You have finished writing a blog post that you feel quite proud of. Everything from the content to the theme looks perfect. That’s why you feel confused when your blog has bad traffic. As your next posts experience the same problem, you can’t help but think, “Is blogging dead? Did it finally happen?”
This article will explore this question and give cool tips on how to drive traffic to your blog. By the end of it, we want you to not only give a confident answer to that question yourself but also know the monetary and creative benefits of blogging.
So, let’s find out – is blogging dead?
Is Blogging Dead?
We’re living in the digital era where it becomes a common practice to share information via the internet. Almost everyone has access to the web and owns a personal device to do so.
You shouldn’t ask yourself “if blogging dead?”. The real question is “can blogging really die?”.
The truth is – no! Blogging is still very popular today. While the original concept of blogging changed quite a lot, blogging is still very much alive and more popular than ever.
To understand why blogging is still going strong, you should know why blogging became popular in the first place.
Originally, two general goals drove people to start a blog. Each person’s motives might vary from one to another. However, they tend to fall into these two categories: marketing and creative expression.
Blogging for Marketing
This is the most common motive that boosts blogging presence on the internet. More and more, businesses start to abandon the concept of having a physical store and choose to have an online store instead.
In any business, marketing is an important practice that has a massive impact on one’s success and failure. The direct approach would be to use social media platforms to promote brands and products.
This is a logical move considering the fact that the number of social media users increases rapidly every year. According to Smart Insights, there are 4.021 billion internet users worldwide in 2018.
Guess what? 79% of them use social media.
What does it have to do with blogging?
Blog posts contain way more information than a single post on any social media. If someone thinks that your post is important and worth sharing, that could add at least one more visitor to your traffic.
That being said, the posts you publish create a bigger chance for your blog to appear on top of search engine results and improve brand awareness at the same time.
Blogging as A Creative Outlet
Digital era is not only the golden age of e-commerce but also individual creativity. In fact, people initially used blogs to express themselves to the world.
Blogging platforms such as WordPress and Blogger become the favorite place to share opinions on specific topics. It was only after the concept of personal blogging took off that people start to realize its potential as a marketing tool.
Contrary to popular belief, a personal blog isn’t limited to an online diary. It’s basically a space that you can fill with whatever you want to share to the world.
You can show off your crafty side and create a craft blog like A Beautiful Mess, share your killer recipes like Seven Spoons, or seek feedback on your artistic projects like Liz Steel.
While you can use a personal blog as a business platform (as most bloggers do), its primary purpose is to act as a creative outlet.
So, is blogging dead? Absolutely no. Not only can you use it as a creative outlet, but you can also use blogging as a powerful marketing tool.
Does Low Traffic Mean Bad Content?
Regardless of the niche you chose, your blog can still suffer from bad traffic. This might happen to anybody, as traffic is driven by different factors.
For some people, low traffic is the reason one might assume that blogging is dead.
However, you shouldn’t blame your content too quickly as many factors could cause low traffic.
Here are some examples of issues that might slip your attention:
- Lousy user experience — People usually spend less than five seconds to determine whether or not they want to read your post. If they encounter slow loading time or your blog design doesn’t look appealing – visitors will click off.
- Niche-less blog — Having a niche is good to map the direction of your blog. Without it, you will wander aimlessly among the sea of other blog posts.
- Bad SEO — In blogging, we cannot rely on pure luck. You need to implement proper SEO into your posts to gain organic clicks.
- Bland headline — Remember the five-seconds window time? That includes having a catchy headline.
- No promotion — The key to success is blogging is 20% content creation and 80% promotion. You need to utilize social media and other outlets, to ensure your blog get’s enough attention.
Can I Be a Successful Blogger?
Of course! It doesn’t take a genius to create a blog. However, it takes a lot of hard work and patience. After all, no one can become a great blogger in one night.
It’s crucial to pick a niche and stick to it. If you want to write about cooking, don’t cover every culinary topic that comes into your mind. You can focus on smaller topics like recipes, tropical dishes, or utensils reviews. Be unique!
Once you figure out what you want to write, you need to choose the right web hosting. The standard hosting plan sold by most providers is enough to publish your blog. However, you need to make sure that they don’t have any long-term negative impact on the blog’s performance and traffic.
You can try to build one using 000webhost. You don’t need to spend a dime to do so since we offer free hosting along with access to WordPress which is a great tool to build a website.
These are the steps to start a blog for free:
1. Go to the 000webhost homepage and click Sign Up.
2. Create an account using your email or Facebook.
3. Click Build Website on the top of your page.
4. Time to name your blog. Fill in a killer name that hasn’t been claimed by anyone, set your password, then click Create.
5. Congratulations, your hosting is ready! Now, we get to dive into the fun part. On your admin page, click on the WordPress logo to install it. Enter your password, then click Install.
You can access your blog later using the URL (which is also your subdomain name).6. When the installation is finished, you will see the option to start the configuration. Click Go to configuration page and enter your username and password to access the WordPress’ admin page.
7. Technically, you have made your blog. However, like a new house, you need to design its appearance to make it more appealing for your visitors.
To do so, you can access Themes under the menu Appearance.
8. Find a theme of your liking and click Add New Theme.
Hover your pointer above one of them and click Activate.
9. You can customize the layout by clicking Customize on the chosen theme.
Once you’re done, click Visit Site on the top left of the page — right under your blog name — to get a glimpse of your blog.
There you go! That wasn’t so hard, was it?
Can I Make Money From Blogging?
Yes! And we’re not talking about those traditional methods like selling physical merch. You get to earn some money just by sitting in front of your laptop.
Now that we caught your attention, here’s how to make money from blogging:
- Displaying Ads —. You will get paid every time someone clicks on the ad (pay per click) or visit your site (pay per impressions). You can use Google AdSense to get a better understanding of this method and test the waters.
- Sponsored posts & reviews — You can disguise this type of marketing as your usual post. This method is getting more popular these days since people are getting more annoyed with straightforward ads. Plus, it pays really well once you have a broader audience.
- Affiliate marketing — You will get a commission every time a buyer comes from your blog. As easy as that. Amazon Associates is one of the best affiliate programs that could help you in this area.
- Digital products — Why sell physical merch if you can sell the digital version of them? Be it ebooks, online courses, or membership access, you’ll no longer need to stress over the traditional distribution process and immediately enjoy the profit.
Conclusion
So, is blogging dead? Absolutely not! Not only is it a great creative outlet, but blogging is also a useful marketing tool.
The process of making a blog is easy and — with 000webhost — doesn’t cost a dime. Sure, it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and patience. But, isn’t it worth all of that if you can make a lot of money from your own work?
