There are a few of you out there who have yet to make a blog.
Like the thousands who work 9-9 and barely have time to watch TV and hit the gym before returning to work.
In this post I plan to shamelessly convince you to start a blog.
I'll give you all the links needed to get going and if you haven't decided to build a blog by the end then I haven't done my job.
Oh wait -- I don't need a job. Here's why.
Cubicles to riches
My story, probably a lot like yours, can be easily described in a logical manner at a dinner party. Also like yours, it consists of hundreds of unique twists and turns that lead me to where I am today. I graduated college in 2010 after studied economics through the recession. With a non stellar GPA I resorted to inter-fraternity networking to land a government job in 2011. And I actually did love it, until my soul was crushed and my creativity squandered on projects that never impacted the real world.
So, there's that. What's your story so far?
It's 2016 now. I quit said job in 2014 to start blogging for a living. Since then I've written countless articles to my own social media following, created incomes streams with online companies I love, and recently got accepted to YouTube Creator Space New York. Their tagline? You can make it here. Gonna be good times.
And it all started when I decided to make a blog and take that chance that maybe my voice on the internet would be worth something. Also there was when I spilled coffee on a blogging book. That had some impact too.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an online publishing tool that anyone who's ever used Microsoft Word could understand. It's got all the same formatting tools like "bold" and "italics" and "center justify" within a white box where you write text and add images, links, quotes and more.
The weird thing about WordPress, and the thing I think that keeps people from starting blogs, is the whole "putting it online" thing. This just refers to a domain name and hosting space.
A domain name is a .com, .org, .net that you can call your own so long as you pay for it through GoDaddy. You can also get a .guru, .nyc or something even more exotic.
Once you get a domain name, you buy hosting space from a company like HostGator and connect the domain name to the hosting. Then you install WordPress (one button click) and you have a blog.
The feeling is exhilarating.
This is the method for installing WordPress.org -- the publishing tool or content management system (CMS) used by Time, Forbes, New York Times, Coca-Cola, Katy Perry and over 25 percent of the web's top 10 million websites. It's the software many people believe the entire internet will run on someday, and it takes no coding to use.
Note: Good alternatives to WordPress.org include Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress.com which are free blog hosting sites. These sites let you try out blogging for free but don't let you post ads, earn revenue, install helpful plugins or build large audiences or have your own domain name.
Why your life is missing a blog
Aside from the fact that most bloggers I know look forward to waking up every single morning to check the blog traffic (even Mondays!) there's a whole lot more that blogging will teach you:
Blogging will teach you:
How things work on the internet
Do you know who blogs? Just one example: Tim Ferriss, the guy behind The Four Hour Work Week and of course the blog with that same name. He recently interviewed the founder of WordPress too. Since learning about WordPress I now know basically how Tim creates his blog, being that he uses WordPress too, and it sheds a lot more light on how to become my own success story by leveraging all the internet hype.
How to beef up your resume
Using a blog and building a blog can believe it or not make your resume look a lot better. Knowing how to create a WordPress.org blog means you now know how to setup a website too (remember that stat above about the top 10 million websites?) As you grow your own blog you'll inevitably learn about things like Google Analytics, Search Engine Optimization and Copyrighting which can be added as attractive bullet points to your working resume.
How to design a logo
I just learned about a tool called logomakr.com and how to use it to add logos to my blogs and client websites. It's super easy. You now know about it too.
How online advertising works
When you install Google Adsense you'll be granted access to hundreds of free data points used by small and large firms alike to optimize ad earnings.
How to make money online the way big companies do
There's more to making money with a blog than advertising -- and it's called affiliate marketing. With a blog you can review things like travel, hotels, airfare etc. and earn money through the very same type of partnerships that the likes of Expedia, Kayak, Hotels.com and even Amazon earn revenue. Just Google a company name plus "affiliate program" to find opportunities like this.
How to travel for free
Yes, as your blog grows, you might be given the opportunity to travel for free or even speak at conferences around the globe which focus on online activities in an offline settings, at the beach, in Vegas, places like that. You need that blog first though -- I know of zero people who speak at blogging conferences that don't have their own blog.
Today not tomorrow
And that's basically it. If I've not convinced you to build a blog in the above words, then maybe you'd be better off at the cubicle I once sat at. I doubt it's empty now.