Why you should start a blog

This post is the beginning of our Blogging101 journey

It’ll be simple and definitely easy to understand.

Let’s make it happen.

Do you want to be seen as an expert in your field?
Are you trying to acquire new customers or clients for your business or service?
Are you a graduate student hoping to get hired soon?
Do you have a desire to express yourself and share your opinions with the world?

Consider blogging

blog (a truncation of the expression “weblog“)[1] is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (“posts”).

-Wikipedia

Done well, blogging gives you a platform to influence, educate, and inform a potentially worldwide audience.

A good blog:

Shows commitment to your field
Highlights your strong communication skills
Attests to your cutting-edge knowledge
Connects you to important people in your field including potential customers, clients, or employers

A blog can also highlight personality strengths that are useful:

Creativity and ideation
Leadership
Discipline/hard work
Commitment and perseverance
Problem-solving (particularly if that is the focus of your posts)
The desire to help others/give back

Blogging, like the internet, is free (or relatively cheap) and open to the world. You have an opportunity to influence many more individuals than you do in your current space. It’s a perfect medium for knowledge that could and should be shared with a large audience.

If you can get past the small learning curve of using a blogging site or recording a podcast you will have an almost limitless opportunity to influence others.

I know what you’re thinking: Do I really need a blog?

Yes, if you provide great content to your audiences.

And you’re also thinking: I don’t have time to write a blog.

That’s OK—there are solutions to that. Read on.

So are you ready to investigate this idea? This post focuses on the concept of blogging for your career and leisure and will help you think through the process before actually setting one up.

Future posts will focus on getting started and even expanding your blog or podcast into a money-making venture or even a published book.

But let’s start at the beginning: thinking about blogging. As with any new project, you have several things to consider. Here are 5 key questions to ask yourself:

1. Why am I writing this blog?

The benefits of blogging have already been mentioned, so review the list and see if any apply to you. Does the idea of expressing your opinion or knowledge on a regular basis appeal to you? Do you see a bigger purpose to your activity: helping others or enhancing your bottom line? If you can’t connect with an interior purpose or meaning to this project you will likely have difficulty sustaining it. In addition to the career benefits mentioned earlier, you may be able to monetize your blog and derive income.

Think of blogging as a relatively long-term strategy. While you might initially use them to attract potential customers, for example, you might find that the community you develop is worth maintaining after you get them.

2. Do I have the knowledge base or skills to create a blog?

By their very nature blogs are a series of posts: they are not a once-and-done activity. You must have enough knowledge to sustain them over a length of time. Let’s start with the most important aspect of blogging: content.

“You don’t write because you want to say something. You write because you have something to say.”

Every good blog has solid content whether it’s a story, a “how to” lesson, or a new piece of information

Is the topic you plan to cover sufficiently broad enough to encompass a lot of posts and information, while at the same time focused enough to attract a consistent group of followers? To learn more about developing potential content for your blog, check out our next posts.

3. How can I develop my ideas? Brainstorming possible posts and topics

Try creating a mind map to identify possible topics and ideas. Take an instance, “fashion blogging”. Put the word “fashion” in the middle of your paper, what branches could you start drawing? Some examples could be “clothes”, “models”, “photos”, “accessories” etc.. The list could go on forever, and each of these branches would have more topic ideas.

Now put your field in the center (if you have several topic ideas, just create several mind maps), and draw some branches. Once you have a list of topic ideas, consider

What ideas have the most staying power and depth and offer the most opportunities for continued exploration?
How would you frame your ideas into posts or writing?
Who is your audience?
- Will you be communicating to other experts or to people new to your field?
- Are you seeking clients or customers?
- Are you hoping to educate people about your field?

Answering these questions will help you shape your content and find the best audience.

Now that you have considered whether you would go into blogging and you have a general idea of the content you could produce, it’s time to ask this next important question.

4. Do I have the time to devote to a blog?

There is no set rule for how long it takes to create a blog post. A lot will depend on the topic you choose and the information you want to convey. I know bloggers who write their posts off the top of their heads and can create a post in 15 minutes. Gary Vaynerchuk produces great quick videos, blogs, and podcasts. His style could work for you if you’re focusing mainly on your opinion, have a quick idea or suggestion, or already have so much knowledge stored in your head you can quickly provide advice.

Determining the time you have to spend on the project intersects with your “why.” If you can’t maintain the purpose, you will likely not be able to sustain your project. You might want to experiment and try writing a blog post. How much time did it take?

While you will be more efficient in the future, the truth is that writing can take a lot of time, particularly if your subject area demands careful citations or investigative research. (For what it’s worth, I usually count on my posts taking about 3 hours to write.)

5. Maybe you want to start small?

Not ready to commit the time and energy needed to start your own blog, but want some of the potential benefits? Try entering the blogging world gradually.

First, you don’t have to write your own blog to get noticed. Many current, well-established bloggers welcome a “guest blogger” (via email or phone) for their blog. You could write a post for blogs that share a similar niche or topic]as your content.

[ Send an email to admin@quarmecaptain.com with your articles to get featured on the blog]

You can “microblog”: in other words, tweet. Start by tweeting out your areas of interest. Link to interesting articles. Follow other Twitter posts about your field. The tweets from people you follow will inevitably connect you to interesting blog posts. Subscribe to them so you can get a feel for what their content, how much they write or produce, and how often they post.

Once you’re following some bloggers, leave intelligent comments. Use your real name so they can contact you. While all bloggers/podcasters appreciate the “great post” type of comment, they also enjoy someone who adds their personal experience or in some way enhances what they are saying.

While all bloggers/podcasters appreciate the “great post” type of comment, they also enjoy someone who adds their personal experience or in some way enhances what they are saying.

Blogging, when done well, offer great opportunities to build and enhance your career. In a future post, I will cover the best ways to get started.