Benefits of Starting a Blog …

Whatever your initial motivation for starting a blog, you will most certainly find yourself reaping the benefits, beyond just making money. There are many compelling reasons to start one and if you are ready to find out more just follow this link to my own blog to find out if blogging is a good fit for you!

Many of today’s bloggers began blogging as a way of reaching potential customers and staying in front of existing customers. Based on my experience, it works. A blog is an important section of my website because directly or indirectly, it generates income. Even if there were no other reason to blog, I would continue. Meanwhile … there are other reasons to blog, as I have learned while I continue to write these blog articles week after week. In June I will have been blogging for one year. Following are some of the ways I have benefited personally from publishing a blog.

1. Blogging has helped me organize my thoughts. Now, anyone who knows me knows I am a very organized person. I make lists and I tab my notebooks. However, those mechanics have not always helped me organize my thoughts. If I choose to write about something, I have committed to thinking my topic through. In order to write about it, I need to be clear about what I want to express. In the process, my thoughts crystalize.

2. Blogging has given me new ideas. It still amazes me the way writing about something can open doors in my mind. It doesn’t happen every time, but now and then as I am writing to explain something or share information … “bang!” — I get a new idea, a brand new idea that I can use in my life or my business. In the process of putting my thoughts on paper (or screen), a creativity button is pressed. I love that!

3. Through blogging, I have helped people and contributed to their success. Call me old-fashioned, but I get a warm and fuzzy feeling when something I have written benefits someone else. Occasionally I hear from other graphic designers, virtual assistants and entrepreneurs who tell me they learned something from a specific article of mine, and it helped them professionally or personally. I guess this is part of the wheel of karma.

4. Blogging expands my knowledge. If I come across a topic I would like to learn more about, that is usually the cue to write a blog entry about it. I research the topics for my own education, and at the same time, I probably absorb more information because I am going to turn around and write about them. You have to understand something if you are going to explain it to others.

5. Blogging has made me a better writer. The discipline of sitting down twice a week to write with the intention of truly communicating has sharpened my writing skills. It is one thing to ramble on and write for the sake of hearing yourself think. But when you blog — especially on your business — you have an obligation to communicate clearly and effectively. I continue to hone that skill.

6. Blogging builds my network, initiates and grows relationships, gains trust and starts conversations. I have benefited personally and professionally from each of these aspects of being a blogger. I can honestly say that blogging has enriched my life in all of these ways.

7. Blogging has helped me become more observant. I have created the expectation that I will write a new entry in my blog twice a week. I take this seriously as a commitment I have made to my readers and to myself. As a result, I am always looking for topics.

8. Blogging can be a way of getting immediate feedback. Fairly soon after publishing blog posts, I have received feedback through comments from readers and through responses on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.

Additional benefits I’ve received from blogging do enter the realm of increasing my business and my income, which is why I did not list them above. Here are a few of those:

9. Technically, blogging improves the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for my website and increases my traffic. I can document this by reviewing my website analytics.

10. Blogging gives my business a voice. My customers and potential customers feel like they know me in a way they would not if I were not blogging.

11. My blog, putting my voice out there, differentiates Virtually Untangled from other businesses. I believe this to be true for everyone who blogs as part of their business model. As my readers follow my posts and learn about my experiences, as I share my tips and opinions, my business takes on my personality.

12. Blogging increases my exposure in my chosen fields and may even establish me as an expert or thought leader.

13. Blogging generates cross-over business for me as my graphic/web design clients learn more about my virtual assisting business and vice versa.