Is Blogging Dead?

Yikes. I hope not.

I just started teaching a blogging class this week, so let’s just say I have something personal at stake here.

But it’s more than that. I love blogging. Again, it’s personal. I feel like writing is my medium, y’know? It’s my jam. Yeah, sure, I dabble in podcasts and vlogs and I take photos and do Snapchat. But at the end of the day, the thruline, the thing I’ve been doing the longest, is blogging.

It’s changed a lot over the last 8 years, though. When Google pulled Google Reader, and even before that, subscribers went down. It was, and still is, harder and harder to find a blog’s RSS feed. Most subscribers these days come through email. Comments, similarly, on the blog itself, are way down.

What’s up, though, are people commenting in other arenas: Facebook primarily, but also Twitter, Instagram. And people reading our blogs not because they’ve subscribed, but because they found them online through a tweet or a FB post.

So, is blogging dead? Nope, I don’t think so. It sure is changing, though.

Monetization: Blogging is now not as much about making money through ad sales with tons of traffic. These days, smart monetization comes through creating and selling your own products. E-books, courses, apps, subscriptions… these are all ways that smart bloggers are keeping their businesses going.

Niche & voice: People will still come back if you are interesting, quirky, and/or have something that’s valuable that they want or need. That has not changed.

Blogging is growing into other mediums: Podcasting is SO hot right now! Vlogging is just blogging in a different medium. Instagram and Snapchat are also about telling stories, but in a visual way. At their essence, they’re all doing the same thing: telling stories.

So, don’t despair, bloggers. We’re not going anywhere yet.

Here’s a roundup of articles I’ve found recently on this topic that I found really interesting:

The Answer to the Question, “Is Blogging Dead?” I love the Blogess. Talk about a voice! She has it. Super funny and quirky. This is a great article that had me shouting “yes!!!”

Blogging isn’t Dead. But Old-School Blogging is Definitely Dying by Mother Jones.

Is Blogging Finally Dead? from the Blog Tyrant

Is Blogging Dead? How Blogs are Changing and How You Can Stay on Top, from one of my all-time fave go-to resources on blogging, Problogger.

Is Blogging Dead? Building Your Content Home on Rented Land: a convo between Mitch Joel and Mark Schaefer.