There are always ways to write better blog posts and gain more traffic. Knowing these trends can be just as important as knowing your niche because, unfortunately, as blogs pop onto the scene and just as quickly disappear, it is quite easy to be relevant one moment and completely irrelevant the next. No one can guarantee that these blogging trends outlined below will remain in vogue throughout all of 2016, but so far they are receiving the most chatter and a lot of high-flying bloggers are aiming to try them out this year.

Blogging Blog Internet Media Networking Social Concept

Blogging Blog Internet Media Networking Social Concept

Branding and Business

Believe it or not, the majority of blogs out there are re-working their website layouts to be more like a business website and less like a blog. Web hosting providers such as 1&1 help bloggers to design their sites to appear more professional with a free website builder, as well allowing these blogs to incorporate responsive design and manage more media such as photos, videos, and interactive graphics. There are other options when it comes to logo and design work like free tools, crowdsourcing platforms or hiring an agency so take the time to consider the options if you’re on a tight budget.

Bloggers themselves are turning into entrepreneurs and turning a profit, because the biggest trend in this move towards a business identity is to not only tell your readers about something, but sell it to them! Whether it is personal mentoring sessions, an e-book or an online course, these are commodities and services that can stack up a nice little income.

 

Partner Up

Bloggers are more and more commonly entering into affiliate partnerships and collaborations. This doesn’t have to be a scary concept of a blogger “selling out,” but more so a quid pro quo arrangement. Bloggers are holding more and more weight as industry influencers in their particular niche, leading companies to reach out to them to review their products. This does not have to be a compromise on your part if you stick to your guns and only promote the products that you personally believe in.

blogging masterming

Other exceptionally profitable partnerships are actually with other bloggers. Forming ties with peers and guest posting on each other’s blogs not only helps with content creation, but it aligns both blogs with the same branding and adds authority. Furthermore, each blog can benefit from the other’s readership (which should be the same target demographic), expanding the audience of each. This also allows the blog readers access to content from another blogger that they may have otherwise never come across, and therefore allows them related content that they can follow. It’s a win, win, win situation.

 

There are of course many more 2016 blogging trends, including the length of posts and content layout, but the two business-minded trending ideas outlined above seem to be the most promising and are generating the most buzz. For more blogging trends, have a look at this post here.