If you feel lost in your blogging journey, pause for a moment. Take some time to reflect on you are blogging with purpose and redefine your blogging goals.
Today, blogging is the best way to monetize your passion. What was once a hobby for a select few with a good writing flair is now doable by anyone.
Bloggers can earn income as early as 1 year or less with consistent efforts in writing blog content.
— If you are new to this field, this time frame may appear huge to you.
However, to get the right audience, you must take the time and effort to publish and promote each blog post.
This organic process takes time but gives you the best results.
Blogging is a long-term returns-yielding activity. In my blogging journey, I have felt exhausted many times.
There were times I doubted my abilities.
– What if no one is interested in the content I post?
– What authority do I have to influence people?
– Can I survive in this domain amidst many other sharks?
It took six months to see the first traffic spike to my blog. After 14 blog posts, I got Google AdSense approval.
Each victory milestone made me reflect on how holding on to my blogging goals pays me handsomely.
If you ever feel self-doubt, evaluate and assess if you are blogging with a purpose.
Think about the Goals like;
– Why do you blog?
– How will your blog help you in your venture/business?
Will Blogging Work for Me?
Any online venture you take up must have a solid goal and purpose.
Your blogging journey may quickly end if you do not clearly define what you will blog about.
In addition, your purpose of blogging gives you sufficient motivation to stick to your goals.
To achieve a purpose(s), you must fulfill certain blogging goals within a timeframe.
For example;
- Reach first 10,000 followers in 6 months.
- Apply for Google AdSense and get approval in a year.
Your purpose of blogging may fall into one or more of the following categories.
Purpose 1: Share Knowledge Only On a Known Topic
If you have decided to blog, the first thing is to jot down what you will share. Of course, it will be something that you know about.
However, what you share must be new and not something that is already known and popular.
We have already seen how one must choose and dominate a blogging niche.
— Your consistent efforts in sharing valuable knowledge, insights, and expertise on your blog and other platforms make a big difference.
The format of your blog can be anything. It could be like tutorials, hacks, guides, story-based, etc.
Whatever the format, make sure to add your personal touch to it. Readers and search engines mostly prefer first-hand experiences and stories.
Purpose 2: To Build a Personal Brand
Today, many bloggers are known not by their names but by their blog’s names.
Creating a brand identity is a powerful purpose of blogging.
Consistent blogging in one domain helps to establish yourself as a domain expert.
Your personal experiences and expertise can help many seek similar solutions.
Besides publishing blog posts, your brand image develops with how you interact with your blogging and follower community.
- Responding to user queries
- Integrating feedback in your future blog posts
- Being active on social media
- Promoting your blog on all online media channels improves your authenticity.
As a result, you get more followers, making you an authoritative blogger in your domain.
Bloggers with high blogging authority get recognized as a brand. So, strive to reach this milestone in your blogging journey.
Purpose 3: Create a Passive Source of Income
Everyone is looking for ways to create a secondary income source.
This income helps you sustain your livelihood during crises or unexpected emergencies.
Also, it is wise to make your secondary ventures yield more revenue than your primary job.
At such a point, you may quit your job and focus full-time on your other ventures.
Blogging is a secondary income source that can yield exponential revenue over time.
With a strong blog foundation and steadily increasing followers, your monetization dreams will kick off.
You can earn revenue from;
- Google advertising,
- Affiliate marketing,
- Writing sponsored content,
- Partnering with shopping portals, etc.
Many bloggers, including me, have started blogging part-time.
Now, my blog is one of my major sources of income, and I am a full-time blogger.
Purpose 4: Express My Creativity and Passion
Everyone is on the lookout for hacks. Anyone would be interested in learning if there is an easier way to do something.
If an age-old technique is taught brand new, many would even pay to learn it from you.
Blogging gives you a purpose to let your ideas reach a large online audience.
So, if you love doing something and wish to showcase your hobbies and interests, blogs are your tools to spread your ideas.
You can carve an identity for yourself with your talents.
Moreover, blogs let the world recognize you for your abilities.
Recognition and accolades from organic followers give your blog the best traffic boost. Consequently, your monetization efforts also take off.
Purpose 5: To Document Life Events and Milestones
You may be working on anything you like. You may be cooking a new recipe, a computer program, fixing a pipe, repairing your TV remote, etc.
Suddenly, you come up with a new way and want to document it for future reference.
Blogging about new hacks or easier ways to solve an existing problem is a great way to help you look back in the future.
Also, many others like you may find your new solution great. Thus, learning and documenting something useful for you and others is a great habit.
We live life to make beautiful memories. But in today’s fast-paced world, with a mobile phone gallery and social media filled with photos, it can be difficult to remember incidents.
To preserve each memory, you can come up with blogs.
Blog on your holiday trips, birthing journey, parenting years, your first job, and many more topics.
Blogging on these topics helps you and others reflect and learn from your experiences.
Are You Blogging with a Purpose?
Monetization from blogs takes time. This timeframe, however, varies for each blogger.
Hardly 20% of bloggers start seeing income within 6 to 8 months of blogging.
However, many new bloggers mistake this to be a new blogging norm.
They start writing blog posts with the only goal of getting AdSense approval in six months.
When they don’t see the expected results, they get discouraged. At this point, many new bloggers have given up blogging.
The big red flag here is not having a clear purpose when starting to blog.
Without knowing why one wants to blog and by just populating a blog with content, one cannot achieve success.
a. Purposeful blogging aims to connect with the audience.
— When you write a blog post, try to resolve a user query that is increasing/demanding in your blogging domain.
b. Purposeful writing creates an impact.
— Upon reading your article, the user must make a relevant Call-To-Action (CTA). It may include purchasing a product, taking a trip, working out a new solution, etc.
c. Purposeful writing makes you a brand.
— You can tell your followers how you wish to make a difference in their lives.
— It could be a simple hack to a professional course. Slowly, you become a brand in your blogging domain.
Make sure that you are blogging with purpose and not just focused on money and fame.
5 Questions to Help You Understand the Purpose of Blogging
Are you blogging with a purpose? – a follower asked me once.
For this, my reply was,
— Yes! I wish to handhold new bloggers who are stepping foot into this world.
— When I started, I had no one to handhold me at every stage.
— So, with this blog, I am creating a bible for new bloggers to be well-equipped with the latest blogging trends.
If someone asks you this question, you must be able to deliver a similar clear answer.
Moreover, this clarity removes your sense of doubt at any point in time. Thus, even at low times, you never get the feeling of giving up.
Let us see how you can define your blogging purpose.
Que 1: What Inspired Me to Start Blogging?
The decision to start a blog does not come just like that. It takes months or years of experience in a particular niche.
You may have taken up a new hobby and excelled more than you imagined.
From what you have learned and experienced, start blogging on topics people are unaware of.
Blogs are not just for providing solutions but are tools of emotional support.
Say a person battling 3rd-grade cancer has made it alive. Anyone would love to know what he did to cross this journey.
Stories and posts on their routines, attitude during tough times, etc., can be a beacon of hope for someone in the same situation.
When you feel a sense of accomplishment in doing something, you can definitely share your journey.
You may have aced a competitive exam with a high rank.
— There may be many blogs in this field, but people are always looking for the latest blogs coming from the most recent top-rankers.
Similarly, assume you have taken up a beauty course.
— However, you find that trends are changing, and people are starting to embrace their skin more.
You can blog on changing trends in the makeup industry.
Inspiration can come from anywhere. Analyze and evaluate your areas of expertise before deciding on a blogging niche.
Que 2: Who Do I Want to Reach With My Blog?
When you find a purpose to blog, you must look for who you want to help with your content.
Obviously, people in a similar position like you facing similar challenges would love to know your solutions.
How do we know who these people are?
In the online world, anyone can read your blog and follow what you write.
Your followers can be from different continents in different time zones.
However, many will come from search engines with the same or similar-framed queries.
As a blogger, you must ensure your blog is the destination for relevant user queries.
For this reason, you must analyze and research your blogging domain frequently for the latest trends.
Try to find what it is that users are searching for.
- Where are these users located?
- Are they looking for new content? Or do they want innovative versions of existing content?
- What are their literacy levels?
- Do I have to add additional visual content other than blog writing?
Social media can be a great place to connect with like-minded people in your domain. Interacting with them helps you plan and publish your unique content.
We have already covered some topics under domain research and keyword research. These form the building blocks of blogging with purpose.
Que 3: What Value Do I Want to Provide?
Once you finalize your target audience, you must find ways to stand out uniquely as a blogger. Many new bloggers enter the blogging world daily with the same intent as yours.
A lot of blogging niches are saturated. Yet new bloggers are making a mark and getting fame.
This success relies on their approach and how they present their ideas and experiences.
— In my case, I decided to handhold new bloggers to start and sustain their blogging journey.
— Existing tutorials on blogging lacked that personal touch and curation for each blogger.
— My blogs cover an in-depth analysis of each blogging step that will suit most bloggers in their domains.
So, find what it is that your competitors and top bloggers in your domain have not covered yet.
Also, analyze how your content will make a difference. For this purpose, put yourself in the shoes of your readers.
- What would you expect from a blog when you post a user query to solve your problem?
- What kind of blogs will excite you, make you feel good, and go ahead with a CTA?
Answering these and similar questions can help you redefine blogging with purpose.
Que 4: What is Your Blog’s Purpose?
This point is something that can be generic and specific for each blogger.
Everyone tries their hand at blogging to share something new. Personal experiences are always in demand for those in similar situations.
There can also be specific reasons to start a blog.
— In my case, I found the earnings from my job insufficient.
— So, I started to blog to share knowledge about online earnings. Along with this, I wanted to generate a secondary source of income.
— Soon, my blog reached many followers who kept coming back to me for content.
— I started earning revenue, integrated SEO metrics, and slowly quit my full-time job. I aimed to have my own life with no one to boss me around, with secure savings for my retirement.
Some top bloggers in other domains use their blogging income to support charity and fundraiser activities.
Through blogging, you and your followers must get benefits.
However, focusing only on monetization and not having a firm blogging goal can destroy your purpose of blogging.
So, think again about how your content can impact your life and your followers.
Que 5: Long-Term Goals in Your Blogging Purpose
The time taken for a blogger to grow can be slower than many other professions. But, it does not mean that blogging takes its own course.
You must strive to achieve these goals within the given time frame. Make sure you set realistic long-term goals.
For example,
You must try getting the first 1,000 followers within six months.
Do not aim for 1,00,000 or more followers for which you may have to resort to paid or inorganic traffic sources.
Including SEO metrics and regularly refining your blogs to the latest SEO trends improve your scope for Google AdSense.
As you get more loyal followers, plan to include more curated and personalized content suiting their preferences.
Within 4 to 5 years, you can plan to conduct workshops for your followers. By this time, you must be recognized as a domain expert.
Alongside your blog goals, keep learning and stay updated in your blogging domain.
Continuous learning is key to remaining a top blogger without vanishing in the sea of bloggers.
Finally, Why You Should Blog With a Purpose?
Blogging without a purpose is like sailing on a sea without knowing where to head.
Eventually, you will run out of ideas and motivation, ultimately giving up a great venture.
More specifically, in the initial stages of your blogging journey, you may have a lot of self-doubts and concerns.
You may start blogging without a proper plan and feel stuck.
It is never too late to define the purpose of your blog. But it is best done at the beginning of your journey.
Blogging should not just be about personal benefits. Bloggers must have the goal of sharing knowledge and trusting the process of returns.
Solely writing for monetization will deviate you from your blogging goals.
So you must prioritize writing blogs to solve user queries and enhance user experience.
When you are clear with your blogging purpose, there are fewer chances for you to give up on blogging during your low times.
It is your purpose statement that motivates you to strive harder during times of hardship.
So be clear and asses yourself on why you are blogging and whether you are blogging with a purpose.