Gaming is the most popular pastime in the world. It’s filled with passionate gamers whose dedication led to massive growth for the industry. Some are passionate about streaming and making it big, while others show their passion through fan art, mods, and content production.
If you don’t fancy yourself as a streamer, and you’ve got some spare time on your hands, why not start a gaming blog? Whether your aim is to cover the latest gaming news, compare hardware, or review slot games – the choice is entirely up to you. There are several benefits to starting a gaming blog, five of which we’ve compiled and considered the most notable. We’ve listed them for your convenience below, and you might be surprised by just how advantageous writing a blog can be.
1. Simplicity
It’s hard to exaggerate how easy it is to start a blog. Many blogs hosting websites are free to sign up with and provide all the tools and knowledge you will need to run a successful blog. Sites like WordPress and Blogspot offer layout templates with integrated RSS feeds, so you can link all your social media accounts. These features and more will enable you to form a highly efficient feedback network. You can even get managed hosting for WordPress which will make the process of setting up your blog far easier.
Create an account, set up your profile, and choose a domain name. That’s all you have to do before you start pushing out the content of your choice. Drag and drop pictures, make custom paneer, and set up your landing page any way you like. If you don’t like the thousands of pre-built templates out there, you can always customize everything.
From borders & backgrounds to forewords and footnotes, they’re all free to edit to your heart’s content. If that sounds like busywork to you, those thousands of templates can easily be filtered for a selection you specify. If you aren’t into programming, there’s no HTML coding to edit (if you don’t want to), but the option is there for those with experience in C++ and other such languages.
2. Community
As we mentioned earlier, gaming is now the biggest entertainment market in the world. If you want a blog that has the highest chances for visibility, going for the most popular form of entertainment will certainly increase your odds of achieving a large following.
Various studies from around the globe tend to average out at a current population of 3 billion gamers, which is more than viewership numbers for TV shows & movies combined. Online gaming and mobile devices have revolutionized entertainment, providing unprecedented access to digital technology.
Most consumers are cautious with their online purchases and prefer to read a couple of reviews before choosing a product. Push out a couple of hardware reviews, or playtest some of the latest games. Even if you can’t afford to buy the dozens of games being released today, most feature free trials and demos to gauge the quality of a title. Checking out reviews for a new release is a very common practice amongst gamers.
If you can push out reliable content, your viewership is guaranteed to grow, and you won’t need a marketing budget or extensive advertising campaigns to get your name out there. All you have to do is put in a bit of time and pump out some words on a page. It’s really that simple.
3. Opportunity
With a big enough audience, you have the potential to monetize your efforts, and many bloggers make a good deal of money through a variety of monetization options. From advertising space to sponsored articles, there are many strategies one can employ to gain some profit from blogging.
A good way to start is to check if you can show ads on your blog, which usually involves flipping a switch and activating Google Ad monetization. You could publish sponsored content, and write paid reviews for companies (which is more common than many people think).
Why not diversify and sell your products through your blog? Maybe you have a talent for graphic design or textile creation, or both? Depending on the strength of your branding, you could even offer branded t-shirts, for example, or design a line of socks with some knitting skills. The possibilities are as varied as they are endless.
4. Freedom
Being able to write about anything you want in any way you choose is such a liberating prospect. There’s no need to worry about editors or arbitrary limits, like a minimum word count or a complex anchor link. If you find yourself having to place those sorts of restrictions on your work, it’s a decision you get to make for yourself. For example, if you find a sponsor is a bit too strict with their requirements, you have the freedom to turn them down and look elsewhere.
Though your content is entirely up to you, it would be wise to ensure that your production standards are high quality. This is to ensure that you provide a positive experience for those who visit your blog. Your blog forms a part of whichever brand you’re trying to promote, irrespective of whether that brand is your identity, a company’s image, or a friend’s reputation.
Creating worthy content can be challenging, but remember that you don’t have to take on that pressure – you have the freedom to choose whatever you want to write about. If you find yourself considering a professional blogging career, our best advice is to judge your content based on what you want to read.
5. Passion
If you love games, having a gaming blog offers a creative outlet for that enjoyment, regardless of whether you play them, watch them, or just enjoy hearing about them. You can document your gaming journey or reminiscence about your favorite childhood games. You could focus on the latest and greatest games or put your effort into retro reviews.
If you’re a gaming developer, a gaming blog is a perfect way to communicate with the public. You can post updates to your game when it’s in progress, and announce changes long before they are implemented.
The gaming public appreciates transparency and quality. If you can master those two basic tenets, the rest of the legwork becomes a lot easier. There’s definitely an opportunity for a respectable profit, but it’s arguably entirely based on how consistent you are with high-quality & engaging content.
