December 15th, 2010
Statistics that will Shock you!
There are no specific and credible statistics that show how many blogs there are online but we can safely say several hundred thousand and counting. However, most studies indicate that 60-80% of blogs fail within one month of creation!
So while there is still competition, however, winners are those that persist at blogging at least a year or more. These blogs that have become legends are weblogs that are updated almost every day and at times more than once every day.
They are prominent and have a huge following but they are the exception. The hundreds of thousands of the other blogs have very small audiences, called nanoaudiences. These are made of friends, families and other readers about 250 readers per blog. This is a universal average. Most blogs may have no more than two dozen followers.
Defeating Yourself!
There are no competitors in blogging. The irony of blogging is that most bloggers term themselves a failure and bow out of the picture-they defeat themselves!
We go into blogging with the illusion that when we create a blog it should have thousands of readers. Actually only about 15% of web users read blogs—that is a US statistics. Most countries have as yet to even hear of the term blogging!!!
So when you create a blog and after a month abandon it because you have only two readers, you are in fact your own competitor and you have singlehandedly defeated the purpose of your own blog.
Failed Blog-The Reality
If you have been online for three years and have only a handful of readers you have the right to term your blog a ‘blog that failed.’ Before that it is simply a matter of unrealistic expectations and not enough persistence.
Demographics
Most online blogs belong to teenagers and 93% belong to someone under the age of 30. 15% of bloggers are between 13-19 years old while the rest are about 20-29 years. The people who abandoned their blogs wrote causally and indifferently, suggesting if you really enjoy blogging you have a better chance of success.
Changing Face of Blogging
Most blogs are abandoned because the age of the blogger defies maturity. They see new technological breakthroughs and decide to ‘move to facebook’ where all their friends are. However, with the entrance of businesses into the arena of blogging the picture has changed.
While people will continue to blog, it will be mainly for business and profit. Some percentage of bloggers will continue to dedicate themselves to personal blogging for their own fulfillment. However, the reality is most people do not like writing-even if they have something to say-so they will go with the flow of technology rather than sticking to writing blogs.
Social Media and Blogging
Social media is taking over the type of blogging being done. Twitter is the king of blogging and if you make it big on twitter you can have a large and diversified audience for your blog.
Tomorrow, something new may come along to replace Twitter and then you will have to use that technology to promote the blog. Blogging alone is useless; you have to focus on its interdependence on other factors within the World Wide Web.
Final Words of Wisdom
Tom Munnecke, commented on blogging saying,
“Blogs are an opportunity for people to tell their own story. People can write what they want without intruding on other people’s attention. This taps a deeply rooted “intrinsic” need, and this is what will cause blogs to “cascade.”‘
Jason Calacanis say’s of blogging,
“The hype comes from unemployed or partially employed marketing professionals and people who never made it as journalists wanting to believe. They want to believe there’s going to be this new revolution and their lives are going to be changed.”
Calacanis, I think has it right. The reason why a blog fails-is usually because we believe it will change our lives. The success of anything whether it is a business or a personal goal, comes from a clear vision. If our vision is flawed we will never be able to accomplish what we set out to do.
There is no such thing as a blog that failed; the abandonment of a blog is simply a blogger’s lack of vision. Create a blog with eyes wide open, being clear of what you expect from it-and success will follow.
