Great question.

As someone who thoroughly enjoys writing and coaching fellow business owners about blogging, I think blogs are still relevant.

However, in an ever-changing digital world where our attention spans are limited, podcasts are on the rise, and voice assistant devices (like Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa) are becoming everyday household items, I understand the sense of doubt.

You might also ask yourself – Are our blogs making us money? Or are we better off investing our time into landing pages, sales pages, and tinkering with our website copy?

Let’s delve into the reasons why blogging should still be part of your marketing strategy.

Are other businesses blogging?

The short answer is yes.

According to the 2019 Copywriters Survey Australia, blogging held the number one position (79%) for activities completed by Australian copywriters over the previous 12 months. This was followed by editing (75.4%) and content development (68.7%).

And HubSpot highlighted in their 2018 State of Inbound survey that 53% of marketers make blogging their top content marketing priority. 

Want some more cool (and convincing) stats to show why blogs are still relevant?

• In 2017, 66% of marketers reported using blogs in their social media content. (Social Media Examiner)

• 67% of bloggers claim they see strong results when they blog daily. (Responsive Inbound Marketing)

• Old blog posts are 74% more likely to yield good results. (Responsive Inbound Marketing)

While researching this topic – and using my beloved Keywords Everywhere browser extension – I also discovered the search query ‘How to start a blog’ had a whopping volume of 135,000!  

So the interest in writing blogs is far from dead as well.

If you’re not on the blogging bandwagon yet, then, yeah, maybe it’s time to jump onboard.

What are other experts saying?

To add to the fun stats, Databox.com says 68% of marketers find blogging more effective than they did two years ago.

When Databox.com asked Salted Stone‘s Andrew Siskind how his content marketing mix has changed, he said:

“I wish there was a secret for me to keep, but the truth is that we’re mostly focused on writing less stuff that nobody wants to read, and putting that energy into making what we do write interesting and really well-written.”

“Treating marketing copywriters more like journalists, giving them more agency and responsibility to put together smart pieces that have to stand on their own merits — that’s the direction we’re heading in. Moving past assumptions about what format is going to work best, especially before the piece is even planned, has helped us to make more compelling work.”

As highlighted by the 2019 copywriting survey, Andrew’s views are shared by many others out there. And it’s obviously keeping us copywriters busy!

Why are blogs so important for my business?

One of the key points I highlight in my workshops and presentations is that our Google search habits have changed.

While we once searched for services, like ‘massage therapists Sydney’, we’re now more likely to search for solutions. So we might search something like ‘How to relieve stress’ instead.

And the search results reflect these new habits.

Think about it – How often do you conduct a search in Google and receive links articles and blogs? And how often do you come across someone’s ‘Services’ page? 

If you’re not blogging, there’s all this untapped potential you’re missing out on! If blogs were no longer relevant, then what would we read?

But can we actually make money from blogs?

Yes, you can. But you need to be patient.

Just like that old Pantene ad from the 1990s – “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.”

Responsive Inbound Marketing says:

• 85% of bloggers claim their blog delivers strong results or some results.

• 49% claim that spending more than 6 hours per post shows bigger payoffs.

• 67% of bloggers claim they see strong results when they blog daily.

So you need to be willing to invest time and/or money into your blog strategy if you want it to be effective.

If you’d like to chat about your blog strategy or content marketing strategy in general, feel free to book in a free 30 minute discovery call.