One of the most popular questions I see asked on Facebook is “Should I start a blog?” And my answer is pretty much always YES! Blogging can offer everyone something and you can do as much or as little as you want. So unless you hate writing and talking about yourself, there is no reason why you shouldn’t start a blog.
Why do people start a blog?
Everyone starts blogging for a different reason. For many equestrians, a blog starts as a personal diary for a rider/owner to track their progress towards their goals or through an injury. Competitive riders may start a blog in order to write about their sponsors and keep the industry updated with their progress. Brands and companies often start a blog to help drive traffic to their website by attracting potential customers with interesting content. Whereas some people blog simply to share their opinion somewhere.
EquiPepper started as an online portfolio as part of a business project at University where we had to choose a future career and demonstrate our skills. For the sake of the project, I decided to focus on retraining racehorses for profit. I started blogging about my progress retraining Scottie and writing factual posts about horse health and the industry. Once the business project was over, I was still enjoying writing and kept it going. And now nearly 3 years on, we have been hugely successful and I am loving it more than ever!
Can I start a blog for profit?
Yes. Many businesses and professionals use a blog to increase their profit. However, it can be tricky to make money from blogging alone, especially if your industry is fairly niche. So while you might earn a little extra cash from your blog, it won’t be a get rich quick scheme.
How do I start a blog?
Everyone has a slightly different opinion on this. But I personally think the best way to start a blog is to first decide on what your blog will be about and to pick a name. It might also help to write a few draft posts for topics you want to include on your blog.
Once you have your name and some content ideas, you then need to choose where to host your blog. For first time bloggers I recommend a free platform such as WordPress.com. It’s very straightforward to use and if you then decide to move to self hosted or to a better platform, it is very easy to migrate everything!
Now you can start selecting themes and perfecting the appearance of your blog before posting for the very first time!
Do I need social media accounts for my blog?
This really depends on why you are blogging. If you are blogging for profit or to promote yourself, then yes, social media accounts are good to have. But the accounts you need will really depend on what works best for your industry.
If you are just blogging for fun, then you do not need social media at all. But I have found some amazing groups of likeminded bloggers through using social channels with EquiPepper.
