I’ve had more than a blog or two in my life. From tumblrs (nothing like an actual blog) to Amped Music (more of a music news site) to Femme FateEtAl (a group effort), I’ve tried my hand at every type of blog I could think of. I am very pro-blog. I feel like in 2015, everyone should have one. It’s a great outlet and it’s a great way to keep all of your accomplishments in one place. However, I feel like a lot of people are hesitant to start one because they don’t think they would have enough to say or feel like they wouldn’t have enough interesting content. I could name 5 friends off the top of my head who I would blog-stalk if they started writing online.
If you feel like you’ve been interested in blogging but have been holding back for some reason, let me try and give you that final push to start your blog.
Maybe this GIF of Shia LaBeouf will be enough?
If not, uh…that seems unlikely, but keep reading.
It’s great for tracking your personal growth
You can look back through your archive and see all of your accomplishments laid out in front of you. You can see how much your writing has improved, the quality of your photos, when you first started making blogger friends and getting invited to events…but you can also see how you’ve changed as a person. It’s great if your blog has improved, but it’s even better to look back and see how you’ve improved. Did you get that job you wanted? Did you meet a goal you’d been obsessing over for ages? I bet you’d blog about it, and then you can look back and remember that exact moment whenever you want. It’s like a less depressing version of a diary.
It’s great for others to track your progress too!
It’s 2015. Employers are checking social media accounts before job interviews and your online identity is officially a part of who you are inside and outside the workplace. Isn’t it great if they can look you up and find a curated site of all your best moments? Not only that, but a site that shows your skills with web design, photo editing, writing, social media engagement, working with brands…not a bad look. Definitely a plus in this age of technology.
Meeting people in your niche has never been easier
Start a blog about your passion and like-minded people will find you. If someone has already dedicated part of their life to running a blog about the same passion you have, you already have one thing in common. It’s wonderful because you can collaborate with each other, or just bounce ideas off one another. But it’s also great because these bloggers can live all over the world, and now you have a source to let you know what your scene is like in different cities/countries/continents. Knowledge is power!
I’m not going to say you should get into blogging to meet brands as well, because that does not start until you hit a certain point, but uh…if the prospect of a Triangl bikini or a Bodaskins jacket will help my argument, I’ll throw it in there. (But seriously, you’ll need more of these points to be convincing to you than just free stuff if you’re going to dedicate time to this!)
It helps you to get out more
Here is a fun fact about me: I would rather lay on my bed pretending to be asleep than do anything else 99% of the time. However, now that I have a blog to run and an Instagram account that I try to update daily…I often feel like I have to leave the house to gather some sort of content. Some people get flack for going places just to take a pic for Instagram and say they were there. I think I’m coming at it from a whole other angle. I honestly would not leave my bed for 6 days given the opportunity, and I’m sure at this point my parents don’t care if what’s motivating me to get out of my bed is a healthy metal state or the commitment I made to this site…just so long as I’m actually going somewhere. Having a blog has forced me to get out more, and has in turn helped me to feel a little less stagnant and anti-social. Blogging – a very solitary and indoorsy computer task – has helped me to connect with more people and leave my house more. If you have similar issues, maybe we should meet up and collaborate so we both have to do something…
It’s a great creative outlet
I am constantly full of schemes. One day I’ll be planning a YouTube series, the next I’ll have an idea for my own company. A blog is a great way to tie some of those ideas together. Put a store up on your blog and sell things you hand-make. Put a music section up and record covers of songs. Your blog is all yours and you’re free to post whatever you want. It’s easier than trying to funnel people towards all 12 of your current schemes. Send them to your blog and let them check out what they’re interested in. PLUS once you start to build a following, you’ll have more eyes looking at you that may be interested in what it is that you’re doing!
Did I mention you meet people??
I’m not kidding, you meet some awesome people. Only a couple months after starting Femme FateEtAl, I got a message from Julie at The Blog Bar wanting to discuss some ideas. After one conversation, I decided she was my mentor and she has been an AWESOME mentor ever since. She’s always dreaming big and it’s awesome to bounce ideas off each other because even when I think my ideas are good, they become something next level by the time we’ve talked them out. I highly recommend checking out The Blog Bar once you inevitably set up your blog because (bringing it back to the topic at hand), it’s a great way to meet other bloggers.
Not long after that, I linked up with Tracey through Instagram. I can’t remember who messaged who first, but we pretty much immediately decided we were friends and met up for coffee. We talked for hours until we realized it was dark outside and we really should be heading home. It’s such an incredible feeling when time passes that easily.
These are just two success stories! I have multiple other people who I know just through obsessively liking each other’s photos on Instagram, or people who I’ve known for a while but now know as bloggers as well as friends. As long as you’re careful about who you’re talking to or meeting in person, blogging will bring some incredible friends into your life.
Your blog is yours
This is super important to me. The world is a crazy place. You can have a job one minute and be fired the next. You can spend months writing articles and submitting them to other blogs/sites and never get published. Any number of things could happen and take away what you’ve worked so hard on.
Your blog is yours. No one can take it from you. No matter what’s happening in other parts of your life, your blog belongs to no one but yourself and you have full control over what goes on it and what happens to it. It’s a good feeling knowing that you can always have this collection of things that sum up who you are, and that it’s all yours. And it’s cool knowing that if people like it, then they attribute all of those things to you and you alone! And you deserve all of your success…well, your imagined success. Because you haven’t started that blog yet…
Have I convinced you yet? I’m telling you, you could write about anything you care about and someone will read it.
The worst part is the beginning when you’re writing to just yourself and waiting for someone to find you. But that doesn’t last for long. Eventually, you’ll have at least one friend who is super supportive and always checks (shoutout to Sandra, who texts me after every post I make and needs to start a blog right now).
If anyone starts a blog after this – if this post is able to be that final straw for someone – message me (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email, etc.) because I want to know about it. And I want to read your blog and tell you nice things. Good luck!