Just the other day we discussed ghost blogging.
It’s hard to tell how the marketing world feels about ghost blogging. It’s not really something people discuss. I’m not sure why. I think it’s a practice that’s been around for some time in a variety of industries. If it’s good content being created that helps people I don’t see the issue.
Today I found a video from a firm I respect and I was happy to see a quick mention of ghost blogging or hiring content creators that know what they’re doing.
Here is a snippet of the video from SEOmoz.
And here is the full video.
And here is a link to SEOmoz and Rand’s (CEO of SEOmoz) personal blog.
Hiring Someone That Knows Content
I hope not to take this out of context, but here is the basic synopsis of the video.
The video contains three characters of SEO or content creation. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The Good person is the one above. He is all about creative content that people find interesting, helpful and entertaining. He’s also the one that knows that while he works on learning how to create content himself that he might need help. He hires people for this…ghost blogging or ghost content creators.
The other two jokers are a mixture of lazy content creators and downright shady characters looking for shortcuts with the search engines.
I’m going to take the above screenshot as SEOmoz’s endorsement of partnering with someone to create content. If it helps the target customer there is no issue.
Now, to expand let’s get into the biggest objections brands have with creating content.
1. No Time
The screenshot above mentions that people don’t have time to blog. This sentiment is echoed in the survey Darren Rowse of Problogger did last year.
The biggest challenges readers identified as having were finding readers, monetization, and finding time to blog.
This is also the number one reason Ghost Blog Writers exists. Clients tell us that they want to blog, but can’t find the time. The time objective makes sense because business owners especially at small businesses are focused on other aspects of growing the company. And since content creation and blogging are something new it’s hard to justify taking time to learn and create good posts.
2. Finding Readers
This is mentioned in the Problogger survey. Finding readers is an issue. Like a website, some believe that a blog is just something you create and then people show up. It’s false in the case of a website and for a blog too. In order to find readers you need to find ways for your target customers to discover your content. One way is by guest blogging.
3. Lack of Experience
The last objective we’ll discuss here is lack of experience. As mentioned earlier, business owners and even most marketers don’t have experience with blogging. As a result most simply ignore it. Blogging seems too hard. Most people like having written, but most dislike actually writing something. So people either ignore it (at their own peril) or hire someone that knows what they’re doing (see above).
And let’s actually throw in that fourth issue: monetization.
Bonus: Monetization
This was in the survey and it’s something we should address.
Businesses blog because they want more profit. Blogs can bring in new customers that would have otherwise not found the company.
Your blog should aim to create content is helpful, entertaining and interesting enough to share. Your current clients should want to share your content with people they know. This is basic word of mouth marketing and if your company is good this already happens offline.
When new people discover your content via referrals (search, social, word of mouth, etc.) they get something valuable like advice, how-to articles, etc.
Trust is created and when these new visitors need something they’ll come to your company. There is also a little bit of the Reciprocity Theory at work. When people receive something they feel obligated to return the favor. In the case of blogging, people buy your service or product.
That’s the basic rundown.
To learn more check out How Business Blogging Works.