London, UK
Some bloggers love to chase the latest blogging trends.
But all trends change.
What happens when trends change?
You need to chase a new blogging trend.
Chasing the latest, greatest blogging trends becomes exhausting. Google “latest blogging trends.” See what I mean? The page 1 result at position 1 actually brought up 15 different trends to research for a 1-2 year time frame.
Do you have the energy to:
- research each trend?
- predict the movement of each trend?
- plan your blogging campaign accordingly to capitalize heavily on each trend?
How tiresome does chasing trend after trend become when you blog for years?
Horribly exhausting, I imagine.
I do not chase trends. Largely, I stick to the evergreen, timeless fundamentals of creating and connecting.
But observing blogging trend chasers proves a painful lessons in futility. Grasping change triggers suffering. Suffering diminishes blogging power. Lessening blogging power saps you of your energy to succeed. No one thrives being a largely powerless, exhausted trend chaser not unlike a dog chasing a car; when the dog actually catches up to the car what is he doing to do? Bite the fender and hold on for dear life until the driver drags him?
In one moment, Twitter is the best site in the world for bloggers. All aboard! Writing a collection of posts trumpeting Twitter sounds like a profitable idea….so you do it. Plus 1000’s of bloggers agree with the trend. Each pushes Twitter as a clear solution to blogging problems based on the latest trends. Every looks peachy in one moment. Thousands of bloggers agree with this trend.
In the next moment, one CEO decision makes it the worst site in the world for bloggers. Jump ship! The 12 posts you wrote lauding Twitter become completely irrelevant based on even a single policy change sometimes. What happens if the posts become irrelevant? Deleting each seems like the only wise option; dead weight never moves your blog forward. Maintaining blogging credibility depends on deleting dated or completely inaccurate posts frequently
Bad Idea
Do you see why chasing blogging trends is a bad idea? When your strategy depends on some trend that changes routinely, so does the strategy. Do you see why predicting trends is even a worse idea? Who knows what 5 minutes from now will bring? Looking ahead 5 days, 5 weeks or 5 months is a study in futility.
Yet bloggers spend their days attempting to predict and ride trends. Riding this rollercoaster exhausts all but the most dogged individuals. Trends change like the wind for any reason. One trend today may vanish forever tomorrow. What happens to blog content, products or services based only on the trend? Disappearing trends kill blog posts, products and services based predominantly on the trend.
I have observed bloggers whose products becomes irrelevant because each hinged on some fast-moving trend. As the trend changed the product became worthless, literally.
Trends I Have Seen Come and Go
A few websites and blogging trends came and went during my 15 year blogging career.
Amid the websites and trends:
- G Plus
- My Space
- guest blogging for links
- hyped up internet marketing copy carefully crafted to manipulate readers.
I can go on but you get the point.
I guest blogged for content mills a long time ago; guilty as charged. Matt Cutts put an end to that income stream for me. Not only was it for the better, his proclamation that guest blogging for links-business was dead opened the self-publishing door for me.
I used my writing skills not to volume publish guest posts on link farms for a profit but to write and self-publish helpful eBooks far more evergreen in nature than guest blogging for profit. Plus I built a stable client base by ghostwriting an eBook and working only for individuals who published high quality blogs.
I didn’t cry into my beer when guest blogging for money went away because I never:
- chased the trend
- depended on the trend for all of my online business income
- relied on the trend for multiple income channels and branding
For example, I never
- created and sold an online course guiding freelancers to make money online by guest blogging for link farms
- wrote and sold an eBook on how to select the most profitable link farms for guest blogging
Trends vanish sooner than later.
Never base your blog on quirky trends or the blog will disappear sooner than later, too.
Building Your Blogging Business on Quicksand
Chasing trends is building your blogging business on quicksand.
Imagine building a luxurious mansion on quicksand. The house crashes each time it becomes too heavy for the quicksand to support. Of course, that’s not too heavy at all.
Growing a blogging business on temperamental trends is like building a mansion on quicksand. The moment you begin to even sniff at a few bucks the foundation collapses the split second your chosen trend disappears. In the blogging world of frequent change you better believe that trends can and do come and go like the wind.
One dramatic trend shift cripples your business. Perhaps your business entirely disappears overnight because you sold something or offered services based on a high risk, precarious pattern unwisely chosen. One news item can bring your blogging income to zero because basing business on volatile change is building a venture on quicksand.
Unproven Affiliate Tools
For example, selling untested, unproven tools as an affiliate to predominantly sustain your business proves to be a highly unstable business model because tools come and go with the tide.
Hootsuite seemed to be as hot as molten lava years ago. Tweet Deck appeared to take the Twitter tool title for a bit. Of course you will earn some affiliate coin through each for a while but when each stopped trending your affiliate income dropped dramatically through those channels. As each waned in popularity it required deep, exhaustive research to find a new social media tool best seller to offer. After that tool fizzles it becomes time to scour the web for a new social media tool to sell.
Exhausting this process is!
Do yourself a favor.
Form a rock solid blogging business foundation based on evergreen principles.
Build Your Blogging Business on Evergreen Principles
While most bloggers chase:
- video
- podcast
fads that change with the wind, it makes sense to build your blogging business on evergreen principles like publishing detailed, long form content and establishing strong relationships with readers and bloggers from your niche.
Publishing long form content and befriending bloggers amplifies your credible reach.
Being seen and trusted by a large, targeted following boosts blogging income organically, slowly and surely.
Whatever you sell or offer as far as services becomes attractive to trusting readers. Readers trust credible bloggers seen in many targeted spots.
Follow the evergreen fundamentals of creating and connecting to monetize effectively through any channel.
Conclusion
Stop chasing volatile trends to grow your blogging business.
Popular fads today go the way of the dinosaur tomorrow.
Build your blogging business on evergreen fundamentals to form a rock solid foundation for your blogging campaign.
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