With the rise of social media and other platforms, blogging has undergone changes. Blogging is now a robust system that produces content across multiple sites including not only its own site but also on various different channels such as Facebook or Twitter for example.
How Blogging Has Changed
Blogging has changed a lot in the last few decades. Bloggers used to focus on posting consistently and frequently, but this strategy is no longer as important today.
A blogger's posts are less frequent now, but they're more targeted because of changing audience needs over time.
Today, people share content from blogs with each other through social media channels instead of relying solely on search engine optimization for recognition.
Bloggers are constantly looking for new ways to grow their readership and keep up with the changing social media landscape.
These days, bloggers can't just sit back on their blogs and hope people find them; they have to get out there in order to build connections that will turn into loyal followers who come back every day.
To do this, some old-school blog tactics stay as important tools, like commenting on other sites or writing guest posts about topics relevant for your audience.
However, what's trending today is engaging in conversation and including participants by liking a post of theirs or sharing it with friends!
Bloggers should always be thinking outside the box when growing an online presence because one tactic may not work anymore due to shifts in technology like changes from traditional blogging.
Social media has blurred the line between social media and blogging. You can use Twitter to write microblog posts or Facebook for longer form content, but it's not just a hobby anymore - blogging is now a viable career choice too!
Modern Trends in Blogging
While there are many current trends in blogging, all of which have staying power into the near future. Here's a few that you'll want to be aware of for your own blog:
Post Length
Blog posts are increasing in length. They're becoming more substantial and delving deeper into the topics they address, with a trend for quality over quantity (number of posts) to satisfy readers' expectations for greater value from what they read.
Fewer Blog Comments
In an effort to make blogging more accessible for all audience members without sacrificing quality content, many popular bloggers have been turning off commenting features from within their blog posts and instead are opting for reader engagement through social media platforms like Facebook.
This is a great way to keep your readers engaged while saving you the headache of moderating hundreds or thousands of reader responses!
Graphics
The best bloggers know that text is not the only content available to them - graphics are a valuable addition to any blog post, and these days' high quality images can be created in minutes with little effort thanks to accessible online software for professional designers.
Images can play a role in telling your story by helping to give context for the text. With the shift from traditional media, images come in handy because visual content gets more engagement and sharing on social media sites such as Facebook or Instagram.
Visual content includes high-resolution photos, infographics and icons that represent different things (like flowers with words beneath them telling what they are), video clips of people speaking about their company's products (this is called "video testimonials"), charts depicting data which supports our talking points and other graphics created specifically to help tell your organization's unique story.
Metrics
Metrics are an important aspect of the blogging world. In order to understand how your readers interact with a given piece, there is data that can be analyzed and tracked in relation to engagement metrics on blogs today.
These types of stats have become increasingly popular among bloggers who want as many people reading their content as possible without sacrificing quality or value for readability
Metrics used by modern-day bloggers allow them to better understand what engages users so they can continue providing informative and valuable information while maintaining interest from potential readership access.
Variety of Platforms
It is not a requirement that bloggers use blogging-specific platforms as they reach their readers.
Platforms such as WordPress and other one stop options are popular with many, but newer choices have emerged in recent years to meet the needs of those who need more control over features like analytics or monetization tools.
We will be diving into ways to increase your readership by learning who you are target audience so you can serve them the content they are hungry for.
In our series of posts on how to start blogging in 2021, you will learn:
- How to define your audience. Discover your reader's interests so you can target the right topics, voice, and fashion. You grow your readership, while saving time and energy. Learn how to identify your target audience's interests and construct a reader profile.
- How to create a captivating blog post, by planning your thoughts and using writing best practices. Explore the anatomy of top posts for ideas on how to do this!
- You will be able to maximize engagement on your blog post by sharing it with the world in a way that gets you the most reach. You can do this through social media, email marketing campaigns and even video promotions!
- You will be able to identify the best ways to cover your costs and make a profit from blogging.
- And most importantly, you will learn how to organize and plan before you start blogging, be consistent with your content while considering the needs of others who may also be reading it, and find ways outside of work that motivate you rather than relying solely on self-motivation.
