Living in the era of social media platforms, when people spend a considerable amount of time on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, everyone can become a blogger with ease.
However, blogging isn’t limited to social media networks. It’s still important to create a website for your blog. Why? There are 1.8 billion websites on the Internet and 570 million of them are blogs which means incredible relevance for blogging.
So all you have to do is choose a platform and create a blog. But that’s exactly the problem – which blog platform to choose?
A lot depends on this: your expenses and income, the time spent, and the safety of the website.
If you’re looking for the best option, run a WordPress blog. According to Netcraft, WordPress is the most popular content management system and 35% of all websites are run on it. WordPress even started as a blogging platform.
In this article, you will find out why WordPress is so popular among bloggers as well as ways to promote your blog.
About WordPress
WordPress is a free open source content management and blog system platform.
The WordPress ecosystem is made of:
- WordPress themes – ready-made website layouts that can be customized
- WordPress plugins – plugins that provide extra functionalities to your theme, from design capabilities to SEO, security, image optimization, table creation, and so many more. Some powerful WordPress plugins are drag and drop page builders (like Colibri). Page builders are design tools that allow you to create a website by drag and drop starting from a base theme. I mean, what can be better than drag and drop?
Still, doubting whether you want to run a WordPress blog? Here are 7 proven reasons for bloggers to run a WordPress blog in 2021:
1. Save Time and Money with WordPress Blogging
Whether you’re an aspiring or experienced blogger, it’s more likely you’re looking for a blogging platform that can save you time and money. With WordPress, you just hit the jackpot. Although WordPress is a powerful tool, it has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface. Bloggers like this platform for a variety of reasons. WordPress allows you to create content instantly and publish it without having coding experience. What does this mean for you? Saving time and money, and allowing yourself to get creative with writing, without having to bother about the technical stuff.
And do not forget that WordPress is a free platform. You should agree that this is a big bonus. Some themes though have some paid plans. It all depends on your needs.
Web design in WordPress has evolved over the years. Right now, it is block-based, meaning that you can add blocks with different functionalities to your design: paragraphs, images, videos, and more. You just have to create a new page and start adding your desired type of content/block. It’s that fast and easy.
I also mentioned page builders that allow you to build sites by drag and drop, this means that you can build a site in no time.
2. Show Off Your Personality
As mentioned earlier, WordPress has a wide range of themes, some of them are multipurpose, some of them are suitable for various niches. This means that you can choose a WordPress theme that suits your blog topic, needs, and preferences. All in all, it gives you an opportunity to show off your personality and therefore attract like-minded people to your blog.
But if you want to create a blog with a customized design, you can use Colibri. Here are some reasons to rely on it:
- A variety of templates not only for the whole website but also for each block
- Different design elements
- A possibility to add videos, slideshows, and collages to your blog
- Automatic adaptation of your website for any device
- A free version
Colibri also has templates for different topics: business, services, sport and travel, food and drink. Or for a portfolio as shown in the example below. All this allows you to simplify and speed up the process of creating a website.
3. Monetize Your Blogging on the Website
Now you know that you can easily create a blog using WordPress and run it successfully without wasting time and money. But you were probably wondering how you can make money out of blogging.
There are different ways to do this. The most obvious is to sell ads on your website.
But here are several other ways to monetize your WordPress blog. Let’s take a look at the full list of options:
- Post external links
- Earn on posting articles
- Participate in affiliate programs
- Sell ebooks on your website
Want to know the best part? WordPress has many plugins for those wanting to monetize their blog.
4. Understand Your Readers Better
To successfully promote your blog, you should regularly publish new content. But this is not enough; you should also do your best to generate leads.
Understanding your readers is the first step. WordPress has all the tools for this.
Want to know which ones?
First, you need to collect the leads. This is not a WordPress built-in feature. But, as you probably guessed, plugins can help you fix this.
These are the most popular form plugins out there:
Next, you need to manage those leads and create email nurturing campaigns. Now, most of the email providers out there have their own WordPress plugin: Sendinblue, Hubspot, etc.
Now, the moment your leads come pouring in, we definitely recommend the Google Analytics plugin. With the help of Google Analytics, you can analyze your website visitors’ behavior. The plugin allows you to check key information right in your WordPress dashboard (if you have installed Site Kit by Google).
Next, the Crazy Egg plugin also comes in handy as it tracks visitor clicks and mouse movements.
5. Improve Your SEO skills
Search engine optimization is another must-have step in promoting the blog. The more people find your blog when searching for it on the web, the better.
But what if your SEO skills are poor? WordPress has a solution for this case too – the Yoast SEO plugin. With it, you can optimize any page for the right keyword request. This plugin gives hints for titles and text optimization when you create a post.
For example, you can enter a keyword and the system does all the work. Yoast helps you analyze if a keyword appears often enough in the text. The system checks not only the title and text but also the URL and image description. And if something is wrong, it notifies you.
6. Expand Your Knowledge and Build your Network
You will have mastered WordPress at a level sufficient for creating a website and blogging. But don’t stop there. The better you know this platform, the better it will be for your blog.
WordPress has a special section for user training. You can improve your skills in using this platform through workshops–just select a topic and language. Workshops are usually short videos with an emphasis on the practical part.
And because there is a huge WordPress community out there, you can also learn WordPress on third-party resources. Here are some of them:
- WP Apprentice – basic course on WordPress
- Videos.WPBeginner.com – free video tutorials
- WordPress.tv – free WordPress tutorials and information
- Books – lots of books on WordPress
For those who want to share their knowledge of WordPress with other users, there is a teaching option. In the Lesson Plans section, there are scripts for preparing workshops or classes. You can choose an experience level and audience: developers, designers, speakers, or users. It is also possible to choose the duration of the lesson and its type – lectures, exercises, etc.
What is more, you can organize a discussion group for a local meetup or join the Learn WordPress Working Group.
7. Protect Your Website
With the popularity of WordPress, more and more hackers try to steal private information like passwords and data. Therefore, you should give special attention to security issues and prevent cybercrime on your website.
Here are some tips on how to keep your website safe from hacking:
- Update WordPress regularly
- Admin username and password shouldn’t be too simple
- Turn on two-step verification when logging into the website
- Disable sending error reports
- Download templates and plugins only from reliable sources
- Regularly scan the website for viruses
- Migrate your website to secure hosting
- Backup your data
- Remove all unused templates and plugins
Conclusion
With the variety of handy in-built functions, it’s no wonder that WordPress is still one of the most popular platforms for creating and running your blog. This platform is not only professional, easy-to-use, and free, but it is also constantly updated and expands its capabilities. All in all, there are many reasons for bloggers to run a WordPress blog in 2021. Enjoy blogging!
Alina is a digital marketer with a passion for web design. When she's not strategizing she's doing photography, listening to podcasts on history and psychology, and playing with her 2 dogs and cat.
