Many people claim that blogging is dead in 2020. Most of them want to promote products that work with other business models, or they are broke. Blogging will be a profitable business and a beginner-friendly way to make money for many years. But let’s see some interesting facts.
Fewer new bloggers in 2020
Blogging was a trend from 2005 to 2009. At least, more people searched for relevant terms according to Google trends these years than today. It does not mean that fewer people read blogs. It means that fewer people start blogging businesses.
In my opinion, it makes sense if we consider the preferences of the new internet marketers. Most people search for get-rich-quick schemes these days. Also, there are many experts that sell products with claims for fast earnings. So, most beginners expect to create an Instagram account and start making tons of money. However, they will realize that it is not so simple.
Another trend is the business models that focus on funnels and paid advertising. There are many experts that want to sell their funnels. Many beginners buy this business model as well. Soon, they learn that it takes a big budget to learn paid advertising. You can’t just copy another person’s funnel and emails.
All these business ideas are attractive because they promise earnings without doing the work. But they don’t work as expected. It takes hard work to earn money online.
Blogging is not a trend because people have too many distractions. They tend to listen to the smart guys that promise thousands of dollars with a trick, or the hard-working guys that claim hustle 18 hours a day. Usually, these stories are not real or hide some important details that most people don’t know.
On the other hand, blogging is about doing the work consistently for a long-time. There is no reason to do impressive things today because it is not a sprint. All the top names on blogging create a few good posts per week for years. So, if you are willing to create content consistently over time without any extreme events, blogging is a great option.
People Still Read Blogs
The users of the internet increase every year and 77% of them read blogs regularly. If blogs get the attention of so many people, you can be sure that blogging is not dead. Blogging still increases its audience even if there are so many other ways to consume content in 2020.
If we combine the trend above about fewer beginner bloggers with the number of readers, we can see that there are more opportunities for those who stick with blogging.
While there are millions of blogs on the internet, most bloggers quit after a while. They don’t have the patience to get results. Also, many active bloggers have doubts, procrastination, distractions, and other problems that keep them down. My point is that there is a big audience, but you will not find many committed bloggers these days.
More Competition In 2020
While there are not as many new bloggers as a few years ago, it does not mean that the competition is lower. Most online businesses have more competition than a few years ago. Today, bloggers must compete with people who create videos, social media marketers, forums, podcasts, and any other type of content.
More competition means that you can’t get ranked on the first page of Google and get tons of traffic with 500-word articles in 2020. Some bloggers cannot adapt to new trends. However, the ones who raised their standards, they keep getting good results. In many cases, bloggers earn more money than a few years ago.
The primary source of traffic in most blogs is SEO. Google has created hundreds of ranking factors that help them to determine the quality of each piece of content. One important factor is the length of the content. Bloggers can outrank most of their competitors by creating lengthy articles.
YouTubers can get traffic from Google, but their main focus is the YouTube search engine and the social part of the platform. The same applies to social media marketers. So, you can easily outrank any forums and podcasts in your niche by creating lengthier articles.
Lastly, there are many bloggers that are not willing to create better articles. For this reason, many blogs have lost their traffic or don’t publish content anymore. However, blogging is a profitable business model for everyone that will try to create something better than the average blog posts of the internet.
Blogging Create Writers
If you love writing and want to get clients or start writing a book, blogging will be a great way to practice your skills. There are many types of writing. Publishing posts is different than writing books, but you learn to write faster, be more creative, and beat the fear of publishing your work.
If you are a non-fiction writer, you will find many similarities in blogging with writing a self-help book in your niche. Also, it will help you to learn the pain points of your audience because they will leave comments and feedback on your blog or social media.
There are marketing benefits when you blog as a writer. You can redirect the traffic of your blog to the listings of your book on Amazon or create a following that will buy your book and any other products. Building your writing skills is only a good thing and will help you with all your writing projects.
There Are Many Ways To Make Money With A Blog
You decide how to monetize your blog. There are definitely more options than any other internet marketing method. Here are some ways to get started:
Affiliate marketing: It is my favorite option. Affiliate marketing is the process of promoting other people’s products and earn commissions per sale. You add affiliate links on your blog for relevant products, and some of your readers will click on these links. Then, you just check your stats to see if you have made a sale.
Google AdSense: It is the advertising program of Google. You can apply once you have published a few posts. If you get approved, you copy-paste a piece code, and ads will appear to your site. You earn money with Google AdSense when visitors click these ads.
Sponsored posts: Once you start getting some traffic, you can start selling sponsored posts. They have both marketing and SEO value.
Sell your own products: If you have a product, you don’t have to send your visitors to other sites and marketplaces. You can create a product page on your blog and make the sale directly.
Sell space for ads: Instead of joining Google AdSense or any other advertising program, you can sell ads directly. It is a more profitable option, but you need to handle more tasks.
These monetization methods are only a few examples. There are plenty of other ways to monetize a blog that you can discover through the process. This is a huge advantage of blogging over other platforms because most alternatives have limited options. For example, if you build a following on social media, you must send it to another page to earn money. Usually, they don’t allow affiliate links or ads at all. YouTube allows affiliate links on the description, but there are many rules to follow.
You Control Every Part Of Your Blog
If you have your own blog or your own website, you have 100% control of every part. I will explain what I mean by giving you a few examples.
Most online platforms have many rules that you need to follow. There are many users that had problems with these rules in the past. They can reject your links because of the spam policy or reject your content at all.
It will not happen to everyone, but online platforms are unpredictable. Many YouTubers and social media marketers have lost their audience overnight for details on the rules that did not notice. Usually, you can appeal, but if they don’t accept it, there is nothing you can do to change their decision.
On the other hand, you decide about the rules on your blog. No one can get your blog or your audience. There are many ways to get traffic and earn money, so a setback will not really affect your long-term strategy. If a social media platform doesn’t link your site, you can forget it and focus on other sources of traffic. So, when you create content and share it across the internet, you have many ways to keep going.
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Conclusion
Blogging is still alive. It will be one of the best internet marketing methods for many years. People will never stop reading and searching for information on the internet.
The marketers who have given up on blogging did not change their strategy when they should do it. Blogging is not a spamming tool these days but a way to add value to other people online. If you like the idea of helping others and earn money for it, you can start your blog on Bluehost.