How AI is Affecting Blogging and Influencers (+ Tips on AI-"Proofing"* Your Blog!)
AI (Artificial Intelligence) programs have progressed by incredible leaps and bounds over the last year and will only continue to improve and become more integrated into our daily lives. I’ve been blogging for the past 10 years and have noticed a big change in the blogging world, for myself and acquaintances in the industry. Here I thought I’d share some of my personal observations as well as tips that will hopefully help preserve your blog against AI.
DISCLAIMER: This posts shares personal opinions/observations and predictions on how to help your blog in this changing world. I am not an expert and you should do your own research on these matters and use my tips at your own discretion/risk. Please also keep in mind that AI is rapidly evolving and observations and predictions shared in this post may not apply in the future.
How AI is Affecting Blogging + Influencers
Decreased Traffic
With people utilizing AI more and more these days, they tend to visit websites less. This is especially obvious with the integration of Google’s Gemini (AI feature), among others. Now when you Google something Gemini will often give you a summary of the best or most common answers at the top the search results. This might answer your question enough to keep you from clicking around at the rest of the search results.
Decreased Ad Revenue
This one is pretty straightforward… less traffic = less ad revenue. After all, websites get paid for ads based on how often an ad is viewed or clicked on and if there’s less traffic to a site, there will be less ad revenue.
Decreased Affiliate Link Clicks
Again, this one is pretty straight forward - if you have less traffic to your website, less people will be seeing and clicking on your affiliate links, meaning less affiliate income.
The decrease in traffic is really hitting ad and affiliate link revenue HARD for so many websites, not just regular blogs.
How to AI-“Proof”* Your Blog
*It’s worth noting that I don’t think you can truly 100% “AI-Proof” your blog - AI tech is really good and only getting better — HOWEVER, I do think there are steps you can take to help preserve your blog, traffic, and income. They include:
Gain a Loyal Following
Try to gain a loyal following of people who read your blog regularly. Some ways you can do that is to regularly post engaging content to keep them coming back for more - maybe a regularly occurring series (like making over a room step-by-step or chronicling your decluttering or healthy-lifestyle journey). Or regularly posting new, great recipes to try. Try to find your niche and your followers will continue to check back in for more.
Keep a Loyal Following Across Multiple Social Media Channels
These days they best way to see and be seen (and have your blog be seen), is to post on social media. This is how a lot of people will discover your blog in the first place - but don’t put all your eggs in one basket! It’s important to try to gain a following across all social media platforms, that way if one goes down (or gets banned.. like TikTok may) you still have a reach across other platforms.
Write Detailed Posts with LOTS of Pictures (Especially for How-To Articles)
Right now for the most part AI is great at summarizing and giving general answers - but if people want specifics, especially for a how-to post, they will want lots of details, step-by-step instructions, and PICTURES. This is especially true for any kind of hands-on craft or DIY or home improvement project with a lot of nuances. Provide a lot of details and pictures and your post will continue to be more useful than a summary would be.
Utilize Keywords + Long-Tail Keywords
Keywords and long-tail keywords are important for your blog to place high in search results. After all, you want your blog post towards the top of search results if possible - even if AI has a summary of answers at the top. That way if people want to read a little more on the subject and scroll down a bit your post will (hopefully) be one of the top options to choose from to read more.
Keywords are straightforward words that describe your post, for example: “how-to”, “declutter”, “cleaning”, etc, - they are important but it’s easy to get lost in search results with just regular keywords. This is why it’s important to also include long-tail keywords which are the specific phrases that people might actually type into the search to find your post, for example: “how-to declutter your house with small kids”. In general, long-tail keywords give you a better chance at placing higher in search results.
Consider a Pay Wall to “Hide” Your Best Content
If you have REALLY good content that people would want to pay for, consider implementing a pay wall for readers to access it. Examples of this could be having readers pay for a course on your website or pay for access to an exclusive newsletter that offers info and content that they couldn’t find on your website otherwise.
I hope this post gave you some food for thought on how to preserve your blog and blog income in this rapidly changing world. Best of luck!
DISCLAIMER: This posts shares personal opinions/observations and predictions on how to help your blog in this changing world. I am not an expert and you should do your own research on these matters and use my tips at your own discretion/risk.
*I don’t think you can truly 100% “AI-Proof” your blog - AI tech is really good and only getting better — however, I do think there are steps you can take to help preserve your blog, traffic, and income. Please also keep in mind that AI is rapidly evolving and observations and predictions shared in this post may not apply in the future.
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