Should I hire a ghost writer for my blog?
Many people feel unsure in their writing abilities and although they
want to have a blog they feel ill-equipped to actually write the blog
posts. After all, ghost writers put the words together for autobiographies and lots of other published
works. Why not a blog, too? It might seem like a good idea, but my
advice is to avoid this practice. Instead of getting someone to pretend
to be you, there are better ways to get your company’s blog off the
ground.
Ghost writers can work just fine in lots
of situations. I mean, when they write autobiographies, they are
essentially shaping the words of the subject into a narrative. It makes
sense that many people with a story to tell don’t have the ability to
craft a 300-page book, with a start, middle, and end that tells a story.
You really need writing skills (and lots of them) to do that.
But blog posts are different. They are short, so they require the
ability to have an idea and write a few sentences, but they require
nowhere near the skills needed for a book. Also, they are continuous, so
you can’t sit down with a ghost writer a few times and have them pump
out 20 posts. Blog posts need to be written by you.
They need to be your ideas. They need to reflect who you are as a
company. If you don’t have any ideas, then you don’t need a ghost
writer-you need to have someone else do the blogging (with their own
byline on it). Don’t hire someone to write their own ideas and put your
name on it. You can’t outsource your personality.
If you really have ideas, but worry about your writing ability-stop.
What you need to do is stop obsessing over how bad a writer you are and
just give it a try. If you really can’t put two grammatical sentences
together, get an editor who proofreads your stuff and makes corrections
before posting. With practice, your writing will improve and you’ll need
less editing.
You can also do team blogging, where you have a co-author for your
blog. You might have the ideas and the other person might do more of the
writing. It’s less common for blogs than for books, but it’s better
than a ghost writer.
Social media is about transparency, so keeping a secret as to who
writes your blog gets you off to the wrong start. If you want to blog,
you’ll figure out a way to do it yourself, get someone else to do it, or
get help to do it yourself. But a ghost writer is not the approach you
need-there are too many better alternatives.
Mike is an expert in search marketing, search technology, social media, publishing, text analytics, and web metrics, who regularly makes speaking appearances.
Mike’s previous appearances include Text Analytics World, Rutgers Business School, SEMRush webinar, ClickZ Live.
Mike also founded and writes for Biznology, is the co-author of Outside-In Marketing (with James Mathewson) and the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc. (now in its 3rd edition, and sole author of Do It Wrong Quickly, named by the Miami Herald as one of the 11 best business books of 2007.
Not every business owner is going to be the best writer in the world, nor are you expected to be. But content is so important for SEO (and online marketing in general) that you can’t afford to not do it simply because you don’t think you’re a good writer. I think a ghostwriter works really well for e-books and white papers, but you make a great point about the blog–it’s hard to write in someone else’s personality.
I agree there is no one in this world that can truly translate your message as yourself. Rather get someone to go over each article, but keep it as your won.
Yes, that’s true. If you want to make something good you should get some person that you trust, or just do it on your own, also ideas these times are priceless.
Ghostwriters do a great job if you want to publish your e-book or write something extremely important for you. However, I do not recommend anyone to pay someone to write on their own blogs – this is, in my honest opinion, the worst thing someone could do.
Hi Mike!
Good topic again. We do this sort of work. Really, busy executives just don’t have time to be maintaining three or four social media profiles. On the other hand I insist that our writers take on the personality of the client. Ideally the ghost writer has easy access to the client to ask the client’s opinion on the issue. I think I’ll push that access/interaction issue a bit further over the coming months.
If the ghostwriter is spreading the right message, this is effectively not much different than an executive assistant. It’s called leverage.
Read by small business people, our newsletter delivers a digest of articles from the top search engine marketing experts. You will learn about:
Our newsletter is the perfect way to stay up to date with all of the latest trends, events and techniques in using search engines to grow your business and make more sales. Subscribe here. Your email address will NOT be given to third parties.
FreeFind Site Search Engine – FreeFind adds a “search this site” feature to your website, making your site easier to use. FreeFind also gives you reports showing what your visitors are searching for, enabling you to improve your site. FreeFind’s advanced site search engine and automatic site map technology can be added to your website for free.
Buy UPC Codes
Get your products listed online!
Search marketing information for small business owners.
Fetching the best small business news.
A friendly place to share small business ideas and knowledge.
Small business support through education, resources and community
The directory of the best small business sites and tools.
Copyright © 1998 – 2018 Search Engine Guide All Rights Reserved. Privacy
Research & References of Should I hire a ghost writer for my blog?|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source
0 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks