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Blogging in 2017 and Beyond: What Will Change?

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As we move through the final quarter of 2016, it’s time to look at what 2017 will bring to the blogosphere. On WordPress alone, members publish around 63.4 million new posts and 42.9 million new comments each month.

Blogging in 2017 and Beyond - What Will Change?

This stat doesn’t say anything about what Tumblr, Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, or other bloggers are producing. As the trends show, these numbers will perpetually increase. And the fierceness competition will continue to rise with the data.

What this situation means for you, as a content creator, might seem unclear. While writing, editing, and search engine optimization (SEO) will remain on your priority list, other factors will become more critical. So let’s review the pillars of blogging, as well as trends that will impact your blog in 2017 and beyond.

This Is How to Reshape Your Content Strategy

While keywords and basic SEO are still essential to your strategy, alone they will fall short. Across the globe, 72% of digital marketers say that relevant content creation is their most effective SEO tactic. Why is this?

Bringing immediately helpful topics and information to your readers is the best way to get your target audience to engage. Relevant, valuable content is the most likely to be shared on social media and cited by other bloggers across the web.

Activity now plays a major role in how search engines perceive your pages. According to Matt Cutts, the former head of Google’s web spam team, social media shares should not be seen as short term payouts, but long term investments. To encourage sharing, the most important strategy you can now employ is relevance.

What is the Status of User-Generated Content?

Until now, we’ve read about how to create a blog and how to choose a website builder. It is rather easy to build a commercial website with ecommerce themes for any need. This year, blogging via Medium, LinkedIn, and other user-generated platforms is becoming more popular.

User-generated videos get 10 times more engagement on YouTube than videos that are updated by major brands. What can you gain from this knowledge?

You are in competition with titans. Where blogging is concerned, it’s time to start thinking about which influencers you can reach out to for additional traffic generation. In 2017, partnerships and networking will be more advantageous than ever.

User-generated contests are another great way to enlist others for content creation. For example, hold a giveaway on Instagram and ask users to share their own images for a chance to win an exciting prize.

The #CastMeMarc campaign by Marc by Marc Jacobs generated over 12,000 new posts in the first hour and now has over 102,000 user-generated posts that help promote the brand. Share the results of your contest on your blog, and notify those that you feature. They will definitely want to share their proud moment with their own networks.

Should You Focus on Promotions or Relationship Building?

Your blog is a great promotional tool. However, you need to ask if you’re looking at it from the right perspective. In the past, it was easy to focus on why people might need your products or services. Now, this strategy might not be the best one.

Blogging is part of an inbound marketing approach that appeals to buyers before the sales stage of their buying journey. When readers land on your site, they don’t know if they want to develop a relationship yet, let alone make a purchase.

Your job is to use valuable content to cultivate the introduction and relationship with that future client or customer. For example, in the United States, 81% of female consumers trust information and advice from blogs. Trust is the foundation of every great relationship. So on top of relevance, share honest and respectful information that truly nurtures a long-term commitment with your reader.

When you go on a first date, do you spend the entire evening talking about yourself, or do you ask questions about the other person? Blogging etiquette isn’t all that different. Treat your blog readers with a similar etiquette: speak to them and help them solve their problems.

When you want to help readers with problems, you need to understand their pain points. Do your homework and conduct research. Ask readers what their struggles are. Whether humorous, educational, or otherwise entertaining, your blog should have a clear position of being selfless and helpful.

Conclusion

To make the most of future blogging efforts, you will have to transform your current approach. Though you will still give attention to keywords and SEO, new elements need to come into play.

Make relevance your number one priority. Encourage user-generated content, and treat your blog like a relationship building tool rather than a company brochure.

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Robert Mening

Robert Mening has been interested in technology and the web since he can remember. A web developer and designer since 2004, he created WebsiteSetup, which he has dedicated to helping people learn what they need to setup their own websites.

Latest posts by Robert Mening (see all)

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Comments

  3. As a content writer, I generally write blogs for my websites and as well as for others also. But previously I was not updated with the latest key feature. After reading this article I came to know what I missed. Your article containing lots of important factors for everyone. Thanks for this awesome article. Keep posting.

    Reply

  4. Thanks for the blog….really interesting and thanks for tips to be a good blogger……really helpful…and motivating and mind changing…..this helps to increase traffic on blog

    Reply

  5. Great post! We are doing a lot on the blogging side with our new SEO company, and we are always looking for good tips…this was very helpful. Thanks again, and keep up the good work!

    Reply

  6. Hello Robert, ,
    Thank you for this great article. This article is a packet full of knowledge. Keep on posting such article. I’ll visit time and again to check the article and gather some beneficial points.
    Thank you once again.

    Best Regards,
    Ranjan KC

    Reply

  8. Nice and informative article. Yes things you wrote is changed. It might be longer post because so many other things have been included in blogging. Hope you will write all the things in your another post.

    Reply

  9. Thanks for sharing! As for me, I think that effective content should be true, useful and polite. People feel when you try to help them to solve some of their problems, and it makes them to return again and again to your blog.

    Reply

  12. Thanks for explaining how blogging in 2017. Some of the people are interested in blogging. For those people, this article would help to make a note that how blogging emerges in the forthcoming year.

    Reply

  13. Hi thanks for the article, you raise some good points.

    With regard to using LinkedIn, I published 57 articles on LinkedIn last year for 2 reasons, my website was undergoing some serious changes (slow) and I didn’t have a blog. However, I’ve used LinkedIn since 2010, it’s a good place to be for any business but it’s tough to get direct business from for various reasons. This is despite the fact I’ve got well over 2000 followers and I’m in a lot of groups, so I’m not 100% of the benefits of blogging on LinkedIn unless you’ve got another blog too.

    My articles or blog posts varied from Growth Hacking advice, to the Supreme Landscaping Products Customer Recognition posts to descriptions of how tough it can be redeveloping a website, so I covered a lot of ground. I had around 7700 people LIKE my posts which is OK and I found (naturally) the posts promoted the most via my social media network received the most attention.

    This year I’m happy to say my blog is up and running, I will continue to use LinkedIn as a secondary platform as I believe the benefits of sending traffic to my website where potential customers can see our full range of products are far more significant than hoping to get business from a few interested parties on LinkedIn.

    Thanks for your post, I found it very interesting.

    Best regards

    Peter
    Peter Masters would love you to read ..So What is Growth Hacking? (part two)My Profile

    Reply

  15. Thanks, For sharing such a great and amazing post. Actually me and friend are in same business and we always look for new and great tips to boost our blog business. It was really helpful and latest information for our business as well as our blog.

    Reply

  17. Thanks For Sharing this beautiful information with us i had realized some of the blog strategies for better management ..

    Reply

  18. Very Nice Post. Actually, Blogging is the best way to earn a lot of money and promote your business too. Important is write unique content. and Nowadays by the content you need to convert your leads. so this is very important part of blogging. Now every content needs to write SEO friendly. I really want to give you special thanks for your wonderful post again.

    Reply

  20. Hi,
    U have shared very great Great work! and thanks for your great efforts. I’m really agree with all your points. I also did many mistakes in the starting of my blog.but now i am improve many things of my blog writing.

    Reply

  24. iam also a blogger then i want to say Thanks to you for sharing this blogging ideas with us this is a awesome post thankks……………………..

    Reply

  26. Hello Robert ,

    U have shared very great ideas about blogging with us. it’s very useful.

    Thanks for sharing here.

    Reply

  28. Hi there, Lots of resource you share. And I learn a lots of new in blogging. Its gonna help me in my blog. Thanks

    Reply

  32. Robert! Thank you! I’ve been studying articles and post as I’m an aspiring blogger and this post was extremely informative. I’m looking forward to your future post.

    Reply

  33. Well, I should have to say thanks @Robert on this awesome prediction and awareness. Yeah, some of the key points will matter in 2017 as well.
    Looking forward to seeing more like this!
    #Chris

    Reply

  34. Hey Robert !
    I like your this post very much, the slide is very informative and comprehensive. The conclusion part is the best of all the content because main point is written here, I released that my blog is some like brochure but in 2017 I will show you how I developed this in relation building tool by just follow this post.
    junaid shahid would love you to read ..C Programming Integer Data TypesMy Profile

    Reply

  35. Thanks Robert, thanks for the post to give such a information. i’m willing to starting a brand new blog through New Year Starts. these tips will help me to create and maintain the blog on regular basis. i would like to take more ideas from this blog in future.

    Thanks,
    Aaliya Rai.

    Reply

  37. Hi Robert,
    Wordpress is one the most used CMS worldwide. In fact one fo the best and free. Although, it was a joy reading your post.
    Thoughtful post.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Have a great day.

    Reply

  39. Trust is main for all relationship. Many people use blogs to get trust and know about product and services. They visit blogs that are trust worth and read them to avail services and by products.

    Reply

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