Is Blogging Dead?

To be brief, NO, Blogging is not dead. A lot of people have given up on blogging because of "their" low reward to effort ration. A neglected and forgotten horse is still alive and may need to be revived a little to get back to normal. But, that doesn't mean it should be left to die. Many bloggers still find enormous value in blogging every week or every day.

You really need to adopt a mindset that blogs are not dead if you're going to get started with blogging or keep blogging in your normal weekly schedule. 

Blogging done properly is still very much a valuable contribution to success for public speakers (now converted to virtual live presenters) and authors. Once you understand the true power of a blog, you are much more open to exploring the more involved aspects of the tech side of things to get what you need to help you scale up.

Here is a list of blogging best practices that is maintained and updated every year.

Getting Started with Blogging the Easy Way

Honestly, if writing is your hobby, just keep it easy and start a blog at Blogger.com. It's free, it's low tech, you don't have to worry about viruses and updating plugins, and, it's owned by Google (which can help you in other ways that are beyond the scope of this post).

What to Upgrade to Next?

The upgrade from there would be to get a free account at WordPress.com. Even that will be a step up in the challenging side of tech and might discourage you from continuing with blogging, even though free and easy are still part of the deal.

When Will You Need More BLOG Power?

If you do stick with your WordPress.com account, you will soon see limitations that can only be solved by hosting your own WordPress website (WordPress software is downloaded free from wordpress.org).

Then, you're in a whole new category of opportunity, and yet, a whole new world of things you have to worry about like hosting costs, security, updates, backups, Those are all worth it of course if your blog is generating book buyers and business customers.

There are many things I love about self-hosted WordPress. I even wrote a post called Why WordPress in 2020 featuring 40 reasons why WordPress is the best fit for most companies.

But, really, don't even bother going in that direction if you're unwilling to fund the development, maintenance and promotion of your blog. Stick with Blogger or WordPress.com if you're a hobbiest or part-timer and just stay clear of the tech stuff until your efforts can be monetized.