Do you feel called to blog?
Friends, family, roommates, and strangers have asked me, “Why do you blog?” I smile and wonder where to start. There are so many reasons why I started this ministry. I think about my readers and the encouraging comments they leave, the community that has formed between other bloggers and myself, the pleasure I get in writing a post, or the excitement I feel sharing each post.
If only one woman, one soul, would read my blog, and realize that Jesus loves her, then I would have fulfilled the purpose of this blog. I desire for each and every one of you to know how powerful your story is, that Jesus has a purpose and plan for your life, and that you are His precious beautiful daughter.
I dream about a world where every woman has experienced the life change of Jesus. They feel His power. They trust Him with their life and experience healing. Shame exists no more. They know that they are loved by their Father in heaven.
That is why I write and put countless hours into this blog.
That is why I created Joy Skarka Ministries.
I believe that Jesus will use me and my story, and you and your story, to help women. Do you ever wonder if God is calling to blog too?
If you feel that God is calling you to blog, like he has called me, then you might be wondering what it takes to create, launch and grow a successful blog. The fact is it’s not easy and isn’t something that is for everyone. It’s challenging and in many ways is like a job in itself, but with perseverance and a sense of purpose, you can create and run a blog that can reach millions of people for your purpose.
Your story is one of your most powerful gifts. We all have been through challenges in life, by facing heartache, anger, sadness, and struggles. But if you are a believer in Christ and have a personal relationship with him, God can and will use your story to bring him glory. God has shown me how my story is powerful. He has used it to bring him glory. He has brought many women to me who have similar stories and used my story to help these women find healing. God can and will use your story to bring him glory.
Wondering what it takes to do that? I want to provide a few tips that help keep me going.
Stay Inspired
When starting a blog you need to find your inspiration for it. What is your reason for blogging? Do you want to help, inform or educate? Check out any other blogs you may already follow for inspiration or find some new ones to be inspired by. This will help you to discover your preferred blogging style and how you want to create, manage and present your blog. Obviously, you should never copy another person’s blog, but it’s perfectly fine to view other blogs as a source of inspiration as a new blogger.
Know Your Path
The key to blogging success is understanding your path. You have felt compelled to blog for a reason which means that you should, hopefully, know what topics you want to write about. It could be a certain area of Christianity that you want to focus on or it may be that you would like your blog to cover a variety of biblical topics to help people understand the meaning what is happening in certain areas of the Bible. Knowing about the path you want to take is key, if you are writing about something you don’t know enough about or do not enjoy then it will make the writing harder and less enjoyable for you and your readers.
Maintain your Blog
If you are new to blogging then you need to make sure you know how to run a blog and create a following to gain views. The main thing when creating any blog or website is Search Engine Optimization. This is something that will help you gain organic search views. SEO will help to rank your blog higher in search engines when searches link to keywords in your blog. The higher your SEO rank is, the more likely you are to show up when someone searches anything relating to your blog. You also need to make sure you look into maintaining your blog, such as by updating your WordPress, or chosen hosting channel, regularly. Planning content is another key aspect of running a successful blog. It can help to create a spreadsheet with blog post titles and ideas and dates that you would like to post them on, to help ensure that you are producing new content for your blog on a regular basis.
Understanding the Power of Your Story
While everyone wants to know the secret to blogging success, the common denominator is to have a genuine and passionate voice that connects with readers. When you find your voice and share your story on your blog, God can use it in more ways than you will ever imagine. There are thousands of Christian bloggers, but the ones confident in sharing their story honestly and from their hearts are the ones who have blogs with a greater following. Statistically, only 28% of pastors have blogs and only 25% use social media to its fullest capabilities. Imagine what would happen to the growth of churches if pastors began blogging and reaching more people with social media. Think about the millions of people who would get to hear about the life change of Jesus. I want your blog to be able to bring growth to your ministry and bring life change to your followers.
To figure out why you should blog, be honest with yourself. Would you blog even if you only had one reader? Do you believe that your message is so important that you have to write about it? If your answer is yes to both of these questions, keep blogging. The other day I had a friend from college send me a Facebook message. She said that she had been reading my blog and that she wanted to meet up to talk about God. That is why I blog. That is why I spend hours each week blogging, because even one soul matters. My friend will get to hear about the good news of Jesus, and this makes everything worth it. When you are that passionate about a topic, others will join you in the discussion. Give it time, and your community will grow.
Starting a blog can be a lot of fun, however, it’s also important to understand that it comes with a lot of hard work. That being said, if you persevere and put your time into your blog, you should be able to build a blog that brings God glory.
This is a collaborative post and may contain affiliate links.
