I used to ask myself that quite a bit.
Unlike a lot of people, I’ve never really thought of using a blog for direct income. And I think that’s why that question cropped up for me.
‘Why bother then?’
I didn’t care about making money through ads and I wasn’t really worried about the number of visitors either. Yet, everywhere I looked online, marketers talked about ‘monetising’ and ‘affiliate marketing’, as if the only point should be to source cash.
And fair enough – if people like making money from their blog, more power to them, but that just never resonated with me.
Don’t get me wrong – I love money.
Absolutely love it.
But the idea of a blog never struck me as a cash cow. I wasn’t convinced by a digital marketing article or YouTube guru to pen my thoughts online. I just wanted to write.
I also wanted a way to prove my skills to those who may be interested, so just in case anyone wanted a sample – bam – the blog is there to act on my behalf.
But I started blogging waaaay back, when I thought I wanted to get in the ‘content marketing’ game. Nowadays, blog posts about video games and crappy experiences at work don’t serve me much. I get clients through referrals and business strategy.
I’m a funnel builder now and don’t think I could willingly take on others’ blog work anymore – it’s just a bit boring.
So, the question arises once again.
‘Why bother keeping a blog?’
Well, I’d love to say there’s some secret strategy to it.
But there isn’t.
I keep a blog because I like to write. That’s about the long-and-the-short of it.
However.
I’ve found there’s two distinct advantages to keeping a blog, which is why I highly recommend that you do.
- It’s a great way to practise your prose
- It gives you a relatively detailed overview of your development
I’ve already talked about the importance of reading and writing as often as you can. Keeping a blog is a great way to translate those lessons into an informal playground.
In turn, this becomes a treasured record that you can pore over in the future. I’ve picked up a bunch of ideas for work by trawling back through old blog posts… and embarrassment aside, it’s quite interesting to see what you were thinking about as a 17-year-old.
If you really want to blog for income, fair enough. There’s probably a deep content marketing strategy I’m not aware of that will help you out.
I’m not the person to ask about that.
But if you’re thinking about starting a blog for fun, or simply to provide value to readers – then go for it.
They’re surprisingly rewarding.
Although I do run another blog that purely delivers free value to prospects and customers, I much prefer writing for this one (even though this blog doesn’t do much to bring in clients).
Why?
Because it’s for me.
I try to help people where I can and TRY to share ‘wisdom’ I’ve picked up over the years, sure.
But ultimately, I write what I want to write about, whenever I feel like it.
It makes the whole process of writing far more enjoyable, and encourages me to practise skills I’ll transfer into other aspects of my writing-life – most importantly aspects that DO relate to direct income.
It’s almost a reward for my time spent copywriting – not to say I don’t love my job of course.
Still – it’s good fun.
I suggest you start one up.
Even if you can’t be arsed to buy a domain name and build a website, just begin by writing pieces in an offline folder.
And remember – only write what you feel like writing.
You’re doing it for you after all.
Talk to you later.
Alex
