“Should I start a Blog?” If I had a dime each time someone had asked me this question, I’d be a billionaire by now. Okay, I exaggerate. But truly, it’s a question I hear a lot.
Honestly, I think the real question should be “How do I start a Blog?”
For small businesses, a blog is a great (maybe the best) way to communicate and sell yourself to future customers or clients.
For the solo-entrepreneurs, having a content website could literally change your life. It’s one of the most powerful ways to express yourself in the digital age, build an audience, and generate passive income..
Let’s start with the top reasons and goals why starting a blog might be a good idea for you.
Table of Contents
5 Reasons You Should Start a Blog
- You can express yourself and/or your business
- You can contribute to your community and culture
- You can make a ton of money
- Your intellectual development will skyrocket
- You’ll learn to deal with challenges
Blogging Goals
Blogs and content websites are designed to drive traffic and to get content out in front of eyeballs.
For businesses top blog goals might be to:
- Qualify leads
- Explain a product or service to interested readers
- Increase brand awareness
- Become a greater part of the community
For Solopreneurs and affiliate marketers, top goals might be to:
- Promote yourself or your skills
- Sell products or leads for income
You Can Express Yourself and/or Your Business
Blogging can be a potent platform for sharing yourself or your business with the rest of the world. It’s the closest form of interaction with someone outside of direct communication.
If someone is taking the time to read an article and intake what you have to say they’ve just be virtue of being on your website qualified themselves as someone interested in what you have to offer or what you have to say.
Blogging Can Contribute to Our Culture
In the paragraphs below, we focus on the money-making potential of this type of work. But, as you know, money is a reward for creating value, for contributing, for serving others. All creators, irrespective of their niches, had something worthwhile to share, to add. They had something that helps make life better for others.
I focused on those in the business and digital marketing niche, but there are sites on virtually all topics. As long as you have something positive to share, you can have a site. It could be about classical music, Celtic culture, Christianity, Cubism, parenting, dating, and relationships. We go online primarily because we want to improve our lives. So, any information that’ll help people do this is also a good foundation for a site. And as you’re contributing, blogging also helps you to express yourself.
You Can Make a Ton of Money
Earning a consistent and impressive amount of money is one of the smartest things you could do. And, at the risk of being thought of as hopelessly simplistic, we need money, every day. Therefore, it’s smart to make a ton of it. Luckily, nowadays making money on a blogging platform via writing blog posts and using social media, is not that hard a task.
Honestly, I don’t believe this is the most vital reason you should start a site, but it’s one of the most motivating. Even if you don’t like having money, imagine the good you can do in the world, if you have one that generates thousands of dollars or even millions for you each year. You can become a philanthropist and help make the world a better place.
You’re probably wondering if it’s true that many people are making a ton by creating content online. Yes, it’s true. But don’t take my word for it. In the next few paragraphs, I’ll share real-life stories of five millionaire bloggers. Their stories are a testament to the reality that writing and creating material is not about fiddling with some articles and Google Adsense. If you’d like to, you can really make bank – big time.
I’ll share stories about:
- Jon Morrow
- Brian Clark
- Yaro Starak
- Steve Pavlina
- Michelle Schroeder
Jon Morrow
I started with Jon Morrow’s story because it is the most inspiring. Why is he the most inspiring? Well, his legs, feet, and arms are almost paralyzed. His eyes and lips are the only parts of his body he can move. Jon was born with one of the most debilitating conditions ever: spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
It’s a condition that’d crush most of us. But, using speech recognition technology, he has used blogging to become a millionaire. If he can do it, you can. It’s vital I stress that, despite his challenge, Jon is one of the best at what he does. In fact, he’s so good that at a point he was editor of Copyblogger, that makes millions each year. In fact, the next story we’re exploring is about the founder of the site.
You can read more about Jon here.
Brian Clark
Brian used to be an attorney. In 2006, he started Copyblogger. At that point, he was actually “learning on the job.” He had no product. And, he was learning about copywriting. But, he believed if he provides highly enriching content, he’d build an audience, and subsequently, he’d be able to figure out what they need and provide ide same for them.
This site and the related brands that grew from Clark’s original blog now generates 12 million dollars each year. A Forbes article described it “as the most influential content marketing blog in the world.” That says it all, right?
A grand obsession to serve the audience and via digital marketing, and we watch how it morphs into an exceptional company, that provides content, software, and training. Brian believed taking a media; not just marketing approach will eventually pay off. And, it did. Big time.
Are you now convinced that this is freaking awesome?
Read more about Brain and his wonderful team here and here.
Yaro Starak
Yaro started a website when he was twenty years old, and by dint of hard work, at a point, he was earning about a $1000 per month from it. One fateful day, a customer used a stolen card to buy something on Yaro’s online store, and he had to pay back $15,000, besides his student loans of $20,000. A few years later, he had paid both in full of money earned online.
In 2004, a friend suggested he should start a site for his essay editing business. Yaro did, and he has been blogging since. The editing business failed, But, he continued writing about how to start and manage online businesses, and over time, he’s earned over a million dollars. He’s also trained a lot of successful online entrepreneurs. Alborz Fallah, whose site about cars, turned him into a millionaire, was one of his students.
Read more about Yaro here
Steve Pavlina
Steve’s one of the most respected personal development bloggers on the planet. Before exploring this area, he was a game developer. “Personal development for smart people” is the name of the site and truly it lives up to this moniker because within a short time, with an array of in-depth articles, it took Steve from an unknown to a millionaire and an influencer in the blogging community. His hyper-lucid prose offers highly transformative insights.
Michelle Schroeder
Michelle, a young woman, used to be a financial analyst. In fact, she wrote while she still had a day job. Her site, “Making Sense of Cents” is about personal finance. She grew it over time. And, now, she averages $100,000 per month.
There are many more millionaire bloggers, but let’s explore other reasons you should have started a site. Did you notice that I didn’t write ” should start”? It’s because the more you delay, the more money you’re leaving on the table.
You can read more about her here.
Now, let’s explore the next reason.
Your Intellectual Development Will Skyrocket
It’s been said the best way to learn is to teach. Why? It’s because a genuine teacher is naturally compelled to explore their subject on a deep level. They’re compelled to explore it regularly, and from many angles, since they know, they’d have to share what they’re learning with others. While it’s important to take your site to the top of the search engines, passing knowledge on to like-minded people is the key to success too.
It’s a cliche, but it’s true, that writers are readers. They have to be. So, to share what’s regularly enriching, they have to read a lot. They have to talk to experts regularly. Some even conduct their own studies on some issues.
So, being a creator is one of the best ways to increase your intellectual capacity. The return on intellectual development is high. It’s almost like an endless resource. And, it grows exponentially, because the more you use it, the more you have. And, it’s satisfying, too. It has a highly positive impact on your self-esteem. You’ll love the opportunity to develop intellectually, once you start a site. It will challenge you to give your best.
You can easily build a wide audience
In the past, to have access to a wide audience, you’d need to spend a lot of money. And, even when you do, the audience is not “yours.” The next time you have something to share with them, you’d need to pay a media company, again! Now, you can pass a good idea to a massive group of people with one click. Having a YouTube channel where you discuss your newest post will take you even further and generate more traffic.
A blog allows you to build a loyal audience; whether you’ve got a travel blog, a beauty site, or a book blog, having an audience you can pass your ideas onto feels amazing. Having an audience that engages with your work is a great recognition. An audience you have a relationship with. That’s sold on the value you offer and is there each time you share your musings.
Some blogs attract a few hundred readers while some attract millions. Good news: you don’t need a lot of money to build a blog that’d help you build a wide audience. Like most things, it’s a gradual process.
The penultimate reason is connected to having access to a wide audience. Let’s check it out.
You can easily become an authority
People like Tony Robbins, Jay Abraham, Tim Ferriss, Dan Brown, and Oprah are experts and authorities in the fields they explore. In the past, becoming and being perceived as an authority took a lot of toil and years of laboring in obscurity. Thanks to the blogging revolution, if you’re passionate about any sphere, and you do in-depth research on it, regularly, and you share your insights on a blog, within a short amount of time, you can become an authority in that field. You become an authority because you’re learning a lot about your field and you’re sharing what you’re learning.
You’ll Learn To Deal With Challenges
If you’re going through some challenges, now, a blog could be one great way to deal with it. Why? Blogging helps you shift your focus from consumption to creation. It shifts your focus outwards, away from yourself, to what you can share with others.
Some forms of writing are therapeutic and cathartic. In fact, some forms of writing can be akin to meditation. And, it’s also a way to make out like a bandit if you have all the resources that could help you. Such as you’ll find here on this site.
Now, we’ve explored the reasons you should start a blog. You may wish that it’d be nice for you to take a course that’d help you to start your blog. But, you’re wondering which one to choose. This article will help you.
Challenges you Could Face
Now, you’re convinced that the answer to the question “Should I start a blog?” should be a resounding “yes.” But, you may have a few concerns, right? You might think of the many challenges you’ll face. The main concern may relate to how do you go about it. What are the things you must do? How do you get your blog designed? How can you create content regularly? Can you outsource content creation? How soon can you expect to see results on your efforts? Which content management systems are the best?
What if you’re not a writer, can you still start a blog? Yes, you can. You can outsource content creation. That means you can find writers willing to write for you (for a fee). A lot of top bloggers use this model. Because you could reach a point where you’d realize that, you, alone, cannot create all the content that’s required. Or, you a may want variety in the style and nature of the content being created. You may outsource because a diversity of voices will enrich your brand.
Honestly, you don’t need to worry, because how to give aspiring and practicing bloggers all the resources that’d help them start and maintain highly influential and lucrative blogs is what this site is about.
Here you’ll find a checklist of all the steps to set up a blog.
The First Steps You Could Take
You’re now more confident, so much so that you’re already considering the idea of starting a blog as soon as possible. But, you feel it’d be nice if you could have an overview of what it really involves. Trust me; it’s easy.
The Topic of Your Blog
The most important decision is to choose what the bog will be about – the blog’s theme or topic. Some people worry about whether they should choose what they’re passionate about or what’s profitable? It depends. Yes, it depends on your goals. If you’re thinking of making money from your site, passion is not enough.
I am passionate about butterflies, for example. But, I’m not sure I can make a lot of money blogging about them. Passion is important, but it’s wise to couple it with what others are interested in, especially what they are deeply passionate about. You need to choose something that a large number of people are interested in. So, it’s about monetizing other people’s passions. Your blog, if it’d be hugely successful must be about serving others. If you’d make a ton of money from it, it must be devoted to enriching others. So, it can’t be about self-indulgence.
The Role of Research
So, how do you choose this ideal topic? You’d need to spend quality time on in-depth research. It’s easy to discern what people are really interested in online. There is software that’d help you with this phase, so, that you can know from the get-go, that you’re planting on fertile soil. This research relates to the niche and also the keywords you’d be writing about. The niche you need to decide about once, but keyword research is ongoing. The latter will help you craft compelling content that your readers will find irresistible. This is because the keywords reflect what they’re interested in.
How Content Will Be Created
It’s the quality of the content on your blog that is one of the key factors that will determine if it’s a success or a failure. The content, especially the words, is the main reason they are coming. So, how you’re going to be creating content and the frequency at which it’d be created are vital factors. Will you create the content yourself? Or, will you outsource its creation? Or will you have both? Will you outsource it to a company or a few individuals? How will you manage the content creation? workflow?
Final Thoughts
Each period has certain opportunities that the smartest people explore and exploit. At a point, we were nomads and cave-dwellers, hunter-gatherers, at another point we were all farmers, then factory workers. In the age of information, blogging is one of the smartest opportunities.
Imagine a platform that allows you to share what you know with the entire world, from your very own couch (or even a jungle, as long as there’s internet access), and to get paid to boot. Blogging can change your life, as well as the lives of others. So start a blog today. Don’t procrastinate. Start a blog today. Your future self will be ecstatic you did.
Here you’ll find a great article that’d give you a strong foundation for building your blog.