In the age of TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and other modern social media, is it still worth starting a blog? Quite often, one can come across the opinion that blogs are “dead” and there is no point in starting one these days. Is this really the case? In today’s post, I will try to dispel this myth.
Blogging in the past and now – differences
At the very beginning, blogs were in the form of diaries and used to share thoughts and snippets of daily life. Today, there are many more blogs and in addition, creators can publish on social media, which I mentioned in the introduction. So there is an overabundance of content.
So nowadays, every person can express his or her opinions on Facebook or Instagram and does not need a blog to do so.
In the past, when there was no social media, reading other people’s opinions online was a really interesting and intriguing activity.
Nowadays, it takes a lot of effort to get someone to read our opinion (unless, of course, we are celebrities or public figures. These days, people most often come across blog articles on the Internet by typing certain questions (so-called keywords) into Google. The goal of internet users is usually to get the specific information they need.
This means that today’s blogging is therefore more practical than it used to be, i.e. in order for a blog to be visited frequently, the articles must be useful and answer internet users’ questions. They should give some value and solve problems.
While bloggers used to be predominantly teenagers, today they are usually adults who are building their personal brand online. This is why today’s blogs are primarily corporate and expert blogs. Even the once popular lifestyle blogs are now more educational in form.
Where did the belief that blogs are dead come from?
It is used to hear about blogs being dead after the boom of social media and the increase in popularity of videos. It is true that today’s influencers and youth idols mainly create content in video format. They operate primarily on channels like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok.
However, this does not mean that blogs are no longer needed or that they have died. Their purpose and target group has simply changed. As a copywriter and content manager with many years of experience specialising in writing company blogs and creating search engine-friendly texts, I can confirm that blogs are not dead. My clients’ blogs are visited by tens to hundreds of thousands of users a month.
Blogs are no longer the main place for entertainment as they used to be. Funny content is published mainly on TikTok and Instagram, in the form of short videos.
As a rule, the users of these services do not have specific expectations. Blog articles, on the other hand, are read by people who are looking for specific information. This means that they do not come across posts by accident.
For this reason, blogs are an excellent medium for freelancers, business owners and sellers.
Most online shops have blogs because they support product positioning in Google search.
Is it worth starting a blog? The advantages of blogging
I move on to answer the title question, which is whether it is still worth starting a blog these days.
Having a blog certainly has many advantages. Firstly, it makes it possible to reach specific users from the Google search engine and, as you know, this is used by the majority of internet users. Search engine users know exactly what they need at any given moment and what they are interested in. This is because they type specific questions and search terms into the search engine to get the answers. This means that blog articles are therefore not accessed by random people, unlike on TikTok or Instagram. On social media, it is the algorithms that suggest certain content to users.
In addition, blogs also have an advantage over social media in another way. It is estimated that the lifespan of a post on Instagram and Facebook is only half an hour. After this time, the post is forgotten. On a blog, on the other hand, an article once written collects organic traffic from Google indefinitely.
Another advantage of blogs over social media (as long as they are set up on WordPress and not a free platform like Blogger) is that they are owned by the authors. It is worth being aware that on Instagram or Facebook, the accounts do not belong to the creators. This unfortunately brings with it a considerable risk that they can be deleted at any time. This often happens due to various errors and temporary crashes. Unfortunately, errors and crashes on social media platforms are quite common.
Blogs also have considerable sales potential and increase brand awareness.
Of course, in addition to a blog, it is worth running social media profiles. Social media is where relationships with readers can be established. On blogs, it is much more difficult, and in many cases impossible.
In my opinion, your website and blog are a must-have if you want to build a personal brand, an expert image or if you are selling (services, physical, or digital products). For those who are more interested in an influencer career or who prefer to create fun content, other media are probably better options.
Running a blog only makes sense if you follow the principles of SEO, i.e. creating search engine-friendly articles. Unfortunately, without proper optimisation of the text – adding tags, metadata or links, articles will not display high in Google. This, in effect, will not allow you to gain readers from search engines.
