Even though blogs have been around for a long time, people still have a ton of misconceptions about them. They‘re too hard to write, they say. Blogging is only for people who’ve majored in English, they cry. I have nothing to blog about, they complain.
I‘ve had enough. These statements — and many more about blogging — aren’t true at all, but somehow people continue to spread them. It's time to put these to rest, once and for all.
To help set the record straight and maybe push a few more folks into taking the blogging plunge, I gathered some of the top blogging myths I hear every single day on the job, and debunked them. So keep on reading ... maybe you'll decide to start a new post by the end.
Blogging Myths
- Blogging is just a fad.
- Your posts should never be over 500 words.
- If you can’t write well, you can’t blog.
- You won’t have enough to say to fill a blog post.
- You have to post every day.
- If you aren’t seeing immediate success, you’re not cut out for blogging.
- You can’t write a blog post in an hour.
1. Blogging is just a fad.
Blogging‘s been around for decades ... and it’s not going away anytime soon. Why? It's not just a cushy job that only super successful, Fortune 500 companies can employ. Blogs can drive actual business. In fact, blogs are tied with social media shopping tools and influencer marketing for having the highest ROI of any marketing channel.So, think about how you can begin blogging for your business — it could have a huge impact on your business' bottom line.
2. Your posts should never be over 500 words.
False, false, false! Though most people flaunt that readers‘ attention span won’t hold past 500 words, lots of publishers have actually seen an up-tick in interest in long-form content, even on mobile.
Having in-depth articles on your blog can actually boost your search engine rankings. Instead of worrying about your word count, focus on being valuable to your readers in whatever length you need to properly cover a blog post topic.
3. If you can‘t write well, you can’t blog.
You don't have to have an English degree to be a blogger. Trust me, my spelling is probably the worst in my whole company. What matters more is that you can get your point across to your reader and teach them something they need to know.
Writing well can help you get your point across more easily, but it‘s an added value to a post, not a necessity of blogging. That being said, if you’re looking to improve your writing skills, check out HubSpot’s lesson on business writing.
4. You won't have enough to say to fill a blog post.
Lots of people freeze up when they hear they need to write a blog post. You mean it's going to be public? Other people can dissect my writing? Our blogging team hears that all the time from contributors.
Our trick? Ask them to explain a concept over email.Chances are, it will be a compelling blog post. If you can explain a concept to your colleagues in writing via email, you can explain that concept via blog post. So don‘t freeze up just because you’re writing a "blog post.” Just focus on explaining something to another person via writing and it'll be much less scary.
5. You have to post every day.
Sure, after you‘ve scaled your marketing team to have enough content to fill every single day of the week, you can think about publishing every single day.But, when you’re first starting out, blogging a few times a week is very okay.
As long as you are focusing on the right topics (usually questions that your prospects, leads, and customers have about your business), you'll start to see traffic and leads pour in.
6. If you aren‘t seeing immediate success, you’re not cut out for blogging.
I won‘t lie to you: when you first start blogging, it’s going to be painful. You‘ll write a post, publish it, and get hardly any traffic or social shares. But after you start blogging for a month or so, you’ll see things pick up a bit. You'll notice that traffic and leads are steadily growing, and only then, will you realize that your hard work has paid off.
If you need some more convincing, IMPACT's Marketing Director, John Bonini, has a great post on setting your expectations when you're first starting to blog.
7. You can't write a blog post in an hour.
Last, but certainly not least, I had to debunk this myth. Every blog you write doesn‘t have to be a masterpiece. Some will be 1,000 words. Some will be 100. As long as they are serving your audience and helping your business grow, you’re good to go. So if you're not concerned with word length, writing, editing, and publishing a blog post in an hour is entirely feasible.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in January 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.