21 December 2009 / Blogging, Personal Branding 9 ReTweets

7 Reasons to Start Blogging in 2010

As 2009 comes to a close, we start reflecting on our New Year’s Resolution(s) for 2010. In Social Media, which is all about sharing, the greatest contribution that you can make is to share your knowledge or opinions to the world through blogging. After all, as a professional, where is your “Home Base,” the hub that you share with people who want more information about you? Your LinkedIn Profile? It should be your blog, and if you are looking for reasons to start blogging, check out these 7 reasons to start blogging (in 2010 or ASAP!).

1. Blogging is the Best Way to Build & Showcase Your Personal Brand

Whether you like it or not you are developing an online identity with or without your knowing it. Just do a google search for your name and watch the results increase. You can’t fight it, so you might as well do your best to proactively manage how people will perceive of your online identity. This is what personal branding is all about, and you are in complete control of it through your blog. If you have expertise that you want to let the world know about, simply start blogging and they will recognize you as the expert over time. I can think of no better way to build your personal branding than through blogging.

2. Blogging Helps Differentiate You from Everyone Else

As a professional, there are times where you may want to stand out from the crowd for whatever reason. Could be you’re aiming for a promotion among several contenders at work. You could be competing in the marketplace for jobs. Or maybe you can’t control your ambitions and want to be known as THE go-to person in whatever it is that you are an expert in. There is no better way to differentiate yourself these days than by creating a blog and sharing your expertise for all to see. Get noticed: Start blogging!

3. Blogging Brings You New Opportunities

To be honest with you, I started blogging because I wanted to Windmill Network. There is no better way of meeting new people online than to put your thoughts and ideas out there for the world to see, not just those that may happen to see your profile on LinkedIn, et. al. But something funny happened as I started blogging and getting comments: a lot of opportunities started to come way. And as I continue to blog, now that my blog has some credibility, more opportunities come my way. You have to trust me on this one, but once you start blogging, you will start meeting new people and various opportunities will come your way over time.

4. Blogging is the Ultimate Pay It Forward

Paying It Forward is an important part of Windmill Networking. There is so much that we can do for others, and it can only help our bank account of karma over time. By blogging and sharing information, you are providing a great service to everyone out there seeking out just the information that you can provide. Google is the matchmaker here. Everyone is happy. Consider blogging as the ultimate Pay It Forward device and start sharing!

5. You’re Already Tweeting…Why Not Add Your Own Original Views in More Depth?

If you are reading my blog I am assuming that you have already started to tweet…if you haven’t do that first! Why? Once you start tweeting on a regular basis a funny thing happens. You start thinking about what you want to tweet about it when you read information on the Web. You start thinking about what information your Twitter Followers might be interested in. But maybe you want to start adding more of your own color and opinions but are feeling limited by 140 characters? Well, Twitter is a micro-blogging platform, so when you’re ready to move up, start a blog page on Posterous or even WordPress.

6. You Can Start to Monetize Your Knowledge

I recently did a webinar on helping entrepreneurs and frustrated job seeking executives to utilize social media to start monetizing their knowledge. A blog itself will not help you make money, and very few bloggers make enough money to replace a full-time job. But blogging does serve as a gateway to advertise anything that you may want to create, such as an e-book, webinar, or speaking engagement. When you are ready to start monetizing your knowledge, your blog should be the home base from which you broadcast and advertise…but in a savvy way that is aligned with social media.