Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives – #Potluck – What is the point of writing a blog? Why do I do it? by Marian Wood

Welcome to the series of Posts from Your Archives, where bloggers put their trust in me. In this series, I dive into a blogger’s archives and select four posts to share here to my audience.

If you would like to know how it works here is the original post: https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/smorgasbord-posts-from-your-archives-newseries-pot-luck-and-do-you-trust-me/

Today I am beginning the four post series from the archives of Marian Wood and her blog Just Muddling Through Life Marian has been blogging since October 2018 and posts about family life, writing, fiction and poetry… In the first post I have selected, Marian shares some of the key benefits of blogging that will be useful to others considering starting a blog.

What is the point of writing a blog? Why do I do it? by Marian Wood

So really why write a blog? Why put all that time and effort into something? Maybe you feel that your writing is not good enough. Maybe you just have not got time or maybe it is concerns about the cost. Are you feeling you could not design a website? Feeling it is too complicated?

Well to set aside all those questions and fears, blogging can be free! It can be easy and it could take you maybe 1 – 2 hours a week or whatever you are prepared to commit.
I started blogging due to feeling stressed with life and my children. I also love to write, my writing is not wonderful however, I like to think that I have a good imagination. This blog encompasses my children – my mum life and my writing. You will find poetry as well as fiction stories as well as tales of my children, they are hard work!

So why blog? Why put the time and effort in?

1. If you are creative and want to build on your writing skills or just enjoy writing it is a very worthwhile hobby. It also means that you have your own part of the internet.
2. I find it cathartic with all the stress of life, family and kids.
3. There is a large supportive blogging community. If you like to sit behind your computer and chat then blogging is something to consider. This is one reason why I love it so much.
4. There are many Facebook groups dedicated to blogging.

How do you have time?

1. It is your blog, you can do as little or as much as you like.
2. Once you start, you may suddenly find time that you did not know you have. Chatting to people and making new friends has that effect.

Creating your blog

I found WordPress, and I signed up for a free account, they then have free themes. This means that within minutes an amateur could be pouring all their feelings into a blog. Blogging has honestly helped me plus there is a whole blogging community.

1. Go to http://www.wordpress.com enter in your details and what you would like your domain name (web address) to be.
2. Choose a theme, there are many to choose from. My blog theme is Ashe and yes it is free.
3. Start blogging and publish, it really is that easy.
4. There is then the WordPress reader where you can read other bloggers blogs and they can see yours.

Once you start blogging you might decide that you enjoy it enough to want more web-space and consider paying for it or trying to monetise it. Don’t be in to much of a hurry but if you are ready then go for it.

You can sign up for a plan through http://www.wordpress.com and create a custom domain name. However, many bloggers are self hosted which allows you more blogging freedom..

My blog is hosted by Lyrical Host. I highly recommend them as they have been very helpful. Their customer service is excellent, for more see my review of Lyrical Host.

As a lyrical host affiliate if you enter my affiliate code Muddling10 at check out you will get 10% of your hosting plan. (This means I will earn some commission which will help pay for my blog).

Something to bear in mind is that other hosting companies might give you a good deal at the beginning but at renewal are likely to put their prices up. Lyrical host promise not to do this. Please look at my post and their website for their benefits. You will not regret choosing them if you do.

So I hope this answers some questions. if you are still considering starting a blog there is no harm in signing up for free and seeing how you get on.

This is based on my own personal experience and there are other blogging platforms such as Blogger. However, I have only ever used WordPress so I can not comment on the difference.

I hope this post has helped you and if you do decide to go ahead, happy blogging!

©Marian Wood 2019

About Marian Wood

I am Marian I am a married working mum, living in Kent, UK with two brilliant young children. I am not a very confident person and I am often down on myself. I get very stressed with work and family life, often struggling to relax and rest.

I started my blog because despite a few issues with my grammar I enjoy writing and I love reading. I have begun to write my first novel, but after writing about 29000 words I am a bit stuck. I do realise I need to get back to it and just write.

My husband and my children are my world. This blog tells our story of our ups and downs and also some of my creative writing.

Connect to Marian

Blog: https://justmuddlingthroughlife.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EyeOfMazz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marianwood76/

My thanks to Marian for permitting me to delve into her archives to share with you…I hope you will head over and enjoy reading them for yourselves.. thanks Sally