Should I use a Ghost Writer for my Blog?

This was posted today on a Listserv I am on. I could not let it go without responding. I am not providing who stated this and won't until such time as they might comment to this post.

“If you want to be seen/heard/read or increase your ranking in the search engines, content is king. If you're in a competitive market, you need steady, frequent content. Ghostwriters/content providers fill the minor holes that you don't have time to address.“

And let me reply. I have been blogging now for almost 3 years. I have started blogs and killed them. Some I have started to see what kind of SEO I can get and how quick. I have to report, I have yet not had one move up in Google quick.

Recently, I started a new project. While we are building it, I have been posting daily to the main blog the network is being built around. We are getting great results and it has only been up for a month. Last night I did some stat’s surfing and discovered that with some searches our readers are doing, we are showing up not only on the first page of Google, we are showing up in the top 5 most of the time.

Blogging takes a commitment. And if you want to blog, and if you want that blog to be successful, you have to make a commitment to make it happen.

Kevin O’Keefe and I have posted about this on our blogs. But, let me make just this one statement. I have always been a proponent of CONTENT. Not just content, but relevant content. However, I have neve said you can just throw up content and expect it to stick. That would be like throwing some crap on the wall and watching to see what sticks. It ain’t going to happen. And heres why.

Blogging is one of the best communication tools we have available today. It is one of the best ways to get involved in the conversation too. No where else can you so quickly become a part of a nationwide, worldwide conversation on a topic. But you have to get noticed. And you do that by becoming involved in the conversation. Post, link, trackback, comment, email bloggers, email commentors thanking them for commenting, allow comments and trackbacks.

But, how you say do I do this. First of all, you can't even attempt to keep up with what is going on in the blog world if you aren't using RSS and a good feeder. You have to find the conversations and you can best do that if you are being fed them.

Next, don't try to be all to everyone and everything. Pick a niche and blog about it. Pick something you are excited about. Get involved in it. Set your RSS feeder to feed you information about that niche, topic or interest. Blog about it, comment about it and get involved in it.

YOU CAN‘T DO THAT IF YOU AREN‘T THE ONE POSTING ABOUT IT.

If you can't think of something to blog about, ask a GUEST poster to do a post. Or in my case, I asked Allison Shields to do a series of post on billing. It was great and we BOTH had great traffic from it. We both had traffic for two reasons. It was a great series with some great content. And it was a hot topic at the time. We both knew that because we follow such topics in our RSS feeders and on Listservs.

Do a post about your competition. Post a comment to a competitor‘s blog. OMG, I cant do that. They might benefit from it. Yes, they will and best of all you will too. I call this my McDonald’s theory. Where is the best place to put a new fast food restaurant? Right next to a McDonald’s. They get traffic and you will too.

If you are not willing to make a commitment to make blogging work, don't even start one. You will be disappointed and you will not become a believer. If you are willing to make the time commitment, work commitment and focus on the results, you will become a believer and you will actually enjoy it.

Comments

[Garrett Worley]

I would agree that if you're using your blog as a marketing or networking tool, it's best to write your own posts.

That being said, ghost writers might be an excellent choice on other types legal blogs. Some lawyers create blogs simply to keep their clients informed of new developments in the law.

Kevin O'Keefe made an interesting comment on one of my recent posts to that effect, noting that one law firm's corporate client "demanded to be kept up to speed on new media legal issues because the client was already paying significant sums for legal work." The firm chose to provide the client with that information through a blog. I assume that a ghost writer/lawyer knowledgeable in media law would be a good option to maintain a blog of that sort.

[Allison Shields]

Grant:

Since someone also indicated that it's 'easier' to use a guest blogger if you're doing a non-practice-area-related blog (such as Home Office Lawyer or my blog, Legal Ease), I'd like to add that practice area blogs DO lend themselves to guest blogging as well. You just might have to think outside the box a bit.

For example, as we discussed on the list serve, while lawyers often confine themselves to a particular practice area, life (and the law) are not necessarily so easily categorized. For example, criminal lawyers and matrimonial/family lawyers may come across immigration issues in their practice if they represent immigrants. They may not know all of the ins and outs of immigration law. In practice, they'd probably consult with an immigration attorney.

The same principle can apply to a blog: the matrimonial or family lawyer might want to address an issue on their blog that affects their clients that are immigrants. Asking an immigration lawyer to do a guest post is a perfect way to address the issue. As Bob Kraft so astutely stated in our list-serve discussion, "getting a divorce at the wrong time in someone's immigration case can get him or her deported."

[Bob Kraft]

I appreciate the excellent information on the listserv from you, Grant, and from the others. It's not possible to say that either side of this argument is wrong.

I've never (yet) used a ghostwriter on my blogs, but have used associates in my firm to write about their particular practice areas.

I think the ghostwriter idea does have merit, but only if used as "fillers" as someone said, to give you some basic substantive content that you don't have time to write yourself.

Bob