The Ultimate Blog Podcast - 36. Why you need to start a blog

Episode Date: August 23, 2022

If you are tuning in to this episode, it’s likely that you have considered starting a blog. We want to encourage you today on the reasons we feel like starting a blog may be the next best step for you. Whether you are newly thinking about starting your blog or have been thinking about it for some time, we hope that you walk away from this episode encouraged to take that leap of faith. As always, we are always here to answer any questions. Connect with us on Instagram: @sparkmediaconcepts or check out the show notes for more resources mentioned in this episode to help you along your journey!Don’t forget! If you need questions answered before you start your blog and you aren’t quite ready to join the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp, check out The Blog Depot, our online course and membership community!SHOW NOTES: www.sparkmediaconcepts.com/episode36

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast with Amy Reinecke and Jennifer Draper. We're on a mission to empower women who want to start or grow their own blog. This podcast is for women who want to learn blogging basics and who crave inspiration and encouragement. Whether you're just getting started or have been a blogger for years, we're excited to welcome you into this space where we are passionate about creating community over competition. We are bloggers who want to encourage you to believe in your potential, step outside the norm and step into a life where you create your own schedule, your own success, and your own story. Join us for weekly episodes as we navigate blogging

and work from home life, all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. all while raising a family and having some serious fun along the way. So whether this is the first time that you've ever listened to the Ultimate Blog Podcast, or if you've listened to all of our other episodes, we think that this is one of the most important episodes to date for us to share with you. And today we are going to talk about why you need a blog. If you are listening to this podcast, it's likely that you've considered having a blog before. And so we want to talk to you about why, because you're likely in that kind of area that you are questioning, do I need a blog or can I continue doing what I'm doing without a blog or what I want to do? Do I have to have a blog in

order to do it? So Jennifer and I are going to dive into this with you today because we believe that blogging has so many different benefits for all kinds of people. So whether you are currently creating content on social media, or you have a job right now, and you're just looking for a change or maybe something to do on the side, or if you're home and you just want something else to do for yourself to create a business, this could be a great next step for you. But you are often asking yourself the question, why? Why do I need a blog? There seems to be a lot of people creating content on social media and things like that. So do I really need to have a blog? And we want to dive into that with you today. Yeah. So when you are a content creator,

you really do get this privilege of being your own boss. You're in charge of your own schedule. And most importantly, you're getting to work on things that you really enjoy. Most of the time, you found a passion and you're sharing that with the world. So when you're trying to decide how to move forward, when you have a creative business like this, you need to think through really what your long-term goals are so that you can decide how you want to move forward. Do you need a blog? Do you need to add another aspect to this business that you're creating? And so today we want to go through the reasons that we think that you need to have a blog. So I'm going to jump in and start out with reason number one. And that is going to be that if you have a blog, then you actually own your content.

If you've been around very long, you've heard us talk about this a lot. So if you are sharing on a social media platform like Instagram, Facebook, et cetera, they really own the rights to that content. They can do as they please with it. When you post, you are kind of giving up some ownership of that. They could take down your content because they say it violates your rules. Their rules, they could shut down your account. They could change algorithms so that the people that you want to reach aren't even seeing what you're posting. You just don't have a lot of control. But when you have a blog, you do have control and you do have ownership of that content because you have purchased a domain.

You have purchased hosting and you house that data. You're backing it up anywhere that you choose to. You own everything that's there and no one else has rights to that if you do it correctly. The other benefit of owning your content leads us to reason number two, and that is that it lives forever. So if you're currently an influencer on social media or a content creator, what you find is that you create content and you likely spend a lot of time creating that content. And then within a week or two, nobody's seeing it anymore because it's pushed down to the bottom of

the feed. With a blog, that doesn't happen because people can constantly find your content that you're spending so much time and energy to create. So your content on your blog, not only do you own it, but it also lives forever. Not very often do people go to social media and scroll back to what you have shared or posted five years ago or three years ago, or heck, even a couple months ago, if we're being honest. But with a blog, they can absolutely do that because when you create this content, you create it in such a way that it's going to live forever.

content, you create it in such a way that it's going to live forever. And people are going to find that content if they go into Google and they search a specific term that they're looking for. If you've done your part with SEO and keyword research, then hopefully your content is going to pop up and serve them with what they need. So that is what we mean by it lives forever. When you're creating content on a blog, you want wanna do so in a way that it's answering the question that the user is intending to find when they put it into Google. And so this is why the keyword research and SEO is important and why we teach that to our students in the bootcamp,

because we want you to know that we value the time and energy that you're spending creating the content. And we wanna help you help others find that content for years to come, not just for the next week or the next month or to go viral one time. We want this to be a long-term relationship that you're creating with the people coming and new people every single day by creating content that they need. Besides the fact that you own it, it lives forever. The other huge benefit to having a blog is that you can reach people that are not even

on social media. And when we say that, we mean maybe they are, maybe they have a social media account, but what you're doing is you're creating, like Amy said, sort of this database of content that they can look at. And so they might find you on Google because they've looked for something specific. The number of people who go to blogs every single day looking for information is just staggering. And that is not going to be changing anytime soon. When you really have a specific problem that you're going to try to find a solution for, you're not going to be changing anytime soon. When you really have a specific problem that you're going to try to find a solution for, you're not going to go probably look at Instagram and scroll until you find something that seems

to make sense. You're going to go more directly looking for an answer. So you're going to go to your Google search bar and you're going to type in whatever your question is, and you're going to try to find a website that answers that for you. So with a blog, you're going to reach to find a website that answers that for you. So with a blog, you're going to reach those people looking for help or looking for some kind of specific entertainment, some specific value, some education, whatever the case might be, they will find you much more readily if you have a blog that has the type of content that they are looking for, rather than taking

that chance on social media. So you'll create this whole new group of people that you can connect with and you can teach if you have a blog that serves as that resource for those people. And honestly, there are a lot of people that are on social media. I have several friends who aren't on Instagram or Facebook just for their own personal boundaries, to be honest. They don't want that to be a time suck in their life. And so they have chosen some of them to never even get on the platform at all. And so there are people out there who aren't on social media who still deserve the value of the

content that you're creating. So think about that as you're considering this. If you're a social media influencer right now, and you don't have a blog aspect to your business, we're going to talk more about that in a minute, but you really want to think about that. Like, how can I reach more people? Your blog is not just another way for your social media following to follow you. It's to actually drive traffic from people that you have yet to meet and yet to serve. So think about that and how that could benefit you in this venture as a way to grow your business, as a way to grow your brand. Speaking of growing, you can also connect with people in a deeper way when you have a blog, especially depending upon the kind of content

that you're sharing. When you set your blog up in a way that you share a little bit about yourself, maybe your story, your why, why you're passionate about the niche that you've chosen, people connect with that. A lot of people will find your blog who need to find your blog, who need the solutions that you have or have gone through the experiences that you have experienced with yourself and they want your perspective. And that is a way to connect with people in a deeper way. So when you show up in that space, sharing whatever it is that you might be sharing, you automatically have this connection with the people on the other side of the screen that you

may never meet face-to-face. You likely never will, but that allows you to have this connection. I think that's the beautiful thing about being a content creator and sharing your content with the world is you are finding like-minded people who have the same either experiences or values, or they enjoy the same hobbies as you, or you have like-minded views and beliefs and hobbies and all of that. And that just helps connect you from the start. That helps build a like, know, and trust factor with people who are coming to your blog. And they're going to want to stick around, especially if you kind of share a little bit more about yourself. And I don't mean like you have to share like all your family's deep, dark secrets. It's definitely not what I'm saying, but you know,

share who you are, share what you enjoy, share what makes you happy and what makes your life great. And you can also share the things that aren't so much. When you're allowed to be a little vulnerable, you do connect with people in that way. And I think that you can find the happy medium for you that looks different for everybody. You get to decide how much you want to share or how much you don't want to share. And a lot of that will be dependent upon your niche, but know that your unique perspective and your experiences will allow you to connect at a deeper level with the people who are visiting your blog. Yeah. I definitely see that in terms of like my email

subscribers. So one of the main reasons like we like people to have a blog is to help grow that email list. And I would say for me, those email subscribers are way more connected to me. Those relationships are way connected a lot, like way deeper connections with those people than on social media, because the people that follow you on social media, you know, even if they follow what you do every single day, those algorithms will all of a sudden stop showing your content. And I mean, that happens to all of us. And we kind of forget. We forget about those people. But when you're on an email list, you're getting that value and you're getting that more direct one-to-one connection. And so when I send out an email, I often will ask a question or I'll send a survey or I'll ask somebody, what do you need help with? And it's amazing the responses that I get. I just sent out a survey and it was just so amazing to see how connected those people were's what I need in my life. I need help with this. Here's

my biggest struggle. It just creates those deeper connections where you can truly help people solve the problems that they really have in their day-to-day life. And you can have those conversations. That also means like the content that you create can be more meaningful because you're getting the feedback from those people, but you're able to dive deeper into that content that you're creating. You're very limited in sharing a photo or a quick video on social media with maybe a small caption. You have such a small amount of time to gain someone's attention. But if they come looking for something and you've got that answer on your blog, you can really dive deep into the subject. You can teach them something. That post can be however long it needs to be to really make sure you thoroughly cover a

topic. So that content suddenly becomes more meaningful and they might save that. They might pin it to Pinterest or they might save a bookmark to that and come back to it again and again and again, because they find that content so meaningful and helpful. We are thrilled to share that we have been working on something special for you. We know you love the ultimate blog podcast because you were listening to this episode. So what if we told you we have three private podcast episodes just for you? We recorded three episodes where we talk about all the things that we haven't talked about anywhere else, sharing a behind the scenes look at blogging, as well as our own personal valleys and triumphs. We created these episodes in an effort to connect with you even more, and we hope you'll take a listen.

To gain access to the exclusive episodes, visit the link in our show notes. Enter your name and email address, and you'll receive a link in your inbox with instructions on how to access them. We want to let you know how much we appreciate you listening to our podcast. It's one of our favorite ways to connect with you and teach you more about blogging. So we've talked about creating those more meaningful relationships and the content being more meaningful, this also means that it can allow you to be a database and a trusted resource for the people who are coming. And if you've connected with them in that way, that is exactly what's going to happen.

When you start your blog, especially if you've been in a bootcamp with us, we've talked about niching down and the kind of content that you're going to share and how you're going to serve. When you know who you are and what you stand for and how you can add value to people, how you can help them, you will automatically become that trusted resource because you know who you are and you know how you can help. And that's a really important piece of blogging is to know how you are going to show up in that space and how you can help others. So think about that if you haven't started your blog yet about how you could show up best in order to help people the most. And people will come to your blog and totally binge all

of your content. I've had multiple people tell me that they have done that. I share a more personal story on my blog, not so much these days, but definitely in the beginning to share a little bit about who I am, like how I've gotten to the place that I am and what I've been through. And I've had multiple people say, I just spent hours on your blog, like totally binging your content and your story. And I've had people say, I feel like I know you, which has been a blessing too, because I know when I've gone through some of the hardships I have, I feel like I know you, which is, has been a blessing too, because I know when I've

gone through some of the hardships I have, I felt very alone and I didn't know, like, is there anybody out there like dealing with the things that, that I deal with now? That's just my story. Your story might not be as personal as that. And as I've continued to blog, I honestly am not as personal as I used to be. I've, I've kind of like shared what I needed to share about my story and then have chosen to move on and share other things. But I think when you put yourself out there in a way, no matter what the content is in a way that is going to help them when they come, they are going to see you as a resource and they're going to know, oh, okay. She knows a lot about Hashimoto's. So I'm going to go to her blog to learn more about that. Or she knows a lot about slow cooking. I'm going to go to her blog to learn more about that. Or it's coming up on fall time. And I want to make sure that I have some slow cooker recipes and

Jennifer's a slow cooker queen. Like I'm going to go there. So that is what I mean by becoming a trusted resource. And that starts with you knowing who you are, how you want to serve and how you can show up best. Okay. So now we're going to switch gears just a little bit. And we want to talk more about the business side of blogging. So if you're a content creator or thinking of being a content creator, then you're probably going into this with the idea that you might be able to create an income for yourself. And what's important to us is that you go into this knowing the best way to create financial security for yourself. So when you share content on social media, maybe you want to be an Instagram influencer,

you may make money via sponsored posts. And that is an amazing way to create an income. But we want you to have the full picture and know the best way to create the security for yourself. And that would be to create a blog. With a blog, you're going to have a lot more control. Instagram obviously has terms and conditions, Facebook, etc. So they're going to have a lot more control over the content you create and how you can create an income for yourself.

But when you start a blog, you're going to have more control over how you create those different streams of income. And it's less likely that someone is going to be able to come in and shut down your website. Not saying that that could never happen for any reason, but you're going to be a lot more secure in terms of the content that you've created. And you're going to have a lot more secure in terms of the content that you've created. And you're going to have a lot more options going forward if you create a blog and you own that content. We have some episodes with attorneys that can dive a little bit deeper into that business aspect that we would encourage you to listen to. We will include those in the show notes as well, talking about trademark and copywriting and all of that. In regards to the business aspect, we do want to make sure that you know what to do to protect yourself and your blog from the start. I know that's not like the

sexy stuff that we want to talk about with blogging, but it's the important stuff. And we would not be doing you due diligence if we didn't talk about it, to be honest. And that's Jennifer and I's main goal is to make sure that you know exactly what you need in order to have a successful blog. So why else do you need a blog? We talked a little bit about income streams. And this is always the most asked question is how do you make money? Well, the beautiful thing about it is there's a ton of different ways. We have podcast episodes and blog posts talking about how you can make money blogging. We can dive into that a little bit here too. But you can have ad revenue.

You can have affiliate sales. You can create your own products and courses. You can have your own podcast and monetize it. There are a number of ways that you can create money blogging. And Jennifer just mentioned having sponsorships and things on Instagram. Well, when you have a blog and you have a post that lives forever, think about how you can continually serve a brand that you have a sponsorship with. Having a blog post that lives forever can do so much more for that brand versus one

social media post. That blog post is going to serve continually month after month after month after month. That social media post is kind of a one and done. So that is just another way that you can be more attractive to a brand when working with them by saying, I have a blog. And if your content, I would encourage you to work with brands that mesh well with your content and will continually serve your readers. And then those are the kind of sponsorships and things that you're going to want to have on your blog because they're going to serve the people on there and they're going to serve the brand, which is only going to make that relationship stronger for you.

So think about how having a blog and you can totally have a social media alongside of it. We're not here to say that you shouldn't, but your blog can truly serve as just another level for brand sponsorships, for affiliates, for giving you more credibility to have a course. People are going to look at stuff like that as you dive into more ways to serve them and how you can help them. They're going to want to see your blog. I know I do that. And maybe that's just because I teach people how to blog. But if I am considering working with someone or purchasing a course or something like I go to their website, I want to see who they've helped, what they're talking about, how credible they are. That's an important piece for me. So think about that. Think about how that can just level up you

and actually make your brand even stronger. Yeah. Having a blog just really gives you that solid home base for your business. Like we said, social media platforms can change and having a blog gives you so many different options in terms of how you want to create and monetize a business for yourself. So it can really serve as a home base, something that you always have. It can continue to serve your people. And then you can branch out from there in terms of other streams of income that you want to create, whether that is from social media, or you're creating a course, or you're having a podcast.

Having that website, that blog is going to give you so much more authority and expertise in terms of what your readers see when they look for you on the internet, that you can actually gain that like, know, and trust factor by serving them well with your blog. As we're talking, I was thinking about something here and I want to make sure that we make this kind of clear. When we talk about having a blog, that also is creating a website. So I want to explain. This doesn't mean that you are just pumping out new content all the time. Your blog is also your website. I mean, we kind of use that word interchangeably. So I want to make sure that we're really clear here. So if you currently are a content creator on social media and you have a specific niche that you want to talk about,

your blog is your home base. Like Jennifer said, your blog slash website is the place that they're going to go to find out more. So this doesn't just mean a bunch of posts. Like when you think about blogs and I'm going to say the olden days, the blog truly is this home base showcasing exactly who you are, how you can serve. You're going to have a robust about me page. You're going to have a way that they can contact you. Potentially as you grow, you're going to have freebies and ways that you can serve. So it's not just blog posts.

There are other ways that your blog is going to serve your readers. We teach all of that within the ultimate blog bootcamp. So if you're asking yourself now, like, okay, based on everything that they've said, I really should think about having a blog. I did not realize it had all of these benefits. I just want to make sure that you know that, that that is how it can serve and that's how it's going to look. And it is more of a website piece. We do encourage people to write blog posts consistently. I don't want to give you the impression that that's not important, but it is also important just to have the right setup as well. So when you put your blog out into the world, people know exactly who

you are from the start. They have a really good idea with how you can help and how you can serve. And no matter where you're at in this process, whether you are just like, gosh, I'd like to do something for myself. I wonder if blogging would be it, or if you've started a blog or you're on social media, you've already got a business. We are here to help in whichever part of that process you are in. So if you have questions related to any of that, we love it when you reach out to us and we can chat with you about your specific questions related to the circumstances that you have. We are always an open book. We are just honestly two girls behind a mic today. Sometimes we're two girls behind an Instagram screen.

And at the end of the day, we just want you to know that we've been where you're at. We've asked the questions that you've been asking yourself about having a blog and do I really need it? And is it really worth my time? And can I do it? Do I have the time? We've asked ourselves those same questions. And ultimately, obviously, we decided it was worth it to do it. And now it's our mission to truly help you make that decision and then help you with that process. Whether you're just listening to our podcast episodes each week or you're following us on Instagram or whether you've been a student

or thinking about becoming a student either in the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp or the Blog Depot, we just want you to know that you have two girls in Kansas City that can't wait to serve you however you need served. So we are here to help you on your blogging journey. We're always rooting for you. We are so thankful for you tuning into the podcast. It means so much to us that you take the time out to listen to this and allow us to

encourage you on this journey. We are blessed by each and every one of you. If you have any questions about what your next step might be with your own blog, please feel free to send us an email. I will put the email in the show notes here. You can also DM us on Instagram and just connect with us in that way. We have lots of opportunities that we could potentially serve you. And the only way that we can do that is if you reach out and let us know, Hey, I want to know next steps. So we look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for tuning in this week and we will see you back here next week. Thanks everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in today. If you'd like to continue the conversation about blogging with us, please find us on Instagram at spark media concepts. You can also sign up for our weekly newsletter where we share blogging tips and inspiration.

You can sign up by finding the link in the show notes. For those of you who are ready for the next step and want to start your own blog, join the waitlist for the Ultimate Blog Bootcamp. The link to join the waitlist is also in the show notes. Go out and make today a great day.