Personal Blogging Is Rich, Powerful, And Value Loaded
These insights may help
Dear friends, it is my birthday 10 days from now.
My 27th year was full of life-altering changes like getting married and moving to another country.
It was challenging and exciting at the same time.
I feel a lot “grown up”.
I couldn’t have sailed through the past year without my one and only weapon —
WRITING
Writing is not just my passion anymore.
It has become a tool of self-discovery for me.
To say writing has helped me heal, would be an understatement.
What started as an emotional vent-out on white-paper exercise, has become a part-time side hustle for me.
When I started writing online, I did not have a specific niche.
I wrote what I felt like, you may call it public journaling.
That is why I liked to call myself a “personal blogger”.
Friends, personal blogging is a popular form of online writing, which can be pursued by anyone.
Let us understand it a bit more carefully —
According to this article, personal blogging is:
- A blog that focuses on the writer’s individual experiences and thoughts.
- It is usually written in first person perspective, making them intimate and personal.
- It can be on any topic, based on the writer’s own life experiences.
Additionally, a personal blog is also:
- Creative
- Value loaded
- Includes bits and components of storytelling.
There are 3 good reasons why starting a personal blog is of benefit —
- An excellent medium to share stories, life experiences, opinions, thoughts, and values.
- A gateway to building a community of like-minded individuals around your interest.
- A way to maintain an online diary that you “choose” to share with others.
Your motivation may be to —
- Tell a lot
- Help others learn from your mistakes/experiences
- Render support
- Practice creativity
All in all, in the noisy content-churning industry that is driving the digital world today, your personal blog is something that is uniquely yours.
Here is one of my favorite blog pieces that received warm support from the Medium community:
A major perk of maintaining a personal blog is that you need not confine your creative writing to any specific topics or niche.
You are free to write what you want.
But here are a few things you MUST keep in mind while writing a personal blog:
- Ensure you are simply not narrating, but providing some value through your story. For example, lessons learned or key takeaways or conclusions.
- Avoid long sentences and/or long paragraphs. Instead, use short sentences with ample spacing to make it easier for your reader to read a long piece.
- Use personal photos if you are comfortable. Any piece of writing when coupled with an original photo/s of the author has a different impact altogether on keeping the audience hooked.
- Address one thing at a time. Don’t confuse the readers. An easy way to structure your blog is to dump all your thoughts and then weed out ideas that is digressing from your main topic.
It is very rare (but not impossible) for a personal blogger to hold onto a set of audience for a long time, simply because there is immense subjectivity in their words, which may or may not vibe with the readers at all times.
Readers find it interesting to learn about someone’s life experiences, but not just a ramble.
You must understand the difference.
……………….
That is why, even when you are writing a personal blog, it is important to be mindful.
To help you get started, I want to share the name of a popular personal blogger on Medium, who publishes highly engaging, value driven blog posts consistently:
I admire how beautifully Yana shares about her life journey as an empath, without disclosing a whole lot about herself and yet, enough to help readers enjoy her content.
Why Medium is the best platform to start a personal blog?
Gone are the days when you needed to purchase a domain name for your personal blog or even hunt for a platform that would work best.
With its ever-increasing domain authority, Medium offers you a perfect platform to start your personal blog.
It is free.
Yes, you need not pay to write on Medium.
However,
The main success of a personal blog lies in finding others to share the writing.
That is where a small investment can go a long way in your success as a blogger.
Medium stands out from other online platforms, mainly because, it offers a well-knit, engaging community of readers and writers.
A community that truly cares.
Additionally, Medium has also evolved into a platform where thousands of writers feel empowered to share their emotions, vulnerability, dark confessions, and courage towards healing — all of which closely align to what personal blogging really stands for.
It is possible to thrive as a personal blogger.
Remember, everyone has something to share.
What do you have to share from your experience of personal blogging?
I want to share this story by Remi Roy where she beautifully conveys the deep message of life, that is — Life is a journey of self-discovery. So true.
As a immigrant myself, I could resonate with everything Donnette Anglin has shared about her experience in this article. A thought-provoking read.
