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Reading and writing has always been empowerment for me. I remember how, as a 5-year-old, I couldn’t wait to finally read the TV newspaper to be able to plan what I was watching and when.

In primary school, we wrote poetry albums of friends and I started keeping a diary. When I look at these written testimonies many years later, I feel proud. Proud of the young woman I was then and proud of the woman I am today who still has some of these friends in her life. The diary and the albums documented this journey with images, colourings, photos, comments from friends, teachers and relatives and any other memories such as tickets to unforgettable events, for example.

A blog can do this and much more in a flexible online format.

A Blog – an Online Presence for Self-Presentation and Realization

In the 21st century, the Internet allows us to use new media or implement old methods in new ways. In my opinion, a blog is a kind of online diary, but it offers much more than a traditional diary. A blog offers versatile design options such as

• written design through websites with text, articles with text, images with text
• visual design through images, graphics, any artistic illustration, video
• auditory design through videos, podcasts, music clips, musical accompaniment, etc.
• Links to other media, posts, channels, etc.

Due to this incredible wealth of design options, it is essential to define the purpose and motivation behind a blog in advance. There are now millions of blogs and basically you can divide them all into 2 main categories:

1. Niche blogs – A niche blog focuses on a specific topic. Usually, the blog articles and content are aimed at a specific target group, such as families, professionals in different professional groups, sports fans, etc. Blog topics can thus cover everything from the minimalist blog to the financial blog. Niche blogs are therefore also mostly represented in the business world and companies use blogs to inform and entertain about their products or services.
2. Personal blogs – A personal blog focuses on a person and their topics. Bloggers can document their lives from different angles such as the information aspect or the entertainment aspect. Many bloggers share with their readers where and how they travel, what they eat and cook, what they do for a living or how they live out and realize their hobbies. A personal blog can be designed relatively freely, as long as no generally applicable laws are violated.

In this article, I will focus mainly on a personal blog, but show ways in which it can also be used professionally as a CV or portfolio for example, with the main goal of presenting the potential of a blog.

What can a WordPress Blog do for a Superwoman?

In the digital age, most people search for information via the Internet, more precisely, through search engines such as Google or Bing. In 2020, 81% of global internet users have searched online for products or services, according to SmartInsights.com. Whether this is done with the smartphone, the tablet or the computer, it is the fastest, easiest and often cheapest way to get information and answers fast.

If you want to reach people as a private or public person, a blog offers an ideal platform to make your voice heard, since a blog:

• is easy to create and manage (I explain this step by step in my article “How To Start A Blog” and at the SeekaHost University, which I co-manage and where you can find  blogging online courses with short tutorials).
• can be created and used cost-effectively.
• offers endless design possibilities.
• is a relatively independent mouthpiece that can be built up and designed creatively and on your own.

WordPress is the most popular CMS (content management system) among all blog platforms, as it is open-source and freely available to everyone, offering the greatest freedom of design. Compared to other blogging platforms like SquareSpace or Wix, which are used by about 1% of all bloggers, WordPress is used by about 35% of all bloggers worldwide in 2020, according to W3Techs.com.

For my personal blog, manuelawillbold.com, I use WordPress, as well as for all the other blogs I manage like the UK Education Blog or the Green Living Blog. To show how differently I have built and designed these 3 blogs, I share the homepage of each one here:

My personal blog manuelawillbold.com:

My UK Education Blog:

 My Green Living Blog:

I think one thing becomes clear here: A blog can convey at first glance what it is about through its presentation and content – the message is loud, powerful, and clear visually.

And in my opinion, this is the great potential for every female blogger and their empowerment.

Self-presentation of many Aspects of a Superwoman through Blogging

Based on my three blog examples, it will hopefully be clear that a strong woman blogger is not only one-dimensional, and therefore should not present herself only one-sided online.

With my blogs I present my passions: writing/blogging, education, and the environment.

Through my personal blog under my own name, I present myself as a private and professional person, blogger and digital nomad. The blog offers me the opportunity:

• to present myself as a person and my personality through photos, videos and articles
• to present and convey my interests and skills creatively
• to share my knowledge, talents, tips and experiences and thus help others
• to position myself with regards to trending topics and current affairs that are relevant

Through my UK Education Blog, I share my professional expertise and present myself as an education expert. The blog offers me the opportunity:

• to present and share my experience of many years in early childhood and school education
• to share my knowledge, expertise, emerging scientific facts, news and developments in education
• to share advice, insights and tips in education on relevant topics

Through my Green Living blog, I share my private passion for environmental protection. Here I have the opportunity:

• to convey my own findings and concerns on the subject of environmental protection
• to make my contribution to environmental protection through information and education
• To educate myself through writing and researching

What hopefully meets the eye is that I represent parts of myself as a woman through all three online presences. I expand my own awareness, knowledge, know-how and competence and at the same time realize my hobbies, passions, and main interests.

This is incredibly fulfilling. And when you receive encouragement from acquaintances and strangers and see how the blog grows in popularity, then this is an almost indescribable feeling of satisfaction and happiness. In the following video I explain this in more detail and show how my life has changed based on my blogs:

What is the Potential of a Blog for a Superwoman?

Blogging is often seen as a purely technical or writing process. However, blogging can be an extremely creative, challenging, and fun process. The prerequisite is, of course, a certain level of digital knowledge and skills, such as being able to use Microsoft programs, as well as being familiar with Internet browsers, computer systems and web applications like the web hosting control panel.

For me, running a blog as a strong woman has the following advantages and benefits that can empower every woman:

• You can teach yourself and others a lot, such as digital skills, research results in specific subject areas, new and innovative concepts, etc.
• You can give free rein to your creativity and write articles and content according to your own ideas and wishes with the use of various media such as images, videos, text, podcasts, etc.
• You can boost your self-confidence by highlighting and sharing your strengths and talents, using them to help or inspire other people. And by presenting and positioning yourself in a way you feel comfortable.
• You can establish yourself as a person and combine pleasure with work through your online presence. When a blog is successful and attracts hundreds to thousands of readers monthly, new paths to success open up and a blogger can become a powerful woman influencer.
• Women who pause their professional careers due to their role as mothers can use a blog as a “break filler” and thus continue to be active in their field of expertise during parental leave. The blog can then also be used as a portfolio or online CV for future applications or as a figurehead for independent work projects.
• You can network with others and work on collaborations through the blog and through new, exciting projects that arise from the blogging.
• You can enjoy more freedom and self-governance while working remotely under your own terms.

A skill that is essential if you want to make your blog successful is SEO (search engine optimization). It is learnable via SEO online courses and brings the important visibility via search engines that you need to expand your readership.  SEO content and many guest posts and infographics have allowed me to place the UK Education Blog at the top of Google (snapshot taken on 04/10/20):

How did I do that? In my reader friendly writing article I share tips and tricks and in my SEO copywriting online course as well.

Admittedly, it’s not easy to build a blog for success and it took me almost 3 years to rank my blogs on Google and Bing among certain keywords on the top rankings and thus reach the milestone of almost 1000 monthly visitors after over a year:

BUT I did this on the side while working 40 hours a week as an early years educator at a private school in London’s Notting Hill. This should encourage every powerful woman and at the end I would like to give all women the following message:

If the motivation is big enough and you are on fire for your blog project, then it will be a success, because where there is a will, there is a way!

I would like to help every woman to build an online presence via blogs and answer any questions about blogging and digital marketing at any time via my email: manuela@seekahost.org.