5 Reasons You Should Start a Blog Today

For many years I have avoided sharing my writing publicly, merely because I couldn’t believe anyone would care about what I had to say. And as time went by, I stopped caring about getting my voice heard. I shunned social media, negated self-proclaimed influencers, and channeled my creativity to other venues.

While I became accustomed to scantily writing for my eyes only, I gravitated towards professional creative writing, and found myself on a straight path to the world of PR and digital marketing. I found it easier to write for a purpose I was hired to fulfill, as opposed to “writing for fun”, but now I understand that the “fun” writing is essential to the “serious” writing, and of little use if not shared with the world.

My recent experiences on the job-hunting trail culminated in the realization that I NEED to start writing a blog, about writing, for the sake of writing. In spite of all my self-deprecation and desire for anonymity, I’ve decided to go public and I hereby challenge myself to write a new blog post every day, for the next 365 days, or until the earth completes a full circle around the sun (whichever comes first).

I don’t think it’s just a good idea or a fun challenge, I believe it’s imperative for every professional writer, whether you’re a UX writer or an accomplished novelist. I’m not making this assertion lightly, and I have 5 good reasons to make that case.

So here we go! 5 reasons why you should start a blog today!

1. Flex Your Writing Muscles

Like any exercise, writing requires practice and repetition, if you want to get better at it. When you’re writing exclusively for yourself you can afford to be sloppy and incoherent at times, because you already know what you’re trying to convey, and your brain can fill in the gaps for you. But when you know your writing is going to reach other people (even if it’s an audience of one), you force yourself to articulate your message in a concise and eloquent manner. You proof and tweak your text until you are convinced that your readers (be they who they may) can understand and relate to your writing. I’m sure you have a lot of first drafts and half baked poems in your secret notebook, but if you want to improve you have got to be willing to put yourself out there, exposed to scrutiny, and be able to reflect and accept criticism, so you can implement what you’ve learned in your next piece. Added bonus: the more reps you put in, the easier it gets to enter a state of flow and write about any given subject (almost) effortlessly.

2. Clout Is Everything

Establish authority by sharing your unique insights and expertise. Become the go-to person for information in your related fields. Nowadays, more than ever, “seeing is believing”, so just stating that you have a vast knowledge in a certain field isn’t going to cut it. Instead, break down your knowledge into little digestible snippets of text, you can put out there for the world to see. Here’s a useful analogy: Imagine you’re a plumber, who makes a living by fixing people’s clogged toilets. In your spare time you produce original content on plumbing (“How to prevent toilet clogging?”, “5 household items you can use to repair a broken pipe”…etc.) Despite the fact that I’ve never evaluated your plumbing skills personally, I’m already under the impression that you (pardon my French) “know your s**t” (pun intended). Others like me will flock to your plumbing content, and if it’s useful and engaging, you will amass a substantial following.

3. Share knowledge

“Sharing is caring”, as the saying goes, but indexing your written content is not just courteous and significant for others. but it’s also a useful way for you to archive valuable resources and guides, in order to easily access them in the future, whenever needed. It may be hard to memorize every useful tool or insight you’ve uncovered, especially if you’re not using it daily. Your blog however can be an easy to access library of your accumulated knowledge.

4. Attract Prospects

Search Engine Optimization is not just a buzzword, but one of the (if not the only) tool for reaching your audience via Google searches. The word wide web has become a vastly cluttered landscape, where it’s virtually impossible for you to be seen. That’s where SEO comes into play, to help you stand out and reach the top search results. Recent studies found that over 25% of people click on the first search result they receive, and 75% of people click on one of the 3 first results. In order to make it to the shortlist, research relevant keywords and incorporate them in your blog posts. The more certain keywords will appear across your written content, the higher Google’s algorithms will rate you in relevant searches. To go back to the plumber example, if I search for “reliable plumbers in Tel Aviv”, I’m more likely to stumble upon the jolly blogging plumber, than another plumber that hasn’t incorporated any keywords in his site. Once I’ve reached the site, I’ll be dazzled by the amount of professional content on it, and I’m more likely to trust and hire you.

5. Showcase Your Skills and Passion For Writing

If you’re looking to get hired as a professional writer, you should expect recruiters to look for a deep and burning desire to write. There are many pens for hire out there, so recruiters have the luxury of picking the cream of the crop. Your best work examples may suffice, but more likely than not, you would be asked to exhibit a penchant for writing — “You’ve mentioned that you travel a lot. Have you written anything about your adventures?” is a type of question that can make or break a job interview, so make sure to write about both major and incremental events in your life, to “prove” that for you writing is not just another job or a hobby, but rather a significant part of your life and personality. Also, read as much as you can, and practice writing and talking about your favorite books.