Digital marketing is an ever-changing world, making it tough to figure out what works out for you and whatnot. Each year, we hear thousands of the industry's hottest predictions for the following year's digital marketing changes - "Facebook is dead," "Twitter is obsolete," "SEO is pointless," and "blogging is worthless" are just a few of the most popular – but none of these seem to happen.
Despite the continual change, shifting trends, and dire forecasts, one thing remains consistent: content is king when establishing loyalty, improving exposure, developing a trustworthy brand, and generating interaction. For these reasons, blogging remains one of the most successful (and cost-efficient) tools in your marketing arsenal in 2021 and beyond. Indeed, blogs reach a remarkable 409 million visitors each month, consuming more than 20 billion pages.
A Brief Overview of the History of Blogging
It is widely accepted that the very first blog was Links.net, which was founded in 1994 by Justin Hall when he was a student at Swarthmore College. Of course, they have not named blogs at the time, and he referred to it as his website. Blogs grew in popularity during the early 2000s. In 1999, the internet included 23 blogs; by the middle of 2006, there were 50 million.
By the mid-2000s, blogs had established a foothold in the mainstream. A survey published in January 2005 stated that 32 million Americans read blogs. During this time, the number of blogs increased even further, reaching more than 152 million by 2010.
Why will blogging continue to be relevant in 2021?
Digital marketing is composed of several components - a good plan will use various techniques, including social media advertising, SEO enhancement, lead generation, Google Ads campaigns, and newsletters advertising. Many of these channels are focused on generating immediate interaction.
Still, content marketing is a long-term strategy that pays off years after the content is created and released — high-quality content will continue to draw people to your website even decades after publication. The same cannot be accurate for social media marketing, which is just as effective but more transient.
A content marketing plan should help you enhance your local search engine rankings services, attract new readers to your website, engage them, position your firm as an industry thought leader, and motivate them to take action. Blogging is the most significant way to accomplish all of this and more, and it continues to be the primary technique of content marketing utilized by organizations worldwide.
Blogging's Future
Eight to ten years ago, blogs were rapidly establishing themselves as the principal communication medium for online users. However, with the rise of social media and social networking over the last five years, blogs have evolved into a small component of an individual's online presence.
Vlogs and podcasts have also grown in popularity in the blogosphere, with several bloggers focusing exclusively on multimedia material. Services catering to these kinds of posts (such as Tumblr) are expected to increase in popularity.
With the introduction of new services like Quora, there is a potential that the blogosphere may contract, and more people will resort to sites like these for information. However, platforms like Quora benefit bloggers by providing insight into what people genuinely want to know about a subject.
Blogs are unlikely to die out soon. However, there is a significant opportunity with Platinum SEO for development and innovation in how their content is discovered, provided, and accessed.
