I started blogging a few months ago https://dailyhealthpoints.wordpress.com/ Each article requires me to read on average one science paper, and I spend also quite some time on editing.
Now I have 300 subscribers but sadly it doesn't have the same success as a blog I started ten years ago. That blog was focused on tech and startups. It didn't require any research, every post was only 30mn to 1hr of work, and generated a lot of views and comments.
My assessment is that people moved on. Instead of writing sharp comments on blogs, they would write on Facebook or Twitter. They are attracted by shiny Youtube videos. If they want to see nice pictures, they'd spend time on Instagram instead of going through your gallery blog.
Even the fact that I write long comments here on YC, like many other users, take time away from blogs.
I have changed my strategy and now instead of publishing often, I will only publish twice a week. I will increase the quality and also spend much more time in promoting these 2 articles. I can reformat them for Tumblr, Medium, cross post on various other sites. Also I don't plan for a massive audience anymore. Having ~1000 quality subscribers is more than enough!
I actually see the rise of social media as a double edged sword when it comes to blogging.
On one hand, you have people spending more time updating their feeds.
On the other hand, it also means people are less compelled to start a personal blog describing their day to day lives (remember the days of livejournal?).
Now I have 300 subscribers but sadly it doesn't have the same success as a blog I started ten years ago. That blog was focused on tech and startups. It didn't require any research, every post was only 30mn to 1hr of work, and generated a lot of views and comments.
My assessment is that people moved on. Instead of writing sharp comments on blogs, they would write on Facebook or Twitter. They are attracted by shiny Youtube videos. If they want to see nice pictures, they'd spend time on Instagram instead of going through your gallery blog.
Even the fact that I write long comments here on YC, like many other users, take time away from blogs.
I have changed my strategy and now instead of publishing often, I will only publish twice a week. I will increase the quality and also spend much more time in promoting these 2 articles. I can reformat them for Tumblr, Medium, cross post on various other sites. Also I don't plan for a massive audience anymore. Having ~1000 quality subscribers is more than enough!