4. You become a versatile writer. You set yourself free from your tedious engagements of usual themes or topics. If you have chosen a particular genre, you can find different angles to tweak it according to how you want to present ideas. For example, if you write detective fiction, you could project your research and discoveries through your sleuth. He may become a crime solver by specialty, but he also becomes knowledgeable with a psychology based on street smarts or having networks with experts as his sources. 

5. You get to network and make new friends. And you are not limited to your locality. You grow your perspective as you learn to understand people from other cultures. Your interest in diversity further grows, as you learn that every person has a story to tell and has their expertise to offer. If you are writing an article about the caste system, someone from India can give you a broader perspective. Similarly, your network can learn something from you too. 

6. You learn to appreciate the small things. It's the little things that make up the big, exciting things. If you are writing a story about winemaking, you will find that you grow curious about everything related to the topic. You want to know how the barrels are made to store the wine. You want to understand the daily routine of a grape farmer. You want to know how to trim grapes during harvest season properly. It is eye-opening, and it satiates your thirst for knowledge, and you come out wiser after writing the piece.

7. You become meticulous, but at the same time, you know what to leave out. You learn to entertain readers by giving them a front-row seat through your written words. Let's say you are writing an article about a Japanese delicacy called fugu. It is sashimi made from pufferfish where only licensed chefs can prepare it because of the required precision of slicing to avoid the fish's tetrodotoxin content. You give them a sensory detail on the ritualistic fashion that Japanese chefs go into cutting the pufferfish meat--from the choice of knives to the finished presentation. You are a writing showman.

8. A well-informed writer attracts well-informed readers. The adage about birds of the same feather flocking together rings true here. If you look at well-established publications, most of them require writer submissions to be well-researched because contributors are expected to write for an informed market segment. If you are building your blog and you commit to writing well-researched material, a well-informed reader base is likely to follow. These types of audiences do not want to read flaky writers churning out flimsy pieces.

9. You get yourself into a process of continuous learning. This last reason not only gives intellectual but health benefits too. Our cognitive abilities deteriorate with age from the decrease of neurons in our brains. Studies show that continuous learning and exercising interpersonal skills (which you will get from talking to people), slows down brain deterioration. For any writer, learning is a constant process, and it must not stop until our coffins are nailed shut.