The whole experience of blogging is not about you churning out posts after posts for people to read, to like, to comment on and to share. It is also about you reading other people’s blogs and interacting with them as much as you can.
There are many benefits you will derive by reading other people’s logs. In this post, I will highlight seven of such benefits.
7 Benefits of reading other people’s blogs
1. You learn from other people
People share ideas, experiences and insights on their blogs. They do so not for self-amusement but for you to read them. You will learn as you read those sites.
As one of my readers once stated, “What I love about blogging is taking the time to read other people’s thoughts about faith stuff as its important to get perspectives different from my own.”
Every opportunity you have to read is an opportunity to learn something new or remind you of something’s you have forgotten.
Be honest with yourself for once: you don’t know everything. That’s why you should read what other people have written on their blogs so that you can know what they know.
2. You discover new blogs to follow.
People follow your blog and you should follow other people’s blogs too. Reading other blogs will help you determine whether or not to follow such blogs.
There are many reasons I may not have followed some blogs. But reading other people’s blogs helps me to discover suitable ones to follow.
Although there were some blogs I followed at first sight (especially the ones recommended to me), my guiding principle is that I would need to read two or three posts on any blog before I make the affirmative decision to hit the follow-button.
3. You sharpen your writing skills.
Writers do not only write, they read a lot as well. By extension, as a blogger, in addition to updating your own blog, you should also read blogs other than yours and learn from the writing styles employed by the authors of such blogs.
Personally, I learn a lot from reading other people’s posts. Just like many WordPress users, I did not attend any training on blogging before I got started. Everything I know, I have learnt from reading what other people have written and putting them into practice.
4. You attract more followers to your blog.
“One good turn deserves another” they say. If you want people to read your posts, you too should read other people’s posts.
There is a great chance that if you add value to a blog as you read it – by leaving a comment for instance – you are likely to attract more followers to your own blog.
5. Opportunity to interact with fellow bloggers.
For you to comment on a post, you have to read it first. I would expect that you don’t want to comment on a post you haven’t read.
Essentially, a post is someone’s idea or opinion about something, somebody or some place. Your comment on the post will be your own response to it.
You could also respond to other people’s comments on the post, thereby expanding the sphere of interactions.
6. Community, fellowship and friendship.
As you interact with other bloggers, you form a kind of bond and friendship that might prove valuable to you. Some of your online or blogging friends may eventually turn into your friends in real life.
And when someone becomes your real life friend, the opportunities become limitless. I shared my little experience in this regard when I published From a blog friend to a real life friend.
7. Source of blog ideas
Apart from the new things you learn by reading other blogs, you might also receive inspiration for new posts on your blog. I have experienced this several times.
As I read other people’s blogs, there seems to be a spark of inspiration that comes from it. And I have developed many of such thoughts into full-fledged posts on this blog.
What other benefits do you get from reading blogs other than yours? Leave a comment.
© Copyright 2018| Victor Uyanwanne
