Why You Need a Blog as Well as Your Instagram

Do people even read blogs anymore? Years ago blogging was the platform of choice until Social Media came along. And then Facebook and Instagram took over and blogging took a back seat.

But before you dismiss blogging altogether, you want to make sure you do so for the right reasons.  Contrary to what naysayers might say, blogs are thriving and serve a purpose when readers are looking for answer to their very specific questions.

So, do you need a blog as well as your Instagram? Yes because if you view your brand as a business, then you need a centralized place to house your brand on a platform that belongs to you as opposed to being built on rented land.

At the end of the day any piece of content you publish on social media will never belong to you. Although you may have copyright to the photos and videos you upload, if one day Instagram did a My Space and disappeared then you would lose the audience and content you’ve built on there.

But that’s not the only reason you should seriously consider having a blog. A little back story to put things in context. In the dog blogging world I started backwards. I was on Instagram first until I realized the value of blogging. Here is where I’ll share my story and five reasons why I now value blogging over Instagram.

Disclaimer: I was provided a hard copy of this book to facilitate this review for a blog book tour . All opinions are my own. I share things that will be beneficial to you as a reader. I was not compensated for this post.  Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that if you click on a product link, I may receive compensation. This compensation comes at no additional cost to you, and as always I only recommend products I have tried and trust.

Maggielovesorbit, Ilovebostons is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

1.  You See Your Brand as Your Business

Let’s get one thing out of the way. If you’re on Instagram simply to entertain from one post to the next, then you don’t need a blog because Instagram is a fun hobby. And there is nothing wrong with that.

But if you have established a reputation and want to grow your personal brand as well as make money, then you need to think long term and house your brand on a platform that belongs to you.

2.  You Want to Tell The Whole Story

Instagram is great for snackable content. It’s consumed quickly and on the go. You can’t reference back to a post and you can’t search for it on the internet. It’s meant to be consumed in the moment from one piece of content to another.

Blogs on the other hand is where a reader goes when they want to dig deeper and “lean back” and learn more. It’s when they want to fill in the details beyond what they can consume in a simple Instagram square.

3.  You Want Your Content to have a Positive Shelf Life

When you create content on Instagram, the shelf life of that post is anywhere from 12 hours to 5 days. If you’re lucky a larger account might repost it to breath back life into that post.

And then it’s done.

To sit on your page unless perchance someone should happen to scroll through, find your photo intriguing enough to click through to read the caption.

Properly crafted blog posts on the other hand have a positive shelf life.

What that means is an article you write today … will start to be crawled by Google and indexed. And if the piece of content you wrote answers the questions a reader is searching for, it then starts to earn value and traffic will increase over time.

When you couple a well written post with effective marking promotion a blog article will generate traffic that gradually increases to your site for months to come.

On average a blog article will hit its peak traffic rate between 9 and 12 months of publication.

4.  You Want Increase Your Touch Points With Your Readers

It’s said in marketing that it takes on average 7 touch points for a person to move from consideration to purchase intent.

Having a blog that is searchable, that you can point your social media readers to, gives you the opportunity to increase your touch points.

Let’s say one of your income streams is sponsored posts on Instagram. If you’re promoting a product with a $200 price point, it’s rare that a reader on social media will purchase the first time you introduce it. Most people will want to learn more and dig deeper to validate their purchase decision.

That’s where your blog will come in because you can go more into detail as to whatever it is you are vouching for.

5.  You Want to Create Multiple Streams of Income

Instagram influencers typically have to wait to be hired and the main source of income would be through sponsored posts.

Bloggers on the other hand are able to earn revenue through multiple streams of income such as affiliate revenue, ad revenue and finally sponsored posts.

Furthermore depending on the source of this income a portion of it is earned passively. Assuming the blog is receiving enough traffic and continues to serve the readers that seek it out, then a successful blog will earn money on it’s own.

So Where Do You Start With Your Blog?

By now if you’re still reading this, then I can assume you’re ready to take blogging seriously. Hopefully I can give you some pointers and provide you shortcuts.

I myself had several false starts with my Blog. I chose the wrong theme. I didn’t understand SEO. I didn’t network. I didn’t know how to select my topics. I just wrote whatever I felt like in the moment.  And I lacked resources.

As a result, I wasted 2 whole years of precious time.

Fortunately today a resource exists for those that want to take blogging seriously. Two well respected full time writers and bloggers have centralized their knowledge into a book. Carol Bryant and Maggie Marton recently published Pet Blogging For Love and Money.

Inside you’ll find a foundation to get your blog started on the right foot. Unique in their approach is that they have reached out to established bloggers who provide you the cliff notes to their areas of expertise.

I share in this honor and you’ll find me featured in the section covering Instagram.

The book is full of actionable ideas from bloggers that have succeeded before you sharing inside tips and advice for what has worked for them.

Closing Remarks – What Blogging Has Accomplished For Me?

As for myself I’ve now become more strategic in the content I create for this blog.  With the help of what I’ve learned from fellow bloggers in this book, I’ve found my purpose as a breed advocate for Boston Terriers.

This blog has allowed me to reach a wider audience and deepen my connection with my readers.

Financially I’ve been able to close more business partnerships because of this blog and the value our brand partners place in being part of our story.

Lastly it allows me to live the life and business around my dogs so that I can maximise my time with them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hello my name is Hannah and I dance with my dogs.  A self proclaimed Boston Terrier addict, (aka breed advocate) I started this blog because there isn’t enough space to write on our Instagram.  Maggie is my socially awkward one; which I find highly relatable because I am completely out of place in large groups myself.  And Orbit is my sensitive flower.  Blow on her skin wrong (ok I might be exaggerating) and she breaks out in a rash.

You won’t read about cats here… but you will get a fairly large dosage of articles dedicated to the Boston Terrier.    Read more about us.