Why starting off with a blog in 2020
By: Clara Lm
Tags: Blog, Start, Tips, Why, Médium

🖐🏽 reasons to consider before giving up on opening a blog right now.

If you had ever told me many years ago that subjects like graphic design, communication and writing would have been so popular these days, I wouldn’t believe you, and I would have certainly stopped listening to people saying that those subjects will have not paid my bills off.

When I opened my Instagram page, I switched to the business account just to get the ‘category’ label which identifies what you do and who you are. It’s not catchy to put: “I like writing, but I’m also an SME in the vast world of the human and social science — just kidding, I wanna be cool on social media.”.

Eventually, I was part of those who select “Content Creator” after realizing I was only adding a filter on decent pictures.

I thought that if someone landed on my page without knowing me, they wouldn’t find my contents really creative. And what does content creator means btw?

After many years of thinking, I finally decided to open this blog — which is still a work in progress, but hey, you’re here to let me tell you 5 reasons why writing a blog can have an impact on your 2020 life.

☝🏽 A BLOG HELPS YOU DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS

We said we are all content creators, did we? Building a career on this by using this title is not enough, though.

Let’s say you might work as copywriter, proofreader, video editor, or whatever you’re passionate about, but how can you prove you are very good at it?

Writing a blog requires both hard and soft skills.

You’ll need to learn how the platform you chose to build up your website with works, how to create and connect a domain, how to optimise your posts and get more visibility, learn about SEO and digital marketing fundamentals, how to advertise and promote your contents, not to mention how to take good pictures, use the wide range of editing tools, storytelling, and I could continue but I’d rather not.

It also requires dedication, care, time, writing and other basic skills to keep getting your blog running.

✌🏽 SOCIAL MEDIA ARE NOT RELIABLE

We liked Facebook till the point it became too old fashioned for the majority of us. Many things changed there during the years, and, unfortunately, not for the best. In fact, it seems it became the social media for our parents — or elderly — for commenting and fighting over fake news.

Some of you might have started posting their contents there, adapting them to the fashion Facebook was designed for back in time (and it changed multiple times), but what about now? Your posts and followers are pretty lost in that chaos.

It’s good to remember that social media has their own agreements and, assuming they decide to shut everything down, your creative contents will disappear in no time, and you’ll have to start over — again.

On the other hand, your blog remains public until you decide otherwise. No one will change the way your contents are being displayed, and there’s no need for you to desperately learn how the algorithm works.

🤟🏽 YOUR BLOG IS YOUR SHOWCASE AND FREEDOM

As said before, we all are content creators on social media, aren’t we? We all like the same things: filters, writing, food and travel. Sometimes we got inspired by other people’s posts on social media, and we start doing the same assuming we are creating something original, while we are actually telling or doing something that someone else has just told or done.

Your blog is your showcase, and your very first chance to be creative. Have you ever seen two same blogs? If so, it’s stealing.

The blog is your personal space. It’s only you being in front of the computer looking at a blank page. No need to scroll someone else’s feed to get inspiration from. You can generate and produce your own contents, and eventually be the first. You can write longer or shorter posts, no need to follow a fixed fashion of writing. No need to be obsessed with the time you public your posts at (blessed who knows when this is), just follow your rules, and be original for once.

✊🏽 GET DAILY MOTIVATION

Keeping up with anything in life is challenging. Try growing up a plant or maybe making homemade pizza every day. It’s fun at the beginning until it gets your second job requiring daily attention, extra care and motivation.

The blog keeps your own pace. Sometimes you might not feel you have something to tell, you might feel you are being discouraged or demotivated. A blog keeps your motivation up and reminds you to keep writing it up whenever you feel ready. Your blog is also a way to get over emotional blocks and be inspired. At the end of the day, it’s a good company. It’s basically you being reflected on a blank page, which can either be deleted or shared.

🖐🏽 BLOGS ARE LIKE BOOKS

Before writing this post, I wondered a lot over the reasons why people really would need a blog, and I typed on the internet as the first thing. That makes me think that as well as we would never leave pen and paper behind, it’s true for blogs too.

Why?

Because in a word made of machines, and artificial intelligence, we still love buying and reading books, don’t we?

We still organize and visualize our ideas in writing first, and progress from there.

So why being afraid of starting writing a blog in 2020 just because many people had already made a career on this, making us think that blogs are dead?