoming a better an overall person. I feel that as we continue to share our thoughts and opinions and our knowledge with more people, I do think that our world will be a better place.
When we share our experiences with others, and we open up ourselves, other people can relate to our struggles and achievements. We grow and become better.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, I would say everyone should have a blog. Even if it is just for yourself to share your thoughts and feelings, like a journal, I think it’s a great place.
We can learn from others as well as share our experiences.
At times we can feel isolated, and a blog can be a comforting place where you read other people’s experiences and share yours.
Through reading blogs, we gather information, and we can make informed decisions.
I feel that every single business person should have a blog to build their credibility and to build good relationships with their clients.
If you’re looking to make money online or at home, then creating a blog is one of the best things that you can do to generate some high income and replace the monthly income that you have.
You have freedom when you have a blog as your business, and you can work from anywhere in the world.
I hope that this article inspires you to start your blog or to fix the blog that you currently have.
Share your thoughts with me. Did I manage to inspire you to start on your blog, or revitalize your old blog?
