Blogging is becoming increasingly popular with writers. But what’s the appeal? How can it help you to improve your writing skills?

Daily blogging can be really helpful if you’re looking to become a good writer. Let’s take a look at why blogging is so popular, and how it can improve the quality of your writing.

What are the benefits of blogging?

Maybe you’re still not sure if blogging is for you? Whether you’re an experienced writer or just starting out, starting a blog can offer so many benefits. But what makes it so great? Why are more and more people turning to blogging?

It helps you become a better writer

First and foremost, blogging is a great way to improve your writing skills. Just like anything else in life, the more you practice the better you get. Writing a daily blog can massively improve your writing without you even realizing. It improves your vocabulary, grammar and overall communication.

It improves your creativity

The biggest worry for most people when they start blogging, is that they don’t think they’ll have enough to say.  Thinking of new ideas and coming up with inspiration for new blog posts takes time and practice. This is where regular blogging can actually really help. By taking time every day to record your thoughts and ideas, you’ll gradually become a lot better at thinking creatively.

It helps you to be more disciplined

Blogging takes a lot of dedication. Making yourself take time to regularly update your blog can really enhance your self-discipline and lead to much better life habits. Once you get really invested in a blog, you’ll start to notice how much more committed you become to it.

Blogging is a great way to meet new people

Once you’ve built up a following, you’d be surprised how many new people you can meet from blogging. Whether it’s through comments, shares or likes, the online community tends to be very friendly and encouraging to each other. More and more people are forming genuine friendships online through their mutual interests – and it’s great to be a part of it.

How can blogging help your writing skills?

It encourages you to be consistent with your writing

When you’re trying to improve your writing skills, consistency is everything. Starting a blog is a great way of getting you into the habit of daily writing. Because blog posts are short, it makes it a lot easier to write regularly and it makes it seem a lot less daunting. If you’re the kind of writer who goes weeks without writing, then blogging is really good at helping you form consistent habits which can have a massive effect on the quality of your writing.

You get feedback from your audience

When you’re just writing for yourself, it can be hard to know how good your writing is. You’re constantly wondering what you’re doing right as well as how you could improve. When you write blog posts, they’re instantly available to an audience. That’s great if you’re looking for feedback. Comments and messages from your readers can help you to see what impact your work has on people. Knowing that your writing is popular can be a huge confidence boost; and even negative comments can be great at giving you ways you can improve.

You can experiment with different styles

Sometimes you want to try out a different style of writing. Blogging is a great way to experiment and see what works best. Because you’re writing in short bursts, it takes out some of the pressure. If one style doesn’t work then you can try something else the next day. Writing a whole article or book in a completely different style can be a bit risky. What if you get to the end and realize the style doesn’t work? With blogging you can try new things without having to worry as much.

Starting your blog

Starting a blog has so many benefits, but how do you get started? Once you’ve decided to start your blog, it can be hard to know where to start. But if you break it down it’s a lot simpler than you’d think. Let’s take a look at the main steps to starting a blog.

Choosing a topic

Next, you need to choose your topic. Maybe you want to blog about a specific interest you have? Or maybe you want a more general blog about your life? Whatever you choose you need to make sure you’re writing about something that will interest you and keep you motivated. Try and avoid writing about something just because you think it’s popular, especially if it’s a topic you have very little knowledge in. Finding the right topic for your personality is the key to staying motivated and providing content that’s engaging to your audience.

Setting up your blog

The first step to setting up a blog is to choose your site and then customize it using themes to create your own design. There are lots of different blogging platforms to choose from like WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr. If you’re not sure which one is right for you click here for information on some of the most popular blogging websites.

Building an audience

Growing your audience can take time and patience. The best way to attract new followers is by updating your blog regularly. If your audience has to wait weeks at a time for you to update your blog – they’re probably going to lose interest. Try and make your posts as interesting as possible by relating to your audience. You can use your own personal experience, and make sure you engage with your audience by responding to comments and messages.

Once you’ve set up you blog and built your audience, the next step is consistently writing your blog posts. By blogging every day, you’ll start to see a real improvement in the quality of your writing and your creativity.

AUTHOR BIO: Kevin Balcker is a digital marketer, entrepreneur and owner of Residual Income Secrets. He love writing about blogging, SEO, social media and ways of generating residual income. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Google +