Tips on Pursuing Blogging as a Profession
If you are one of those whose blood surges in excitement whenever you hit the keypad,
you could stop worrying about going to your regular, 9 to 5 job soon. Instead, take up
blogging!
Well, I am not suggesting as much, at least that you do so right now, but one thing that I
can tell you is that becoming a blogger is a safe, consistent and lucrative means of
leading a life. Today, the www is clogged with blogs. Blogs are unique to this medium. In
fact, blogging took birth purely because of the explosion of the worldwide web.
As the world goes online, there is an ever-increasing hunger for more and more content.
People all around the world are drawn to the web for gathering, accumulating, and
sharing information on a regular basis. If you could be a source of this supply of
information, you could carve a great niche for yourself at blogging. You could be a
darling among your audience, which of course, it takes a lot of effort and time to build.
But I can tell you that it is worth every dime.
In this blog, I will try to explain a few aspects about blogs. You could call this a blog
about blogging. Sounds corny, right? Doesn’t matter, so long as I can be of some value in
helping you understand a few things about blogging.
First, an understanding of blogs
So, to the basic point: what is a blog? I wouldn’t be off the mark in defining a blog as
ANY piece of writing. It is what you may call the product of a thought. This thought can
range from simply anything to anything else. You may want to share a thought about the
vaccination for the coronavirus, or you may want to advise your readers on the seatbelt
to buy for your car. You could want to share the ingredients you put while
experimenting with your new dish, or you could write about the state of education
today.
So, you get the drift of the nature of blogging. It is entirely your choice as to what you
want to express in your blog and share with your audience. Now, that brings us to a core
aspect of blogging: how to you cultivate your audience? Important as this question is, I
want to answer one question before taking this up: how do I get ideas for writing blogs?
Developing ideas for your blog
The idea is the key to the blog. You may have the most eloquent style of writing, but
what are you going to write about? Many people I have come across get stuck with the
idea of developing an idea. Fact is, this is not as complex as some people like to think.
Don’t go after videos, blogs and lectures that tell you how to cultivate ideas for your
blogs. Ideas don’t lie in any of those places, but well within yourself- your mind. Be alert
to everything around you. Be observative. Be perceptive, and most of all, be open. An
idea can spring up from just anywhere, so long as you are openminded. A nucleus of an
idea can develop into anything if you are of that type.
By this time, you would have known that there are what are called pillar blogs and
secondary blogs. As the names suggest, a pillar blog is your primary or main blog. It is
the central idea for your writing. Built around it are the secondary or associative blogs.
Again self-explanatory, these blogs are those that support the main blog.
As an example, if you are writing about something like, say, the coronavirus, the main
topic could be the current situation relating to the outbreak. So, this could be the ideal
topic for your pillar blog. Now, you would want to share information pertaining to
vaccination, the tests, and a few other topics relating to the main blog. These are ideally
your secondary blog topics.
Let us say, a new hotel has sprung up in your locality. Does the hotel’s business peak
from day one? No. It could take a few months, or even years for the word to spread
about the hotel. It is only with persistent effort and experimentation that the hotel gains
a name.
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This is just how blogging works, too. Your blog is your face. It is your thought. This
means it is your brand. Building your blog is all about brand building. To go back to the
example I just gave, not all people in the locality flock to the hotel only because it has
made a name. There could be lots of people who don’t like it, for their own personal
reasons.
Again, this is true of your blog, too. You could become popular in some circles, and
others may not like your kind of writing. Why? Because, like the hotel I am talking
about, a few people like the taste, the service or the environment, and others may not. It
takes you a while to settle in and weigh the likes and dislikes your blog generates.
In other words, once you are serious about your blog, make it a long term affair with
your audience. Never think of a blog as something that will make you rich or famous
overnight. Yes, there have been instances in which people have become such, but that is
the exception rather than the rule. Moreover, it is a fleeting stay at the top. What you
build over the long run with your credibility, a quick and meteoric rise to the top can
never assure. Rest assured that a blog is not a get-rich scheme.
Stay relevant
It is very important for you, the blogger, to stay relevant with your audience. By this, I
don’t mean that you should only write about something that is doing the rounds today.
Staying relevant does not mean that you should only write about contemporary matters.
You could write about a medieval event such as Black Death, but could still stay
relevant. How? By bringing in a new dimension or perspective and connecting it to
something of importance today, such as the coronavirus. This ability to bring in a fresh
viewpoint is what should distinguish your blog from most others. Merely reeling off
events will not ensure that your audience flocks to your blog. Rather, what you say and
how you say it matter more than merely stating facts.
Network network, network!
To go back to the example of the hotel I gave you, how can this, or any business for that
matter, become popular if people don’t know about it?
Networking is the key to blog
growth. The social media are a boon for the world of bloggers. More on this a little later.
Apart from the social media, how you network with other bloggers is a real means to
build your blog. The more your audience, and with it, well-known other bloggers, share
your blogs, the better. For this to happen, the key is the level of credibility your blog has.
That is why, be not only perceptive, but also original. You stand absolutely no chance of
succeeding if your blog is ripped off from other writings, no matter how smartly you
think you may have done it.
Submitting to blog aggregators is another sure shot way of gaining popularity.
The social media as a vehicle for popularizing your blogs
I had left this topic a few paragraphs ago. Let me return to it. In the online space,
nothing works better at making your blogs popular than the social media. The scope and
reach of these media are far too well-known to bear repetition. The mantra for anyone
who wants to succeed in the blogging world is to leverage the social media as optimally
as you can.
The online social media platforms such as Facebook, Quora, Twitter, Instagram, and to
an extent, LinkedIn, are super powerful tools to grow your popularity. Having said this,
remember that these are only platforms which help you put out your blog. These in
themselves don’t assure any popularity. That is something that you build over time and
effort, and with the right research and perceptiveness of what your audience is looking
for.
The more comments and shares your blogs attract, the better. But for this to happen, it
obviously takes time. Remember the old adage: Rome was not built in a day!
Parting thoughts…
As I leave you with my two cents about blogging, I would like to share one question
many people have asked me often: how long does it take for a blogger to gain
popularity?
Well, I consider this a very relevant and legitimate question. After all, when we are
investing valuable time and effort into an activity, it is but natural to expect it to be
worth all of it.
I would answer this question with a counter question: what if I asked you how long into
hitting the gym it would take for me to develop muscles? Is there a straight answer to
this question? There is, but it is very subjective and is dependent on a number of factors
that are unique to the individual, right? The same goes here.
The success of your blog depends on the uniqueness of the angle you bring into your
blog topic, the consistency with which you express yourself, and the motivation and
persistence, plus your desire to keep sharing your viewpoint over time.
These are the qualities that pay where blogging is concerned. It takes time and effort,
but at the cost of repeating what I said at the beginning, it is worth every bit of that
effort. Becoming a successful blogger comes with excellent rewards. It can help create a
passive income and ward off potential financial uncertainty for a good part of your
future. There are instances where bloggers have gone on to become millionaires, and
mind you, I am not lying.
More than anything else, becoming a popular blogger gives you something money
cannot: a name. It makes you popular, and that is the highest reward of your hard work
and talent. So, it is time to seriously consider blogging as a serious profession!
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