Another one of those posts! - Old School vs. New School

Why Blogging in 2024 is No Longer About Just a Catchy Title

Do you have any idea how many posts are added to the web daily? I know that it is a lot but for a number I had to ask my virtual assistant, Chatty:

It's estimated that over 4.4 million blog posts are published daily across various platforms and websites. This figure includes posts on personal blogs, news sites, and other content platforms. With such a high volume of content, standing out requires a strategic approach to topics, headlines, and overall content quality.

He is not wrong there.

Old School Blogging

In the old school days, this would be more than a year's worth of blogging. Your ability to pick and choose the posts you wanted to read was as simple as skimming the titles. This was when you could judge a book by its cover.

This created Rule #1 - CLICKBAIT TITLES WORK!

If you wanted to be read you needed a title that someone would click upon.

Your mission was to back up the title with great content. It does not help if your reader does not click on the title! But when they do click on your title, your post needed to WOW them! It cannot be underwhelming.

Blogging in 2024

To be a successful blogger today, we have had to go beyond Clickbait Titles. A title is no longer enough to get people to read your post. Remember, 4.4 million blog posts are competing for your attention. I do not have the time or intention to read all of them.

So I skim the titles Google provides in the list of search topics. When I click on a Clickbait title, the first thing I want to see is a representative image of what your story is about.

A Picture is Worth 1000s of Words

One image is a minimum. The featured image. Whether you use stock images or AI-created images, that image must be able to hook me into reading your post. When you have more images in the post, I will often scroll down to see them. These images should be able to tell your story on their own. The “eye candy” as I call it needs to lure you into reading mode.

Now that you have me “engaged” on your page, you have my attention. What am I looking for next? The headings. A logical beginning to end of what you have created for me to read. Hey old school, this is your outline. I love shouting out to the old school, if you can’t tell, I am a member of the old school. I do need to shout because I am tone-deaf from all of the loud concerts that I have attended and assume they are as well!

Keep Scrolling

Modern Day Outlines

The clickbait title brought me in, your images got me scrolling, does anything stand out that I want to read? Back when we created an outline of what we wanted to write about we were able to stay on topic. Today this tedious task has been dished off to AI in 95% of the cases. This post is 100% me without the use of AI.

Did I mention that I was in the mood? I will do my best to stay on topic!

The outline of your post is the backbone of the story. Does it stand up on its own? In markup language, we are talking about H2 & H3s. Yes, I have gone as low as H5. It was a deep dive into a point that I had to make.

As I digress, having seen your images, I am now scrolling back to the top of your page to escape your well-constructed time trap, you have one more chance to capture my attention. The Headings.

Headings Do the Heavy Lifting

Do I want to read what you wrote? I am still looking for an excuse not to. There are roughly 1000 words strung together in any post. I have over 1300 words here. Six to eight minutes of your valuable time. Am I going to give you my time? Maybe. When your post is well-defined with logical H2s and H3s outlining your page, I noticed them. I will make my way back to the top of the page, and give you one last attempt as I skim the headers.

Did you put thought into what you wrote? Is it in a logical order? Do all of your headers capture the theme of the paragraph? Did the header provide a ramp into the content? Was it a smooth transition from header to content?

Headings do the Heavy Lifting

Time to Earn Your Money

In fifteen seconds, I clicked on your clickbait title, surveyed your images, took note of your headers, and was lured to read ONE SECTION. That one section was the result of a great header. One of two things will happen at this point. I will continue reading or I will bounce.

How many people are using AI to create their outlines? I know that it is a staggering amount of people. I have been using AI since May 2023, six months after release. Old School MrDon was not up for using AI until it smacked me in the face. Wake up you old fool! Time is no longer your friend. Your days are numbered, your retirement savings won’t cut it, and you need to supplement your retirement income. What are you going to do?

Live or AI?

AI to the Rescue?

The question mark is intentional. We have already established that you used AI for the content outline. It is not a shame everyone does these days. Well almost everyone. This post is not aided by AI. But was your content written by AI?

“…as we delve into unlocking the enhanced power of modern-day blogging…”

Remember that last chance to draw me in and have me read your post? I read one sentence and bounced immediately. Never let AI Steer the Ship.

AI did not rescue you, it sunk your opportunity to earn a follower.

You Do You

There are 7.9 billion people in the world today. You do not need to be someone else to get and keep readers. When you are honestly being you, helping people understand the world around them as you see it, solve the pain points in life as you have learned to solve them, people will come to trust you. Your solutions helped your readers. They are now your followers. You will need to keep improving yourself if you want to keep helping them.

As a blogger, you doing you, is now making you money by keeping your readers on your page and directing them to your next post. Money Follows Mastery.

You Do You

Time Surpasses Money

For most bloggers, myself included we have a life outside of blogging. We have taken our blogging to new heights with affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is fast becoming the new norm for people to earn passive income in retirement. We are not looking to become millionaires, but we are looking to earn enough to pay for life's necessities. Niche blogging and affiliate marketing are accomplishing this for us.

Let’s Put a Bow On It

Old School Blogging was a time when life was simpler. Create a great title and you were read. Blogging in 2024 can be boiled down to keep it simple, but the old days will never return. Our posts need images for attention, and a well-constructed header system to do the grunt work for pulling people who click on your post into reading mode.

Once they are in reading mode it is Time to Earn Your Money. Never use AI to create your final story. AI cannot replicate the You Do You that is so valuable for your readers. Every day you will need to improve upon your niche to master it.

Money Follows Mastery → Time Surpasses Money → Time is Ultimately Our Master

If time is truly the master, how are you choosing to spend it in the pursuit of your blogging mastery and success?