We are officially well into the year 2020 (Q2, can you believe it?!) and the start of a new decade. We have seen rapid changes in the world of technology and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Products and services are available to us in an instant with one simple click (or even voice-activated search!), from almost anywhere in the world! 

According to SERP Watch, there are about 5.6 billion Google searches per day.

Individuals from all over the world can search for information, entertainment, products, services, and businesses with seemingly endless results. Getting your website to the top of a Google search can give your business some serious exposure and as you may have heard, Search Engine Optimization is one of the best ways to achieve this.

“So, is blogging dead in 2020. Is that true?”

So how has SEO changed over the years? Is blogging still relevant? 

The Search Engine Journal notes, “In a way, the key to staying successful in search marketing 2020 is the same as it ever was – put out good content..” 

While videos, podcasts, e-books, and other forms of interactive content continue to emerge, the SEO Tribunal stated that “70% of consumers stop to learn about a company through an article rather than ads.” 

You may have many customers that are already familiar with you and your business. And that is great! (You may also be able to drive traffic to your website by answer frequently asked questions on your blog- which is a great idea to re-market and grow your returning customers and build on client relationships. )

On the other hand, potential or new customers and clients don’t have the same strong relationship with you and they may need some convincing when it comes to trusting you. This is where blogging in 2020 comes in.

Let’s start with the basics.

In the world of digital marketing, there are three different types of audiences that you will be talking to; cold, warm and hot. 

As you may be able to guess, cold traffic (traffic from cold audiences) that comes to your website consists of people that aren’t familiar with your business. It is much more difficult to make a sale or gain a client if they know nothing about you. You have to build trust. 

That brings us to warm traffic. Warm traffic (traffic from warm audiences) consists of individuals that are familiar with you and your business. In some way or form, they have seen your brand and know what you are about. Maybe they visited your website or maybe they engaged with a Facebook ad from you.

Hot traffic (traffic from hot audiences) generally refers to people who have already trusted you with business or have bought from your brand. Hot traffic is more about up-selling or getting a past client/customer to re-engage with you. (Single Grain). 

The purpose of content marketing is to warm up your cold traffic so they are more likely to convert (take a desired action) on your website. 

By providing useful information and helpful tools such as blogs, guides, and tutorials, you can gain credibility and trust. Content marketing in this world we live in means you have to provide value for this to work. We are not talking about keyword stuffed SEO articles anymore, folks.

After you and your business become familiar to your cold audience, over time they will warm up to your business and be more likely to make a purchase. 

After this happens, you can then re-target paid ads to turn these newly warm traffic sources into paying customers and clients! 

This is where blogging truly comes into play. 

It is so much more than keywords and backlinks. 

Blogging is a way for your business to share useful information in exchange for the opportunity to expand your reach as it relates to building relationships with potential customers. 

It even helps stretch your marketing budget by getting you the best bang for your buck when it comes to paid ads. 

So, the answer would be, no blogging is not dead! In some ways, content marketing is more important than ever. 

We encouraged you to share your story and be transparent with your audience so, be sure that blogging is included in your 2020 marketing plan! 

If you have any questions or if you are looking for help to get your business seen, please reach out! We’d love to chat!