Blogging is an ever evolving entity, so it should come as no surprise that we can expect to see some new trends in 2016. Let’s take a look:
Increased Frequency of Posts
There’s a growing trend in the blogging stratosphere towards more frequent postings. According to a study of 1,000 bloggers conducted by Orbit Media, more than half of all bloggers are publishing at least one post per week, some of whom publish two or even three times per week. The study also found that 6% of bloggers are publishing more frequently than they did just one year ago — a trend that will likely continue in 2016.
Integration with Social Media
Another blogging trend to watch next year is integration with social media networking sites like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Many bloggers are using third-party plugins or add-ons to automatically publish new posts on social media. So each time they publish a new post on their blog, a snippet is posted to their social media accounts. Granted, this can be done manually by logging into each of your social media accounts and posting the snippet plus link, but automating the process saves time and energy.
Blogs Will Look More Like Standard Websites
You’ve probably seen this before: a blog that’s designed to look more like a standard website. Perhaps the front page features a static post instead of a post feed. Or maybe the sidebars have structured top-level categories instead of widgets like “recent posts” and “popular posts.” Many bloggers are now transitioning their blogs to mimic the look and feel of a standard website.
Direct Sales
It’s not uncommon for bloggers to monetize their blogs using affiliate marketing or cost-per-click ads like Google’s Adsense. However, many bloggers have begun to cut out the middleman by selling their own product or service. Even if you don’t have a physical product to sell, you can always sell a premium membership, digital download ebook, or similar digital goods. By cutting out the middleman and selling your own product or service, you’ll pocket more money from sales.
More Guest Blogging
Guest blogging isn’t going away anytime soon. On the contrary, search marketing experts predict it will grow in 2016 and going forward. The Orbit Media study found that 64% of bloggers surveyed said they write for more than one blog. This means even if they are publishing content to their own blog, they are also publishing content elsewhere, such as other blogs. Guest blogging refers to the process of writing articles and blog posts for other blogs in exchange for a link pointing back to your own blog.
Aggressive Newsletter Building
Blogs have long been used to attract email signups via newsletters, but this trend has grown larger and more widespread in recent years. Today, the vast majority of high-traffic blogs have some type of newsletter, and for good reason: email is a powerful platform on which to promote your products or services. Once you’ve captured a visitor’s email address, you can continue to market to him or her until they click the unsubscribe button.
What blogging trends do you predict for 2016? Let us know in the comments section below!
Good projections. I see more blogging for business than for pleasure.
I think these are accurate trends. However, I’m not willing to sacrifice quality of my content in lieu of adding more weekly posts. Maybe this is my time to consider having guest bloggers.
I’m just getting started, so it helps to have an idea what to expect next year.