Blogging will change your life: What I learned in 5 years of writing online and building a personal brand
Blogs are an old technology, but they are not outdated. They can be a huge boost to your brand and vision.
Over 409 million people read about 20 billion blog pages every month.
One study found that businesses with a blog enjoy 126% higher lead growth than businesses without one. Another study found that around 77% of web users read at least one blog per day.
Of the 1.5 billion websites you can visit, more than 152 million of them are blogs.
The numbers are staggering, but there’s also a huge impact for individuals. Blogs are a way to communicate value and expertise and share your story. Blogging can help you discover your own values, brand, and audience.
I started this blog in 2018 and have since accrued over 250 articles in my archives.
There’s an idea that you can’t get quality water unless the faucet is turned on and running regularly. This applies to writers and content creators, but also broadly to everyone: You don’t get to the good stuff until you keep at it for a while.
It wasn’t until I had written about 60 blog posts, for example, that I realized I wanted to focus on personal development topics. Writing about a bunch of different things helped me recognize what I didn’t want to write about. It specified my aim.
After nearly two years, my blog is what made me realize I wanted to pursue journalism full-time.
What began as a travel blog evolved into a written, public version of me — a place to share my passion and show my expertise on personal development, productivity, books and creativity.
Writing online honed my voice and revealed my vision for the site. It also taught me who I wanted to be as an individual. Eventually, it established my brand, which allowed me to develop an audience organically.
In five years of blogging, my writing has become more confident, concise and specific, and the ideas more consistent.
It used to take me a full week to write and publish, whereas now I publish on almost a daily basis. The habit of blogging helped strengthen my writing muscles.
This blog has become an essential project of mine because it achieves three things:
Personal development
Professional development
Provides a creative outlet/enjoyment
I include my website when I apply for jobs or school programs. It gives me a unique collection of work not because it is particularly brilliant, but because it shows character traits — consistency, work ethic, a willingness to stick things out.
All the while, a blog establishes your brand and credibility.
By writing about something specific, you learn more about it over time. Credibility and expertise bolster a brand’s identity.
People will learn to look to you as someone who can speak with authority on a specific topic. You gain confidence in something you’re passionate about. It works as an ever-growing, constantly updated resume.
A blog full of niche work tells a larger story of who you are, what you value, and what audience you aim at communicating with.
While a blog allows you to improve your skills, it also gives you a platform to show off your skills. Instead of telling people you are a good graphic designer, for example, you can point to a blog full of your design work.
And — perhaps less talked about — a blog is owned and managed by you, so you can leverage the content in a way that hides your weaknesses. You can highlight your skills and niche while ignoring the topics you’re not as well-versed in.
Finally, a blog simply helps put your name out there. It gives you your own corner of the internet where you can express yourself, grow and learn.
I don’t have to worry about people finding me on Google because, after several years, my blog has established itself in search engines. Other websites link to my work often, and my blog is connected with my social media accounts (here’s my Instagram and here’s my Twitter).
Plus, blogging allows you to sharpen your SEO practices (or: how to use keywords to boost internet discoverability), which is a highly marketable and in-demand skill.
The key to remember is that anyone can start — a ton of people do — but very few people stick with it long-term. It takes dedication and work, but the payoffs are real (and I’m not even talking about monetization).
Those who start a blog and write online consistently can reap genuine, outsized rewards personally, professionally, and creatively.