Welcome to the traditional "Is blogging dead" discussion!
TL;DR
Blogs are still relevant in 2024.
People read them for quick answers, to learn stuff, to decide what to buy, etc.
To attract readers, focus on easy-to-read content, address audience needs, and utilize SEO techniques.
Consider seeking professional help for effective SEO blog writing.
Do people still read blogs in 2024?
I mean, really?
In fact, this question is quite understandable. We know that people’s attention spans are shortening and that they (Especially Gen Z) search for topics on social media instead of Google.
However, this situation has been changing recently. For example, while short-format video content has been at the forefront recently, long-format video content is now more preferred.
Nevertheless, this may bring to mind: "People don't take the time to read long blog posts anymore." Even blog content writers wonder about this.
That's why we will examine this. Let's seek answers to the following questions such as:
Is starting a blog worth it?
Do people still read blogs?
Does blogging have a future?
It's great to discuss this topic in a blog post, right?
Do people read blogs?
Are blogs still relevant in 2024? The short answer is: Yes. But let's give this answer more solid foundations.
71% of marketers say that content marketing has become more important to their organization in the last year.
Ahrefs found that there is a correlation between content length and organic traffic (up to 2,000 words). (This means that people are still reading long-format blogs.)
80% of bloggers report that blogging drives results.
As you can see, people still read blogs.
Let’s see some more facts. For example, on average, how many people read blogs every month?
70 million new posts are published on WordPress each month. And more than 409 million people view over 20 billion pages each month on it.
Why do people still read blogs?
We can generalize the reasons why people read blogs as follows:
They can help to find quick answers
Blogs are a valuable source of information on a wide variety of topics.
Many people visit blogs for information on topics they are interested in. That's probably why you're here, too. For example, as the PUN team, we read blog posts every day for reasons such as learning valuable insights, looking at report interpretations, etc.
Hubspot found that 72% of B2B professionals use blogs as a source of information.
They are educational resources
You can think of blogs as educational resources that provide how-to guides or step-by-step tutorials on many topics (a hobby or a professional skill).
If you don't want to read dozens of books on a topic but still want to gain basic knowledge, blog posts create great learning opportunities.
They offer interpretation
Blogs provide writers with the opportunity to express their opinions on a topic. Thus, readers can read valuable reviews on many subjects through blog posts.
They can help to make decisions
Blogs enable people to make decisions wisely by being informed by reviews, for example, on travel, books, products, etc.
Oh and, people read blogs unintentionally. What does it mean?
Even if you are not intentionally looking for a blog when you search, blogs will appear in the results (SERP) and provide information.
We also often see blog posts in the "people also ask" sections.
In the photo below, you can see the search we made for "making coffee" and the resulting "people also ask" section.
Think about the blogs you read. Think about the blogs you "unintentionally" scan when you're unsure of what to do for the holidays.
How do you get people to read your blog?
Now that we know that people still read blog posts, a new question comes to mind:
How to make people read YOUR blog? Let's say from the beginning, you can use AI to write blog posts, but you can’t achieve this with only AI-generated blog posts.
But we have some tips for you:
Write easy-to-read and scannable articles
73% of people admit to skimming through blog posts. So, when you're writing your articles, try to make them super easy to read and scannable.
To achieve this, you can break up the text with headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs.
Respond to your target audience's problems
Have blog posts that really say something and are useful. Give your readers practical tips and solutions that they can leverage.
Provide new information
Write about trends and news. Stay up-to-date so that your target audience who wants to stay up-to-date will come to your blog.
Review related products/services
What products does your target audience use? Share your honest opinions, compare different options, and help them make informed choices.
Pay attention to quality, not quantity
Did you hear that saying "quality over quantity"? Well, this totally goes for blogging too.
Choose 2 high-quality, informative articles per month rather than 5 low-quality articles.
Optimize for SEO
Writing quality content isn’t enough to boost traffic. We know it is not easy to SEO blog writing but you can make sure the article is SEO-friendly by paying attention to at least basic technical details.
Use relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and tags to help your blog rank higher in SERPs. This increases the chances of people discovering your blog.
Support with visuals
Bloggers who use more than 7 images per post are 2.3x more likely to report strong results. Images are also useful for breaking up text.
Finally
Ask one more time: Does anyone read blogs anymore?
Yes. And you're proving it right now. Blogs are still very much alive in 2024.
Therefore, remember to implement strategies that will make people prefer your blog.
Write easy-to-read articles, address your target audience's problems, provide new information, review related products/services, and focus on quality over quantity. And play with a few SEO techniques.
At PUN Content, we are experienced in many services such as SEO blog writing. If you have questions about how to do it, or if you want a professional to do it for you, contact us.