Have you seen someone on the internet say that blogging is dead?
Maybe they tried to start a blog but were unsuccessful. Or perhaps they believe that social media, video content, or some other new platform is the future.
In this article, we will take a look at these two different arguments and see if blogging has any future.
What Is a Blog?
Now, you may be wondering what a blog is and how a blog is different from a website. A blog is a type of website where the newest content appears first. Blog content is often referred to as entries, articles, or ‘blog posts’.
A blog may be run by an individual or small team, or it might be run by a large corporation. In fact, many big-name brands have a blog.
Blogging started way back in 1993 and has been exploding ever since. We have even written a post about the history of blogging.
But what about the future? Why do people say blogging is dead?
Why Do People Say Blogging Is Dead?
The online landscape is constantly changing, with more platforms and competition every day. Some people believe that blogging is being left behind as better alternatives come along.
For example, there has been phenomenal growth in social networks in the last decade. You can visit Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to catch up with the latest news or view your friends’ photos. It seems like fewer individuals are starting personal blogs.
Also video sharing sites are also rapidly growing. YouTube has 2.7 billion active users, and over half of the internet’s population visits the service each month.
And more recently, artificial intelligence services have taken the world by storm. Some people wonder why a person would read a blog post when they can simply ask an AI a question and receive a detailed answer in seconds.
Finally, there is competition within the ‘blogosphere’ itself. The number of blogs is growing each year, and it becomes increasingly difficult for your own blog to stand out in the crowd. But this is a sign that blogging is alive and well, not that it is dying.
With that being said, is there any reason to believe that blogging is dying? Absolutely not. In this article, we will cover these topics:
The Number of Blogs and Bloggers Are Growing
The number of blogs has continued to grow over the last few decades, and it is not slowing down. Here are a few snapshots of the total number of blogs in the world:
2006 – 50 million blogs
2010 – 152 million blogs
2015 – 227 million blogs
2017 – 300 million blogs
2022 – 572 million blogs
That growth is staggering.
There are currently over 600 million blogs spread across platforms like Tumblr, Wix, WordPress, and LinkedIn.
Most of these blogs are on WordPress, which is used by 97% of bloggers and powers 43% of all websites on the internet.
More than 500 new websites are created using WordPress every day, and 6 million new blog posts are published each day. That’s 2.5 billion posts each year!
You might wonder if anyone is reading all of those posts. The answer is yes. Over 77 million new comments are left on WordPress.com blogs every month.
The number of bloggers is also growing. Between 2014 and 2020, the number of bloggers in the United States alone increased by 10 million.
Blogging Is a Key Strategy for Successful Marketers
One reason that blogs are so popular is that they work. Running a blog is one of the best ways to promote a small business or online store.
Many marketing professionals find they get better results from a blog than email newsletters, case studies, podcasts, eBooks, webinars, and infographics. In a 2021 survey, 36% of marketers agreed that blog posts brought them the best results.
That’s because blogging can help drive more sales and conversions by boosting your brand awareness and improving the rankings of your online store’s product pages.
According to a study, 76% of content marketers use content to generate leads, and 55% of marketers consider blogging as their top content marketing strategy.
Customers also find blogs important. 56% of people surveyed bought something from an online marketplace, store, or brand after reading the company’s blog. And 70% of consumers surveyed would rather read a blog post than an advertisement.
Users Are Actively Visiting Blogs to Learn
Many customers read blog posts before making a purchase so that they can learn.
In a recent survey, 33% of people said they wanted to learn something new when asked why they read blog posts.
A blog can provide shoppers easy access to the information they are looking for in the form of how-to guides, product roundups and reviews, and more.
This is one reason why how-to articles have become some of the most popular types of content for bloggers to write. 76% of bloggers now publish how-to articles.
At WPBeginner, we agree. The vast majority of our posts teach our readers how to perform a task or fix a problem step by step.
Many Users Prefer to Read Blog Posts Than Watch Videos
Despite the huge amount of video content that is available, many users still prefer to read. In fact, 77% of internet users read blogs.
That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a demand for video content. While 52% of people in one survey wanted to see more blog posts, 43% wanted to see more video content from marketers.
The good news is that a blog is the perfect place to share both written and video content. Besides that, blogs with images and videos get much more engagement and traffic compared to text-only posts.
That’s why we started our WPBeginner YouTube Channel, which now has almost 300 thousand subscribers. Our users can watch our video tutorials on YouTube or on our blog.
We will show you later in this article how blogs and video content can complement one another.
Money Made by Bloggers Continues to Rise
Another sign that blogs are succeeding is that you can make a good living from blogging.
While not everyone blogs full-time, even as early as 2010, 11% of bloggers were able to earn their main income from blogging. Today, about 25% of WordPress bloggers say they make their full-time living from blogging.
The money a blogger can earn is above average. For example, in 2021, Semrush found that bloggers earned an average salary of $8,000 per month, which comes to $90,000 per year.
If you’d like to do the same, then you can see our guides on WordPress career options and proven ways to make money blogging with WordPress.
Just be aware that not everyone makes money blogging. You might be surprised to learn that 33% of bloggers don’t make any money, and beginner bloggers report making between $200 and $2,500 per month in their first year.
Websites With Blogs Rank Higher in Google
If you want your business website to rank higher on Google, then the best thing you can do is add a blog. Business websites with a blog get 55% more visitors than those that don’t.
If your website has more content, then it is also more likely to show up on search engine results pages (SERPs). Websites with a blog have 434% more indexed pages than those that don’t.
Additionally, your visitors are more likely to link to a blog post than a normal website. Companies with an active blog get 97% more backlinks than those that don’t, and Google will notice this and rank those sites higher.
Does Competition From Social Media Mean Blogging Is Dead?
Social media has become a global phenomenon, with 4.59 billion people using it in 2022. This number is projected to increase to about 6 billion by 2027.
Some people claim that blogging is dead because they don’t believe it can keep up with competition from social media platforms.
However, successful bloggers don’t see social media as a threat but as an opportunity.
Social platforms are an important source of traffic for blogs. In fact, 56% of bloggers report that social media is their most important traffic source.
You can follow our social media cheat sheet for WordPress to learn which social platforms can help you get more traffic and set up your social profiles the right way.
Then, you can even use a tool like Smash Balloon that allows you to show your social media content within your blog posts and get more engagement.
Does Competition From Video Sites Mean Blogging Is Dead?
Approximately 3.37 billion people consumed online video content in 2022. Content creators and marketing professionals would be silly to ignore this, but that doesn’t mean that you should just focus on video sites.
A blog lets you show off your written and video content in one place. It’s now common for blog posts to contain images and video content rather than just the written word. And blog posts with videos get 83% more traffic than those without them.
You could upload video content directly to your WordPress website, but this will quickly eat up your storage space and bandwidth. You should never upload a video to WordPress.
Instead, you can upload your videos to video hosting sites like YouTube or Vimeo. These platforms are built to cope with the huge storage and bandwidth requirements of video.
You can then easily embed the videos in your WordPress blog posts. This can increase traffic and user engagement on your website.
The Impact of AI on Blogging
Artificial intelligence tools like OpenAI are getting a lot of attention. The ChatGPT website alone receives 1.5 billion visitors per month.
You may wonder why anyone would visit a blog when generative AI tools are so convenient and easy to use. You might even worry that AI will replace human content on the web.
Well, blogging and AI are in partnership more than in competition. AI tools learn by processing the information already on the internet, including blog posts. And bloggers can use AI to write better blog posts.
Smart AI tools can revolutionize your blog and make it more competitive. They can:
Generate topic ideas for your blog.
Create blog post outlines.
Draft blog posts.
Create featured images for your posts.
You can even use tools like All in One SEO (AIOSEO) + OpenAI to generate blog titles and meta descriptions that will catch users’ attention in the search results.
To learn more, just see our guide on the best ways to use OpenAI on your WordPress website.
Some Blogging Niches Are Highly Successful
Some blogging niches are more successful than others. Certain topics attract more visitors, while others can make you more money.
Here are the most successful niches:
Food blogs are the most popular, with 42.8% receiving 50,000+ visits per month, and their average income is $9,169 per month.
Lifestyle blogs come second, with 13.3% receiving 50,000+ visits per month, and their average income is $5,174 per month.
Travel blogs are third, with 10% receiving 50,000 visits per month, and their average income is $5,000 per month.
Personal finance blogs are also good earners, with an average income of $9,100 per month.
You can see the full list in our guide on the most popular types of blogs.
Some Types of Blogs Are No Longer Successful
While blogging isn’t dead, certain types of blogs are no longer successful.
With increased competition from other blogs, social networks, and video sites, some types of blogs just can’t keep up and are dying.
Blogs are no longer the best way to share the details of your personal life with your friends. It’s often better to use social media for this purpose.
Blogs that don’t use images and videos will not capture the attention of their audiences. Readers expect to see rich media in blog posts, or else they can become disengaged.
Blogs that contain out-of-date information quickly lose the respect of their readers. You should update or delete your old content so that your posts stay relevant and accurate.
Blogs that are unfocused will have trouble attracting consistent traffic. Focus your blog on a specific topic or industry and make sure it is ranking for the right keywords.
Finally, blogs that don’t prioritize quality are unable to compete. Quality blog posts take time and effort and focus on user engagement rather than clicks.
Blogging Is Competitive, So Focus on High-Quality Content
Even though blogging is alive and well, not everyone succeeds when starting a new blog. You need to make good decisions, work hard, and focus on high-quality content.
Because there is so much competition, you need to do everything you can to make your blog posts stand out.
Our tutorials at WPBeginner will help you learn how to do that one step at a time.
Because quality is key, you should carefully read our guide on how to write a good blog post. It shows you how to structure a quality post and gives helpful examples.
For example, it teaches you how to write a clear and concise introduction, break up the content into scannable sections using headings, add a table of contents, and much more.
Bonus: How to Start a WordPress Blog
After reading our guide on why blogging is not dead, you might be ready to start your own blog. You will need three key ingredients:
A domain name: The online address of your site (ours is wpbeginner.com)
Web hosting: Online storage for your site so visitors can access it
A blogging platform: Special software that lets you easily create a blog without needing to do any coding
A domain name normally costs around $9-15 per year, and web hosting starts from $7.95 per year. Those costs can add up.
Luckily, Bluehost has agreed to offer our users a generous discount on hosting and a free domain name. This means you can get started for as little as $2.75 per month.
If you’d like to see some more options before deciding, then see our guide on how to choose the best web hosting for a detailed comparison of the top hosting providers.
When it comes to choosing a blog platform, there are plenty of choices, including many great free ones. You can see our list of the best blogging platforms for a detailed comparison.
However, if you want to start making money from your blog, then we recommend self-hosted WordPress.org. That’s what we use at WPBeginner.
It has everything you need for blogging, and you can add new features using plugins. The best part is that it gives you the freedom to monetize your blog in any way you want.
For more details, you can see our beginner’s guide on how to start a WordPress blog.
We hope this tutorial helped you learn that blogging is not dead. You may also want to see our guide on why you should use WordPress for your website or our expert pick of the must-have plugins for your business site.
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