Every once in a while a popular blogger decides to shut their blog down. “I’m quitting”, they say, and all of their readers flood the comments with “rest in peace”, “we will miss you” and “OMG noooo! I LOOOVE YOU <3”.

A few years ago this meant that the person quitting disappeared from the face of the earth. These days it might actually have a very low impact on the person’s reach and their following.

These days a blogger is not “just a blogger”. They’re an influencer with a big audience on many social channels. The talented Norwegian woman, Annette Haga, recently shared that she is going to stop blogging after 8 years, but she still has a large following on Instagram and SnapChat. She still has the opportunity to influence and inspire her audience.

A blog is just a channel and a blogger is just a content creator. Ending your blog does not mean that you will stop creating content. It just means that you’ve matured into other channels and formats. Annette is continuing to create content, just not on her blog.

See my point?

I want you to stop over-thinking where you put your content. I want you to focus on creating great content for the people you want as your audience. The channels and various mediums are going to change all the time, but great content will always have a place to shine.

Many bloggers and publishers focus a lot (and sometimes too much) on generating as much traffic to their website as possible. Every Instagram photo, tweet or Facebook post is about asking their audience to visit their site. This is an old way of thinking and will hurt you more in the long-run than help you grow your audience.

It’s called social networks for a reason. Not all activities should have the goal of taking your audience away from what they’re doing and into your website. Most people that scroll through their Instagram feed would like to continue doing just that after they like your picture. They don’t want to click your name, find the link in your bio and visit your site.

Don’t waste people’s time and don’t overestimate the value you provide them.

Sometimes the best way to serve your audience is to just give them the beautiful picture you took on Instagram, without asking for something in return – or upload a video to your Facebook page, without making them click something at the end.

Also read: What is Native Content?

Instead of just focusing on your site, you should start creating great content, tailor-made to the different social channels your audience is using on a daily basis.

A great example of this is Vox Media on SnapChat Discovery. They really understand how to create native content and tell stories on the terms of the platforms they’re using.

Remember, it’s not about you – it’s about your audience.

It’s interesting to watch how something can become a ‘truth’ just because ‘everyone’ is doing it. One of the things that a lot of bloggers are adapting to: Squeezing two different languages into the same post.

Typically in the Nordics, for example, you would have your native language first, then an English summary at the bottom.

Why?

The bloggers I talk to tell me it’s to get a broader audience and to please their international readers. Fair enough.

It’s important to realize what you are sacrificing, though. When you mix two languages on one page, Google gets confused. It doesn’t know how to index you, causing you to drop dramatically on the search results.

Sure, the people that already found you can understand you. Unfortunately, new people will be unable to find you via the world’s biggest search engine and traffic driver.

My advice would be to go all-in to one target group – Local or International.

If you want both, create two blogs. You’ll have two different audiences that expect to be communicated with in slightly different ways.

When the Twitter community started using hashtags in 2007, it was to enhance the experience of the service. Using a tag to track a conversation or a topic across the whole platform made it a lot easier to follow – and to be heard. Instagram was introduced 3 years later and used hashtags as well. The big difference was how the Instagram community chose to use it.

On Instagram, it’s not uncommon for someone to throw in 5-6 hashtags on every post. Of course, this is done as a vague attempt to have someone – anyone – from across the network to notice their hashtag and pick up on it. The truth is, it ruins the user experience and doesn’t bring enough traffic to make it worth it.

Also read: You don’t want traffic, you want an audience

I’ve written about this many times, but I can’t say it enough. The most valuable thing you, as a brand or as an influencer, can have is your core audience – the people who engage with your content and add value to the conversation. It’s about them. It’s not about you.

Going all crazy with your hashtags gets very little results in terms of attention, but creates plenty of frustration for your core audience.

Stop doing that.

Hashtags were created for tagging a piece of content to one topic or one conversation, not six. Focus on things that add value for your audience, not that create confusion.

#awesome

The media has given Norwegian bloggers a bad reputation. The bloggers gave them the pleasure of being right.

I’ve worked closely with bloggers for over 12 years. I’ve seen different phases of how they work, how the media sees them, how they see themselves. It’s been interesting noticing patterns and helping bloggers succeed in every way I can.

For too many years now, the word blog, blogging, being a blogger have been looked down on in Norway. People tend to think of blonde girls writing about stuff no one cares about. That could not be farther from the truth — but unfortunately, not even the bloggers are standing up for themselves.

I did a keynote for all bloggers from United Bloggers in January. My main message: Step up your game. (see it here)

It’s time they start taking themselves seriously. If they don’t, no one will.

Being a blogger that actually makes a living serving their audience is hard work. Creating content that people actually seek and are engaged by is not easy and a skill I have absolute respect for. It’s something most big brands are not able to do.

Anyone can get traffic, but to create an audience is something not many people are able to achieve. And on top of that, to be able to make a living from it…Wow.

So it’s long overdue that these influencers get the respect they deserve. They are the trendsetters of our generation. They set the agenda. They are important people.

But before the people will see them with respect, bloggers need to respect themselves.

So to all bloggers: Keep your chin up. The next time someone asks what you do, answer proudly — I’m a blogger.

Det har vært mye prat om ordlyd på innhold som hvor mottaker har fått en fordel eller godtgjørelse for å produsere innholdet.

Mange mener at det bør merkes som reklame, andre mener det bør merkes som sponset innhold. Jeg mener at det er viktig at vi definerer hva de forskjellige begrepene betyr, og på den måten er det veldig tydelig hvordan det bør merkes.

Reklame er når en merkevare har produsert innhold som de betaler for å få synlighet for. Som en TV reklame, der reklamebyrå har laget en film som et mediebyrå har plassert på TV-skjermen.

Sponset innhold er når en merkevare har gitt en godgjørelse til noen som produserer sitt eget innhold for å få en plass i det innholdet. Det er altså ikke innhold styrt av merkevaren, men oppfordret av merkevaren.

Hadde en blogger postet samme bilde som brukes på utendørsreklame som et innlegg på bloggen sin så er det selvsagt reklame. Man bare plasserer innhold laget av merkevaren, men om bloggeren selv skaper innholdet – så er det sponset innhold. Fordi merkevaren er ikke i 100% kontroll, det er bloggeren som bestemmer hvordan innhold og budskap utformes.

Reklame er innhold skapt av merkevaren, plassert på en flate. Sponset innhold er innhold skapt på oppfordring av merkevaren, men hvor innholdsskaper står for innhold og produksjon.

A lot of people ask what I’m doing these day, and how the company is going. So it felt natural to write a blogpost about it. So much has happened since we launched last December. We used to call ourselves United Bloggers in Norway, but with a merger with the app MIKZ and a bigger team. Our vision for the company has grown with it.

We are United Influencers. We provide brands a dedicated audience through people with a loyal and dedicated audience. We are an influencer marketing agency.

We strongly believe that it’s a big difference between traffic and an audience. Where traffic is just people passing by you, and audience shows up specifically to consume the content created.

We work with a few selected influencers in every country we are based, where we repres