IS BLOGGING DEAD? HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD (STILL) BLOG

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Photos: Vina Guerrero

Location: Manila, Philippines

Outfit: Denim Jacket (Levi's) | Striped Shirt (H&M) | Neckerchief (SM) | Trousers (Topman) | Watch (Daniel Wellington) | Shoes (Hawkins)
After a 2-month hiatus, my blog is finally back up–and with a fresh new look! God knows how much I missed blogging. 2 months without putting up new content seemed like the hardest thing in the world especially since I have been doing this for the past 7 years. It’s almost second nature to me. I, together with my awesome web designer Redel Bautista, have been working on this new look for the past few months. I have been itching to change the layout of my blog for the simple reason that I was feeling uninspired to blog and I wanted something to motivate me again. I think changing my blog’s look definitely helped in inspiring me again as I was able to gather good, quality content while I was on my “blogging break.” My web designer and I removed the unnecessary details. We removed the sliders, the side bar, and focused on the content. After a few debates here and there (okay, a lot of debates) and coding, we are ready to show it to you guys! I hope you guys like it! A big thank you to Vince Canlapan who designed my new logo (check the upper left side of the site) and Redel Bautista for putting up with me. I think I asked him to change the font for more than 10 times. Haha! Let me know what you guys think of the new look by commenting below!
Funny thing was, I think I only opened my laptop twice for the past 2 months–which goes to show that almost everything can be done on your mobile phone these days. For the past 2 months, I very much enjoyed focusing on different social media platforms such as Instagram wherein I was very into curating my Instagram feed, posting everything so fast–the complete opposite of blogging for me. I also got to attend a lot of events during my hiatus and was surprised to see only a few bloggers and a lot of “Instagrammers” and “influencers.” That just means that we have shifted to faster and newer platforms. If you have been blogging for years like me, you’re probably wondering what future is there for blogging when so many other social networking are becoming more and more popular. Why blog when you can Instagram? Snapchat?

So you may be wondering what’s the point of blogging when you feel like no one is reading your blog, you’re not getting any projects, or you’re feeling uninspired, or someone else in the same field is killing it on Instagram, (trust me, I experienced all of these) but trust me, there are so many reasons why you should (still) blog.

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1. Social networking sites come and go – Remember Multiply? Friendster? MySpace? Yahoo! Messenger? Plurk? Ten years from now, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will be different from what we are used now. It’s inevitable.

2. Your blog is your own personal space in the online world – When you have your own blog, your own domain, it’s for yours to keep forever. You can look back at your old posts from 10-15 years ago and laugh at yourself. The way you write, how bad your taste is. Your own blog or website will never go out of style.

3. Practice your writing – If you hate writing, you will love it because of blogging. There are really no rules in blogging. It’s your blog, it’s your voice. Blogging is the perfect way to hone your craft in writing.

4. Build your brand – Think of your blog as your resume, your online portfolio. Find your niche and focus on that. Create quality content for your audience and know how to market yourself online.

5. Meet awesome people – With your blog, you can get to meet a lot of amazing, talented people across the globe. Comment on their posts, make friends with them, collaborate with them, meet up with them.

6. Express yourself – A lot of people express themselves through writing. Trust me, 140 characters is not enough! Haha!

7. You can earn from it – Okay, I’m not saying you should quit your job and do blogging full time. You can earn money by doing/writing about what you love. Just remember to focus on your content, update it every once or twice a week and always keep your audience interested!

8. Personal growth -You can develop patience, discipline, satisfaction, creativity, etc through blogging. These are just some of the values and skills you will acquire if you decide to blog (and really pursue it).

9. You will inspire people – I had those moments wherein I wanted to quit blogging, but I get a lot of messages from people who read my blog saying how much it has inspired them. This, till now, keeps me going.

10. You will never get bored – If I didn’t have a blog, I would probably be at home watching TV the whole day. Since I run a lifestyle blog, I am always on the lookout for blog-worthy things. I document all my trips, outfits and trust me, you will be more keen to try new things .You will be doing different things, meeting different people and learning new things every single day.

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There you have it. I hope this inspired you to start your own blog, or if you already have one and you feel like quitting, I hope this will change your mind. I encourage aspiring (and even established) writers to (still) blog to their heart’s content. Keep blogging! Cheers!

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