Is Blogging Dead?
Is Blogging Dead?
"Blogs are so 2001!", replied my boss when I told her that I've been writing them. Yeah, she's right, I thought. But the more I've read and written them, I realized, they're far from dead! Got a wilting houseplant? What do you do? I'll bet you'd Google "how to save my plant" and you'd find someone's plant-loving blog. You'd read it and save your plant. Want to read a new recipe? You've got to scroll through someone's blog first to get to it. Blogs are far from dead. They've actually evolved.
https://www.retrogamingmuseum.com/the-collection/pc-gaming-in-the-year-2000
What used to be popular, online journals have become YouTube Vlogs. Vlogs are video blogs that are usually posted onto YouTube for their subscribers. Every young person wants to be a vlogger these days. Vloggers have essentially become influencers or marketers of their personal brand by documenting themselves. Just like you can have a fashion blog, YouTubers can vlog about makeup.
Vlogs & Marketing
Our attention span has vastly shortened compared to 2001. In 2001, having a home computer was something families would fight over, and a chance to read a digital blog was fun. With internet accessible in our pockets, these blogs have turned to video. Blogging or vlogging, has evolved into a form of marketing for influencers, brands, and more. It feels like a more personal way to communicate to your audience. In a recent blog I read, Dianna Gunn wrote, "Blogs are especially important to marketing: 85% of B2C companies and 91% of B2B companies use blogs or other forms of content marketing." The most common reason these marketers are blogging is because it is a large generator of income for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxCXQ2pv1Hg
Now, I'm not blogging for money. I'm not here to sell you anything. I'm here to inform you about things I'm learning in graduate school in a fun, and meaningful way! (Thank you to all of my subscribers by the way, you are all AWESOME!) Not only does blogging bring people to my website, it allows me to connect with them.
My Blog
My website is a work-in-progress. I think it will be for a while until I learn how to do some coding or upgrade my Wordpress account. I'd like to think I know my way around websites pretty well, but I don't have any formal training. The class I've just started is Web Technologies, so I'm sure by the end of these next 7 weeks or so, my website will improve!
I recently "renovated" a few pages on my website, including my blog post page. Before, it felt like my blogs were just slapped on the page as an archive. The only thing I added to the page before this renovation was the "Filter by Topic" buttons.
I decided to add a header image, resize the blog feed, and add a block of text to introduce the page. I've also started to introduce some of my branded colors to the website, by adding them to buttons and larger titles. While I don't think my website is perfect, I enjoy playing around with the content on the pages.
What's Next?
After completing my UX course, I know what I should put on these pages to engage with my audience, but I'm hoping this Web Technologies course will help me with how to implement my new skillset. If you're reading this blog, tell me what you think! Do you think my changes are an improvement? Are you here just for my blog? Either way, see you next time!