The next time you talk to a blogger, ask if they write their own content. You might be surprised at their reply.
Being a marketer, I, of course, tend to brag talk about DuetsBlog, and it’s funny how many people are impressed, almost shocked, that every author on DuetsBlog writes their own content. And by “writes,” I mean researches, writes, edits and posts. To me, that’s only natural. Sure, having a second eye for typos is great. Someone to rewrite, maybe. But ghostwriting…I’m not so sure.
Accepting ghostwriting depends on context, of course. For this post, I’m only referring to ghostwriting for blogs.
[This post is subjective, so I’d really like your opinion on where you stand, and what you think about ghostwriting, in general.]
My philosophy when it comes to blogs is that if you, the person who wants the blog, aren’t willing to put in the time to write content, then there shouldn’t be a blog. It’s not just a credibility issue, but time and personnel issues, as well. (For an industry like ours—legal—there are ethical considerations, too.)
“Well, what about a company blog?”
Every “company blog” needs an author, not a generic “admin.” As mentioned in one of my other posts, your audience wants to connect with a person, not an entity. And they need to be able to attach some credibility to the author. If they can’t, how can they take your work seriously (unless that’s the point)?
Here’s the big question: is it worth the time and effort to do it if the stakeholders (the authors listed on the blog) are not willing to put in the time?
I’d say no. If they’re not willing to write, then they shouldn’t have a blog. There are other marketing tools that they can use that don’t require writing content on a regular basis. Blogs are great tools to showcase thought leadership and expertise…but the caveat is that the audience expects the author listed to be the actual writer. What would happen if your audience found out that you’re not actually writing the posts? What do you think would happen to your readership?
So, is your blog ghost-written? Why? Can you convince me why ghost-bloggers are a good thing?