3 Huge Benefits of having a Blog

Blogging

As a designer you must treasure three things at most: Credibility, Clients and Cash.

While a lot of methods can be done to help boost these factors such as Media Advertisements, Online Portfolio, Attending Social Gatherings, one of the most effective and inexpensive proven way is to create a blog. Creating a blog not only is efficient in providing you more exposure to a broad range of client by means of the internet, it is also cost-effective since the cost that you are going to pay is more or less $35/year. If done right, you can be getting about at the very least, 100 possible prospects a day. That’s a pretty cheap deal for $35 a year don’t you think?

It is actually perplexing as to why a lot of freelance designers choose to overlook this opportunity as it can offer so much. While your portfolios present your works in a very impressive light, what good is it if you are never found? Let’s face it, sometimes companies don’t go for word of mouth, instead they go to Google to find a good designer.

You may have just lost one of your best clients because of lack in internet presence.

Given some of the ideas that I have pointed out, if you are still not convinced I’ll give another three points in detail on why making a blog for career will be a win-win action for you:

1: Instant Marketing and Publicity

On AirWhen you create a blog post, you make sure you write something about you and/or your work. After all, its focus is to showcase you: who you are, what you are, and how you are as a designer. Your work should be visible, from the design of your blog, to images in your content. Almost everything should speak YOU.

Now as people read, they learn about your work, your life and/or your interest (depending on your chosen theme). You are on-air as long as your website is up. For about 10 to 30 minutes a day depending on how much effort you place, you are to impart something different to your readers, it might be knowledge or entertainment but as long as they get something, they finish your article with you leaving a mark in them at that moment. And that’s what’s important, ’cause when you do, you just got yourself a tribe.

Every person is sure to have friends, sure to have online social networks and social circles to boot. Use this to your advantage. It is highly recommended that you place certain plugins that instantly inserts network sharing in all your posts as it can do a lot of exponential advertisement to your blog if shared. As an example, my twitter followers amount to about 100, while in Facebook I have 570 friends. Now imagine if I share one of your articles through twitter, you have more or less around 100 prospects already which, in turn, may re-share again and give you another number of prospects.

Think about it this way, while in a static portfolio, you work hard in making collateral, promoting yourself and socializing in an exerted effort trying your best to share your works.

In a blog, people share it for you.

A few tips as you jump start your way into blogging:

Commit

You should make a promise to yourself that starting from here on you are to write three to four times a week at least – either a post in your blog or guest blogging on another same-niche blog. That “publish” button will not go un-pressed every two days.

Be organized and simple

In terms of categorizing your articles, try to have as few categories as possible yet as specific to your reader’s interest. This will help you in making sure you have fewer things to do in preparing to publish it, while the readers get a more specific feed on which matter they want to read on.

Always post an image with your work.

Not only does it make your blog entry more enticing, it also helps them get a good impression of you as a designer. Always keep in mind that a picture can speak volumes to your average reader.

Enjoy

Do not make your blog a responsibility and burden — Never. Find good things to help you keep enthusiastic about it. Blogging should be a hobby you enjoy. Collaborate with your friends, ask for ideas, search other blogs for topics, ask around, look outside, read books, be creative! There are a lot of blog post ideas out there. The world of blogging is so big for you to stop with the force of responsibility.

2: Increase in Search Ranking

Improve search rankingCompared to a static portfolio, a blog counterpart is much friendlier to search engines because of the fresh content it offers once in a while. The friendlier you are, the better chances of you being searched for. And in case you haven’t thought about it, your blog can also include your portfolio which can be easily update-able rather than tinkering with your .html code just to insert another work. This link will teach you how to make your blog design optimized for search engines.

By blogging you gain benefits:

  • You gain more indexed pages in search engines with a broader keyword range.
  • You have a better keyword focus for your clients
  • You always have the advantage of fresh content that will be in front in searching
  • A more SEO optimized site for your portfolio

3: You gain additional income

Extra incomeNotice how every successful blog always has an advertisement in its sidebars. If you have enjoyed the popularity lane of success, chances are you will want to monetize that traffic. And if you are still asking “how?” Well, place some ads on your blog!

Some of the successful people in the blogging industry choose to have additional income by placing some ads beside their website.  In some cases their website becomes a marketing tool for other companies because of market specifics they cover. Other companies don’t like to make blogs for the heck of it, so in turn, they use other bloggers to market their services or product, and guess what? They pay for it!

For other online ad-companies, a mere browse through (AKA ‘impression’) is enough to add to your piggybank, for others, you need clicks and to some, you need sales. But whichever the case is, you are earning passively for writing about things you love.

Some freelancers became full time bloggers just because their writing is enough to earn them a living and perhaps even more. Have you ever tried to tap the writer within you? You’ll never know until you’ve never tried. A man both proficient with words and with visuals is a person to reckon with.

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Sean Si

About Sean

is a Filipino motivational speaker and a Leadership Speaker in the Philippines. He is the head honcho and editor-in-chief of SEO Hacker. He does SEO Services for companies in the Philippines and Abroad. Connect with him at Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out his new project, Aquascape Philippines.