Tracking Changes in Blogging for Business

Blogs changed everything – if not in the way we expected, is the UK newsman Daniel Hannan’s intriguing observation.

But for us freelance Indiana blog content writers, have things really changed that much over, say the seven and a half years that I’ve been on the business blogging scene? Yes and no, would be my honest answer.

There are more of us, a lot more, for starters. The sheer quantity of content offered to online readers by businesses, practitioners, and organizations is staggering.  Readers have reacted by become less patient and more discriminating.  Fact is, low-quality, over-general, and advertising-like content just doesn’t keep eyeballs.

So, does blogging still work? Oh, yeah. In fact, Hubspot cites the fact that B2B companies that blog only once or twice a month generate 70% more leads than those that don’t blog at all! Still, Hubspot cautions, “You need to focus on publishing something that will attract the right people.”

What I’m telling newbie Indianapolis content writers is that while, seven and a half years ago it was possible to build up a real head of steam just by blogging frequently, in today’s market, we have to promote our clients’ blog via social media and email.  In other words, everybody has to work harder to stay in the game.

On the good news side, the mechanics of setting up and running a blog are easier, far, far easier. Back seven years ago, it was pretty difficult and expensive for a small business owner to create even a basic website, whereas today the actual posting of content is s..oooo.. much simpler.

But while blogs are technically websites, what I believe hasn’t changed is that there is a basic difference in function between a company’s or practice’s main website and its blog. (The website is publishing a definitive message, with the blog’s function being to keep publishing fresh content. A website is organized hierarchically, meant for reading top to bottom.  A blog, by contract is organized in reverse chronological order and can be searched by readers for specific content.)

Have things really changed that much for us freelance blog content writers? Mostly, no. Publishing frequent, relevant, engaging content is still our job and our joy.