2015 Blogging Tips 101.

Last night I heard on the John Tesh show that 25% of adults admit to not even reading one book in the last year.  So, if this huge number of people is not reading books what are they doing?

I researched this topic and discovered that watching TV is still the number one leisure activity.  According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person spends 2.8 hours a day watching TV.  But this is the startling truth:  Young people are reading less and less.

Time spent reading for personal interest and playing games or using a computer for leisure greatly varied by age.  People aged 75 and over averaged 1.0 hours of reading per weekend day.  On the other hand, teenagers only read about 8 minutes per weekend day.  Look at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics table 11:  http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.t11.htm  for it is shocking how little people spend time reading these days.

So, if reading is on the way out, how can you possibly make money blogging.  It sounds like a bad time investment, does it not?  At first glance, it does seem that what is the use in blogging if nobody is going to read it.  However, if you tailor your blog posts to a certain age and keep them consistent for this age group, you can capture an audience.  

Blogging tip number 1 - Blog to older people!  

• Maybe they want to read about what made them happy as kids.
• Maybe they want to read about old stuff like old t.v shows, crafts, old furniture, etc.
• What was popular 50 years ago?  These topics will be hot blogs.  Drive-In movies, old movie stars, etc. etc. 
• Blog about money, stocks, bonds, retirement income and anything else that can benefit older people like hospital equipment, news on aging.  etc. etc.

If you blog to older people it will be easier to capture a greater readership due to sheer numbers of older people reading.  However, older people may tend to stick with the older ways and may prefer reading actual page books than to read blogs on the computer.  For this reason, the next age group you should target is individuals aged: 45 to 54.  

Blogging Tip number 2- Blog to the 45 to 54 age group.

• This age group is where the money is.  They are old enough to still like reading, (on average they read 15 to 20 minutes a day on the weekends)  they generally have money to buy stuff from your blog, and they are growing older and will read more in the future which provides a larger readership for your blog.  
• This age group is generally less technologically advanced, meaning it is a great group for blogs that teach people how to do something or for blogs that compare products that they might buy.

Blogging Tip number 3 - Forget about the kids.

• The kids are in a new technology world full of video games, YouTube, socializing with friends and could care less about reading your blog.  If you tailor a blog meant for teenage reception, watch out as the average teenager reads only 8 minutes a day.  That means that there are a whole lot of them that never read outside school.  

Help the aging population with your blog and it will grow faster than if you are targeting young people.  You might need to "ground pound" it a little which I will go over in a different post, however, you are going to have a more successful blog if you go this route.