What is Blogging and its Benefits
Blogging is a great way to earn some extra money from home. How? Blogging allows you to work your writing skills and creativity into a blog that will generate traffic.
In this post we discuss the benefits of blogging. We'll talk about what it takes for somebody new to get started, and how bloggers set themselves apart from other content creators on the web. For example, just think about our previous post: "How To Write More Effectively". While it was all about how to improve your writing skills, it made use of some clever blogging techniques such as blogging in list form and creating visual posts (in this case images) that could be easily shared on social media sites like Pinterest or Instagram.
We will talk about the different types of blogging, how to choose the right blog niche and examples of some of the best blogs that offer exceptional content. Here are more ways in which blogging can help you earn:
1. Find potential customers for your business. If you've ever had an idea for a new product or service, or even a dream to start your own business, chances are somebody else has too. You just have to know where to find them. In this case, finding potential customers isn't as hard as it sounds—there are a lot of places where people post about their daily lives—including their frustrations, needs and desires—such as Facebook pages and review sites on blogs and websites. Once you find those groups, and start lurking around in them, you'll notice that there are a lot of people who have the same problems they need help with. Once you know who all these people are, it's time to start communicating with them and pitching your business idea. But if you're a newbie, all this will be very difficult for you.
To make your blog work for you in this way, all the blogger has to do is write about problems that resonate with those potential customers. They would then consider buying from the person who offers solutions to their problems.
2. Earn money from affiliate marketing. If you want to open a blog for money, you've got to be able to earn a lot of it. However, when you're just starting out, this can be difficult. Luckily, bloggers can still earn some decent cash from blogging by choosing an appropriate monetary model—like affiliate marketing, where they earn commissions on every sale they make (which isn't even their product). All they have to do is recommend other people's products and services online and link them up to the provider's website via their own commercial links (also known as affiliate links).
3. Monetize your social media accounts. Some bloggers even make money by just sharing links with their followers on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and even Twitter. If a visitor clicks on the link in their feed and then buys something from that site or service, they'll earn some commission as payment for sending them the way of the company's website.
4. Sell your own products and services online. This is where blogging becomes very serious business, because making money from it will require a lot of work and persistence—something that not everybody has plenty of free time to do, especially if they have other commitments or a full-time job to juggle as well. But if you are persistent enough and willing to put in the necessary effort, you can make a lot of money from blogging.
5. Become influential on the web. In an online environment where people tend to choose products and services they hear about online and read about online, blogs can offer a great deal of influence on potential customers.
6. Enhance your SEO skills. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most important aspects of running an online business, whether it's through blogging or not. For example, if you want your business website to show up on the first page of Google's search results when people search for your product or service, you need to do a lot of SEO work. The good news is that blogging can actually teach you a lot about SEO.
7. Promote and market your work online. If you want people to buy your products or services and get to know about them, it's very important that they know about you first—this is where blogging comes in handy. If a visitor reads an interesting post and gets interested in what the blogger thinks about the subject matter, he or she might also be interested in what other thoughts the blogger has on different topics as well.
9. Connect with like-minded people across the globe. This is what makes blogging so special—all those connections that you'll make with other people who share a common interest in your blog content, but might live somewhere else in the world. This can be very valuable for your business, as these connections might be potential customers, contributors or even employees.
10. Learn from other bloggers' successes and failures. There's also no better way to learn than from somebody who already knows a lot about what you're trying to do. This can be somewhat problematic, because you might feel under pressure to live up to the standard set by these bloggers and that can be a source of stress, but you'll likely learn a lot from this process as well.
11. Share your passion with the rest of the world. What's important about blogging is that it offers people an opportunity for self-expression—this is especially true for those who love to write and share their thoughts and passions on the web. You will also find that blogging offers a sense of freedom, as well as an escape from all the stresses in your life.
12. Share your unique voice with everyone. While this is something that all bloggers should do, those who have a unique style and voice will probably do it best. This means that you should experiment with different types of research for your content, as well as various techniques to build up your personal brand online.
13. Make new friends in the blogging world. Many bloggers use their blogs for networking with other people in the blogging world—for example; people who post about similar topics to the blogger's blogs, or people who are promoting products or services from the same provider.
14. Get some good ideas from others' blogs and use them in your own.
Conclusion:
If you have a blog, then you are likely to make money from it. However, this doesn't mean that you should stop blogging and start focusing only on making your blog succeed.
You're going to start blogging because of these reasons:
To be able to free your mind and do what you love;
To get a lot of ideas;
To expose yourself to the world;
To help people;
To be able to communicate with other people;
Just the simple reason that it's fun. And if it is fun for you, why would you stop doing something that gives you so much joy? So don't ever put aside the dream of making extra money with your blog.