This article is sponsored by WordPress.com
About ten years ago, I started to see a very interesting change in the online world: more and more people were abandoning their blogs and websites and turning entirely to social media platforms.
And I can see why it was a popular choice! Sponsorship funds moved quickly to social media and social media engagement was quick and relatively easy to obtain.
But I didn’t do the same. Instead, I doubled the size of my blog, moved it to WordPress, and continued to grow it while focusing on growing my social media presence.
And now, a decade later, I’m so glad I made that choice and I’m hearing more and more often from other creators that they wish they had kept their own site or that now they’re coming back and starting a blog.
Here are five reasons why I’m so glad I never left my blog
- I own my blog (and I don’t own my social media platforms). It’s a risky choice to build your entire business on a platform that you don’t own and have no control over. I’ve seen far too many of my creator friends have their social media accounts shut down with little to no recourse to get it reinstated. I love that I own this little piece of the internet and not worry about it being shut down without warning.
- Blog content lives forever and is so easy to refer to. It’s HARD to find old posts on social media platforms and their shelf life is usually only a few weeks (and often a few hours!). My blog posts, on the other hand, are easily accessible and easy to share year after year. I have blog posts that have been popular for over a decade and continue to serve the daily reading community long after I published them. From travel guides to reading charts to book lists, all this content is easily accessible at any time.
- No algorithm! On social media platforms, the algorithm reigns supreme and determines who sees your content. I love that my blog is not controlled by an algorithm but rather by me!
- I can make money from my content. On Instagram I have to make deals with brands or use affiliate links to make money, but with a website it’s pretty simple to add ads to the sidebar so you earn money on every page view without having to find brands to pay you for any piece of content you want to make money on. My ad revenue from my blog is the easiest money I make!
- You can update or modify old content at any time. What if you post a video on social media with a typo in your overlay or suddenly realize there was a pair of underwear in the background? Damage! Your options are to delete or live with it. My blog posts, on the other hand, can be edited at any time. I can add new books to an old book list to keep it up to date or I can correct typos or add new photos whenever I want. I love the flexibility of my blog!
I’ve been using WordPress to run Everyday Reading for over a decade and it’s the best choice – easy to use and affordable!
As the online world has evolved (and changed again and again), WordPress has continued to grow with me, providing a safe and stable place to build and grow my little corner of the Internet. I still post on Daily Reading 6 days a week, sharing everything from my weekly menu and book deals to my annual summer reading guide and reading charts.
If you are considering starting a blog or resurrecting an old site, I highly recommend WordPress.com! It’s perfect if you’re just starting out and can continue to grow and support your business as it scales.
And if you have any questions about blogging, I’ll be more than happy to answer them – it’s one of my favorite topics!
PakarPBN
A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.
In a typical PBN setup, the owner acquires expired or aged domains that already have existing authority, backlinks, and history. These domains are rebuilt with new content and hosted separately, often using different IP addresses, hosting providers, themes, and ownership details to make them appear unrelated. Within the content published on these sites, links are strategically placed that point to the main website the owner wants to rank higher. By doing this, the owner attempts to pass link equity (also known as “link juice”) from the PBN sites to the target website.
The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.