7 reasons why blogging is like planning for luck to happen
By: Jonas Bladt Hansen
Tags: Social Media, Marketing, Blogging, Writing, Social Selling

Photo by Amy Reed on Unsplash

You can’t predict what happens when you blog.

Expecting that blogging will generate more sales — or more money on Medium — right away would be to simplify the equation and disappoint you.

When you start blogging and start sharing your work on social media, you will learn that it leads to many other experiences and opportunities you would not have expected.

To me, blogging is like planning for lucky circumstances to happen.

In this blog, I have found seven reasons why that seems to be the case for me — and would probably be for you too!

1. I get more speaking engagements

Not long ago, I wrote a blog about why it’s crucial to improve the digital workplace during the Covid-19 outbreak. The blog became quite popular in my LinkedIn network. A couple of days later, someone sent me a message on LinkedIn, as he was looking for a speaker who could give an inspiring talk about working from home. When we had our first call, he told me:

“Someone in my network recommended you and I checked out your profile, and it looks like you could be the right person!”

Another time a sister to someone in my network contacted me. Back then, I had just published a blog about digital communication and collaboration. She was not working in the area of communication but needed a speaker about it for their upcoming conference.

So she asked her brother if he knew someone who would come and speak about this. Luckily, her brother is connected with me on LinkedIn and he had just seen my blog post. Two weeks later I delivered my keynote at their conference outside Stockholm.

Some would call it pure luck, I call it planned serendipity!

2. My speeches have improved

Speaking in Moscow, February 2020

Part of my business is to do keynote speeches at international conferences or corporate events. Blogging has actually helped me become a better speaker, because:

I use blogging as part of my preparation. A week before the speaking engagement I would usually write a blog about the topic I will speak about. Often, I will actually be writing my speech.

I research a lot when I blog, and a lot of the things I pick up during the research phase can be used in my keynote speeches.

3. I have grown my network

Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash

Every time I blog, I get more followers or connections. My activity on social media has doubled my followership on LinkedIn within the last year. It also makes it easier to connect with people, as they can check you out and see what you stand for. A bigger network means a potentially bigger readership and so on…

But even more importantly, I have met people I would never have met without blogging. This has also enriched my personal life, not only my professional life. I am confident, that should I ever choose to step into a role in corporate life again, the network I have now will make success a lot more likely. I have access to much more knowledge than I had just one year ago.

4. I get paid for writing

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

I am sometimes asked to write articles about my field of expertise for different online media — and the reason they found me was — surprise — because of my blogs!

5. I get readers without writing

Photo by Merakist on Unsplash

I don’t know a lot about SEO optimization. This is something I have to learn about in the future, as it could help make my blogs rank higher. For now, Medium is much better at that than I am.

The first article I published on Medium, became quite popular and was distributed in some of Mediums topics. The article was about something I called “Return on Experience”. If you google that term, you will get approximately 3.900.000.000 results. My article ranks number 3 and generates a great flow of reads every single week.

6. I have been offered jobs and partnerships

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Last year, I was contacted by an executive recruitment agency who saw my profile on LinkedIn. The position I was offered was very attractive — and a huge step up the career ladder.

When I asked them how they found me, they told me that I was one of the first who popped up in the search result — and that the content I shared on my profile was very relevant and made them think I would be the right candidate.

There are definitely thousands of better CVs out there than mine. But somehow my profile caught their attention.

7. I am setting my self up to write a book

Blogging is a great way to prepare for writing a book. It is one of the things I would really like to do. And my blogs are my preparation for that. I am creating a lot of content that could be reused in some form, but also because I blogging gives you the feedback you need to improve. This helps me understand what kind of topics/headlines and pictures catch people’s attention.

There are only good reasons to get started

Blogging is a way to make your “shopping window”- your profile on social media platforms — appealing and interesting for people. It makes you stand out and it is easier to figure out if you are the one I should contact.

Let’s say you are a “Project Manager”, and there is no more information about you on your profile on LinkedIn. In that case, you are 1 out of 9 million other project managers on LinkedIn. Blogging makes you stand out. It makes you unique and hereby it makes whatever you do or sell unique. Because people want what YOU have to offer — not just your product or service.

Blogging is not a popularity contest — you don’t have to get a million reads or a million followers. It is about inspiring your network and strengthening your personal brand. And blogging is a really good way to do that.

There is really not a lot to be afraid of.

Have fun — and if there is anything I can do for you, let me know. The easiest way to get in touch is by connecting with me on LinkedIn.

I will leave you with a great video from the author of “Smarketing”, Adam Gray on how to stand out.