Why do companies ignore blogging?
It seems so obvious to create content yet companies don't take action. I've come across large and small companies that prefer to spend 6 to 7 figures on ads to drive traffic to the site. Creating content and working on organic search may help
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Reduce cost on ads to gain traffic
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Will increase online authority in Google's eyes
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Drive long term results
I'm not against ads. They're a necessary evil for a company, but what I am saying is to not ignore the other strategies that may help reduce spending in one area of the business and use it for another area.
https://www.leija.io/post/top-3-reasons-why-businesses-should-be-blogging
The answer is because it takes time and effort 😅
I feel that it's hard to get good results with low-effort posts, and good quality ones are not easy to outsource. For instance Priceonomics charges several thousand dollars per in-depth post.
I understand the prices though, as I also find it can take weeks to gather all the data and several evenings to do a good writeup.
Haha I know! The hard stuff always has the best rewards.
The answer is that blogging is a long term solution and doesn't give instant results.
On the other hand ads give instant results.
As a full-time content strategist, this is very true. It's hard to get the instant #1 ranking that many companies think they need, esp in difficult key words. As the old adage goes, blogging is a rising tide that (eventually) lifts all boats.
I agree ☝️
Even myself, I’m use to checking the search console or the google analytics page like its Instagram lol
It does take time to build rank. But once it’s there, it’s very nice 👍🏻
Good content writers are hard to come by sadly. Every company I've worked for has 'blogged' and all the content has been awful apart from one: crunch.co.uk - which only worked because they hired actually writers rather than asking marketing interns to throw things together in a matter of hours with no proof reading. Bad content is a waste of time and energy and most business don't know how to develop a strong content strategy. Example companies with good content strategy: invision, mailchimp
Also Barkbox comes to mind. They are geniuses at getting their posts to spread to a huge variety of sites.
I think you’re right. Creative writing is a skill that not everyone has. Sadly myself included haha. I’m trying to work on it.
I’ve actuaklly thought about hiring someone to write my ideas down and give them credit or something idk.
I would also add to what others have already pointed out re: lack of instant results, and taking lots of time and effort.
Long-term, “general branding/reputation building” activities also have an issue with attribution and therefore, ROI.
While direct activities like online ads, or direct marketing campaigns have short-term results, they also have the benefit of very direct and visible conversion attribution.
It’s a harder sell on the long-term activities that most often can’t be directly tied to revenue or conversion in meaningful ways.
I agree that brand building activities lift all boats, but boy is it a tough sell to those who control budgets.
The “lifts all boats” needs better proof, and that’s hard to come by.
Some businesses may not have even thought of blogging as a viable way to gain traffic. However, here are what some business owners have told me, "why waste time blogging, when you can pay to get put at the top?"
Great opportunity if you can present the benefits to business to create content for long term results and let them have you do it.
Of course. What do you typically respond with after a question like that?
If you have the money, go for it. :)
But, everyone has different goals, so it really depends.
It is a waste of time in the context of a MVP. When the idea is earning money, start blogging yeah.
Why wouldn't you want to build an audience before the MVP?
Well I would say that the idea of an MVP is first to try how the thing goes and after that take action. Building an audience is time consuming and if you want to see if your business model worth it, better to not to waste too much time.
What if you build a niche audience than discover what problems they have? I’m sure coming up with a startup idea might be easier that way? Thoughts?
This (points up). The best 'marketing hack' is to build something worth talking about. Something that's so good/useful that people will tell their friends about it. And doing that requires knowing who you're building it for... People pay to solve problems, so figuring out what problems they have and building a solution with precisely them in mind is a great starting point.
🙏