Have you ever thought about starting a blog?
Do You have a passion for cooking, gardening, or photography. Do You want to share your insights on personal development, productivity, or wellness. Do You just want to document your daily life and connect with other people who share your interests - starting a blog might be for you.
Whatever your motivation, blogging can be a rewarding and fulfilling hobby. It can also help you develop valuable skills, express your creativity, and build a supportive community. In this post, I will share with you five reasons why you should start a blog and how to make it a success.
1. Blogging helps you grow as a person
One of the best reasons to start a blog is that it can help you grow as a person. Blogging is not only about writing, but also about learning, reflecting, and improving.
When you blog, you are constantly researching new topics, exploring ideas, and challenging your own assumptions.
You are also exposing yourself to feedback, criticism, and different perspectives from your readers. This can help you expand your knowledge, sharpen your critical thinking, and enhance your communication skills.
I wanted to put effort and time into having a blog, and at the same time fulfill multiple goals on my bucket list.
Blogging can also help you discover more about yourself, your values, and your goals. By writing about your experiences, opinions, and passions, you can gain more clarity and confidence in who you are and what you want to achieve. You can also use your blog as a tool for personal growth, by setting challenges, tracking your progress, and celebrating your achievements.
The reasons I started this blog were many, but primarily I wanted to share my journey of becoming a better writer, reader, and learner. Along the way, I have learned so much about myself and the world around me. I have found amazing inspiration and people who have encouraged me to move forward, and this way personally challenged me to grow. Blogging has been one of the best decisions I have ever made for my personal development.
2. Blogging allows you to express your creativity
Another reason to start a blog is that it allows you to express your creativity. Blogging is not just about writing words, but also about creating something unique and original. You can use your blog as a platform to display your talents, skills, and passions. You can experiment with different formats, styles, and mediums.
You can author articles, stories, poems, or essays. You can create videos, podcasts, infographics, or comics. You can use photos, illustrations, animations, or music. The possibilities are endless – nevertheless every way you choose will require you to explore, learn and expand your skills.
By blogging regularly, you are training yourself to be more creative and innovative.
By blogging, you are exposing yourself to other bloggers who can inspire you, motivate you, and collaborate with you. You can join blogging challenges, prompts, and contests to stretch your creative muscles and have fun.
As much as I love to experiment with different types of content on my blog, I do not write posts about books, movies, games, and podcasts. I have yet to decide if quizzes, surveys, and polls are something I will use – for now I focus on technical content, however adding posts like this and other life hacks seems to sneak in occasionally.
3. Blogging builds a supportive community
A third reason to start a blog is that it builds a supportive platform. Blogging is not a solitary activity, but a social one too. When you blog, you are not only sharing your thoughts, but also inviting others to join the conversation. You are creating a space where you can interact with people who share your interests, values, and goals.
Sharing your passion can be scary, as you are exposing yourself, however you can also learn from comments and readers experiences, insights, and advice.
Blogging can also help you form meaningful relationships and friendships. By blogging consistently, you are building trust, credibility, and rapport with your readers.
You are also showing your personality, vulnerability, and authenticity. This can help you attract loyal fans, followers, and subscribers who will support you, encourage you, and cheer you on.
Sharing your expertise helps you understand better, strengthens your memory, and offers new viewpoints. It also enhances your communication, presentation, and leadership abilities, while increasing your confidence. Writing a blogpost allows you to learn through teaching and teach through learning.
4. Blogging shares your value with the world
A fourth reason to start a blog is that it shares your value with the world. Blogging is not only about expressing yourself, but also about helping others. When you blog, you are not only sharing your stories, but also your knowledge, skills, and expertise. You are providing useful information, practical tips, and helpful solutions to your readers. You are inspiring them, empowering them, and making a difference in their lives.
Blogging can also help you establish your authority, credibility, and reputation in your niche. By blogging regularly, you are demonstrating your competence, experience, and passion for your topic. You are displaying your unique voice, perspective, and approach.
For example, by creating this blog, I have gotten a platform to share, but more importantly, to share knowledge and use these posts as references. It is quite powerful to say; “I wrote a blogpost about that”.
5. Blogging is fun and rewarding
A fifth reason to start a blog is that it is fun and rewarding, however slightly time consuming at times. Blogging is not only about working, but also about enjoying.
You are pursuing your passion, following your curiosity, and satisfying your creativity. You are also exploring your interests, discovering new things, and challenging yourself.
Blogging can also give you a sense of achievement, recognition, and appreciation. By blogging regularly, you are setting goals, acting, and making progress.
When you blog, you are not only creating content but should also learn, explore, and evolve. Blogging can be a source of joy, excitement, and fulfillment.
You might receive feedback, compliments, or gratitude from your readers - sometimes negative, but any feedback will help You learn, grow and strive to make Your blog better.
How to start a blog
Now that you know the reasons why you should start a blog, you might be wondering how to start a blog. Well, the good news is, starting a blog is easier than ever. You do not need any technical skills, coding knowledge, or design expertise.
All you need is a domain name, a hosting service, and a blogging platform. You can set up your blog in minutes and start creating content right away.
That said, this blog aims to share my day-to-day ramblings, and I started out with a WordPress platform, hosted in Azure, and I leaned a ton. However I realized WordPress did not “turn me on” and there were several things that did not match my ambitions and way of work.
I have always been a serious person, with a well proven procrastination issue and often too preoccupied with other things and I had a halfhearted go to get a blog going in the past. I have been talking about ‘my blog’ for years, I had several domain names, several ideas and pretty much all of them never went airborne.
This time, I changed my approach and put a focused effort and time into starting this blog, started planning and blocking time for the task, and at the same time fulfill some goals on my bucket list.
I wanted to simplify the whole thing, allowing for visual adjustments, creating a custom theme, editing, and adding posts offline, all while keeping the site running in Azure at minimal cost. That is when I discovered Hugo.
Hugo caters to individuals like me who prefer writing in a text editor rather than a browser, and it is ideal for those who want to code their websites by hand without dealing with complex runtimes, dependencies, and databases. Read more about why I decided to use Hugo .
There are many guides and tutorials online that can help you start a blog. If you are not yet ready to start your blogging journey, you could start by posting to LinkedIn , you could opt-in as guest blogger if possible, or You could keep exploring the world of blogging. To get inspiration, listen to the The Blogging Millionaire Podcast with Brandon Gaille , or watch the Why You Need Your Own Blog video by Scott Hanselman an all-time favorite.
Whatever path you take, keep in mind, the blogging environment is ever evolving, and no amount of reading can fully prepare you for its rapid changes. Just when you grasp one concept, you will find yourself needing to learn it all over again.
Wrap-up
Blogging is one of the best hobbies you can have. It can help you grow as a person, express your creativity, build a supportive community, share your value with the world, and have fun and reward.
Whether you want to start a blog for personal or professional reasons, you will find many benefits and opportunities from blogging.
So, what are you waiting for? Start your blog today and join the millions of bloggers who are sharing their thoughts, ideas, and skills with the world.
Part of the draft for this blog post was initially created using AI. Despite my effort to make the wording “my own” and adding my own views, links, and references, some parts might still reflect the AI's original content.
Ethical AI use in content creation is crucial. While AI can aid with inspiration and drafts, the content must be accurate, fair, and unbiased. The creator is ultimately responsible for this and should disclose AI use to maintain transparency and trust.
–Jesper
Header image attribution: Created using Adobe Firefly