Hi Friend!

Last month we asked you what you'd like to see most from this monthly newsletter. At the time, we weren't surprised that WordPress news and hot topics were the most common requests, although we did wonder if there would be enough content for future newsletters.

Little did we know that in March we'd all be talking about the covid-19 pandemic, a hot topic that stretches across industries, demographics, and countries.

With so many people talking about coronavirus, we've been careful not to add to the social media posts and emails about it, especially before we had a lot of solid information. However, now that we're seeing the effects of social distancing and estimates on how long these impacts will last, we want to share some practical tips for your blog and business.

Of course, none of us really knows what the coming weeks hold. But we're here to support you and your business through the uncertainty however we can.

HOW THE PANDEMIC IS IMPACTING BLOGS

Unsurprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic is impacting different niches in different ways. Here are a few of the trends we're seeing:

• Advertising revenue is down. As the world heads toward a recession, this is not surprising. Don't panic, though. Now is the time to continue to build a strong foundation so your blog is prepared for the recovery period. Focus on SEO and evergreen content that serves your readers and draws traffic long term.

• Traffic is up on blogs geared toward families. Families who are suddenly stuck at home with bored kids are searching for activities, crafts, routines, and recipes. Continue sharing these on social media as well to engage your followers and drive traffic to your blog.

• Natural health, gardening, and homesteading blogs are seeing an increase in traffic. Human nature pushes us to try to control our environment when things feel out of control, and families are scrambling to become more self-sufficient, looking for ways to boost their immune systems, prepare for continued supply chain interruptions, and live more frugally.

• Travel blogs are taking the biggest hit. As travel restrictions have been enacted around the world, travel bloggers are seeing the largest drop in traffic. We've got a section dedicated to helping you weather this time down below.

SHOULD YOU BLOG ABOUT COVID-19?

There is varying advice on whether you should blog specifically about the coronavirus, and your final decision will depend on a variety of factors:

• If covid-19 is relevant to your main topic and your blog receives a lot of daily visitors to your most recent posts, it may be worthwhile. Topics could include how to talk with kids about the coronavirus, ways to spread joy during social distancing, blogging during covid-19, etc.

• For blogs who focus primarily on long-term SEO results, continue to focus on evergreen topics rather than trying to rank for this topic. There is already a lot of competition from news sites, official agencies, etc., and Google is being conservative about where they send traffic.

• Our friends at Mediavine have advised that advertisers will be reverse targeting posts with coronavirus, covid-19, and related terms, and Google will be penalizing posts they believe are spreading misinformation. Using those terms in specific posts will impact your earnings on those posts, and it may be hard to rank on Google for them.
  
  However, keep in mind that the effects will be limited to the individual posts themselves. You can still address these topics to serve your readers; you'll just want to adjust your earning expectations for those particular posts.

WHAT ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media networks are also limiting and/or fact-checking posts. Their rules and practices are evolving rapidly, but here's what it looks like as of today:

• In an effort to prevent the spread of misinformation, Facebook is fact-checking posts about coronavirus and removing those that are deemed to be conspiracy theories or false information. Last week a bug in the system marked hundreds of legitimate posts as spam, leading people to believe that posts about the pandemic were being banned altogether, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

• Similarly, Instagram is pointing users to official CDC & WHO information, fact-checking posts that may be misleading, blocking and restricting certain hashtags, and banning ads exploiting the situation.

• Twitter has also announced that they will be removing posts that contradict public health advice or could lead to harm, but general conversation, posts about coping with social isolation, etc. should be fine.

• Pinterest isn't returning results for searches using the words coronavirus or covid-19 but isn't actively blocking posts with those words. Searches such as "quarantine activities" are returning results.

FOR TRAVEL BLOGGERS

While travel blogs are not the only niche experiencing a downturn in traffic, there's no doubt that they're feeling the hit the worst. There isn't much you can do to turn that around right now, but there are things you can be doing to prepare for the inevitable upturn as travel restrictions are lessened.

• Use this time to do content audits for SEO, performance, etc. Mediavine's RPM challenge is a great way to systematically audit and optimize your archives.

• Write evergreen posts that will be ready when traffic picks back up. Even though you're not currently traveling, now is a great time to work on posts that have been on your "someday" list. That could mean creating long-form country or region guides or breaking larger posts down into smaller topics.

• Write inspirational travel posts that encourage readers to dream of future trips, even when the specifics are uncertain. Create a top ten list of places you'd like to go in the future. Talk about how you got started traveling. Share the things you love most about travel.

I wanted to make an appeal to all of us to cut ourselves some slack. We're not in the same world we were a week ago. All these changes take a toll, and we will make slip ups or have a harder time processing sometime. Give yourselves grace.

We're in unprecedented times, and we don't know what the upcoming weeks and months will hold. But we'll continue to stay abreast of how these changes impact bloggers so that we can support you and your business!