Each few years, a brand new channel takes heart stage — short-form video, podcasting, or AI-generated content material — and other people begin asking the identical query: “Are blogs useless?”
It is a truthful query. In spite of everything, platforms evolve and viewers habits shift. However the concept blogs are irrelevant at this time? That’s a fable I used to be keen to research.
To get a transparent reply, I turned to entrepreneurs throughout web optimization, content material, and digital technique to search out out whether or not running a blog remains to be well worth the funding. Here is what they stated.
Desk of Contents
Are blogs useless?
In keeping with entrepreneurs, not even shut.
Blogs aren’t simply alive — they’re evolving. In keeping with HubSpot’s 2025 State of Blogging report, half of marketers say they saw better ROI from blogging in 2024 than the year before. And nearly half plan to invest even more in 2025.
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But the way we blog is changing fast. Over 90% of marketers now use AI tools somewhere in their workflow, and Google’s AI Overviews are already reshaping how — and if — blog content gets discovered.
The bar is higher than it’s ever been, but the payoff is still there for those willing to meet it.
That stated, “Are blogs useless?” is a query that refuses to go away. Each time a brand new platform will get scorching — whether or not it’s TikTok, a podcast, or the newest AI development — somebody sounds the alarm for running a blog. It is sensible. Audiences shift, consideration spans shrink, and video continues to dominate. So yeah, I get the place the query comes from.
And simply to stage with you: Search curiosity within the phrase “weblog” has steadily declined over the previous 5 years. In keeping with Google Traits, the time period “weblog” has seen a constant drop in reputation.
And when put next facet by facet with “video,” the distinction is stark. Video content material has dominated consideration spans whereas blogs have quietly carried on within the background. So sure — asking whether or not blogs are useless is a good query.
However the reality is, blogs are nonetheless very a lot alive — and in the precise palms, they’re making an actual impression.
In keeping with HubSpot’s newest State of Running a blog report, 65% of entrepreneurs work for firms that keep blogs, and most publish content material a number of instances every week. Much more telling, 93% of entrepreneurs say running a blog is necessary — or crucial — to their technique.
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And in terms of funds? Almost three-quarters of entrepreneurs put greater than 10% of their advertising spend into blogs. That sort of funding speaks volumes.
The worldwide image backs it up, too. In keeping with Tech Enterprise Information, there are actually over 600 million blogs worldwide, contributing to greater than 7 million posts revealed daily. That’s a variety of phrases — and a variety of alternative.
That scale isn’t simply spectacular — it’s efficient. In order for you extra proof, Ross Simmonds, a B2B advertising professional and the founding father of the content material advertising company Foundation, has spoken about how running a blog has helped his shoppers triple site visitors and shut offers quicker — and based mostly on what I’ve seen, that tracks.
“At Basis, running a blog with intent has helped us generate thousands and thousands of {dollars} within the pipeline for each us and our shoppers,” says Simmonds. “It‘s additionally armed us with the power to raise our model’s place out there and, most significantly, actually assist others in our trade be taught and unlock new alternatives.”
Neil Patel, who’s broadly thought to be one of many world’s main digital entrepreneurs and whose weblog persistently ranks among the many most influential within the trade, places it merely:
“Proudly owning a web site and rating on Google is without doubt one of the greatest long-term advertising methods. Beginning a weblog is the easiest marketing strategy in 2025.”
Nonetheless, running a blog at this time isn’t what it was 5 or ten years in the past. Lisa Dahmani, former director of world content material at HubSpot and present CMO at UX Design Institute, says it isn’t sufficient to only have a weblog these days.
“You’ll want to persistently create content material that’s extra helpful than your competitors’s content material. You’ll want to be an web optimization professional to get your articles rating on web page considered one of Google, and also you want a distribution technique to advertise your content material throughout all of the channels your viewers likes to eat content material on,” says Dahmani.
“It is much more complicated to win at running a blog now, however when you can grasp it, it is well worth the funding.”
That time actually caught with me, as a result of it is one thing I hear echoed by different specialists, too.
Brian Dean, founding father of Backlinko, summed it up nicely. (He’s been referred to as an “web optimization genius” by Entrepreneur and a “good entrepreneur” by Inc. Journal. Forbes even listed Backlinko as a high weblog to observe.)
“All in all, at this time, SEO is less about optimizing your web site to assist Google and extra about being one of the best outcome that deserves to be #1,” says Dean.
That mindset applies to running a blog, too. Hitting publish and hoping for one of the best doesn’t reduce it anymore. To get actual outcomes, you’ll want to spend money on high quality, distribution, and long-term technique.
And in a panorama the place AI-generated content material is all over the place, being the “greatest outcome” means creating one thing unique, useful, and price trusting. That’s what engines like google, and readers, are rewarding.
So certain — it takes extra work to face out. However when you’re keen to place within the effort, the payoff is unquestionably nonetheless there, and price it.
And that brings us to the following massive query: Even when blogs aren’t useless, how do they stack up towards every little thing else on the market?
Blogs vs. Different Advertising Channels
Now that different content material advertising channels — particularly, video and podcasting — have surpassed blogs, will blogs quickly turn out to be redundant?
Nicely, all of it is determined by the person personas you are concentrating on. However whilst different platforms develop, blogs nonetheless provide many benefits.
“Podcasting isn’t with out its personal set of limitations. There are many discoverability and viewers development challenges. At this level, blogs have a reasonably well-dusted playbook for scaling. That is not true for podcasts,” says Matthew Brown, senior lead producer of YouTube & Podcast at HubSpot.
“An organization can use its probably restricted sources to spend money on a weblog that can mainly give constant, simply measurable, and dependable efficiency. Blogs even have a direct line to the corporate’s backside greenback, podcasts don’t.”
Nelson Chacon Guzman, a advertising fellow at HubSpot, highlights that there is no cause to decide on between two platforms in case your crew has the bandwidth to deal with each.
If it aligns along with your person personas, you possibly can interact your viewers from a number of angles.
“Making a weblog constructed of articles round the advantages of your product will probably be useful. Having a video showcasing its use or how one can set up it might be helpful in your viewers,” says Chacon Guzman.
He continues, ” Home Depot has completed a unbelievable job of doing this. Whereas they inform and educate their clients on their merchandise, additionally they add a fast ‘how-to’ for the extra educated one who simply wants a brief reply defined in a video.”
As for social media, Annabelle Nyst, former senior content material supervisor at HubSpot and present principal social content material supervisor at G-P, says it is onerous to check it to blogs as every platform serves totally different functions.
“Social content material does not at all times have the shelf life or the discoverability of weblog posts,” says Nyst. “It is extra about persistently assembly your viewers the place they’re, in the precise moments, partaking with them one-on-one, and establishing belief through group constructing.”
She provides that social media may be a good way to amplify your weblog posts. And vice versa, weblog posts can function inspiration for social content material.
If utilizing each, Nyst recommends pulling probably the most compelling factors out of your weblog posts, creating social-first content material, and utilizing it to drive site visitors again to your weblog.
With all that stated, blogs do not come with out their disadvantages. AJ Beltis, a principal content material advertising supervisor at HubSpot, mentions the excessive drop-off charges typically seen in weblog posts.
“Blogs lack the interactivity that many crave because of its nature as written content material,” says Beltis. “This challenges weblog writers to hook their readers in a couple of brief sentences with out having the advantage of particular results or audio engineers accessible to their video and podcast creating counterparts.”
What it typically comes all the way down to is your model targets and which channels will enable you meet them. Podcasts, for instance, are higher for branding whereas blogs serve higher for top-of-the-funnel engagement.
“Weblog posts are an acquisition juggernaut. There is a clear path that any seasoned marketer can observe. Podcasts, nevertheless, greatest function a model alternative,” says Brown.
“You would not measure a sequence of weblog posts on their model uplift potential, similar to you would not measure a podcast present’s lead technology. That’s except you want grey hairs and a severe lack of sleep.”
On the finish of the day, one of the best advertising channel is the one which helps your targets, and I imagine blogs nonetheless have loads of runway left.
Why Blogs Are Nonetheless Impactful
From an funding perspective, blogs could also be a greater long-term funding for lead technology.
“I might spend $200K to rent a full-time author, web optimization professional, and conversion charge optimization (CRO) specialist to work on my weblog. By combining these ability units, I am going to have the ability to create a weblog that drives natural site visitors to my web site and converts it into leads for my enterprise all yr lengthy,” says Dahmani.
She continues, “Or, I might put the identical $200K into an promoting marketing campaign and possibly get a few thousand leads over the course of the advert marketing campaign. However as soon as the marketing campaign ends, so does my lead circulate.”
Dahmani provides that almost all of HubSpot’s blog-generated leads come from older weblog posts. Which means that blogging can be a great lead source long after posts are published. Aja Frost, senior director of world development at HubSpot, echoes this sentiment.
“Natural site visitors is extra necessary than ever. Not like paid site visitors, which stops coming within the second your funds runs out, natural site visitors is generally self-sustaining after you’ve got put within the effort and time to create a weblog put up,” she says.
She provides that almost all content material administration techniques (CMS) have web optimization instruments built-in into their platforms, which makes it simpler to optimize your posts.
Running a blog will also be helpful in shaping a model’s product positioning.
“Blogs are nonetheless among the finest channels now we have to create narratives round our product,” says HubSpot Product Advertising Supervisor Alex Girard. “They provide us the chance to handle traits we see out there, how these traits impression the reader, and the way our product would possibly have the ability to assist them meet that development efficiently. They’re additionally nice for telling buyer success tales.”
He provides that when utilizing your weblog to market your product, the content material does not must be promotional. If you set up your self as a thought chief and achieve the belief of your viewers, they’ll organically look into your services.
With that stated, it may take greater than good content material to have a profitable weblog.
“Progress and not using a objective is not going to assist your corporation – if 10,000 individuals are studying your weblog, however none of them suit your persona, that is not going to do something in your firm,” says HubSpot’s Director of Content material Advertising Karla Hesterberg.
“Concentrate on one thing attainable, like producing new contacts, and ensure each put up you are placing out has that objective in thoughts.”
She provides that one of many largest errors manufacturers make is creating content material just for individuals on the decision-making stage.
With so many levels between studying a weblog and making a purchase order, entrepreneurs ought to have posts geared at customers in each stage with corresponding affords.
Be taught extra about that by HubSpot’s business blogging course.
From an web optimization perspective, manufacturers may additionally wrestle with producing site visitors as a result of they’re considering weblog first, hyperlink constructing second.
“What I typically discover is that entrepreneurs see ‘running a blog’ and ‘hyperlink constructing’ as two totally different disciplines. First, they write the weblog posts, then they consider how one can earn backlinks to them,” says Irina Nica, former senior product advertising supervisor at HubSpot and present senior product advertising supervisor at SurveyMonkey.
“As an alternative, they need to embrace linkable belongings into their common content material calendar, alongside different sorts of articles which can be possibly designed for producing natural or social media site visitors.”
Regardless of the numerous advantages we‘ve gone over, running a blog isn’t at all times one of the best technique for each model. Why? Nicely, what in case your perfect user persona does not learn blogs? What if they like emails as an alternative?
“Some manufacturers have nice electronic mail communication and workflows the place they supply individuals with downloadable affords the place they do not must go some place else to get the data, it is simply of their inbox immediately,” says Sandra Mpouma, head of digital advertising at Centura (Previously RationalFX) and Xendpay.
“You do not essentially want a weblog so long as you are providing one thing in alternate. I feel the weblog has at all times been: provide one thing free of charge in alternate for that person interplay.”
So, in that case, blogs would not precisely be useless, extra so irrelevant.
Why Advertising Is not Useless
For those who‘ve made it this far and also you’re nonetheless questioning whether or not marketing itself is dead — let’s clear that up, too. Regardless of what some headlines recommend, advertising isn’t going wherever.
Actually, it is extra influential than ever. And that applies to each conventional methods and digital initiatives.
The worldwide content material advertising trade is experiencing huge development. Just some years in the past, world content material advertising trade income was estimated at roughly $63 billion U.S. {dollars}. At the moment, it’s projected to extend to over $107 billion by 2026, based on Statista.
“There is a cause why Nike and McDonald’s proceed to speculate thousands and thousands each month in advertising regardless that they’re already family names. There is a cause why the highest musicians and artists nonetheless do promotion previous to their newest album launch,” says Simmonds.
“Advertising is not to be seen as simply an expense. It is an funding. And when you make an funding that’s rooted in a strategic plan — that funding ought to return dividends for years (possibly a long time) to come back.”
So no, advertising isn’t useless. It‘s simply evolving. And for manufacturers keen to satisfy the second with high quality content material, sensible distribution, and a transparent worth prop — it’s nonetheless some of the highly effective development levers you might have.
Running a blog Is Far From Useless
Right here’s the underside line: Not each advertising tactic works for each model, however blogs aren’t going wherever.
They’re nonetheless some of the efficient methods to construct belief, drive site visitors, and seize leads over time. They’ve developed, sure. They’re more durable to win with, certain. However they’re removed from useless.
So for now, blogs, you possibly can step off the chopping block.
Editor’s word: This text was initially revealed in January 2022 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
