What blogging has taught me and why you should blog!

This is a collaborative post.

Some of you readers might know me from my other websites, but if not don’t worry you will feel like you know me by the end of this article! I hope you will want to start a blog too!

What made me start blogging?

When I was young I always wanted to be a journalist and in fact wrote for a children’s version of The Times called The Early Times for a few years in their young press team (I can’t remember the proper name but maybe some of you did it too and will remember?).

I have always been someone who likes to write and share my opinions. Over the years I have gone through phases of writing a lot of letters and I just love to talk so I guess blogging was a natural step for me!

My first ever blog was in around 2010 and about the ups and downs of a parent to a child with autism. I stopped it after a while as I started to wonder how writing about how sometimes it brings me down would affect my son in the future if he was to read it.

The next blog I started was weight loss related sharing my ups and downs and recipes I have enjoyed along the way. Blogging became a way of life for me and something I could do well so I set up more and more sites with different purposes.

I started Midnight Review as I often find that if I can’t sleep I end up scrolling social media with no one else online. The idea of having a site that is dedicated to things you can read when you can’t sleep with a dark theme to be gentle to your eyes was just perfect!

Making money from blogging

There are a number of ways that as a blogger you can make money. My favourites are working with brands, either directly or through an agent for them, to write about and share their products. I also love the income I can earn from influencer marketing. This is essentially using my following on social media to help a brand share its products with my vast audience.

There are, of course, much more successful influencers but that doesn’t mean that smaller ones can not be successful too. It is all about the audience you have and the unique interests they may have. For example, a homewares brand would be much more interested in working with a small homewares blogger than a large travel blogger! It is all about having the most suitable audience for their campaign.

I also love reading other influencers’ stories, especially the big inspiring stories. Why not read Josi Maia’s Influencer spotlight and see what you think? Or check out your favourite influencers on Instagram and see if they have a blog too?

There are downsides to brands using influencer marketing too, the audience is not as big as on TV and they have to take time choosing the right influencers, that said I do think that it is a great way for brands to advertise. What better way to try something new than to see someone you have grown to trust using it?

Why you should start blogging

I absolutely love blogging and think if you are often awake at night with nothing to do you should consider blogging too. There are hundreds of reasons blogging could be great for you but here are my top 5!

1. It could give you an outlet to share your feelings, thoughts and even styles with others.
2. What starts as a hobby could become a job or a great side hustle!
3. It is something you can do around children, caring or working.
4. Blogging is much easier than you realise and there are so many tutorials and videos online to get you started!
5. It could be an income that you start alongside work and end up leaving your job for because you earn so well!

Are you considering starting a blog? If so, what is holding you back? Start designing your website and then read my post about how to make money from blogging whenever you are ready for that next step, but the most important thing to start with is to choose a blog name, set your website up and get typing!