Why are Blogs Necessary for Academic Writers

This blog appeared originally on Essay Lancers, and the blog can be found on Why Blogs are Necessary for Academic Writers - Part I and Why Blogs are Necessary for Academic Writers - Part II.

In this blog, I am amalgamating these two posts and presenting them as one. I hope you will enjoy reading this blog post and I look forward to your comments and feedback.

All of you know what blogs are. I am not keen to describe what blogs are, and not interested in explaining how to write blogs. What I am interested here to describe why writing blogs is necessary for academic writers.

As an academic writer, I too understand that blogs are necessary for me to showcase my talent, knowledge and ensure that I am heard by my target audience. But are these the reasons why you, me and others have to write blogs? Agreed, these are some of the key aspects of writing blogs, something that many people and companies do to attract their customers and target audience. But I believe that there is a whole lot more to writing blogs than showcasing talent, knowledge and being heard by the target audience.

Blogs have helped individuals and companies reach out to their target audience, and this has created an opportunity that was not earlier tapped. This is one of the most powerful aspects of the Internet, and as such, companies and individuals are cashing in on this power.

I am an academic writer from the management field, and so, the examples I have picked up are from this field, but these points are as valid for other fields as they are for management.

Let me get to the most important reasons why you need to write blogs. Blogging:

1. Helps You to Learn New Things

As a freelance academic writer, you get to learn new things. While you do learn a lot of things by freelancing for others, you end up selling the knowledge that you develop to others. The blog portrays your own content, something that belongs to you.

While the writing that you do for others will be limited, based on the requirement of the document (I am using the term document, as it could mean article or book), you can write as much content as you want in these blogs. This will help you improve your knowledge and share it with a wide audience.

2. Makes You Think Clearly

Writing for someone else does make you think clearly, because you are writing for a specific audience, but when you write a blog, you would be keener to think more clearly, as you want your blog to reach audience as wide as possible. This will force you to write your blogs as crisp and clear as possible, so that your blogs are very widely read.

You learn to appreciate your relationships with others, and the society in general, understand your strengths, as well as strengths in various arguments, appreciate that differences are part and parcel of life, and that these differences will give you additional food for thought.

3. Helps You Write Better

When you think clearly, you tend to write better. This is applicable for writing for others or for writing for yourself. At the end of the day, you want your blogs to be well written. The better your blogs are written, the more your blogs would be read, and you will become more famous in your endeavour to write blogs.

Imagine a situation when you have not written for days together, and one day, you have to write. Words will not flow, and you will fall short of ideas. Writing doesn’t need to be the same if you keep writing, because you think clearly and write better. Additionally, writing doesn’t need to be only typing. Some people get ideas faster when they “write”, not type. Whether you write or type, blogging does help you to write better.

4. Builds Your Confidence

Let me give you an example. I had a student who was very timid and lacked confidence. Her English was poor, and thought process lacked direction, until she started working with me on ghostwriting books. Over a period of 6 months, there has been a drastic improvement in her confidence. This has been possible because of the fact that she was involved in ghostwriting books. If this is the transformation that ghostwriting can bring in, imagine what a boost in confidence you would get when you start writing blogs.

You not only develop confidence, but also learn to pace your arguments with logic, backed by facts and take criticisms in your stride without losing your cool.

5. Helps You Speak More Coherently

I cite the example of my student, I mentioned in the previous point. Today, she is not only confident, but also speaks very coherently and clearly. Yesterday, I had to take up an exam, and there was a reading comprehension section. The topic of the passage focused on the lack of writing that many students in the West face in the current scenario – with mobiles, tablets and computers. The only time when most students write is during exams, and the personal touch with writing is lost. No wonder, many people around the world who have forgotten the art of writing are the ones who end up not being able to communicate effectively, in the written and oral forms of communication.

Hence, as a blogger, your ideas are clear, and since you write clearly to convey your thoughts, your oral communication becomes better, and you are able to speak clearly and coherently. More importantly, you gain knowledge of a particular field of interest, and as you gain more knowledge by exchanging ideas, you become clear and coherent in your thought process.

6. Challenges You

Growth comes when you come out of your comfort zone. Two years ago, I had a job in a University, and life seemed “great”, till I decided to quit and do something on my own. I believe that this was the best decision that I took in life, because after this, I was jostled out of my comfort zone. I volunteered with a not-for-profit organization, before someone told me about online freelancing work. This changed my outlook towards life, and I am always out of my comfort zone and seeking newer things to do. Life may be tough in the beginning, but once you are able to make a mark, there is no looking back, because you thrive in seeking challenges. Blogging is similar to being on your own.

I am sure, as a freelancer, you too would have faced similar challenges, and every time you write your blog, you are challenged because you cannot keep writing the same stuff or use a very boring language. You need to come up with newer ideas that are interesting to readers, and build a community of avid readers to keep challenging you to bring out the best in you.

7. Pushes You to Build an Audience and Help Others

When you start a blog, you create value and this is the first step in creating an audience. As an academic writer, you write articles and books for someone else, so the audience is someone else’s. Blogs help you develop your audience and these are people who will value you, your advice and your content. Nothing will give you more satisfaction when you build your audience.

You can also help others by choosing topics related to a specific problem area – like relationships, or religion or for that matter something else. This will help people solve their concerns and problems in life.

8. Gives You Freedom, Credibility and Fame

Blogging frees you from mundane work, and lets you go into your imaginary world, and the freedom to work from anywhere, at any time, and you can spend ample time with your family. Your blogs and their readership is an indication of your credibility, because you have knowledge of a particular subject and knowledge.

You can get your works published, as many people have done the self-publishing way. Well, to that extent, I too have done the same thing, and I have published three books in the past 6 months, and I am in the process of publishing two more in the next couple of months.

Many people have become famous using the self-publishing route, like James Altucher, Chandler Bolt, Theresa Ragan, and others. You too can use your blog to self-publish your works and become famous. Along with becoming famous, you can also make money using blogging. If your blogs achieve critical readership, then you can make money even by blogging too.

In addition to making money and become famous, you can also get assignments that will help you share your knowledge, like speaking and consulting assignments. Some consulting assignments will even pay you $5000 per hour. You will easily make about $30,000 per month.

9. Boosts Your Creativity and Makes You Happy

You have to become resourceful, and try to create beautiful things that you would want to see. You imagine better, give wings to creative ideas, challenging norms and share your genius with others. Thus, you become creative.

When you are creative, and living a free life, spending time with your family, solving people’s problems, etc. you get satisfied, and become happy. Happiness begets happiness, and your family will also be happy.

10. Helps You Stand Out and You Live Forever

Only 1% of the world’s population writes blog. What about the remaining 99%? They consume. So, wouldn’t you want to be the 1% of the population writing blogs? This will definitely make you stand out. And once you write, you live forever. Think about William Shakespeare. He lived in the 16th and 17th centuries. His works of art are considered relevant even today, and many movies have been inspired by his works.

The reason why I gave Shakespeare’s works is to indicate that even after your death, your works will live forever. And to this extent, you live forever, because your blogs never go out of vogue and you will become immortal, even after you death.

The described benefits have a real power to convince because blogging is really useful for those freelance academic writers who want to develop constantly. So, don't waste your time, start your blog and embrace the gain.

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