Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on January 13, 2025.
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The start of a new year is always a time to look forward, and when it comes to blogging in 2025, there are a lot of things to be aware of.
So in this one, we thought we'd pull out our crystal ball and look at some of the biggest things that are likely to come this year, predict what will happen, and share a bit about what we are doing to prepare!
AI is Taking Over (Literally)
In 2024, we predicted that AI would provide several new and unique tools to help make our blogging journeys easier. This is, to this day, still somewhat true. There are many great AI products to help with things like content idea generation, productivity, and many specific tasks (editing photos, videos, etc.).
While these are all good uses of AI, there is a major downside that is unfolding before our eyes- everyone is going all-in on AI, often well beyond what most people consider to be “normal” use.
Search engines are using AI to scrape websites and provide content on-page, reducing website traffic as users do not have to leave search engines at all. Social networks and brands are creating AI users and influencers, likely stemming from data created by real people, thus creating more competition for creators. Entire industries are about to change as AI makes work easier and, by extension, workers less relevant. We could go on.
In 2025, we really think all of this will just get worse for bloggers, almost to the point that the Dead Internet Theory is starting to sound like a prophecy rather than a conspiracy theory.
Throw in that it is unlikely that we'll get legislation against this being copyright infringement (in the USA, at least), and things seem very bleak indeed.
What are we doing to prepare? We could be doing several things to prepare for this, such as prohibiting AI bots from crawling our sites (via robots.txt files) and more. But, honestly, we think they will probably scrape content anyway and we truly don't know if and/or when an AI-backed search engine might realize providing traffic to websites is actually a good idea. (I have not banned any crawlers yet, personally.)
For us, the big theme here is reducing our reliance on other people's sandboxes. This has always been something we have advocated for, and is especially critical in the months and years to come. Capturing more readers on an email list is a great way to have a direct relationship with your fans outside of algorithms, AI, and volatility on social networks. It is also, unfortunately, a slog. (We have a great article on how to get newsletter subscribers here.)
We then are looking at how we can use social networks and search engines to create funnels that ultimately trigger newsletter subscribers. On Facebook, for example, I've been crafting a funnel that invites Page users to join our Groups and capture email subscribers along the way. We are also testing things like Broadcast Channels to send messages directly to our reader's inboxes there in a quasi-newsletter style feed.
These both are playing in other people's sandboxes, we'll admit, but we are using them to get people off-app, on our sites, and, ideally, subscribed to our newsletters that we fully control in 2025.
Get Creative With Income Streams
Naturally, with traffic sources seemingly drying up, many bloggers are seeing a massive drop in passive revenue streams like display advertising and affiliate marketing- two of the largest revenue streams for most bloggers.
While it could be easy to look at this and think that blogging may be on the endangered species list, the truth is that earning money online is a bit like the Wild West- you just need to get more creative in how you do it as there is always something out there.
The biggest stream out there, naturally, is brand partnerships on social media. Influencer culture is, and likely will continue to be, a hot commodity despite increasing competition. So while having a large presence on any one social network is still playing in other people's sandbox and is a risk, it still has the opportunity to make very real money in 2025.
Ultimately, our favorite saying, “You don't monetize a blog, you monetize an audience,” will remain true in 2025. Build up your following on your preferred channels, work towards creating products and campaigns to reach those people, and you will likely find monetization options will follow.
But this is only just the start. Getting creative is going to be the key to success in 2025 and beyond. Do things no one else is doing. Offer these unique features to your readers. Continue to become the trusted source for all things in your niche. Some may work, others may fail. But by working outside the conventional mold, you may find you are also carving out a niche that you can still earn a great income in and makes it harder for others to copy.
If you continue with business as usual, do not be surprised if your revenue streams start shrinking when they should be growing!
What are we doing to prepare? Our goals for 2025 are many but include a stronger focus on short-form videos on social media to grow our accounts for brand sponsorships there. While I've always been a photo guy in all ways, video is hot, so video it is.
On my own destination blog, I'm also throwing a wide net by writing a guidebook to sell, creating paid events and meetups to sell to our readers, forming affiliate partnerships with local businesses, launching a paid business directory listing portal, promoting a new public Facebook group to build engagement (and, hopefully, subsequent social bonus revenue), building up Facebook broadcast channels (with one channel dedicated to news on the previously mentioned events), and am launching content focused on living in the city to refer real estate leads to name a few.
While some of these monetization ideas still require volumes of reach/traffic, you can see how it traces back to ownership of our audience, too. By growing our mailing list and broadcast channels, we can sell products and events via focused shares. But by also playing the game of whatever is the flavor-of-the-day, we'll utilize other people's sandboxes as best we can for revenue (and pushing for more subscribers on our newsletters)- while those last, at least.
Many Bloggers May Throw in the Towel
When it comes down to it, 2024 was a devastating year for blogging, and it feels like 2025 will not be much better. While we always look at things optimistically here at This Week in Blogging, as you have likely surmised from some of the previous points already, the truth is that it is very rough out there.
We have read more reports than we care to admit about bloggers losing 50%, 75%, or 90%+ of their traffic in a single search engine algorithm update. Or a change in the algorithm in a social network wiping out traffic/reach almost overnight. This cascades down into income streams, and many businesses have been devastated by factors that are, in all honesty, outside of anyone's control.
This is not just blogging specific, but really goes to any outlet where you rely on someone else's algorithm to be found and/or seen. It is bad everywhere.
It is because of this that we, unfortunately, are expecting a lot of bloggers to throw in the towel in 2025. This may mean quitting completely, or, more than likely, significantly scaling back to double down on unique elements of a business that are working right now.
The good news is that things always change, which means there is always an opportunity even on the bleakest days, and being flexible to bounce around is key in these hard times. The bad news is that no one really wants to do that, the only real question is simply- are you up for the challenge?
What are we doing to prepare? Honestly, we can't really do much here other than start to shift our work into building an audience and revenue streams in ways we actually control, while popping around to the flavors of the day as a stopgap.
Since 2020, I started to build up many blogs to try and tap into passive revenue streams as my own form of diversification. Two of my three newer plays are doing quite well, while one of my older sites is practically dead. Naturally, this gives me an opportunity to pivot and double down on what is working right now, which, ironically, somewhat favors the growing site.
But, with all of my new activities mentioned above (social media, products, events, etc.), I am putting a fair bit more time and effort into active work over passive, which directly eats into the time I have to write many blog posts each week to pursue passive income streams like ads and affiliates. This may require me to shut down a site or two, or at the very least put them on the backburner or at a slower pace, but they are considerations I am seriously thinking of for 2025.
At the end of the day, we gotta go with what works, and that may mean rethinking grand plans that were many years in the making. Such is the life of a business owner.
Where do you think blogging is headed in 2025? Comment below to share!
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