The benefits of personal blogging are huge.
Do you ever feel like you have something you need to share with the world? Maybe you have a few hidden talents or interests that you want to talk about. Or perhaps you feel burned out of your career and want a place to proactively vent your frustrations and find helpful solutions. Either way, you have ideas, and they need an outlet!
I get that. I’ve felt the same way for years.
Luckily we are in the age where we can express ourselves in many different ways through the interweb. And the technology just keeps getting better and faster. There has never been a better or easier time to utilize the internet for sharing valuable ideas.
I am a blogger and proud of it.
I follow many other website creators with whom I share the same interests. Mainly, other bloggers, nurses, and mothers I have a lot in common with and who I feel I can learn from. Over time I have found so many benefits of personal blogging, and I continue to find new ones as time goes by.
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But first, let me tell you the story of how I discovered blogging.
After the birth of my first child in 2015, I found that it was increasingly more difficult for me to read books at home, as I was busy caring for a new infant. To get myself out of the house and get some exercise into my life, I started taking my daughter for two or sometimes 3-hour walks around the neighborhood. It felt good to be out of the house again. But I still missed my reading.
It was at that time that I discovered podcasts. I loved them because I could put on my earphones and get lost in interesting conversations that were occurring among adults. I was hooked! Each morning from then on, I walked my new baby and listened to 3, 4, 5, or even more podcast episodes. It felt fantastic to have more mental stimulation again, and I loved every minute of my long daily walks.
One day I started researching some of my favorite podcasters online. I found out that almost all of them also had a blog that corresponded closely with their podcasts. Up until then, I didn’t even know that blogging was a “thing.”
Not long after that, I caught the blogging bug myself. I started researching anything and everything I could get my hands on about how to create a successful blog. And the rest is blog history.
9 Benefits Of Personal Blogging in 2019
Reason #1: Blogging gives you a voice
When you own a blog, you get to say, share, and teach anything and everything you want to. You OWN the platform.
Your job as a blogger is to cultivate and find your inner voice. You have a unique opportunity to build a tribe of listeners. If your goal is to relate to your audience and provide value, then you need to speak honestly and from the heart about topics that you consider yourself very good at. In other words, your blog NEEDS a voice.
In the beginning, you may find that you aren’t sure what you want to say. So just start writing. Your first ten posts might suck (don’t let that scare you, everyone’s do!). But that is how you learn and excel. Over time, practice does make perfect!
One of the most beautiful things I have discovered about having a blog is that it has made me a WAY better communicator. I take my blog writing seriously, and I genuinely strive to be a valuable resource.
Find your voice, and you will find your audience. If you are blogging correctly, you will effectively create a voice for your blog that will exclude most people. This is a good thing! Because you can’t write for everyone and you shouldn’t try to. As a result, you will create a more loyal following of people with whom you share similar interests.
My voice is all about the RN and mom lifestyle. What will your voice be?
Reason #2: Blogging helps you organize your thoughts on paper
I mentioned earlier that as a beginning blogger, it is quite possible that your first ten or more blog posts might not be your best work. But if you keep at it, it won’t stay that way. You get better with practice. Swiftly.
Blogging makes you a better writer and a better thinker. Blogging makes people better conversationalists about the topics they write about.
Writing makes you a more critical thinker. Because when you write, you have to communicate thoughtfully and articulately. It forces you to think of several different aspects of a specific topic. Therefore, you have the opportunity to become an expert and tribe leader within your chosen writing niche. Most people just don’t put that much thought into a subject when they don’t have to organize it for other people to read on paper.
When you think about it that way, you have the potential to become smarter than the non-blogger. So start writing!
Reason #3. Blogging connects you with like-minded people
I have found that there is another world of other nerdy mom and nurse bloggers out there, just like me. They work all day and then pull their computers out after the kids go to bed. And like me, they burn the midnight oil and create exciting content by focusing their consciousness on things they are already good at. In time they become experts within their niche.
But, blogging can get lonely when you are sitting alone at your computer for hours. Which is another reason why it is good to connect with other bloggers within your niche. Connecting with other bloggers has helped me in so many ways:
- Sharing helpful content from my blogger peers and vice versa
- Learning how to blog better and faster
- Forming relationships with other bloggers
I love it when readers leave me comments on blog posts. And I love responding even more. It tells me that I created a dialog that is worth having and that people are reading my posts! Readers also give me new ideas about things I want to write about in the future!
Reason #4. Blogging opens a world of opportunities
One of my favorite parts of being a blogger is that people and companies reach out to me with opportunities, instead of me reaching out to them! It has taken me a lot of work and time to get to this point, and I expect the opportunities to continue to grow with time. I have companies asking if I will guest post on their site or if they can put advertising on my website. I get emails almost every day, asking me to promote products. It is a lot of fun!
(I am learning how to be very selective about who I work with, though. It is essential only to do the things that are worth your time and politely decline the rest. And to be honest, I just don’t have a lot of time to work with many people at this time.)
Here are a few other examples of opportunities blogging has given me in the last year:
- Guest posting opportunities
- Guest podcast opportunities
- Free products
- Job offers
- Higher paying affiliate offers
Here is the best part – you can blog from anywhere in the world you want to as long as you have internet access. Any time of the day or night, you can blog. It offers the ultimate flexibility.
Reason #5 Blogging helps others find information
My #1 goal is to provide value to readers. When people turn to Google to find niche-specific information, I want to be the first website they see (as long as it is genuinely answering a question or solving an issue that they are looking for). There are several ways that bloggers can provide value when discussing a particular topic:
- Create a “How To” post
- Make a checklist post. Lists automatically provide structure to your blog post and de-stress your reader.
- Write a research-based blog post. As an RN, I live in a world where everything needs to be evidenced-based. If it’s not, then it may not be relevant or valuable. I often link back to Pub Med studies to give my posts more credibility.
- Write an interview post. People love reading about people’s lives.
Reason #6. Blogging is an enormous challenge
To say that learning how to blog is a “challenge” would be an understatement. There are so many moving parts to managing a blog that it sometimes makes my head spin. But the harder it gets, the more I want to learn and grow as a blogger.
Blogging forces you to think in ways you haven’t considered before. Without challenge, there is no growth.
There are many benefits of personal blogging
Reason #7. Blogging can become a business
There are bloggers out there who make money. As a nurse, it seems that we are making less money each year, yet the cost of living continues to grow higher. For that reason, many nurses I know have a side hustle to supplement their income. That is one of the many reasons why I started blogging after my first daughter was born.
Blogging can be a hobby, a side hustle, or a full-time family business. But it takes a ton of effort, research, training, and determination to get it started and build momentum. I always say that blogging is a marathon, not a sprint (especially if you already work and have babies to take care of).
Reason #8. Blogging is fun
When I’m not blogging, I’m usually thinking about blogging, because I get such immense joy from it. I get frustrated when I have to stop blogging and go to bed so I can get some sleep!
Reason #9. Blogging gives you freedom
Blogging gives me the freedom to write and share information about anything I desire. Since I have a self-hosted website, I own my site. It is mine, and I can do with it whatever I please. When I am frustrated and burned out at work, this knowledge gives me a sense of peace. It has become an outlet that has ultimately helped me become a better nurse, writer, and thinker.
I also have the freedom to create my website however I desire, with my favorite colors and fonts.
Professional bloggers have the freedom to work anywhere they want in the world, so long as they have internet access. I know bloggers who work while on vacation, some even blog about their vacation!
Are you ready to start blogging? You can find more information about how to get starting on my blogging resource page!
Additional Recommended Reading:
- How To Start A WordPress Blog On Bluehost
- How I Became A Nurse Blogger
- 9 Helpful Blogging Tips For New Bloggers
- Before You Start A Blog Read This!
- How To Find Time To Blog As A Busy Nurse And Mom
- Why Amazon Is A Great Affiliate For New Bloggers
- Start A Blog
