If you are reading this right now then no, blogging is not dead. The reason being, new content is being created every day and published online. We can’t all be wrong can we?
But who knows?
Maybe you are one of the ‘few’ remaining people who actually like to read and you are looking for an unbiased opinion as to whether or not blogging is dead.
Let us first look at a few blogging facts:
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- The average American read for around 17 minutes a day in 2017 compared to 23 minutes a day in 2004.
- The average American spends 10 times more time watching TV every day compared to the time they spend reading.
- A fourth of all websites are blogs.
- Every 0.5 seconds, a new blog post is published.
- Over 400 million people view more than 20 billion blog pages every month.
- In 2020, bloggers are projected to reach an all-time high number of 31.7 million.
With the rising numbers of bloggers and blog readers, it is clear that blogging is not dead. What is dead is the traditional ways of blogging.
With all the things they can do with their time, nobody wants to read rambling prose with no end in sight.
Readers only want to glean information off your blog in 37 seconds or less and will not hesitate to get off a page when they see that it is not delivering what they want.
So how do you capture the readers attention?
Bloggers have found a way of giving the people what they want: visually appealing, mentally stimulating content in succinct formats.
So before you say blogging is dead, let’s see how you can attract and, most importantly, keep people’s attention on your blog.
Redefinition Of Blogging
Truth be told
The blogging of today is not like the blogging of 20 or even 10 years ago. While people of yesteryears would look up terms like ‘blogging’ and ‘how to blog’, people today are more specific.
Having said that…
The spread of information has changed so much that people who want to venture into the world of blogging know which specific niches they want to start their blogs on.
Just look at how popular the search engine results for ‘Tumblr’ are compared to terms like ‘blogging’.
You do not need to have a Wordpress or Medium account to call yourself a blogger. Even Facebook and Twitter can act as your blogging platforms.
In fact, Twitter was started as a micro-blogging social site.
Length of Content
With so many things to do on the internet, no one wants to have to go through long stories that add no value.
At the same time, the length of your piece should be long enough to provide the information the reader is looking for.
Experts advise that you get your posts to around 1100 words apiece. If you are writing in order to generate leads for a business, the optimal length is between 2250 to 2500 for each blog.
Some free advice though;
Do not populate your content with fluff: readers can see right through this and you will lose them immediately.
Make every word on your piece count such that even if a reader skims through, like 43% of them do, they get enough useful information to bring them back to your blog again.
If writing is not your strongest suit, you can make use of a content writing agency.
Type of Content
Do you remember when blogs used to be mainly word content interspersed with one or two images?
Statistics show, however, that having image content increases blog viewership by 94%.
This shows that visual content is more appealing.
It is therefore important to incorporate high-quality images into your text content. This gives visual relief for your readers, making it possible for them to scan through your post and remember the distinct points you talked about.
It is also important to remember that images can also further the narrative of your post, making it easier to understand the content.
For example;
If you are giving a step-by-step guide to something, screenshots act as better guides than just written text.
Don’t think videos should be left for Youtube vloggers alone either. 72% of blog readers prefer video over text.
You can take advantage of this by having your content in both video and text, or have some of your content available only in video.
Who says you can’t have the best of both worlds and attract both readers and watchers to your blog?
Content Formatting
In today’s blogging world, you and 31 million other bloggers want just 37 seconds of the reader’s attention. Quite a competition right?
So, how do you draw the readers attention?
It is really simple! Do not mess up by having a weak, boring title.
Just make sure your title is straight to the point. Tell the reader exactly what to expect from your post. Experts say that a title should have around 70 characters or less, and uses more than 10 but less than 14 words.
If you do this, that will be an attention-grabber.
Check out our free blog post template.
Having a Colon Or A Hyphen In Your Title.
Using lists is another way to optimize your blog headlines. It is reported that 36% of readers prefer listed headlines, mainly because listing improves the ability of a post to be skimmed.
The most popular type of list, one commonly used by Buzzfeed and other entertainment websites, is the most disliked. Having just a listed headline and a picture below it feels lazy and more like clickbait to readers, so avoid those.
Lists that seem to work are the standard formal listicle that has enough details to explain the headline and the long-form listicle that has longer explanations for the headline.
If you haven’t noticed, this article is using the latter. Another unusual tip: odd-numbered listicles fare better than even-numbered ones.
Search Engine Optimization
How many times do you scroll past the first page of Google when searching for something? If you do not often do this, you are not alone.
Content that has been optimized appears at the top of Google results. This content gets up to 33% of clicks…and reads.
If you want to boost your readership beyond your family, friends, and social media following, you need to learn search engine optimization (SEO). SEO involves using keywords strategically and organically throughout your piece.
While it is an art that can take years to master, you can learn the basics by reading the very many articles written on the topic and watch your readership soar to new levels.
You can find our free SEO checklist here.
Summing It Up
If anyone says that blogging is dead, you can confidently tell them that they are wrong. New bloggers are entering the blogosphere every day, and blogging platforms growing more than ever before.
What is dead are the old ways of blogging. You can be a successful blogger today and grow your readership.
All you need to do is keep abreast of the changes in the blogosphere like non-traditional platforms, non-traditional content formatting, and SEO. Do this and you will prove all the naysayers wrong.
Is blogging dead?
Blogging is not dead. It has simply been rejuvenated. What is dead are the old blogging tactics.
Are blogs on the way out?
Web blogging is on it’s way out as bloggers are now blogging on platforms
Is blogging still popular?
Blogging is still popular. According to WordPress, 409 million people view 20 million blogs every month.
How do food bloggers make money?
Food bloggers make money by selling ebooks, displaying ads using google Adsense, affiliate marketing, Building an email list and utilizing Instagram to drive traffic.