7 Reasons to Remember That Your Blog Is For You, Too

Why do you blog?

There are a lot of reasons to blog, with marketing being one of the most common. Many of us have a product to sell, whether our personal brand or a physical item of some kind. Whatever the reason for blogging, the goal is usually the same: we want our blog to bring us new business and more attention.

But that isn’t the only reason to blog.

I am a huge fan of blogging as a marketing tool, but blogging can be just as much for the blogger as it is for the blog reader. I would go so far as to say that the benefits to the blogger often outweigh readers 10 to one – I’m not kidding.

If no one ever read your blog, it would still be worth writing every single word. Why? Here are a few of my favorite reasons.

1. Pass Information

We recently started a new blog at my company with the major purpose of sharing information about our team. Each team member is expected to contribute regularly, and share the things that they are learning with the rest of the group.

They could write about things that are directly related to their job, or something more peripheral, but it should be something that can be passed on for everyone’s benefit. In this way, a blog can be a great tool for building a shared purpose among a team.

There is also, of course, the shared experience of doing something together. A team blog is a great tool for building unity.

2. Refined Thinking

Writing forces you to refine your thinking and solidify your thoughts. There is something about transferring ideas to “paper” that forces you to clarify things.

When ideas are left to sit in our mind they can easily grow fuzzy, lacking lack detail. Writing them down forces us to fill in the gaps. This makes us better at communicating our ideas to others and to ourselves.

3. Catalog Ideas

Good ideas can easily pass from the front to the back of the brain, without so much as a second thought.

When we take the time to catalog our ideas in the form of a blog post, we retain and connect these fleeting thoughts. Since I began blogging regularly, I have found myself to be much more likely to jot down a random idea for a later blog post. This forces me to revisit the topic and think about it more deeply at a later time.

As a side note, blogging can can also expose a bad idea quickly, and prevent wasted time on things that will ultimately bear no fruit.

4. Track Your Progress

There are a number of times when I have used our own blog to go back and review historical events that have happened in the life of our company. Some of them are a bit hard to read – oh, how far we have come – but they show us how we have changed and progressed over time. A good blog will accurately tell your story.

5. Simplify Repetitive Tasks

If you get asked the same question over and over again, you can save yourself some time by writing about it once, and then distributing it to your audience. We have been able to do this several times, and have saved ourselves some leg work with clients.

6. Develop A Sense Of Community

As people comment and follow your blog, you will learn that you aren’t alone out there.

Blogging will bring you closer to the rest of the web community, and get you involved in the conversation that is already happening online. This is a great way to gather new ideas that you can bring to your own products or services.

7. A Creative Outlet

As a designer, I have plenty of opportunity to be creative visually, but even I enjoy the creative aspect of writing. If you are someone whose job doesn’t allow for a lot of creative work, blogging could be a great way to express your creative side.

This type of outlet can energize your thinking and help in other areas of your business.

Blog for All the Right Reasons

At the end of the day, blogging should be a selfless activity. It should be something that you do to share your ideas with the world. While it may bring you more business, that shouldn’t be the only reason for it to exist.

By connecting yourself with like-minded readers and professionals, you will find more work, more professional satisfaction, and no shortage of exciting benefits that come with writing and cataloging your thoughts.

So, if you have a blog that hasn’t seen any action for awhile, now just may be the time to dust off the publish button.