Is Blogging Dead? Truths About Starting a Blog in 2026

I see this question floating around a lot – is blogging dead? Is it worth it to start a blog in this day in age? Since we’re living in a world of AI overviews, chatbots, dead internet, and lack of attention spans – these are very valid questions.

I’m a blogger for a living, with my full-time income coming from my travel blog, Tiny Footsteps Travel. My blog at its highest point has brought in 160,000+ pageviews per month.

Has the landscape changed in blogging? Yes. Has AI changed the game? Absolutely. Would I recommend starting a blog if its something you’re very interested in and passionate about? Also, yes!

Starting a blog is harder than ever, and there are certain things to know if you’re hoping for your blog to generate income (either a fulltime living, or a side hustle.) Here are several truths about starting a blog in this day in age.

First, Reasons I Love Blogging as a Career

Here are the reasons why I will continue to blog, move with the trends, and adapt to change – despite how frustrating it can be sometimes.

✅ I love writing. I truly love the art of what makes a blog a solid blog, and thats the writing. I have been writing for fun since childhood, and I write experience-based, original content for my blog (I don’t touch AI with a ten-foot pole.) I did freelance writing for other bloggers before my travel blog really took off, but being able to decide what I write and focus on is so much fun.

✅ Self-employment. I come from a teaching background, where my life had a lot of schedules, rules, and limits. I had some challenging admin; overall, I struggled with work life balance. I am now full self employed, and don’t need to ask if I can take a day off, or if I’m allowed to take a vacation. It feels amazing.

✅ The passive income. Earning a full-time passive income is one of the most rewarding things you can do, because you can spend your days how you wish. I love the freedom of knowing that I can work, stay in bed if I’m sick, or take a day off for fun if I want.

The Reason Why Starting a Blog in 2026 May Be Harder Than You Think

At one point in time, starting a blog and generating traffic was pretty straightforward. Using SEO strategies, and writing good and helpful content was enough to generate traffic, and bring hundreds, if not thousands of people to your blog each day.

Nowadays, it is less straight forward because there is simply more out there for people to pay attention too, and less people read blogs than they did before. Although I can assure you based on my traffic analytics, that there are many people who still read blogs every day, the traffic is a lot more competitive. You’re competing with other bloggers – real, genuine ones, and ones that are almost fully AI-assisted, (and that second category has grown significantly.)

There are many ways for people to get their information now – forums, YouTube channels, vlogs, podcasts, books and audiobooks, social media and .. duh, duh, duh.. AI. Both AI overviews and chatbots contribute to a major traffic loss to small websites.

How Much Can Someone Expect to Make from a Blog?

How much you can make from a blog depends entirely on what you’re writing about. My first blog, Tiny Footsteps Travel, grew very fast and stayed solid. It doesn’t earn me as much as it did before (thank you AI), but it still earns me thousands of dollars a month, enough to live off of.

My second blog however (the one you’re reading right now –The Misfit Teacher) still does not earn me any money, even 2 years after starting it. It doesn’t receive enough traffic, so it doesn’t qualify for the ad networks that I want to apply to. (Who knows, maybe by the time you’re reading this – that will have changed!)

I continue with The Misfit Teacher because I’m truly passionate about it. I hope that the income will manifest one day, but I also know that its possible that it won’t, at least not anytime soon.

Are Bloggers Still Needed/Relevant?

Bloggers will always be needed and relevant. I wouldn’t say that the job is 100% AI proof, but it is something that is needed longterm – whether people realize it right now, or not.

While many people are finding AI answers useful, the reality is that AI is only as good as the content that its feeding from to generate the answers that its giving. With travel blogging for example, things are constantly changing… the people who are doing the travelling and writing about it are the ones that are providing you with the current. most up to date and realistic information, human to human.

Visiting Rome this week wouldn’t be the same as a visit there 20 years ago. Travel content is not evergreen, which is why travel bloggers are still relevant. But there are many other types of niches – cooking, parenting, lifestyle, fashion, and others. Some may have better success than others.

Whatever blogging niche you’re thinking of starting, make sure you’re starting it because:

• You truly are interested in your topic (you’re either an expert in it – which is needed for some niches, such as mental health or medicine, or you’re just very passionate in your topic, whether its books, sports, travel, or something else)
• You’re doing it for enjoyment, at least partially. If you don’t enjoy the writing process at all, then starting a blog probably isn’t worth it
• You acknowledge that it could take months, if not years (if ever) to earn an income stream from your blog, and you still think that the fun of starting, writing, putting your thoughts and knowledge online is worth it.

There are still many bloggers out there who are making decent money from their blogs. So, I would never listen to nay-sayers who tell you “blogging is dead.” But, the people who do well at blogging tend to be people who are true artists at it, who have a craft, a voice, unique personal experience and narrative, and write engaging, original content.

The other thing to consider is that earning from blogging is much easier from older, trusted websites than it is from a brand new site with no backlinks, or credibility.

Who Should Start A Blog?

Anyone can start a blog for enjoyment (and you should absolutely go for it if you’re interested in it), but only a small number of bloggers are going to have a blog that actually makes money.

If you’re planning to use AI to game your way into traffic, and income – then I hate to tell you this, but think again. Most bloggers I know that were using a lot of AI eventually burned out, because they weren’t enjoying the process for what it was, and were blogging mostly for the income expectation. Their blogs didn’t bring the success they wanted, because AI cannot generate the same kind of unique, original content that someone who loves to write can.

If people want to read AI-generated blog posts, then they can usually get AI to give them advice directly. More than ever, people visit blogs for personal opinions, personal and real experiences and accounts of what really happend, or how something works.

People end up engaging with bloggers because they like who they are, or how they present information, and they trust them.

The bloggers that are doing well, either have big established brands already (yes, I wish I had started my blog 10 years ago too.) Or, they are writing genuinely helpful, original stuff that hasn’t already been repeated over and over again. This is what builds trust, not only with search engines, but with real people too.

Final Thoughts

So, my final verdict is that if you dream of starting a blog for the right reasons, then you should go for it. It may turn into something in terms of income, but it may not. If you’re primarily doing it for income, then you’re starting at an awkward time – but it can be done if you’re good at what you do (writing, helping people, and laying out information in a way that they understand and want to see it.)

Blogging is not dead in general, but generic content blogs are certainly not doing well, and in some cases, have been decimated by Google. If you want to start a successful blog, then lean into your passions, expertise and experience – nomatter what the niche is.