Alexandros Melidoniotis

To Blog or Not to Blog - Weighing Up the Pros and Cons To blog or not to blog, that is the question. Starting and maintaining a blog is a lot like learning a new language. Getting the basics down takes time and effort, but the end result is definitely worth it. Right? Well, it depends. If your goal is to move to Japan and take the automotive industry by storm, then spending 10,000 hours mastering Japanese may be well worth your troubles. In most cases, it’s better to stick to eating cheap sashimi at your local sushi bar. While it won’t take you 10,000 hours to become a pro at the art of blogging, there’s no guarantee that blogging will work for you. If you’re still not sure about it all, weighing up the pros and cons may help clear up the picture. The Pros A blog doesn’t cost much to set up. Despite what you may have heard, blogging is a low-cost investment. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get started unless you’re bidding for a very competitive domain name. Hosting and other maintenance costs are not that significant either. With a couple hundred bucks, you could be on your way to blogging stardom. Themes, logos, design, scheduling software and other extras will weigh on your budget. Still, you won’t really have to worry about those in the beginning. A blog will help you establish yourself as an expert in your field. Picture two gym websites. Website A provides visitors with some basic info about the gym’s opening hours, workout programmes and contact details. Website B has all that but also features a blog where visitors can find guides about healthy exercising practices and learn more about ideal diet plans. If both gyms offered the same facilities at a similar price and were located close to each other, which one would you choose? I’d probably head to the sushi bar down the road, but gym B does sound like the better choice, all things considered. A blog will help you establish yourself as an industry expert and help you stand out from the competition. A blog will drive traffic to your website. Well-optimised blog posts will allow Google to raise your SERP rankings. Of course, this won’t happen overnight. SEO comes with a learning curve, and it will take plenty of time and hours of research before you can create content that Google—and your audience—will love. Worry not! Our newly updated blog [LINK] comes loaded with plenty of SEO guides to get you started on your journey! Blogging can make you a lot of money. For most businesses, it all boils down to this. Blogging will make you money, one way or another. It may be through a sudden increase in website traffic or through ad revenue, affiliate marketing, or sponsored content. When mastered and when done right, blogging can be a great—yet unreliable—source of income. Blogging will help you connect with your audience. Money makes the world go round, but a business is nothing without its customers. Blogging can help you start honest discussions with your audience, covering topics and issues in great detail. Yes, social media promotes meaningful interaction in similar ways. Still, there’s not nearly enough space to dive deeper and answer the burning questions that your audience has. The Cons Blogging takes time to bear fruit. Okay, maybe we’re being a little bit too dramatic here. But, the truth is that blogging is time-consuming. It takes time and effort to create a well-researched, well-optimised blog that will make you sweet dosh and help you climb through the ranks. It may take weeks or even months before you start seeing any results. And these first few months are definitely the hardest. There will be times where you’ll want to give up and try something else. And that’s fine. Just stay focused and keep at it. If your blog doesn’t pick up speed within a set period (e.g. 4-6 months), you may want to try something else. Hiring a copywriter or contacting a digital marketing agency to do the dirty work for you may not be such a bad idea [LINK to TALK services?] Blogging requires writing (duh)! This can be both good and bad, depending on the person. If you don’t like writing or if you don’t have a way with words, blogging may actually hurt your website. You’ll also struggle to maintain a blog if you’re naturally not very organised or tend to give up easily. There are many reasons why you may not want to write. Perhaps you’re a professional and just don't have time or a young adult who just crawled out of college. Whatever the reason, we respect your choice, and we bring good news. Blogging is not the only way to drive website traffic in 2020. If you hate writing, you can perhaps consider developing a podcast or a YouTube channel. How about a kickass Instagram profile that will attract Millenials? The possibilities are endless. Blogging requires some technical knowledge. We’re not saying that you need to be an expert Russian hacker to run a blog. Still, if you’re planning on doing everything by yourself and have 0 technical knowledge, things won’t be easy. Thankfully, WordPress and other CMS platforms have made it easier for creators and websites to share their content with the world. Even then, coding issues, malware, plugin conflicts and expired SSL certificates are bound to cause significant headaches. If you want a website that runs well with minimal issues, enlisting the help of a friendly tech guy—or gal—can really make a huge difference. To blog or not to blog? To blog, say we! Having an awesome blog can be a game-changer in almost every single industry. Is blogging hard work? Definitely! But you’re not alone. We regularly publish blogs and guides that can help you improve your writing and SEO skills. Check out … [LINK to another blog]