The Ghosts of Business Blogging Past and Present

Changes are happening, have been happening, and will be happening. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about the changes that have taken place in the world of business blog content writing.  Google has been changing its algorithms as frequently as we change underwear, it seems, and that has meant we’re learning to write with readers, rather than spiders, in mind.

Attitudes about ghost-blogging have been changing, too. (As long as the writer doesn’t pretend to actually be the business owner or professional, I’m not sure “ghost blogging” is the correct term to use). In any event, a growing number of businesses and practices are hiring professional writers.  That’s not what’s changed. It’s just that no one’s hiding it any more.

Ghostwriting itself has a long, proud history, and people hired writers for the same reasons back then as they do now. Celebrities or public figures didn’t have the time, discipline, or writing skill to create a book, a speech, an autobiography, an article, or even an important letter, so they hired writers to do these things for them.

As a professional blog and website page content writer, I am an avid reader on the topic of all forms and styles of ghost writing. The more I read, the more interesting material I uncover.

• Our first president, George Washington, used several very famous ghostwriters, including Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, to compose his political speeches and writings.
• The movie “Amadeus” brought out the fact that composer Wolfgang Mozart was paid to ghostwrite music for wealthy patrons.
• Romance novelist V.C. Andrews actually hired writers to compose content that would appear after his death!
• Around the Nashville country music scene, I learned, it’s called co-writing, because most of the artists whom you hear performing the songs didn’t actually write the words..

These are all fun facts from the past, but blogging is much more in the here and now.  The mission of a ghost blogger like me is to market your business or practice, helping clients and customers find your business. While reasons for using ghostwriters (both then and now) include lack of time and lack of discipline, many simply aren’t confident in their own writing abilities.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Ghost blogging can help “say it for you”, win the search, and get the business!