Blogging is a great hobby, but have you ever thought about how it can help advance your career? Just because your personal blog is unrelated to your career does not mean it is not prepping you for success. If you put the work in, your personal blog can help you become more successful at work.

 

1) Blogging Makes You a Better Communicator

Knowing how to communicate effectively is incredibly important for life and your career, because if you can’t communicate effectively at work, you won’t be taken seriously. Your personal blog is a great tool to showcase that you can.

Your first few posts might lack focus and may not be exceptional, but if you practice and write new posts consistently, you will be able to communicate your ideas more effectively. Great writing skills are vital to success, and the only way to improve them is to write a lot.

2) Blogging Shows You Can Spot Credible Information

 

Coming up with new topics for a blog is not easy. In fact, it requires serious thought and research to create relevant and credible topics.

You will ruin your credibility if your blog communicates something to your readers that is false or not thoroughly researched. You don’t want to be the person who passes along bad information; by improving your ability to fact check you can make sure that never happens.

A lot of smart people I know will believe anything just because it is on the internet. Don’t let mistakes like this hinder the success of you or your company.

 

3) Blogging Improves the Quality of Your Writing

Many jobs require at least some form of writing, so you need to know how to write, and write well. Learning how to create quality content for your blog on a consistent basis will help sharpen your writing skills and make you a better communicator.

Being a better writer helps the way you are perceived at your job. When you write as an employee of your company, you are representing your company, so you become a better representative as you become a better writer.

 

4) Blogging Helps You Gain New Skills

Running your own blog can help you enhance sought-after skills in SEO, social media marketing, researching, organization, planning, email marketing and more. These are important skills to know, even if they’re not part of your core responsibilities at work. Just having general knowledge in these areas can help make you more relevant in the workplace.

There could also be skills unique to your blog’s focus that you can write about. You can write about how these skills translate into other forms of your life—like your job. Your readers will love the insight, and it shows you are always learning to stay on top of your game.

 

5) Blogging Builds Your Personal Brand

You should think about your personal brand the same way you would think about a brand for a company. Simply, a personal brand is how you are perceived by other people. Just as companies use advertisements to influence how people perceive their brand, you can use your blog to influence how people perceive your personal brand.

Building your personal brand can help shape how you are perceived at work. You will be seen as more than just your job and have interesting things to talk about that are not business related. In fact, talking about personal interests helps you create better connections with co-workers. These kinds of connections tend to make for a happier and more productive workplace.

I have experienced all of these situations while running my own blog, and I can attest that it has been a rewarding experience. Your blog can be a lot of fun, but it also can help you be more successful. It requires hard work and determination to see the results, but you will be better off for sticking to it.

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