36 reasons why I blog

 
 
 

The reason I began to blog was inspiration I got from others’ blogs.
It wasn’t a plan but what I lacked in planning was made up in heroes. People in my field who blogged were knowledgeable, smart and generous in spirit with information and ideas I found of great value. They stood out, seemed genuine and real. They still stand out. (A  few of the posts that served as inspiration years ago are listed at the bottom).
It motivated me to start, learn and stay with it. After that, I learned there were many benefits to blogging. What are they? Here are 36 reasons why I blog.

1. It’s how to have 1-to-1 relationship with 1-to-many
2. Nothing works like writing about what you know
3. We want to share what we know with others; it’s in our DNA
4. Studies show no other form of digital expression is better at securing trust (source: eMarketer)
5. People return to a place where they know they will learn something new
6. It’s never stopped being gratifying to teach someone something new
7. It’s synonomous with the term, personal brand
8. It’s how you find and attract people who share the same values
9. Your audience is global from the moment you begin
10. It’s friendships and bonds you couldn’t have developed any other way
11. It’s how to put you personal values into your profession
12. Blogs get through to people in ways that an email or phone call never could
13. Blogs provide the means to move between personal and professional with credibility
14. Blogs help people get to know you; people like to do business with people they know
15. It is the best way to drive traffic to a website
16. The search engines recognize and reward those who continually put out fresh content
17. Each and every one of your blog posts are individual web pages, indexed by search engines to build your brand presence
18. A keyword strategy is easier and more effective to execute through a blog than any other digital medium
19. Blogs help with long tail search term rankings and keyword phrases you never would have found otherwise
20. Other bloggers link to you; the search engine recognize your authority in a particular niche or market.
21. Relevance and authority are the two attributes that drive search rank; blogs are designed to accelerate both
22. The algorithm of search engines, especially Google, recognize original content and “social authority” from blogs more and search tactics like “metadata” and “metatags” less
23. The content and keywords that drive people to your blog is very measurable
24. The content from your blog can be re-purposed to  many other aspect of your content or communications plan (e.g. email marketing, social media marketing, PR)
25. This re-purposing of content doesn’t re-duplicate anything; it sends your message to new audiences
26. Although there are lot of tips for blogging, the only way to really go wrong is not express yourself genuinely
27. We all have a story to tell
28. Blogs make it easy for others to share what you have to say
29. It’s a direct and authentic way to ask readers what they want to hear and grow your audience with their collaboration
30. It’s how you can do market research without research and travel costs
31. Ir brings peace of mind
32. It forces you to think better and smarter
33. It brings out your innate ability to create and share ideas
34. Like everything, you’ll get better at it the more you practice
35. You’ll lead a more intentional life
36. You may just inspire someone, like the posts below did for me, and there no greater legacy to leave than to inspire others.

These are reasons why I blog. Are they the same as yours? Are there any I missed?
If you blog, do they help to keep you going? If you don’t, do they motivate you to start?
Here are a some posts that inspired me:
David Berkowitz: 100 Ways to Measure Social Media
Chris Brogan: Grow Bigger Ears
Mack Collier: How Much Does Social Media Cost Companies
Peter Kim: Social Business ROI