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Why You Should Start a Blog in the New Year

Posted By Stacey Roberts 10th of January 2017 Start a Blog 0 Comments

Why You Should Start a Blog in the New Year | ProBlogger

If you’re one of the millions of people thinking about starting a blog this year, well you’ve come to the right place!

People start blogs for so many different reasons (and often continue them for others entirely!). We each get a little something different out of blogging, on top of the benefits that are communal to us all. Our motivations and rewards are often more than the sum of our blog parts on paper – it can lead to so many brilliant new opportunities, friends, and fulfilment.

Open your mind to the possibilities, and think about where you want to go that blogging can help take you. Let’s not get to the end of 2017 and wish you’d finally taken the plunge. Don’t be Regretful McRegretson come December 31!

Why You Should Start a Blog in the New Year

If you’re on the fence about whether you should start a blog at all, or wondering if this is the year for you: you should. It is.

To make connections

You’ll make friends you could never even have imagined. Real friends, who can help you and inspire you and support you in not just blogging but other aspects of your life.

Not only friends, but people who are interested in the same things you are, people that can broaden your knowledge and your horizons. People who are interesting, people who add insight in your life.

You may even meet your next employer, your next romantic interest, or the right person that will pop up at just the right time to help you with a project or goal.

To Read: Tips for building Community

To share your hobby

Philatelists, unite! Got a key collection you just can’t wait to share? A love of vintage enamelware? An enviable stack of vinyl? This is your place to really let loose, show us what you’ve got and hook up with people who will love your hobby as much as you do.

To inspire others

Blogging can be such a two-way street with you and your readers, but ultimately they come to you for a reason. What kind of change are you hoping to effect in your fellow humans? Are you passionate about sustainability? Exercise? Humanitarianism? Motherhood solidarity? Whatever you’re into and want to help other people learn more about, now is your chance. There’s never been a better time (or a better reason) to blog!

To Read: How to Build a Blog that Has Lasting Impact Upon Its Readers

To document your life

This was such a drawcard from the early days of blogging – those of us with Diaryland or Livejournal accounts documenting our day-to-day, moving into Blogger or WordPress or Tumblr users sharing insights and keeping record of the things that make us tick.

Sure, you could keep a real journal or a diary but then you’d lose the connections you make with others. There’s something to be said for snippets of our days, including photos, tucked up on the www. for us to find at the click of a mouse whenever we want in the future.

Some of the best parts of blogging for me are the bits where I go back and re-read things I had forgotten, things about the early days of being a mum, the small incidents that I kept tucked away forever. What a great timeline of my life!

To Read: Having a Personal Blog: Is it Worth It?

To upskill

Y’all, blogging can be as simple or as complicated as you make it, but I can guarantee you: it doesn’t come without some kind of lesson!

You can learn the fine arts of basic code or spend time and energy learning more in-depth techniques for writing, photography, social media strategy, designing, html – the list is almost endless. You will learn something at the very least!

Blogging can help you be a better writer, a better marketer, or feel more confident on camera. You can learn video editing skills, podcast production, e-course creation… whatever you want to do, you can learn to be better, all on your blog.

Why you should start a blog in the new year | ProBlogger.net

To use it as a platform for good

Want to highlight ethical clothing manufacturers or shine a spotlight on those working tirelessly on behalf of refugees? Now’s your chance to share with your audience the things you wish got more attention in the media. You have a voice and now you’ll have a platform to ensure it reaches the right people.

To Read: Blogging for the Greater Good

To show your expertise

I find this happens quite a bit with blogs – people with skills and talents in a particular area start blogs and help spread that awareness to the people who are hungry for that information. Everyone from podiatrists to classical cellists have blogs about their specialist topic, and what fascinating reads they are too!

Honestly, there’s something out there for everyone, and there are people out there who want your particular viewpoint about your specialty. Don’t keep them waiting.

To build an audience

Want a book deal? Speaking gigs? Freelance writing jobs? This is your time to create your tribe. Anything you want to do, you can self-promote until that huge contract you’ve been waiting for lands in your lap. The battle is half won if you’ve got a ready-made audience just dying for your next big thing.

To Read: How to Build Your Blog’s Audience with Long Form Evergreen Content

To boost your business

This is particularly useful if you have an online business and the usual advertising options just do not work for you. Personalising your business and providing value for money with your blog posts alongside your products ensure you’re that retailer that goes the extra mile. How else are you expected to stand out in the oversaturated crowd?

To Read: 20 Tips for Better Business Blogging: How to Use Blogging to Generate Leads

To make money

Yes, it’s true – you can make money blogging. Whether you want to break even for hosting and publishing costs or you want a six-figure salary, there are ways of making that dream come true. It’s not easy work, but it’s rewarding, and can really return some return on investment (both time and money) when you put the hard yards in.

To Read: Make Money Blogging for Real: 3 Must-Know Factors and Can You REALLY Make Money Blogging? [7 Things I Know About Making Money from Blogging]

To sell your own products

You’ve written a fantastic ebook or have designed an amazing online course and now you need people to buy them – what better way than to build your own audience based on similar interests and then give them what they want? It’s never been easier to be the captain of your own creative ship and price and sell however you want to.

To Read: Create Products Week: 7 Days of Tips

To have a creative outlet

Always wanted to write a book? Love taking photos? Cinematography your thing but day-to-day you work a checkout? This is where you get to let your inner creative fly with no limits and everything to gain.

To be inspired

Every day I’m inspired by people online doing things. Humble things, grand things, it doesn’t matter – bloggers are blogging what they’re passionate about and it’s hard not to be inspired by that. I find fantastic recipes, life hacks, budget tips, health information, my next read, and just about anything I could possibly ever want to know (or didn’t know I needed to know, thanks classical cellist!) from people sharing it on their blogs.

To have an online hub

You may be getting traction on Instagram, or you’re a famous Facebooker, but as we know, we don’t own those platforms. Algorithms change almost before we’ve gotten used to the last change, and it can all be taken away from us at any minute. Having an online home you can direct people to is going to be the most useful thing you can do with your already popular platform.

To have fun

At the end of the day, we blog because we love it. Because it makes us happy to connect, share, inspire, and be inspired. Parts of it are work, parts of it are less-than-thrilling, but the good outweighs the bad. We’re in control of our own online destiny and we’re having a blast doing it. Come join us!

About Stacey Roberts
Stacey Roberts is the Managing Editor of ProBlogger.net: a writer, blogger, and full-time word nerd balancing it all with being a stay-at-home mum. She writes about all this and more at Veggie Mama. Chat with her on Twitter @veggie_mama, follow on Pinterest for fun and useful tips, peek behind the curtain on Instagramand Snapchat, listen to her 90s pop culture podcast, or be entertained on Facebook.
Comments
  1. Hello, Roberts.
    We are in 2017 and many people are joining in this blogging community. I think blogging is not only a source of earning but it is also a great way to share your views, outlooks with others. If you want to promote yourself by sharing your knowledge then blogging is the best way.
    So I hope this year you are going to enjoying your blogging journey. As a blogger, I have many things to do in 2017. I hope I can do well. Thanks for sharing your article with us.

  2. To build an online business, to grow your reach, to spread your message, to make more use of your time and to connect with others.

    There are a ton of reasons to start a blog.

    The only thing you should remember while launching one is to know the WHY factor.

    Why you want to start a blog. And give it some time.

    Don’t expect to get massive traffic or sales from the next month. You will fail.

    Know that, it takes time to build audience and to make sales. Only then you will succeed.

  3. In my short life, I’ve taken up and dropped a lot of vocations and hobbies.

    I’ve done phone engineering and repair. I’ve devoted years to playing football. I’ve been preoccupied with video games. I’ve experimented with drawing and painting. I’ve engaged in moot court practice. I’ve even played with shoe making and other crafts.

    But none of them has molded my person, given me as much freedom and fulfillment, and brought me influence and financial stability as blogging.

    I’m such a big fan of blogging. Here are 34 compelling reasons to start a blog.

    • It’s such an interesting hobby isn’t it?! We couldn’t have known how much it would shape us. I encourage everyone to start a blog, the benefits are incredible.

  4. Greate article, I have already started a new blog in this new year. Within two weeks I got two organic search keywords from the first page of Google. I’m looking forward to make blogging as my career.

  5. Resolution #1 completed: Get my blog live. I have already started getting BOTs commenting. How do I know what is a legitimate comment and what is not? Any recommended reading on blog security? Thanks!

    • Ah the bots! Sometimes they’re quite tricky and you can’t be sure what’s real and what’s not by the wording. I also like to look at the email address and the IP address. You’ll begin to realise what’s legit.

      if you have wordpress, I suggest getting the Jetpack Plugin. You can also read this: https://yoast.com/wordpress-security/

  6. Actually blogs are increasingly fashionable, nowadays everyone wants to create their own, different from a few years ago when I created mine and called me crazy.

    Once the agent creates the first blog soon the agent falls in love with them and does not want to stop anymore, I recommend everyone who wants to create blogs that start as fast as possible.

  7. I had been on the fence about starting a blog. I was like does the world really need another blog? Stacey gives so many good reasons I had not thought of. For me personally “to upskill” “to document your life” and “to inspire” were insightful.

    • I’m so pleased they resonated with you! In this day and age it can be easy to get caught up in the monetisation, but at the end of it all, we’re humans and we have to do what makes us come alive.

  8. Leiann Lynn Rose Spontaneo says: 01/27/2017 at 6:53 am

    I have a free WordPress blog created but have yet to post. I am lost at what I should blog about.

    proBlogger is very good at giving advice and I appreciate it. Maybe something you write about will give me the answer for my blog.

    I hear a lot of bad news about free blogs, but I just cannot afford to buy a blog. Is there still a way to possibly make money using a free WordPress blog?

    Thank you!

  9. This is an interesting list… But most people starting a blog focusing on immediate returns in terms of money. We all know, getting money from blog takes time and it needs passion and dedication. So, when they see that they can’t make quick income, their focus gets deviated. That’s how many people, drop the idea of blogging after the 1st year..

    Moreover, except promoting things like courses, people aren’t realizing that they can sell their own physical products using their blog, they just focus on selling through E-commerce platforms like Ebay & Amazon. So, they should also learn, how to sell their products on own blogs..

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