Case Study: Should a Web Designer Maintain a Blog

Almost every website contains the expression “click here” and we all know what it’s about; nowadays we have another expression that is presented everywhere: “check our blog”. The blogs are very common and at the same time very useful, the majority of the Internet users are considering the blogosphere irreplaceable and don’t want to imagine the future without it. The web designers are the perfect example of blog users: the latest news and sets of best practices are daily posted on various blogs and everyone is satisfied with this situation: the readers find out the latest novelties while the blog owners are happy with the traffic received.

Is web design blogosphere too crowded or are there other new presences still being needed …hardly anyone has a well sustained answer. There is a hot debate going on, but what is important is that everyday new blogs are launched. There are many positive aspects of having a blog and of course, it must be some downsides as well. Complete teams maintain some of them and usually these attract tons of visitors, while other ones are launched and ruled by a single individual, usually a web designer. This post has as main purpose to present the pros and cons of having a blog as a web designer. I think it is more suitable for a freelance web designer to create a blog, by working into an agency is pretty difficult and it may be banned by the agreement signed at the engagement.

Pros

1. It is a great source of exposure

A heavy visited blog will bring to the owner a lot of exposure and his opinions will be appreciated by the community. Across time, the blog will turn into a brand and surely, the owner will be the one behind this brand. In addition to a wise and attractive presence on various social networks it will consist in the perfect recipe in turning into a famous designer.

2. It may help in better positioning your portfolio

It is a common strategy and the results are attractive. A portfolio needs a very good search positioning and a blog is the perfect tool for being appreciated by the engine’s spiders. The idea is simple and effective: a portfolio is mostly a static website from the perspective of content and a dead end mission for a SEO specialist: once the on page SEO is realized, the best solution remains to attract links from other websites, which, in the most cases is quite challenging.

A better approach is to add a once well-maintained blog, which will attract readers and most important, search engine spiders. Google and other search engines adopted an algorithm that seems to appreciate fresh content; therefore, a blog is the perfect scenario. Now, the big picture is revealed: a blog has the power to offer a better search positioning and by adding it to your portfolio, it implicitly means that your works will be better “seen” by the engines.

3. A blog may attract clients

A blog has monthly tons of visits and from the ones that enjoy your posts may be some potential clients. By presenting your manner of work, posting some of your secrets and inserting some of your works into the showcases it’s impossible not to attract some people. It’s up to you how to convert the visitors into clients…give people as many as possible ways to contact you and sooner or later someone will ask for your services.

4. It can bring you an unexpected extra income

Initially, the profit from maintaining a blog is zero, or even you will pay more for hosting but across time, a good blog may assure a good extra income. Don’t base your finances on your blog, but surely it may transform into a good source of income.

Cons:

1. A blog requires patience and passion to grow

Having two posts on a Word Press powered website doesn’t mean it is a blog. The web design blogosphere has very high standards and it’s very difficult to reach a good fame amongst other blogs. In order to get a loyal base of readers it is mandatory to have very good content and it is obtained step by step, hence you need to be very patient and have a strong passion for blogging. In conclusion, think twice if you want to launch a blog.

2. It’s a very time consuming activity

Many blog owners post almost daily to satisfy their visitors; it means that you should do the same. The big issue is that, you, a web designer should have inserted in your daily schedule a period when you must write a post. Do you manage your time in such a way not to have affected your effective work? Before launching a blog it’s highly recommended also to take this fact into account. It’s redundant to say that to write a quality blog post requires time and even if you are a blogger, the day is still 24 hours long.

3. There is no guaranty of success

The worst scenario is to maintain a blog for some months and to be discouraged with the results obtained…the next decision would be made to give up blogging. The competition is harsh and none may guarantee your success. Nevertheless, a blog containing good posts won’t be neglected by the interested designers, be sure about that!

In the end, personally, I think that a web designer should be involved in blogging. This fact doesn’t mean that everyone must establish a blog…the value will be so diluted that the potential readers won’t have enough patience and will abandon any blog. Instead, guest blogging is a solution where everyone may be content: the writers will have the same advantages and the number of blogs will remain decent. Which is your opinion, do you want to have a blog?