#57 Blogs Redefined: Navigating the Shift in Online Content
Companies, writers, freelancers. Everyone has a blog today. But it’s not what you think.
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When we think of the word ‘blog’ we think of an archaic WordPress website, with a colourful background and stock images that people use to showcase their writing, poetry, photography, etc. When defined like this, we may think of this as a digital medium of days gone by, but surprisingly, blogs are more popular than ever.
There are almost 7.5 million blogs posted per day.
So what are these blogs and who is writing them?
Defined as “a type of regularly updated websites that provide insight into a certain topic”, blogs have now evolved beyond static web pages. Blogs have moved beyond our early-2000s memory of them and have expanded to newsletters, online magazines, articles, and even social media posts. Platforms like LinkedIn and X (Twitter) have made room for longer posts, allowing users to share detailed thoughts without needing a separate web page. These platforms already have built-in audiences and lend more credibility to posts. LinkedIn, especially, gives you the opportunity to showcase your content to all your professional contacts directly.
Newsletter platforms like Substack and Mailchimp have also become increasingly popular. Substack also allows for more interaction between readers and writers with features like chats and notes, breaking the one-way communication of newsletters.
Moving beyond mediums of personal expression, blogs have become more important for companies and professionals. From a business perspective, blogs are very very important. SEO is a primary reason for the popularity of blogs, which are used by every company to rank higher on search engines.
Even personal blogs have moved to a newsletter format, as Substack also allows you to dive into multi-media content by hosting podcasts, videos, and photo essays with each newsletter. But despite the format, these newsletters still count as personal blogs, as their purpose remains the same: to showcase your writing or art professionally. Having a newsletter or article published on a website also gives you more credibility as a writer than being published on a WordPress site.
Many creative professionals often only have their own blog as proof of work, so this distinction becomes incredibly important when submitting your work for professional scrutiny. Many people link their blogs in their resumes as proof of work and as writing samples.
Many writers and creative professionals are now using blogs to showcase their ability to write, the range of topics they cover, and their published work. Blogs have become a portfolio for all your work.
So if you have a 15-year-old blog, buried deep in the web, now might be the time to revive it and assess how it can help you professionally.
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