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I used to think: for most authors and service providers, blogging isn’t worth it

Spoiler alert… What I think now: blogging can work in some circumstances, but it's not for everyone and it's never a silver bullet

One of my biggest peeves is when anyone who hit the big time 10 years ago tells you: you must do "x" to grow your business. Things have changed since they found success, and there was never a one-size-fits-all marketing solution in any case.

For many years, it seemed you couldn’t even peep at online marketing advice without being told you need to have a blog. For authors and writers, this advice was amplified. After all, you love to write! Why wouldn’t you blog?

The noise (hype) in favor of blogging for authors was deafening.

But I knew, from talking to many exhausted and disillusioned folk, that blogging simply wasn’t working for you. You told me you weren’t seeing audience engagement, it felt like an obligation, and it took you away from the type of writing you truly wanted to do.

Too many of us were sold blogging for authors as a magic marketing tool

Many fiction authors, in particular, were told "you must blog", and they started posting random muses or observations about daily life, only to wonder why they weren't finding traction.

“There are hundreds of authors who started blogs, churned out posts for a year, and let it come to a dead stop.” — Writer’s Digest

And too many coaches and service providers, who don't love writing and/or are selling 4-figure packages, were misled that blogging is a stellar way to get noticed. If you don't adore writing, don't start a blog. And if you're offering high end services, referrals and collaborations will probably serve you much better.

In fact, for all of us, borrowing somebody else's audience (respectfully), and giving lots of value in exchange, is a wonderful way to get your work noticed.

>> Worth a mention: the business model of blogging as your primary activity is still viable. Here, your goal is to grow your blog visitors to the point where you can make good money from advertising revenue. But you need to be professional, prolific, and keep investing in your technology while resisting the temptation to stuff so many ads on there, your site becomes a quagmire. And the necessary number of page views is a long, steep road for a beginner. Pure "bloggers" are not my audience, so I’m talking instead here to people who are blogging to support their other work, not as their main work.

My early advice was: blogging is dead

So, in the early days of my web design business, my typical recommendation was that you shouldn’t blog unless you were deliriously happy with the experience and your results. I even wrote why you should stop blogging, which opened several useful and respectful conversations, including this interview I did with the Indy Author podcast.

But time has passed. Now, it’s fair to say my opinion is more nuanced.

I now believe blogging is still relevant and even powerful, in some scenarios

For all of us, blogging is still an excellent way to:

Test material and ideas,
Get into the habit of publishing your words,
Delight your existing fans.

“What remains true about blogging is this: it’s a great vehicle for discussing complex ideas and sharing them with like-minded people.” — Steven Spatz

But it only works well to attract new readers, customers, and/or clients if your ideal audience is:

Hungry to read your blog (or they have an appetite to discover new blogs), or
Searching online for your valuable, informative content.

And it’s not a trivial undertaking

For blogging to still be relevant, it’s likely you want to get found by search engines. This means you need consistency and authority. You must:

Identify your niche and be willing to write extensively about your area of expertise
Research keywords to confirm people are searching for your information, and to make sure you use targeted phrases in the right places
Make it a habit, so you’re publishing fresh, useful content on a regular basis
Allow many weeks and possibly many months before Google starts bringing you free traffic.
Related: How long does SEO take?, from Love at First Search.

If you’re completely new to blogging, take a look at 1:1 blog coaching from April J. Harris. She’ll give you 1:1 guidance on both the strategy and tactics of effective blogging.

“If you are going to use a blog to promote your business, you need it to be effective. Like any other marketing strategy, a blog takes time, effort and money.” — April J. Harris

Why blogging is still worth it for me

I’m blogging much more, these days. Why?

Up to now in my business, I’ve done really well in finding clients by offering presentations and workshops about website design to groups. Find information here about booking me to speak.

But, although I enjoy these sessions and they’re an effective way to demonstrate my expertise and meet lovely people, they’re also tiring. Jet lag is no fun! All being well, this blog post will go live when I’m mid-Atlantic, on my way from California to England to speak at a book festival, a novelists’ conference, and a conference for editors and proofreaders. Exciting? Absolutely. However, the information I’ll share will be seen by a limited number of people, and it will have a short shelf-life… possibly as short as 1 hour, for events with no replay.

My blog articles, on the other hand, have a shelf-life of many months, or even years, depending on the topic and how fast technology changes. Not only do they have more longevity in helping to promote my services, but many more readers can benefit from them. I can make a bigger difference in the world.

In embracing this slight shift I have also:

Defined my niche clearly: I offer Squarespace website help for authors and coaches, including custom web design and website templates.
Invested in training to make sure I know what I’m doing. I took the Attract and Activate group coaching program, loved it, and got excellent results.
Embraced the additional time that a well-researched and properly structured blog post now takes me to write.

Conclusion: blogging is still relevant for some of us

I hope the future of blogging for all of us involves careful thought, a conscious decision, followed by sustained, rewarding work.

Assuming you a primarily interested in blogging as a way to build your SEO ranking:

For fiction authors, blogging is unlikely to be worth it. The exception would be if your theme / niche has a clear tie in for a related topic that people are searching for.

For nonfiction authors and coaches who love writing, blogging can definitely work. But it’s not fast, easy, or guaranteed.

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