21 Reasons You Should Start Blogging
Are you thinking about starting your own blog but cannot decide whether this discipline is the right thing to do for you? Sure, many reasons can put you off, but in this blog post, we will instead focus on the positive reasons to start blogging. We've put together 21 reasons you should start blogging and live your dream life.
Every year you can read new articles on why blogging is outdated and why the idea to start blogging right now should be if not forgotten, then at least postponed. And yet, hundreds of people nervously push the launch button every day to get closer to their dream. And do you know what?
We would like to encourage every one of you who are just not sure whether the investment to start the blog (we talk both about money, your time and energy) is worth it.
There are many reasons not to do it, but in our opinion, there are even more reasons you should start blogging.
In this blog post, we've decided to put together 21 reasons to start blogging we consider to be the most important ones.
There are, for sure, many more reasons why a person wants to start an online business, but here are the most general ones. You can let us know in the comment section what was your personal motivation to start a blog.
In our case, it was more likely an impulse and coincidence. During the long cold evenings in Calgary, where we were living for a year on WHS visas, we came up with an idea to use all the money we save on traveling in South America and Central America.
As we had already traveled before, we had quite many photos and stories, which we had never shared.
One thing led to another, and after several days of brainstorming, we came up with the idea of starting a blog.
It should have served as a place where we could share our memories, mostly to ourselves, and we also knew we were going to need some kind of self-realization project.
But then our unambitious project of ours grew, and our blog has become the source of our income, and most importantly, the first job in our lives we really cared about and wanted to be good at.
If we should sum up the positives of blogging, just from the top of our heads, we cannot fail to mention the freedom, doing something we are passionate about, learning every day new things, or the opportunity to be creative.
Sure, we feel that we miss the head start as we launched our blog in 2018, and had we started ten or even five years sooner, it would have been much easier because, at that time, the competition, especially in the travel blogging industry was not that crazy.
On the other hand, we can now do things a bit differently, we can even more focus on things we started to be more interested in during those two past years, such as how to grow an online business and how to achieve work-life balance, especially when working from home.
The blogging community is nowadays quite huge, but we believe there is still a space for one more talented person as you are.
We think you already have ideas on the design or your niche, but there is always room for motivation.
Here are the best reasons you should start blogging.
REASONS YOU SHOULD START BLOGGING
What we believe is the worst thing before starting the blog, is the lack of confidence, the lack of beliefs in your strengths, and maybe even the questionable look in your friends' faces once you confide with them your plans.
Always remember that one of the main reasons to start blogging is only your personal decision, that must be positive, and everything else will come naturally.
Every single reason is valid as long as it makes sense to you.
YOU CAN HELP OTHER PEOPLE
Why should you start blogging? Maybe because you have some skills or knowledge that people are looking for.
Daily we receive positive comments that we helped with our travel tips plan someone's vacation or long-term trip, and it makes us happy, as we see our work has sense.
Whether you are excellent in designing an apartment, cooking, landscaping, or overcoming a hard life situation and know how to work with grief and anxiety, do not be shy to share it with the world.
If there was only one person who would find your advice helpful, it is enough reason to begin this unusual path.
GAINING SELF-CONFIDENCE
Well, let's say it frankly. Starting a blog is not something everyone can do. If you are creative enough, have great ideas, and you are able to jump over your own shadow, you will gain so much self-confidence that you will use in other areas of your life.
We've already written a post on how travel changed our lives for the better, but if we should say just one thing, how blogging changed our lives, we surely must mention the self-confidence and the belief in us and our skills and work.
Even when there are ups and downs on the path, there is never an issue that cannot be solved, never a problem you cannot overcome.
You should start blogging and do not underestimate yourself as it will pay off.
Even though your effort might not be reflected financially, you definitely gain new experiences and confidence that you can do everything which lies ahead of you.
IT IS A PLACE TO KEEP YOUR MEMORIES ALIVE
We live in a digital age. It might be a curse of our generation, but why not turn it into an advantage?
We take so many photos every day, create so many memories by traveling, we learn to cook international food, why do not keep track of it. Be honest with you and ask yourself when you last saw your pictures from your last holiday?
One of our personal reasons for start blogging was that we had so many photographs and rarely ever saw them.
This blog of ours is a quick reminder of everything we like; it can grow with us, and in a few years, we can look back and enjoy reading about things we considered important.
Hopefully, our interests will not change that much, and we will still see the truth in our words and actions.
Think of blogging as about your diary that will capture one of the most enthusiastic times of your life.
TURNING HOBBY INTO YOUR OWN BUSINESS
The main reason why you want to start a blog is very likely the fact that you have a hobby that you feel is worth sharing with the outside world. It is the topic you have a lot to say about.
It can be anything - travel, food, DIY, lifestyle, makeup, gaming, or books, your website can focus on what you find important or what fills your free time.
But have you ever thought about turning your hobby into a business?
The only thing you must do is to invest your energy into putting your skills and everything you know about the topic you are passionate about into a blog.
We are sure that no matter what your interests are, you will find an audience, like-minded people searching the internet for the information you provide.
And even though making money out of blogging is not your principal goal, that does not mean you cannot think of your blog as about legitimate business.
The hard work usually pays off, and after some time, when you figure out the steps you must do to create a successful blog, you can only be proud of yourself that you built a business from scratch.
We at first did not start the blog to make money but think we had back in our heads the idea that it could one day turn into something more serious. We believe that for many, it is the reason to start blogging, and there is nothing wrong about it.
We just know you should not be writing about topics you do not care or do not know anything about, only because you think it could be profitable.
Readers will soon discover your intentions, and the lack of ideas and motivation will soon catch up on you.
DEVELOPING NEW SKILLS
Some people might find learning and developing new skills as an obstacle, but we believe that this step is one of the reasons to begin, and why to make from blogging a respectable job.
It is not easy, but once you are in the process, and learn step by step new things, you will realize how many new skills you've gained.
You will improve your writing and photography skills, learn about SEO, advertising, affiliate marketing, and social media. You will find out how to promote your blog, how to refresh the content, and so much more.
Sometimes at our old jobs, we had a feeling that we are kind of stuck in one place, that we mastered the discipline (no matter how bad it sounds), and there is not much that could surprise us.
Then we started to build this blog.
We decided that all the posts will be written by us (meaning no guests posts), all photos will be ours, even though it would have been much easier to use photo banks, and once we put our soul and all our effort in it, it simply clicked.
By starting a blog, you commit yourself to attend a never-ending university that will help you to stay motivated and vigilant till the rest of your life, or at least until the time you find this activity worth your time and energy.
Once you start the blog, there is no room for stalling; you will always be moving forward.
YOU WILL BE MORE CREATIVE
I've never thought I can do a creative job. I would have never even applied for a job that would require creativity. I just considered I am not that kind of person.
When I came with an idea to start the blog, mostly because I wanted to persuade Martin to finally share his travel photos with a larger audience than our parents and friends, I had no idea that a large portion of my day will be filled with writing new posts and thinking of new topics that our readers might find interesting.
The blogging world opens up the door for creativity, and you will find out that you are capable of pushing your limits even further.
It is both scary and uplifting feeling that no one would tell you exactly what to do, but you need to be the imaginative and original member of your business.
If you are not natural, it should not put you off from working on your blog, ideas will come with time, and they will be even better.
One tip - always write down all your ideas when you feel productive.
IT IMPROVES YOUR WRITING SKILLS
When we read our oldest blog posts (it is, unfortunately, necessary to improve your content even after hitting the publish button continually), it is quite painful.
Even though our writing skills are still far from what we would have considered perfect, we feel much more confident, and writing a post now takes less time than in the beginning.
If you've always wanted to write articles but did not have enough courage for that, starting a blog is an excellent excuse for getting better in this discipline.
You can even later use this experience in your CV when applying for a job.
YOU CAN MAKE LIVING OUT OF BLOGGING
Not making money but creating quality content should be every blogger-to-be primary motivation to start a blog.
On the other hand, it would be very selfish to say that you cannot make a living out of blogging and should not try it. Rather the opposite, the possibilities are endless, and we quite understand that many beginners can seem blogging as the easy way how to get rich.
There are so many examples out there of bloggers making a fortune, and so many more or less successful blogs selling courses on how to start a blog, that it is quite clear that many people do it for money.
Yes, you can make money with blogging, and when it works out, that's wonderful.
What is necessary to know that some bloggers like to create an aura of success, but not that many share what is really behind the curtain.
You need to sacrifice a lot of time to your dream, devote all your thoughts to be recognized, yet the outcome does not have to be positive if you are simply not that lucky.
But in this blog post, we want to share with you the pros of blogging, the reasons why you should start, and the vision of making money is definitely very appealing.
The way to make a living out of blogging would be enough for another separate blog post so we won't be very specific here, but you should direct your attention to ads, affiliate marketing, or sponsor posts.
BLOGGING CHALLENGES YOU
Another very important reason for starting a blog is that blogging challenges you. It is not dull, and on your path to become a blogger, you will stumble upon many challenges, and it uncovers the best in you.
Imagine that you want to master an industry that is so complex and has so many branches, sometimes even dead ends, and you want to do it all at once.
Most of the tasks are things that you've never done before, what else, you've probably never heard about them. All of that might be quite frightening, but would it be so attractive if you knew everything?
Blogging really challenges you, not only when you are about to start when there is so much information but also there are many things you must figure out during the process.
Modern technologies and trends change quickly, so there is one sure thing - you will never get bored.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES WILL APPEAR
When we started blogging, we never thought about visiting destinations with travel companies, getting emails about possible collaborations daily, or writing articles for various travel websites.
It somehow came naturally with the blog.
Keep your mind open and never give up, because blogging is about to open several new doors for you.
Opportunities are endless, and if nothing else, you can always claim your newly acquired computer and writing skills in your CV when looking for your dream job.
You can start with a blog, and find out that you are strong with Pinterest to become someone's personal VA.
You will learn a lot about SEO - companies creating their blogs to sell products look for copywriters.
Or you can become a marketing expert.
Simply put, blogging will open a whole new world for you, so wait for it with arms wide open.
IT IS A HOBBY FOR LIFE
Sitting down behind the desk and writing about your experiences is one thing, but you somehow need to get these experiences.
That's why travel bloggers travel (it does not always have to be abroad, what about traveling locally?), food bloggers try new recipes at home, lifestyle bloggers attend courses, or DIY bloggers can often be found in a garage creating new helpful stuff.
Blogging will help you to stay active.
No more sitting in front of the TV, watching Netflix and just aimlessly killing time, from now on, you will always be motivated and thirsty for knowledge as you need new ideas for the blog.
Blogging is really a hobby for life, and it does not matter whether you can focus on it daily or only once in a week, your time will be well-spent.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE ANY PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
Becoming a blogger is one of the things a person can do without any previous experience. The lack of experience should definitely not put you off, consider it as an advantage as you can learn everything and not follow any bad habits you've learned somewhere else.
Many jobs require years of prior involvement in the given industry, but blogging is different.
Although you can buy many courses online, most of the bloggers learned how to build a blog from scratch. And so will you too.
It usually involves many more or less successful tries, but in the end, the final product is worth it.
As it is quite easy to become a blogger, when we talk about the technicalities, this is one of the reasons why the competition is so immense.
Even without any experience, read as many guides as you can before you start to avoid rookie mistakes.
THE UPFRONT COST IS PRETTY LOW
You do not need to be a millionaire to start your own blog. If you are still considering whether all the effort you would have to put into your new hobby would be worth it, the good news is that the upfront cost is quite low.
So if after a year or so it will be apparent that blogging does not give you the satisfaction you hoped for, you can always quit and do not regret the money that much.
Yes, you need to buy a domain and set up hosting, but then all the additional services you may or may not to purchase is only up to you.
Check out Squarespace. This is a service we use to design our site, and we love it!
We also pay for Grammarly Premium, Tailwind to schedule our pins on Pinterest, and Adobe Creative Cloud so we can edit our photos in Lightroom and Photoshop, but these expenses are optional.
YOU CAN CREATE AWARENESS OF THINGS YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT
The internet is a powerful medium, and by building your site, you can raise awareness of topics or things that are dear to you. There are so many things other people would be interested in, but it is possible they do not know about the options.
You can become their ‘mentor’, do what you are passionate about, share your tips.
Same as travel bloggers are lately vocal about sustainable travel; you can blog about the topic you think deserves more attention.
Blogging creates a unique opportunity to share your voice with like-minded people.
SELF-PROMOTION
Did you notice that nowadays almost every company have a blog bookmark on their website? The blog became a super-important tool for self-promotion, and for letting people know that you exist.
Blogging does not need to be your main motivation, but you might need it for your business, for selling products, and for effective marketing.
With the world connected, it is often hard to stand out; that's why self-promotion became an essential part of every business' strategy.
YOU CREATE SOMETHING YOU CAN BE PROUD OF
What people seek in their lives? It is highly individual, but we think it’s some kind of personal fulfillment and success many of us want to achieve.
When you start a blog, at the same time, you are creating something you can be proud of, a product that will be solid proof that you were not just wasting your time.
Blogging teaches you many things, and creating a responsive website should not be taken for granted.
The final version of your blog will project all the skills you had to learn, the ability to stay self-motivated and organized.
YOU CAN START WORKING FROM HOME
Do you think that working from home, being your boss, and finally being independent is something you are looking for?
Working from home is not that ideal as it could sound at first, but it is definitely worth trying.
Simply put, working from home has many pros and cons, but for us, there are definitely more positives than negatives.
Creating your own business might have many reasons.
Working from home is usually not the starter, but it is very often a new blogger's long-term goal. We hear all the time that people get tired of the classic 9 - 5 working hours and the need to be in the office all the time, even when a person is not that productive.
When you work hard enough and turn blogging into your business, you can start working from home easily, be more organized, coordinate your schedule as you please, and overall balance your work and personal life better.
OR YOU CAN BE LOCATION INDEPENDENT
The best part about blogging? You only need your computer, internet, and then you can actually choose the place where you will work freely.
For us, being location independent was one of the reasons to start working remotely.
You can travel from place to place while working or choose a new destination every year. And the best part? You don't have to be even a travel blogger to do this.
There are no limits.
Even though we must warn you that working from a beach is quite a utopia as it is not that comfortable (the sun is scorching, and sand is everywhere), being location independent is one of the perks a blogger can enjoy.
NETWORKING
Does it happen to you that when you talk about blogging and overall about your efforts, many people look at you with raised eyebrows?
Well, even if you haven't begun yet, one of the motivations to start blogging could be the possibility to connect with same-minded people, with people who understand your troubles and better who can help you out.
Do you ask where you can find these people?
Very beneficial are social media such as Twitter, where you can follow threads or Facebook groups where you can ask technical questions or share your achievements or struggles.
We took advantage of being part of groups like these, mainly when we already knew what we wanted to do, but we did not know how.
If you prefer a closer connection with fellow bloggers, look for meetups in the city where you live.
IMPROVING YOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS
Blogging is a perfect opportunity for improving your language skills, and it does not matter if you write in your maternal language or not.
Before we started our travel blog, we had to make an important decision, if the blog will be in the Czech language or English. As we wanted to have a higher chance of being found by other travelers, we opted for English.
We know we made a rod for our own back, but this risk panned out well, even though it is much harder for us.
On the other hand, we are grateful that we can practice a second language every day and expand our vocabulary - that actually works even when you blog in your native language.
To improve your written texts and to have less work with proofreading, we recommend using the Grammarly app.
BLOGGING IS FUN
This online discipline will surprise you how demanding it is, and you should never forget why you wanted to start in the first place.
The reason was that it should have been fun.
And yes, blogging is fun, although it can often be overwhelming and nerve-wracking.
Creating an online space should reflect your hobbies and interests, and you should always like doing what you do.
That's an essential thing to realize.
Once you enjoy what you do, the results are much better, your readers will get the message, and it will be the reason to come back to your site.
Simply put, if you have a feeling that blogging is something that could bring you pleasure, perspective, and many moments of joy, look no more for the reasons to start blogging - this is the one.
RESOURCES
So what programs we use to keep Laidbacktrip running?
The absolutely necessary expense is purchasing the domain and paying for hosting.
We opted for Squarespace, an all-in-one solution as we like it is clean and straightforward.
But the most popular option among bloggers is Bluehost because you can install Wordpress.org on it.
In the beginning, we were reluctant to pay more for external services.
But we later found that some of them are necessary, and some of them make our work much more comfortable.
We use a professional email, Tailwind that helps us schedule pins for Pinterest and Instagram.
As we use only our own photos, Adobe Creative Cloud that is an excellent tool for editing photos in Lightroom and Photoshop is a must-have.
To improve our writing skills we use Grammarly Premium.
It all costs several hundred dollars per year, but it helps us with our business.
