Building a blog, for me, was inevitable. When I was younger – much younger – I wrote stories based on my favourite things, whether that was Cubix, Spyro the Dragon or Pokémon. I remember trying to create a Pokémon magazine once, but I never made it past the front cover (MS Word 2000 was hard to use, okay?).
Then I became Head Boy of my school and pressed for the return of the student-run school newspaper. You see, I used to want to be a journalist, and this would be the perfect outlet for my possible career path. I went to University and took to writing for the newspaper, Redbrick, and it was during this time that I first started blogging.
In hindsight, I should have written weekly when I first started, but there’s little point dwelling on should haves and could haves. The best time to start was ten years ago, they say, and the second best time to start is now; that’s the mantra that I stick to. Regardless of when I first committed to writing weekly, the important thing is that it’s happening now. There are a billion reasons why you should build a blog in 2022, but here are the 3 most important ones.
A small slab of the internet
Building a blog is one of the easiest things that you can do and requires absolutely no experience in coding. Despite this, you can customise your website to your heart’s content, and really cement it as a small slab of the internet that’s totally and entirely yours.
It could be a little creative outlet where you show off work that you’re proud of. It could be where you share tips and tricks with others. Maybe it’s a diary of your experiences as a nurse, or as a teacher, or a productivity guru, or whatever niche thing it is that you do. Whatever it is, I’m sure that somebody will want to read it.
On top of that, I find it provides a nice little goal to focus on outside of work. Sure, I could spend all of my free time reading, writing or gaming, but I find that I am more fulfilled once I’ve ticked off extra goals that I’ve set myself, such as increasing the viewership of my blog or backlogging posts so that I never miss a week.
And even if you don’t get the viewers that you really want – does it matter, when it’s a small passion project? It could offer a safe space to discuss passions that you might not necessarily share with friends. Take productivity, as an example. I love being efficient – to the point where I bought a smart hoover so that I don’t need to do the cleaning myself – but none of my friends share that same passion as me. You’ll know, though, that there is somebody out there who is just as invested in whatever hobby or pastime as you are.
Making connections
There are nearly 8 billion people living on planet Earth right now. In your little part of the world, you can only possibly hope to meet so many of them. How can you realistically expect to interact with somebody in Spain if you’re never planning on visiting? Think about the stories and interesting conversations that you’re missing out on by never meeting these new people.
The internet has made us more interconnected than ever before. Building a blog in 2022 is your easiest way to get to know these new people. I’ve interacted with so many people through the internet, such as JenRoseWrites, and through my Instagram page, and I never would have spoken to them if I hadn’t decided to start writing online.
A side hustle
Come on, how could you read this post without mention of its use as a side hustle? For the uninitiated, a side hustle is an activity taken on the side of full- or part-time work to earn a little bit of cash. Some bloggers have found so much success in this sphere that they’ve been able to transform it into their full-time jobs.
But how does one make money through blogging? The possibilities are endless, really. Once you have enough traffic, it might be worth thinking about pushing ads on your website. Equally, you may wish to open affiliate accounts with online retailers. I have one with Amazon, for example, so anytime somebody uses my link to buy something through their website, I get a small kickback at no extra cost to them (here’s my Amazon link to what I’ve been reading recently, if you’re interested).
Bloggers may also be approached by companies wishing to advertise their wares, so you could be invited to events or given free merchandise in exchange for a blog post. Now, you should be careful with this one. If you start a blog for this reason, you’ll lose all motivation, as you won’t have the passion that you need to keep it going, since you’ll only be in it for making cash. What happens if those opportunities don’t arise? Your presence will quickly fade away.
If, however, you keep going simply because you love the process of creating content – and then get approached by companies you already love, or find yourself in a good position to start pushing ads – well, that’s just a bonus.
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Why are you going to build a blog in 2022?
Hardly Hamilton 
Oh yeah, blogging has always been something that I do for fun, and I’ve never had the intent to monetise things, but if some parties were going to approach me, I actually wouldn’t say no. Great post, and thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for reading Stuart! Don’t be afraid to start monetising your blog if you get enough traffic though – there’s nothing wrong with earning a little pocket money for doing something you enjoy
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