Is Blogging Dead For Personal Branding?

Lately, I have come across several blog posts and email lists addressing the same topic...

Is blogging dead?

It just so happens that I had wrestled with my own thoughts on this topic.

And being so focused on personal branding and attraction marketing, I soon pick up on any blog posts appearing in my feeds that are relevant to any challenge I'm likely to encounter while growing my network marketing business.

If blog posts were not displayed in a format that easily stands out on the Facebook feed then I might not notice them in the noise.

Besides, it’s one of those regular blog topics like those fanciful New Year Resolutionses and Summer Beach Body posts that come around every year, or every time Facebook or LinkedIn release a new publishing feature or change their look.

Blogging is not dead! But in 2021 it’s definitely not the same as it has been over the past couple of years. 

Things will always change in publishing that’s a given, but things have moved on from what was working well. Many network marketers started to question their blog’s purpose... 

Does a blog still work as a free lead generation tool?

Should I only blog for LinkedIn and Facebook?

Is it now better to put up a post and buy hyper-targeted advertising on Facebook?

So many new questions to think about!

News feed evolution

It’s all down to the evolution of mobile apps, news feeds, lightning-fast load times, and even better user experience within social platforms.

Many people cannot be bothered to follow links outside of their favorite social channel. They want high value content delivered into their feed to make an instant decision on whether to read it or not. 

And the social media overlords are doing everything in their powers to keep your eyeballs within their channels so they can sell more advertising to business.

In a nutshell, everyone from big publishers down to us entrepreneurs and bloggers, like you and me, are being forced to use Facebook and others as a delivery platform because that’s where the masses hang out more often now.

So where does that leave network marketers, like you and me, who are blogging to create a powerful personal brand?

Well, I personally see a WordPress blog still being a key piece of kit in the online attraction marketing arsenal.

In fact, PERSONAL BRANDING is now even more important than it ever was. Not only is a blog an asset you own 100 PERCENT, but it helps you to keep up a direct connection to your readers. Blog posts stay out there for years and years working for you in search.

With a blog you can:

Think about it. When someone wants to join your network marketing opportunity, what is the first thing they do? They go to Google and do a search.

If you do not have a blog, then what does that say about you as a leader? Having a blog presence makes you look more professional. Therefore, it attracts more professional types of people.

If you look at how the top network marketing leaders are using social media to attract hundreds of high-quality prospects every day, what is the one thing they all have in common? You guessed it, they all produce a lot of content that is also collated on their blog.

As you can see, there are still VERY STRONG reasons why you need your own personal branded blog to help your business grow and stand out in a crowded marketplace.

So how do you start a blog?

Note: Some of the links below are ‘affiliate links.’ This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.

The first thing that you need is a web host. There are literally 100’s of different web hosts out there, so trying to decide which one is the best can become a daunting process. HostGator is recommended by WordPress.org. I have domains hosted with them. They are popular with first-timer bloggers.

HostGator has made it easy for the technically challenged to set up your WordPress blog in 1-click. Your WordPress blog can be up and running with the built-in installer in just a few clicks.

Ultimately, which web host and package you go for depending on what you plan to do with your blog and the volume of traffic you are planning to drive to it. Hosting is very much like choosing a mobile or utility package, in that it’s easy to be blindsided by the different options and jargon between companies. 

This blog is currently hosted on HostGator, which is perfect for my attraction marketing needs right now. In the future I might move hosting to the cloud for faster delivery speed on mobile.

Choosing a WordPress theme: FREE vs. Premium

I could write an entire blog post as this topic because there are 1000’s of FREE and PREMIUM WordPress themes available. There are also several pros and cons between the two. My next couple of paragraphs illustrates why going Premium can be a better choice. My lesson learned the hard way!

This blog used to run on a free masonry theme. Then I moved to using the low cost Brixton Premium theme I had found on Themeforest. But that started to break apart and Google Analytics constantly reported script issues.

Premium, themes are generally much better maintained by their authors, who give regular upgrades every time WordPress rolls out a major update. But as I discovered not all theme authors release updates at the same speed. I figure that's done on purpose to push you into buying a support package.

Having looked around here are a few WordPress theme providers that offer some of the best free and/or premium themes available:

Premium Coding – have beautiful responsive theme designs.
Elegant Press – have some of the best looking WordPress blog themes available.
AccessPress – blog theme designs that are both lightweight and responsive for mobile.

This blog now runs on Shapeshift theme. It's a breeze to not only churn out blog posts but you can easily customize the theme templates themselves to 100% control the styling without having to know any code. It has some really nice features, and it’s great looking for responsive mobile…which these days pretty much determine the type of RESPONSIVE theme to go for.

Okay, you’ve got your WordPress blog set up, now what?

Now that you have your hosting set up, and a WordPress theme installed. The next step is to develop some basic blog monetization strategies, add some powerful personal branding, and work on content creation to generate both leads and sales, and at the same time position, you as the “go-to” person of authority, the expert.

You need to decide if you are going to blog about business or products, who your target audience is, and how you plan to apply the attraction marketing while delivering your solution to their problems.

To the novice, this might all sound more complicated than it actually is. But internet attraction marketing does cover a very broad spectrum.

To go through each step of the attraction marketing process and explain the sales funnel mechanism in-depth would take longer than a few blog posts by me.

It takes professional training and structured step-by-step modules to take you through the entire marketing set-up process.

So there you have it, just by reading through this entire Is Blogging Dead post, you are already more empowered and ahead of the pack.

Most new network marketers are clueless about attraction marketing and instead will follow ineffective and outdated strategies taught by their upline or network marketing company.

Don’t become part of the blind leading the blind circus, you are smarter than that! Look to outside sources for your mentoring and internet marketing training by experts in the field! I did and it works for me!

Remember, online prospecting and internet marketing are NOT the same thing.

Internet marketing is a PASSIVE strategy, which works, even when you are not.

That’s all for this ‘Is Blogging Dead?’ blog post, but if you found value or know someone who needs this, then please “share” it.

Until next time!

PS: If you’re ready to join my team… visit my results page and let's chat about launching your new direct sales business.