2021 Upcoming Blog Trends
Take a look at a few 2020 upcoming blog trends:
1. The number of people online is going to keep growing.
Although the number of people online might not seem to have much to do with blogs, it does reflect the size of the anticipated audience for bloggers. Out of the more than 7.5 billion people in the world, more than four billion are online, and that number is only expected to continue to grow.
2. People are going to keep reading blogs.
Even more importantly, all those people online are expected to keep on reading blogs. Nearly half of the online population reads blogs, and that percentage should hold steady (if not increase) in 2019.
3. Mobile is still going to reign supreme.
More than half of all internet users use a mobile device to get online and read blogs, and the average person spends around 3.5 hours on a mobile device daily. What this means for bloggers in 2020 is that your blog must be optimized for mobile devices.
4. English is the main language of blogs.
More than 70 percent of blogs published on WordPress are written in English. With its world-dominating tendencies, English is likely to continue to be the dominant language used in blogging in 2019.
5. Brands want to focus more on blogging.
Around 55 percent of companies stated that blogging was a top marketing priority in 2018. It’s estimated that the bulk of those companies will continue to focus on blogging or expand their focus in the new year.
6. Increased focus on trust.
From fake news to Facebook drama, trust was a big issue in 2018. During 2020, it’s expected that bloggers will focus even more on building and maintaining trust with their readers.
7. Increased focus on story.
The concept of “story” has spread across social media, from Snapchat to Instagram and from Facebook to YouTube. Looking to 2021, it’ll be interesting to see how bloggers use story to build out and develop their posts.
8. More video.
Admittedly, “more video” has been the rallying cry of marketers for years now, but in 2021, it will be especially true. It’s estimated that video will be behind 85 percent of search traffic in 2021.
9. Get ready to go live.
What’s the best way to incorporate video into your blog in 2019? Some say with live video. Watching live video makes people more likely to purchase a ticket to a similar event. People are also likely to pay for the opportunity to watch a live stream.
10. Give short-form content a try.
Sometimes, readers just want a little snack. They have no need for an in-depth, detailed report on every single topic. In 2019, go ahead and jump into producing more short-form content, such as micro-blog posts, quickie videos, and attention-grabbing graphics.
11. But don’t neglect long-form posts.
Although it can be worthwhile trying to mix some short-form content into your editorial calendar, don’t neglect in-depth, long-form pieces. Google’s still a big fan of longer posts, with the average word count of a blog post on the first page of search results coming in at nearly 2,000 words.
12. More visual content.
In 2018, 56 percent of marketers said that they used visual content in all of their content, all of the time. About 88 percent of marketers used blog posts, and of those blogs, about 86 percent of posts contained at least one visual. Visual content in blogs is expected to grow in 2019, with 32 percent of marketers anticipating that they’ll spend more than 30 percent of their budgets on it.
13. More interactive content.
The future of blogging is interactive. Interactivity increases engagement, and it’s expected that more blogs will jump on the interactivity bandwagon in 2019. What’s interactive content? Think of blog posts that include features such as quizzes, surveys, and infographics.
14. More personalized content.
People want relevant content that solves their problems and meets their needs. While you don’t have to write blog posts addressed to one person in particular, having an idea of who your target audience is and what they want will become even more important.
15. More niche content.
In 2019 and beyond, blogs are going to need to be more specific. “General” subject blogs are pretty played out. To get attention in the coming year, it helps to zero in a niche subject area — one that hasn’t been overdone.
16. More brand partnerships.
Expect to see brands working together to produce content in 2019. Don’t think that’ll ever happen? It already has — just look at Uber partnering with Pandora.
17. Bloggers should anticipate searchers’ needs in 2019.
More than 70,000 searches happen on Google every second of every day. Moving into 2019, Google estimates that the most effective search results will be those that anticipate what people are looking for and give it to them before they realize it’s what they need.
18. More posts optimized for voice search.
People are moving away from typing in their search queries, and are instead speaking to search engines. As devices such as Alexa and Google Assistant find wider use, voice search (which made up 20 percent of queries in 2016) is expected to increase. One way bloggers can optimize their posts for voice search in 2019 and beyond is by using questions in their titles.
19. More posts optimized for visual search.
Along with voice search, internet users seem to be embracing visual search, and will continue to do so in 2019 and moving forward. Tools such as Google Lens and Pinterest’s Lens are worth learning more about. With these tools, people can take pictures of things they’re interested in and ideally find their way towards your blog posts.
20. More posts that focus on “micro-moments.”
A micro-moment is a period (usually a minute) when a consumer needs something — they want to know something, buy something, do something, or go somewhere. The most successful blog posts in 2019 and beyond are likely to be the ones that capitalize on these moments.
21. Move over millennials, here comes Gen Z.
Ah, millennials — the generation that inspired a thousand think pieces; the generation that killed pretty much everything from cash to tuna to Applebee’s; the generation that marketers are totally over now that there’s a new age group to worry about. For best blogging results in 2019, it’s time to learn as much as you can about Gen Z, the generation of the future.
22. Everything’s connected.
Moving into 2019, it’s going to be worthwhile to look at how your blog connects to your social accounts, and how your social accounts connect to your blog. Consumers are likely to move freely between them, and it’s essential that you put your best foot forward on every channel.
23. Bloggers don’t have to be big, but they do have to connect.
A key trend in 2019 will be micro — from micro-moments to micro-influencers. If you work with bloggers and influencers, they don’t have to have massive followings. What they will need to is connect with those who follow them.
24. Chatbots will help bloggers connect.
Bloggers can’t always be around to answer questions in the comments, but chatbots can. Chatbots can increase people’s engagement with a blog, potentially increasing their interest in a brand.
25. A robot wrote this post
Not really — but in the near future, there is the possibility that more and more blog posts will be written by machine. That’s not to say that robots will replace human writers completely, but there is a chance that they’ll take over certain simple blogging tasks in 2019 and the years to come.
Nice
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