The History of Blogging
Blogging has been around since the early nineties and evolved from the concept of keeping records online, or ‘logging’. The later nineties saw an influx in users and platforms arising for more interactive experiences where users could comment on other’s work. Today, we’d compare this to social media and it wasn’t far from it. In the early noughties, video blogs accompanied by written posts became more popular which is what we’d now refer to as ‘vlogs’.
Vlogs still do today what they did in the early nineties, which is recording things online. Communities of online influencers use platforms like YouTube, TikTok and more to record their lives and share them with the world. Blogging was often used anonymously but when it began growing in popularity it became increasingly more personal as platforms became a source of income. Blogging became a business.
Earning from Blogging
Bloggers and vloggers can earn from sponsored ads and work in partnership with businesses to promote products. This has been a great way for individuals to boost their blog’s recognition and brand’s products at the same time. With the inclusion of links to other sites, their blogs and websites gain trust and relevance so that Google deems them as quality content. Despite the ever-changing world of the web, blogging still holds relevance for businesses and individuals wanting to earn and draw in an audience.
Blogs vs Social Media
Here’s where social media comes in. Blogging in short form, or ‘microblogging’ is what we know as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and other socials. Having a limited space and characters to post online introduced a new type of content sharing. Anyone can do it and it’s a brief way of communicating stories, news and updates. The negative side of social media really started to grow though with the space for increasingly harmful and hateful communication through comments and posts; places such as Twitter became common spaces for cyberbullying.
Microblogging is used in journalism too as it means more concise information for people to consume quickly. The shorter the article, the more likely it will be read. Instagram is a great platform for capturing attention visually with more impact too. The form of ‘stories’ that remain online for 24 hours can act as live updates and engaging speedy content for viewers. If your business has social media, you’ll be discovered more easily. If you build more content for your brand and develop your image with blogging to keep your audience engaged. A social media presence will be more encouraging for customers and linking your socials to your website will direct traffic towards you.
So is blogging in long form still relevant if social media is significantly impactful for your business?
Blogging For Your Business
Blogs, as spaces to promote businesses, have many benefits and in the digital marketing sphere, blogging is useful for multiple reasons.
Not only do you have control over the content and layout of your blog unlike social media prohibits, but you can also engage your audience with educational and informative content that’s relevant. Be the voice of your brand and build authority as experts in your field. Blogs are excellent platforms for sharing knowledge, tips, guides and answering people’s questions. Showcase your skills, your company’s ethos and your personality to reach potential customers. You’ll also be building a community centred around your organisation.
Use what you know about SEO to optimise your website’s content and make Google happy. With keywords relevant to your business, images and videos to accompany and content that reads well, you can build a trustworthy platform that’s engaging for your readers and that Google will see as important. To read more about the importance of building a website for your business, read here.
Blogging started out as a fun way of sharing ideas, perspectives and logging things online, and while this is still a popular form of content writing, it’s also an important factor of building a trusted website.
Blog Ideas
If you sell products, then a blog is an opportunity to write content surrounding how, what, where, when, and why to use your products. While microblogging has its benefits, Google likes a good amount of content that has answers to questions people are asking.
Write an engaging, communicative blog about your product’s benefits, and why your customers need it, and offer them as much information, inspiration and advice as you can. This will promote your business and build confidence in your customers’ decision to purchase. Blogging regularly with updates or news about your business shows you are up-to-date and informative too. If your business offers services, write blogs on case studies and experiences you’ve encountered in your job. With blogs, you can make them more personal reads and relatable for the traffic you bring in. You can see a blog as an opportunity to stand out as experts in your field of work and offer something your competitors don’t.
Partner with Chameleon for Content Writing
At Chameleon, our SEO and digital marketing team can write the content for your website with the right tone of voice and the SEO that’s needed for ranking on Google. We understand that writing the content for your site can be time-consuming and running a business should have your full focus. We can write exactly what you want on your website and reel in more traffic with blogs.
For assistance with SEO, Social Media, Content Creation, or Google Ads, our team will help you out.
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