Everyone has heard the phrase “blogging is dead” somewhere. It’s a common trope of the “marketing tips” community to call something dead when it’s a few years old. Facebook is dead. Twitter is dead. Myspace is dead.
Okay, that last one might be true.
But the real truth is, as long as something is still available to use, it isn’t dead. It has just niched down and has become more audience specific.
The Number One Reason Blogging Isn’t Dead
Google.
That’s right. The number one reason blogging isn’t dead in 2020 is because Google is still the number one search tool. And Google’s primary search functionality still relies a great deal on the written word.
It still struggles to search based on audio, video or book content. That means the information written in plain text on a website is still THE best way to drive search traffic.
Now that’s not to say that will be the case forever, but for now, text still reigns supreme with search engines. Even on YouTube, the world’s second largest search engine, capabilities to dig into the actual content of a video and discern if it’s a best match for search terms doesn’t exist either. On a video platform, the text-based info is still the strongest source of information for the bots to crawl.
Blogging Has Branches
Blogging may not be the most digestible type of content, but it does have an ability to diversify in a way that other content delivery methods do not.
From a blog post, you can:
- Create great social material
- Use it like a script for podcasts and video
- Compile it into ebooks
Make sure you check out our post on how you can turn one blog into 50 pieces of content. There is a lot of versatility with written content that you just don’t get with other forms of distribution. You can recycle and upcycle a blog post a lot of different times and in a lot of different ways that can make it worth while for you.
Evidence of Existence and Credibility
A lot of blogs have come and gone over the years. Like millions of them. And though it may not be your favorite platform to post on anymore, for anyone visiting your site, it can serve as a solid “proof of life” that you aren’t one of the brands who dried up and disappeared after the internet blog business bubble popped.
It also serves as a bank of your knowledge and experience. If someone is hoping to get a better understanding of your expertise, your style and your personality, what better way than through an archive of content.
You don’t necessarily have to perform at the same pace as you used to when blogging was in its prime. Especially if you’ve found another avenue for your content that serves you better. But a weekly or monthly post that, at a minimum, directs any website traffic to where the action is happening is a worthwhile endeavor for those still finding you via your website.
Beyond a Blog
Sometimes a blog isn’t really a written “log” at all anymore. Sometimes it’s a podcast feed. Sometimes it’s a bank of videos. You don’t have to blog if it isn’t serving you and isn’t enjoyable anymore, but the concept of keeping fresh content flowing on your site is always going to be a plus.
It’s not just the site visitors who need to know you’re an active operator. It’s also the search engines. Your site needs to always be looking like it’s up to something.
So if blogging is what’s easiest, then blog on blogger. But if you aren’t interested in doing it anymore, now might be a good time to segue into another medium. Shoot, you could even go back through your blog catalogue and create video or audio-based content that helps you modernize your message and reach more people, while still allowing your original posts to serve you in some way.
It’s Still One of the Easiest Ways to Get Started
If you are at the very, very beginning of your journey, building your brand and feeling out the small business space, it’s hard to find a task much simpler than blogging. Within less than an hour, most people can be up and running with a blog-based site, ready to take on the world.
A blog is a great testing ground for exploring what you are trying to achieve, operating without eyes immediately on you, and growing from the ground up. Whether you’re trying to get recognition so you’ll be hired by clients (i.e. Starting a photography blog featuring secret local sites that make for the best photoshoot backdrops) or you’re trying to build a base of information to sell a product off of (i.e. a catalogue of intro info that leads readers into a course purchase), a blog is a great launching ground.
Even with only a little bit of traffic, you can have the look and feel of an established brand in short order with a bit of blogging and some activity on social media.
So whether this is your first business ever or you want to test run a new idea, blogging can provide a practice dojo for feeling out all the facets of the brand.
There will always be someone saying that [X marketing tool] is dead. What they usually mean though, is that it’s not new and therefore they don’t find it exciting enough to give it validity anymore. That doesn’t make it useless. If anything, it makes it tried and true. And anything with staying power like that is worth still considering even if it isn’t as flashy as it once was.