When it comes to the future of blogging at least seen by family and friends, there’s one question I seem to get asked a lot these days: So are you confident that blogging will still be around in the future?

People seem to wonder if blogs will die, as if it’s a fad like pogs or if there’s only a certain amount of blogs left to be started, like bitcoins or something.

I love this question because it forces me to think about where myself and the community here fits into the future of blogging. But my answer is always fairly simple: it’s only getting better.

Over 100,000 new blogs start each day, and simply having experience ahead of them in your niche puts you in great shape to attract readers and maintain success. Sure if you stop making stuff online, all bets are off, and others will surely surpass you.

But in this post I’d like to address the main reason I think the future of blogging is strong. You already know it deep down, but it deserves repeating. Let us know how you think the future of blogging will unfold in the comments!

Why Blogging will Always be in Style

Blogging is a central means of communication. For us individuals we can share stories with family members and friends will abroad. We can build a website for free or on some cheap hosting, and can make it look good and feel good about others visiting.

This personal joy alone is enough to keep blogging going well beyond out lifetimes.

However blogs also have a few other qualities that make them indispensable:

1. News blogs will always survive
   Every morning I check out anywhere from 10-50 blogs. I’m not referring to new blogs our community sets up (sorry, I save that for the evening these days). I mean blogs like TechCruch, Yahoo Finance, Motley Fool, ESPN, The Guardian, Newsweek, Fox News, HuffPost and more. I use the iPhone NEWS app and it sends me to blogs all around the world. News blogs are so fast with delivering information that combined with aggregating tools like the NEWS app the traffic going to these sites is only increasing daily.
2. Corporate blogs share real opinions and updates
   Blogs of major firms are becoming more and more central for shareholders and the general public to get a real sense of what’s going on internally. For example, Amazon recently used a blog post to respond to Bernie Sanders. Apple will toss out tech updates on their blog. Uber shares updates and apologies. Google explains new updates to the algorithm and their beloved apps. It’s all done through simple text and image based content creation, the essence of blogging.
3. It’s only getting easy to create a blog
   As blogging softwares from the WordPress family to Medium to Blogger and Tumblr evolve, the software is only attracting more and more new bloggers. We all have that friend who talks about starting up a blog, and the friends who are already on their way to major writing gigs on big sites that began through some basic blogging or journalling. For example two girls I knew from college have now landed gigs on Vogue and Wall Street Journal, blogging about healthy goods and political controversies respectively. Without blogs it’s quite hard, though not impossible, to create a portfolio of writing samples and work your way up the ranks to a larger paid writing gig.

There are so many other purposes for blogs and reasons why the future of blogging looks bright, these are just the one’s that come most readily to mind.

Where Does Your Blog fit into the Future of Blogging?

It’s never to late to create a blog and you can basically build a website for free these days easily. Still while many talk about starting, a small percentage will actually get a blog up and running and make it work.

If you’re already in the live stage of creating content, what do you feel is most important to your blog’s future success? What motivates you to keep blogging, or gets you down? Drop your thoughts down below and let’s discuss!

photo credit: markuss

The post The Future of Blogging: Will Blogs Go Out of Style? appeared first on Dear Blogger.

While corporations and larger businesses likely have a team dedicated to developing successful marketing strategies, small and mid-sized companies may only have a one-person squad manning the marketing department. As 2018 is unfolding, new trends and marketing technologies that marketers should be aware of are emerging. It can be challenging to keep up with this fast-moving industry, but SMBs can have a leg up if they keep their ears open to trends. Here are five 2018 small business marketing trends marketers should keep their eye on.

1. Mobile App Adoption

In the past few years, SMBs have been slow to create and utilize mobile applications that promote their businesses. In 2016, fewer than a quarter of these individuals had a mobile app, and nearly a third were unlikely to develop one. However, almost half have plans to create one shortly. As a freelancer and solopreneur, this has reinforced the importance of becoming familiar with basic app development principles. While it makes sense to get a professional to handle mobile app development, knowing why audiences are more keen to align with businesses who have mobile apps will help others like me in the future see a reason for moving this way, and even develop apps of our own.

2. The Rise of Video Marketing

Video marketing is on the rise across all industries. According to an infographic by SocialMediaToday, video increases traffic from search engines by 157 percent. Also, the average visitor spends 88 percent more time on a website when videos are included. That’s a real eye opening and an easy small business marketing tactic to take ahold of. In the past five years, video has shown to be a tool all marketers should have in their arsenal. Since many SMBs are run by one-person teams, it can be difficult to put a focus on this, but as 2018 continues, video marketing should be a staple in SMB marketing strategies. I have personally put out simple one to two-minute videos that have received more engagement on Twitter and Facebook than posting written prose. Including visual elements such as video is a reminder that everyone learns and interacts with information differently, and video marketing is a way to acknowledge this finally.

3. Understanding the Outcomes of Marketing Strategies

According to a 2016 Small Business Marketing Trends Report, SMBs are still in the dark about how their marketing strategies are benefiting the company. Nearly 49 percent of small business owners are not sure if their marketing efforts are effective. As companies continue to add to the culture of focusing on outcomes and putting a spotlight on ROI, SMBs will have to determine what impact their marketing has. All-in-one marketing tools, such as HubSpot and SharpSpring can help shed light on the successes of marketing campaigns and the overall areas for improvement. Checking Google Analytics was a daily ritual for me as a communications associate for an educational nonprofit. It gave me the knowledge I needed to understand why specific blog posts were more popular than others, and the types of content our constituents were looking for. Whether it is Google Analytics or some other software, keeping track of results will intelligently guide future endeavors.

4. Separating Social Media Usage from Social Media Marketing

In 2017, data from BIA/Kelsey revealed that 77 percent of SMBs utilize social media in overall marketing efforts, but only 32 percent invest in social media marketing. The majority of the U.S. population has a social media account, and marketers have to begin to look at social media as a viable method for gaining leads and generating conversions. For me, it was so easy to think that a large number of followers translated to success. In actuality, I should have been looking at engagement data and how campaigns I managed were performing. Social media, like anything else, has to involve a well-thought-out strategy to find the truth behind the numbers, and realizing this helped me to become more intentional in my planning.

5. Content Marketing is Essential

According to social media expert, Neil Patel, higher quality content creation was the number one factor contributing to marketing success last year. This trend does not look to slow down in upcoming years. Along with social media marketing, SMBs have to create relevant content for blog posts and social media sharing to draw in constituents. I saw this first hand when I started a blog for a previous nonprofit employer. I took time to survey constituents to see what they
wanted to hear from us. Not only did this increase page views, but it also made constituents more apt to donate and open newsletter content. Meaningful content will turn bystanders into active participants. As revealed above, many of the tips above reference relatively new technologies: social media, mobile app development, and digitally measuring outcomes. These tips help small and mid- sized businesses stay in step with competitors, reach broader audiences, and reveal who the company truly is through effective content.

Next Steps To Dominate Small Business Marketing Trends:
● Look for training. If readers are struggling with proficiency in social media or analytics
software participating in workshops or training to better understand these tools is a great
first step.
● Stay up-to-date on industry practices. If there is a push toward infographics in blog
posts or a new way of sharing video, then reading blog posts regarding these topics or
following influencers who share best practices is an excellent way to stay current.
● Decide what is the most important item to tackle first. Maybe the company is doing
well with video marketing, but a mobile app has been something leaders have seen a
need for. Marketers should make sure they have their priorities in line regarding what the
company needs most.
● Measure often! Metrics and analytics should become a major part of the strategy. Each
tip above should go hand in hand with ways to measure outcomes to know if plans are
meeting set benchmarks.

Which Small Business Marketing Trends Have You Noticed?

Even with a one-person team, SMBs can still set themselves up to be competitive in their respective industries by using smart small business marketing trends. As long as marketers keep their ears to the ground and remain open to learning something new, then they can reach success regardless of the trend.

Chanell Alexander currently resides in Atlanta, GA. When she’s not traveling and trying new restaurants in the Metro Atlanta area, she writes about the latest technology and tools for TrustRadius.

The post Keep Your Eye on These Small Business Marketing Trends for 2018 appeared first on Dear Blogger.