These days, it seems everyone has a blog, and if you don’t have one, you’re supposed to. It’s “good business,” “great self-promotion.” Many people have blogs just because they think it’s the smart thing to do to build their business, and for no other reason.

In my very humble opinion, these people are missing a lot. I love blogging, and I think it has some very real benefits, not only for the readers of the blog, which we’d hope for, but also for the blogger.

In thinking about this idea, I’ve come up with five things I think are really the most important benefits, to me, of blogging. You may have different ideas about what’s so great about blogging, but I encourage you to think about why you do what you do, and if you’re a blogger, to try to get more fun and worth out of it than just doing something smart to promote yourself.

So, here are my favorite things about blogging:

1. I get to “sound off.” For some people this is not so big a deal, but I love to talk, and I love to share what I think. A blog is a perfect opportunity for that. It’s kind of a case of “everyone is entitled to my opinion.”
2. I get to talk about a lot of different things. If I write a book, or a special report, I need to spend a lot of time on one topic. That’s fine, for some things, but not ideal for every topic. For instance, if I wanted to talk about going to see the latest Harry Potter movie with my family (we loved it!), I might have trouble squeezing even 500 words for an article out of that, but I can mention it in passing on my blog.
3. I get to say things I might not otherwise get to say. Things like how much I enjoy my family. Of course I can tell my family that, but this way I get to say it in a way that matters to other people, and maybe inspires them to think about how much they enjoy, treasure and value their own families.
4. People I care about can keep up with me on my blog. Remember when we used to do family newsletters at Christmas? I always enjoyed reading annual letters from people I cared about but didn’t see often. A blog is like a holiday letter not only for the people who know me but never see me, but also for my immediate family, and for people who know me only through my blog.
5. I get to see what I think. I believe it was E.M. Forster who said, “How will I know what I think until I see what I say?” That is so true for me. By seeing what I write in my daily blog, I see what’s really going on in my life, what is on my mind, and what I can do about that. It’s a great self-learning tool.

But mostly, I love keeping a blog because it’s fun. And that’s enough reason for me.

Thanks to A Journey of Dreams for featuring this post in List of Lists, to 4 Entrepreneur for including this post in the 4 Entrepreneur Blog Carnival, to Working at Home on the Internet for inclusion in the Working at Home Blog Carnival, and to Web-Dosh for featuring this post in the Blog to Earn Carnival.