Have you ever seen somebody on the web say that running a blog is useless?

Perhaps they tried to start out a weblog however have been unsuccessful. Or maybe they imagine that social media, video content material, or another new platform is the long run.

On this article, we’ll check out these two totally different arguments and see if running a blog has any future.

What Is a Weblog?

Now, it’s possible you’ll be questioning what a weblog is and the way a weblog is totally different from a web site. A weblog is a sort of web site the place the latest content material seems first. Weblog content material is also known as entries, articles, or ‘weblog posts’.

A weblog could also be run by a person or small crew, or it may be run by a big company. In reality, many big-name manufacturers have a weblog.

Running a blog began manner again in 1993 and has been exploding ever since. We now have even written a submit in regards to the historical past of running a blog.

However what in regards to the future? Why do individuals say running a blog is useless?

Why Do Individuals Say Running a blog Is Lifeless?

The web panorama is consistently altering, with extra platforms and competitors on daily basis. Some individuals imagine that running a blog is being left behind as higher options come alongside.

For instance, there was phenomenal development in social networks within the final decade. You may go to Fb, Twitter, or Instagram to meet up with the most recent information or view your mates’ images. It looks like fewer people are beginning private blogs.

Additionally video sharing websites are additionally quickly rising. YouTube has 2.7 billion lively customers, and over half of the web’s inhabitants visits the service every month.

And extra lately, synthetic intelligence providers have taken the world by storm. Some individuals marvel why an individual would learn a weblog submit after they can merely ask an AI a query and obtain an in depth reply in seconds.

Lastly, there may be competitors inside the ‘blogosphere’ itself. The variety of blogs is rising annually, and it turns into more and more troublesome on your personal weblog to face out within the crowd. However it is a signal that running a blog is alive and nicely, not that it’s dying.

With that being mentioned, is there any motive to imagine that running a blog is dying? Completely not. On this article, we’ll cowl these subjects:

The Variety of Blogs and Bloggers Are Rising

The variety of blogs has continued to develop over the previous few many years, and it isn’t slowing down. Listed here are a couple of snapshots of the entire variety of blogs on the earth:

• 2006 – 50 million blogs
• 2010 – 152 million blogs
• 2015 – 227 million blogs
• 2017 – 300 million blogs
• 2022 – 572 million blogs

That development is staggering.

There are at present over 600 million blogs unfold throughout platforms like Tumblr, Wix, WordPress, and LinkedIn.

Most of those blogs are on WordPress, which is utilized by 97% of bloggers and powers 43% of all web sites on the web.

Greater than 500 new web sites are created utilizing WordPress on daily basis, and 6 million new weblog posts are printed every day. That’s 2.5 billion posts annually!

You may marvel if anybody is studying all of these posts. The reply is sure. Over 77 million new feedback are left on WordPress.com blogs each month.

The variety of bloggers can also be rising. Between 2014 and 2020, the variety of bloggers in the US alone elevated by 10 million.

Running a blog Is a Key Technique for Profitable Entrepreneurs

One motive that blogs are so common is that they work. Operating a weblog is without doubt one of the greatest methods to advertise a small enterprise or on-line retailer.

Many advertising professionals discover they get higher outcomes from a weblog than e-mail newsletters, case research, podcasts, eBooks, webinars, and infographics. In a 2021 survey, 36% of entrepreneurs agreed that weblog posts introduced them the perfect outcomes.

That’s as a result of running a blog will help drive extra gross sales and conversions by boosting your model consciousness and bettering the rankings of your on-line retailer’s product pages.

In line with a research, 76% of content material entrepreneurs use content material to generate leads, and 55% of entrepreneurs contemplate running a blog as their prime content material advertising technique.

Clients additionally discover blogs necessary. 56% of individuals surveyed purchased one thing from an on-line market, retailer, or model after studying the corporate’s weblog. And 70% of customers surveyed would relatively learn a weblog submit than an commercial.

Customers Are Actively Visiting Blogs to Study

Many shoppers learn weblog posts earlier than making a purchase order in order that they will study.

In a current survey, 33% of individuals mentioned they wished to study one thing new when requested why they learn weblog posts.

A weblog can present consumers quick access to the data they’re on the lookout for within the type of how-to guides, product roundups and evaluations, and extra.

That is one motive why how-to articles have turn out to be a few of the hottest kinds of content material for bloggers to jot down. 76% of bloggers now publish how-to articles.

At WPBeginner, we agree. The overwhelming majority of our posts educate our readers easy methods to carry out a activity or repair an issue step-by-step.

Many Customers Choose to Learn Weblog Posts Than Watch Movies

Regardless of the massive quantity of video content material that’s out there, many customers nonetheless choose to learn. In reality, 77% of web customers learn blogs.

That doesn’t imply that there isn’t a requirement for video content material. Whereas 52% of individuals in a single survey wished to see extra weblog posts, 43% wished to see extra video content material from entrepreneurs.

The excellent news is {that a} weblog is the right place to share each written and video content material. Apart from that, blogs with photos and movies get way more engagement and visitors in comparison with text-only posts.

That’s why we began our WPBeginner YouTube Channel, which now has virtually 300 thousand subscribers. Our customers can watch our video tutorials on YouTube or on our weblog.

We’ll present you later on this article how blogs and video content material can complement each other.

Cash Made by Bloggers Continues to Rise

One other signal that blogs are succeeding is that you would be able to make a very good residing from running a blog.

Whereas not everybody blogs full-time, whilst early as 2010, 11% of bloggers have been in a position to earn their principal earnings from running a blog. At the moment, about 25% of WordPress bloggers say they make their full-time residing from running a blog.

The cash a blogger can earn is above common. For instance, in 2021, Semrush discovered that bloggers earned a mean wage of $8,000 monthly, which involves $90,000 per yr.

When you’d love to do the identical, then you’ll be able to see our guides on WordPress profession choices and confirmed methods to become profitable running a blog with WordPress.

Simply bear in mind that not everybody makes cash running a blog. You may be stunned to study that 33% of bloggers don’t make any cash, and newbie bloggers report making between $200 and $2,500 monthly of their first yr.

Web sites With Blogs Rank Greater in Google

If you’d like your corporation web site to rank increased on Google, then the perfect factor you are able to do is add a weblog. Enterprise web sites with a weblog get 55% extra guests than people who don’t.

In case your web site has extra content material, then additionally it is extra more likely to present up on search engine outcomes pages (SERPs). Web sites with a weblog have 434% extra listed pages than people who don’t.

Moreover, your guests usually tend to hyperlink to a weblog submit than a traditional web site. Firms with an lively weblog get 97% extra backlinks than people who don’t, and Google will discover this and rank these websites increased.

Does Competitors From Social Media Imply Running a blog Is Lifeless?

Social media has turn out to be a world phenomenon, with 4.59 billion individuals utilizing it in 2022. This quantity is projected to extend to about 6 billion by 2027.

Some individuals declare that running a blog is useless as a result of they don’t imagine it may possibly sustain with competitors from social media platforms.

Nevertheless, profitable bloggers don’t see social media as a risk however as a possibility.

Social platforms are an necessary supply of visitors for blogs. In reality, 56% of bloggers report that social media is their most necessary visitors supply.

You may comply with our social media cheat sheet for WordPress to study which social platforms will help you get extra visitors and arrange your social profiles the best manner.

Then, you’ll be able to even use a software like Smash Balloon that permits you to present your social media content material inside your weblog posts and get extra engagement.

Does Competitors From Video Websites Imply Running a blog Is Lifeless?

Roughly 3.37 billion individuals consumed on-line video content material in 2022. Content material creators and advertising professionals can be foolish to disregard this, however that doesn’t imply that it is best to simply give attention to video websites.

A weblog helps you to exhibit your written and video content material in a single place. It’s now widespread for weblog posts to include photos and video content material relatively than simply the written phrase. And weblog posts with movies get 83% extra visitors than these with out them.

You might add video content material on to your WordPress web site, however this may rapidly eat up your space for storing and bandwidth. It’s best to by no means add a video to WordPress.

As an alternative, you’ll be able to add your movies to video internet hosting websites like YouTube or Vimeo. These platforms are constructed to deal with the massive storage and bandwidth necessities of video.

You may then simply embed the movies in your WordPress weblog posts. This could improve visitors and consumer engagement in your web site.

The Impression of AI on Running a blog

Synthetic intelligence instruments like OpenAI are getting a whole lot of consideration. The ChatGPT web site alone receives 1.5 billion guests monthly.

It’s possible you’ll marvel why anybody would go to a weblog when generative AI instruments are so handy and simple to make use of. You may even fear that AI will exchange human content material on the internet.

Properly, running a blog and AI are in partnership greater than in competitors. AI instruments study by processing the data already on the web, together with weblog posts. And bloggers can use AI to jot down higher weblog posts.

Sensible AI instruments can revolutionize your weblog and make it extra aggressive. They will:

• Generate subject concepts on your weblog.
• Create weblog submit outlines.
• Draft weblog posts.
• Create featured photos on your posts.

You may even use instruments like All in One SEO (AIOSEO) + OpenAI to generate weblog titles and meta descriptions that can catch customers’ consideration within the search outcomes.

To study extra, simply see our information on the perfect methods to make use of OpenAI in your WordPress web site.

Some Running a blog Niches Are Extremely Profitable

Some running a blog niches are extra profitable than others. Sure subjects entice extra guests, whereas others could make you extra money.

Listed here are essentially the most profitable niches:

1. Meals blogs are the most well-liked, with 42.8% receiving 50,000+ visits monthly, and their common earnings is $9,169 monthly.
2. Way of life blogs come second, with 13.3% receiving 50,000+ visits monthly, and their common earnings is $5,174 monthly.
3. Journey blogs are third, with 10% receiving 50,000 visits monthly, and their common earnings is $5,000 monthly.
4. Private finance blogs are additionally good earners, with a mean earnings of $9,100 monthly.

You may see the complete listing in our information on the most well-liked kinds of blogs.

Some Varieties of Blogs Are No Longer Profitable

Whereas running a blog isn’t useless, sure kinds of blogs are not profitable.

With elevated competitors from different blogs, social networks, and video websites, some kinds of blogs simply can’t sustain and are dying.

• Blogs are not the easiest way to share the small print of your private life with your mates. It’s usually higher to make use of social media for this function.
• Blogs that don’t use photos and movies is not going to seize the eye of their audiences. Readers anticipate to see wealthy media in weblog posts, or else they will turn out to be disengaged.
• Blogs that include out-of-date info rapidly lose the respect of their readers. It’s best to replace or delete your outdated content material in order that your posts keep related and correct.
• Blogs which might be unfocused can have hassle attracting constant visitors. Focus your weblog on a particular subject or business and ensure it’s rating for the best key phrases.

Lastly, blogs that don’t prioritize high quality are unable to compete. High quality weblog posts take effort and time and give attention to consumer engagement relatively than clicks.

Running a blog Is Aggressive, So Give attention to Excessive-High quality Content material

Though running a blog is alive and nicely, not everybody succeeds when beginning a brand new weblog. It’s good to make good selections, work arduous, and give attention to high-quality content material.

As a result of there may be a lot competitors, it is advisable do every little thing you’ll be able to to make your weblog posts stand out.

Our tutorials at WPBeginner will allow you to learn to try this one step at a time.

As a result of high quality is vital, it is best to rigorously learn our information on easy methods to write a very good weblog submit. It exhibits you easy methods to construction a high quality submit and offers useful examples.

For instance, it teaches you easy methods to write a transparent and concise introduction, break up the content material into scannable sections utilizing headings, add a desk of contents, and way more.

Bonus: How one can Begin a WordPress Weblog

After studying our information on why running a blog shouldn’t be useless, you may be prepared to start out your individual weblog. You have to three key substances:

• A website identify: The web handle of your web site (ours is wpbeginner.com)
• Webhosting: On-line storage on your web site so guests can entry it
• A running a blog platform: Particular software program that permits you to simply create a weblog while not having to do any coding

A area identify usually prices round $9-15 per yr, and website hosting begins from $7.95 per yr. These prices can add up.

Fortunately, Bluehost has agreed to supply our customers a beneficiant low cost on internet hosting and a free area identify. This implies you may get began for as little as $2.75 monthly.

When you’d prefer to see some extra choices earlier than deciding, then see our information on how to decide on the perfect website hosting for an in depth comparability of the highest internet hosting suppliers.

In the case of selecting a weblog platform, there are many decisions, together with many nice free ones. You may see our listing of the greatest running a blog platforms for an in depth comparability.

Nevertheless, if you wish to begin getting cash out of your weblog, then we suggest self-hosted WordPress.org. That’s what we use at WPBeginner.

It has every little thing you want for running a blog, and you may add new options utilizing plugins. The most effective half is that it provides you the liberty to monetize your weblog in any manner you need.

For extra particulars, you’ll be able to see our newbie’s information on easy methods to begin a WordPress weblog.

We hope this tutorial helped you study that running a blog shouldn’t be useless. You might also wish to see our information on why it is best to use WordPress on your web site or our knowledgeable choose of the must-have plugins for your corporation web site.

When you favored this text, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can even discover us on Twitter and Facebook.