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Who Reads Blogs?

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Who reads blogs? Why do people read blogs and what is the point of blogging? A look at the blogging industry, which is still very lucrative today, and why people need and read blogs still.

I am a blogger, I have been a blogger for over a decade and I doubt I will ever quit blogging. For me blogging started as a creative outlet and a way for me to help people. Over the years this blog became huge, it is our business, our income and it’s still fun. A blog is not (or should not be) some sort of online journal.

Blogs are there to provide both information and entertainment, a blog post can be purely factual or concern the writer’s personal opinions about just about anything. A blog can be on any topic and in any niche.

Some people “follow” a blog, they sign up for email notifications and expect updates from the blogger every week. When we were travelling full-time this model, of writing a blog for followers, was just one way in which we got people to read whatever we were writing.

Likewise, some blog readers choose to “follow” on social media, be it Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Pinterest. If the blogger is creating content regularly that the readers want to consume, this model works.

Some bloggers mix niches and have a very generalised lifestyle typs of blog, other bloggers stay ultra niche. Different types of blogs obviously attract different types of readers, or all ages and nationalities.

Some bloggers creat content purely for Google, our readers come from Google search, and that’s the model we use today to attract most readers. We can get 10,000 readers per day on this blog from Google Search. If I send out the perfect email to my subscribers I’ll be lucky if 1000 or our 5000 email subscribers opens the post and reads it.

It is my job to get people to read posts on this blog. It’s how I make a living blogging. If you want to know how we make money blogging, click through on the link I just gave you.

What is Blogging Style Writing?

The following paragraph is written in what many people would consider a typical blog style, it’s in the first person and uses very casual, informal language. But not every blog post is written this way.

I know how they teach blogging as a genre in school English lessons (I’ve sat in on my kids English classes online) and the teachers are wrong. They and the curriculum are very wrong about blogging. This is the problem with schools and courses, they sometimes try to teach what they know nothing about.

Who reads blogs
We have a *slight* problem with the car.

“We’re back. Our few week in Greece were wonderful and we (I) learned so much, but now we’re back to being relatively ordinary in our tiny village up a mountain in Romania.  We used to have a site purely dedicated to life in the village, but now you’ll find all of our Breb content on this website. You can click here for all things Breb. So we’re back, taking a travel breather and thinking about our travel and blogs as a business, but what’s next?”

Do Bloggers Know Who Reads Their Blogs?

I know from Google that my readers are mostly female, mostly well educated and mostly from the US. Australia, you’re in third position after the UK. I also have a lot of readers in Malaysia, Singapore, India, and Canada.

Google gives bloggers a lot of data, all annonymous, on who is visiting our website, when, where and we can see at any moment which pages are being looked at and from a person in which area.

We cannot identify individual blog readers.

Bloggers can see the email addresses of our subscribers and obviously we see names of anyone who follows, comments, or likes on social media, so we have a good idea on who, what sort of person and their location, is reading our blog.

“We still want to hang out in Romania as much as possible but while we were in Greece it became obvious that I really needed some medical intervention so that’s next on the list. To do that we need to go home to London for a while. Unfortunately, with two rabbits and a guinea pig, that didn’t seem too easy but then I Googled. “

You can drive across Europe and into the UK with pet bunnies. Who knew? If you have a cat , dog or ferret you need a pet passport but our fluffy bunnies are exempt, so they’re going on a road trip.

We have the perfect vehicle for bunny transportation in Sexy (after the TARDIS) but unfortunately, as we were driving home from Bucharest to Maramures  (via the Bear Sanctuary) , she blew a gasket or a valve or whatever. Now she won’t start.

A week later we’re still waiting to find out if she’s fixable. She’s in the garage today. If she’s good, it’s road trip time, if she ain’t, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We have no idea what we’ll do in that situation.

Our village is remote, to get to the nearest small supermarket takes us around 40 minutes by car, without her we’re stuck.

But as always, we’ll figure something out.

Whatever happens, there is always a work-around.

Travel Plans For the Rest of This Year

London will happen at some point. Mexico is sounding very attractive and the boys are begging for Florida . I have a big birthday in the autumn, I’m 50 ( see my birthday treat here). A special trip for mum is on the cards. That could mean my return to Everest Base Camp with D ( he’s agreed to that, with bribes), Africa or maybe just Disney again, but something special will happen.

How’s School Going?

who reads blogs 2
At Delphi in Greece. All educational objectives still being fully met, and more.

Absolutely fine. Both the boys are doing Minecraft Homeschool at the moment and D is doing amazing things with video. He’s started his own You Tube Channel, and he would love some followers. He’s trying to find somebody to create a great logo and header or him at the moment. That’s all part of learning how it’s done!

He edited this in a tenth of the time it would have taken me. OK so we kinds suck at YouTube, but maybe we’ll improve if we practice.

Video is something we plan to do more of, it’s just the way blogging is going. People don’t want to read blog posts any more and followers don’t want factual posts on destinations, tips or methods, they want to peek into our lives more.

I asked on our Facebook page, and that was what our almost 5 thousand followers said. Now I have to find a balance between the factual posts ( that bring search traffic and income) and the chatty posts for the followers (like this one) and learn how to create good videos!

Video is something we’ve done very little of.

Who Are Blog Readers?

Sometimes you just have to ask your blog readers for help in figuring out what they want from us, the blogger.

The trouble is, I don’t know how many of the email followers, that’s you, don’t also follow the Facebook page. If you follow us on Facebook all of this will be old news to you, we share everything on there along with loads of photos so could you do me a favour?

If you’re an email only subscriber, who never looks at Facebook, could you say so in the comments? That would give me a better idea as to who I’m actually writing for and, as I said above, who reads blogs.

A post like this one takes maybe an hour to write. A factual post like the most recent on Jaffna and Greece, can take 3 days each.  

They will eventually bring good search traffic from Googe and Pinterest traffic but got zero response from followers or Facebook. The post that has brought the most visits this week from Social Media was this one, on how it all began, an old post I improved and updated.

Finding Love through Travel

This post is the most popular this week, bringing masses of visitors.

Our websites are a labour of love as well as a business. We created them 4 years ago to help and inspire others who want to travel and take responsibility for their children’s education, but they also put food on our table. Without the sites, we would have had to go home a long time ago.

So today I’m asking for your help. As well as the above question, could you tell me what sort of content you want to see delivered into your inbox? What are you most likely to read? Are you more interested in writing and photos or video?

Who am I writing this blog for?

Do you travel? Do you plan to travel in the future? Are you just curious?

Do you find blogs more useful that Lonely Planet or other guidebooks?

How do you use blogs?

I love photograhy and I enjoy writing, video, not so much and I’d need to invest in new equipment to do it right. But if that’s what you want, we’ll make it happen. Just let us know.

With thanks as always, Alyson and the boys.

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Jackie

Sunday 3rd of July 2016

I'm a few weeks late which shows how frequently I get the chance to catch up on your blog! I'm a blog only reader, not on Facebook, and very rarely watch videos. I love both the story and factual style posts.. as I love to read your journey but also use the factual info for holiday planning and dreaming. We're a family of 5 who spend most of our time at home but travel abroad for longer holidays. I appreciate and value all the time you take to keep us all updated, so thank you! I'm interesting in hearing how things are in London right now? We seem so removed from it all, thus far, here in Aus!

alyson@worldtravelfamily

Sunday 3rd of July 2016

Hi Jackie, London seems fine. Chef's European co workers aren't too bothered, their options are still fully open. Our Romanian knowledge tells us that most seem to go to Spain or Germany to work anyway. The only 2 British people in the kitchen ( this is a very big, very famous city 5 star hotel) are gutted. Their parents voted against them, their migrant wives and children. They feel betrayed. My own parents have 3 mixed nationality grandkids, many older people do. It's pretty sickening. There was a protest march against Brexit here yesterday which went off peacefully, the exit camp jeering at it being an anti-democracy march. London has little racism compared to the rest of the country, we voted in, I think the dramatic increase in racist and xenophobic attacks have been elsewhere. Business as usual here.

Renay

Tuesday 28th of June 2016

Hi Alyson I don't do facebook. Not a fan of videos, only because I am usually reading your blogs when I am trying to get kids to bed or in a waiting room ect. So need my ears to listen and no noise to distract. I first found your blog whilst looking for ideas of where and how to take children on holidays or trips around the world. Still find it daunting and have not been able to do much travel yet only trips within Australia. But every blog I read is like another step towards getting out there. I really enjoy reading your blogs. I find them refreshingly honest. I love that you tell us your bad days as well as your good days. Thanks again Renay

Suzi Hansborough

Saturday 25th of June 2016

Hi there, Alyson! I have followed you at different times on all forms of social media. :)

I'm now getting back to your blog, after reading about your prep & 1st two years. I've always enjoyed reading your stories about what is happening with your family in any given location more than the tips......but I absolutely, ALWAYS make note of them for when I can wedge us out into long-term travel.

I also love your real-life feedback on how HS is working while traveling. I've learned so much from those asides you include in your posts. I also have an 8.5 yr old minecrafter. She's taking programming this year. And she's ready to start making videos...which I know nothing about. We're going to follow D's site.

Now, I primarily follow you on IG, as I don't spend much time on FB but will be adding Chef to my snapchat. I LOVE YOUR CANDID PICTURES. Your pictures and stories are a winning combo. I will click on a vid to watch but I tend to skim through the longer ones on other sites (what is wrong with me?). I've started getting into vlogs...

I basically enjoy all that you publish...in all forms. Can't wait to see where you guys land next....and best wishes to you on whatever medical issue you're dealing with. Hope that is quickly resolved.

Catherine

Saturday 18th of June 2016

I almost always skip video & prefer to read. Guess what, people around me don't necessarily want to listen to my videos! I can read most anywhere without disturbing others, like the guy sitting near me in an airport.

I didn't even know you had a FB page until this blog. I do use FB so will go find you there as well.

I subscribe to your email so I can get inspiration & ideal for traveling while educating my 12 year old. I enjoy your blogs very much!

alyson@worldtravelfamily

Saturday 18th of June 2016

Thanks Catherine, same here.

Kym

Saturday 18th of June 2016

I mostly read your blog via Hotmail. Occasionally through Facebook. I'd love more videos but would not want to lose all the write up and photos. You are all amazing with your different interests and how you make it all work as a family. Great when the kids do more too, then our kids can follow their blogs simultaneously to yours. I hardly ever see Chefs blog though. More food, gardening, cooking is always complimentary to the travel side of things.

alyson@worldtravelfamily

Saturday 18th of June 2016

Chef has quit blogging Kym, he's left Facebook too. Right now he's training for an Iron Man, that takes most of his time. But he does do all our snapchat. You can watch him there if you sign up to follow World Travel Fam. He was out snapchatting the bunnies last night, yesterday pigs. He likes things that don't take too much effort!

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