Possibly long before you were born, when the present Queen’s father, King George the VI died in 1952, the crowds gathered at Buckingham Palace, and, some of the homemade banners they held declared ‘The King is Dead – Long Live the King’.
Historically, this is a proclamation made when a monarch dies, and a new king or queen ascends to the throne.
It loosely meant, although the King is dead, the next King will live a long life……it is not the end.
Some people feel the same way about blogging – Blogging is dead…..long live blogging. In other words, blogging is SO ‘yesterday’,…but, we hope, blogging actually will go on and on…and on. Forever.
It’s widely observed, that Justin Hall created the first ‘blog’ in 1994, it was just a kind of journal/diary, for his writing, but also where he recorded his thoughts, hopes, and plans.
Now, well over 25 years later, there are estimated to be over 600 MILLION blogs out there in the blogosphere! So if you do feel blogging is kind of ‘over’, then think again. Over 7.5 million blogs posts are posted daily. That’s just incredible, and goes to show that blogging is in fact, very much alive and kicking!
So apart from all the ‘how to’, which are covered in hundreds of other blog posts, and the ‘best tips for creating a successful blog’, ditto, let’s turn to the question of why. WHY should you start a blog, in 2021, when there are already 600 million-plus blogs already in existence.
I started blogging in 2013. I have no idea why I did. I just thought I had something to say, I wanted to be heard, or read, whichever.
So I did just that, I started writing about ‘stuff’. Stuff that happened to me. Stuff that annoyed me. Stuff that made me smile. Even then I really didn’t ‘get’ that with a few simple tweaks, I could earn a bit of money from all this rambling I was doing. I just carried on posting random things, and I didn’t even know if anyone ever read it!
Fast forward to 2021, and 5 blogs later, I’m a lot more up to speed. It took me a while! Years in fact and there is still so much I do not know. But in a way, ignorance is bliss. I’m not one of those bloggers that get too caught up in SEO, Google analytics, bounce rates, or tracking.
I still write my ‘stuff’, BUT, now my stuff does generate a little bit of income, and on some of my blogs, I sometimes write with just income in mind. Whilst my very first blog is still my ‘baby’, other blogs I’ve created more recently, are more about income.
And you can do this too. All from the comfort of your sofa, or fave coffee house or bar. It doesn’t matter where you are, how old you are, or how clever you are, or not, as the case may be.
If you have a passion, or a lifestyle, that you feel others might be interested in, then start tip-tapping on your keyboard and tell the world about it. Be real, be authentic, write as you speak, but most importantly, just write. The more you write, the better your writing becomes.
But what can I blog about, I hear you cry. Well, some examples I have come across, just over the past few days, have made me go REALLY ? in one breath, but in the next breath, I’ve thought to myself, that is just so inspiring and in some cases, I’ve thought to myself, well….who knew?
Random examples. I found a blog just about men’s shirts, and one dedicated to insect-eating plants, another I found focused on men’s mental health. Maybe you love a statement tie, then write about it. Maybe your passion is nail varnish, then write about it. The possibilities are endless. There is NO stupid blogging idea, everything has merit, and in some cases, the more quirky, random, and far-fetched, the better.
As mentioned above, there are hundreds of blogs to tell you HOW to set up a blog, hundreds more telling you how to make money from it once you’ve set it up. I’m simply here to tell you that YES, you should, and YES, blogging is still relevant, and can still generate income. Blogging is NOT dead, long live blogging!
