Each few years, a brand new channel takes middle 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 right this moment? That’s a delusion I used to be keen to analyze.
To get a transparent reply, I turned to entrepreneurs throughout search engine marketing, content material, and digital technique to search out out whether or not running a blog continues to be definitely worth the funding. This 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 Running a blog report, half of entrepreneurs say they noticed higher ROI from running a blog in 2024 than the yr earlier than. And almost half plan to speculate much more in 2025.
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However the best way we weblog is altering quick. Over 90% of entrepreneurs now use AI instruments someplace of their workflow, and Google’s AI Overviews are already reshaping how — and if — weblog content material will get found.
The bar is increased than it’s ever been, however the payoff continues to be there for these keen to fulfill it.
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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 most recent AI pattern — somebody sounds the alarm for running a blog. It is smart. 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 Developments, the time period “weblog” has seen a constant drop in reputation.
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And compared aspect by aspect 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.
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However the fact is, blogs are nonetheless very a lot alive — and in the proper palms, they’re making an actual impression.
In keeping with HubSpot’s newest State of Running a blog report, 65% of entrepreneurs work for corporations that keep blogs, and most publish content material a number of occasions per week. Much more telling, 93% of entrepreneurs say running a blog is essential — or essential — to their technique.
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And in relation to price range? Practically three-quarters of entrepreneurs put greater than 10% of their advertising spend into blogs. That form of funding speaks volumes.
The worldwide image backs it up, too. In keeping with Tech Enterprise Information, there at the moment are over 600 million blogs worldwide, contributing to greater than 7 million posts printed every single day. That’s a number of phrases — and a number of alternative.
That scale isn’t simply spectacular — it’s efficient. If you need extra proof, Ross Simmonds, a B2B advertising professional and the founding father of the content material advertising company Basis, has spoken about how running a blog has helped his shoppers triple 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 hundreds of thousands of {dollars} within the pipeline for each us and our shoppers,” says Simmonds. “It‘s additionally armed us with the flexibility to raise our model’s place available in the market and, most significantly, really assist others in our business 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 constantly ranks among the many most influential within the business, places it merely:
“Proudly owning an internet site and rating on Google is without doubt one of the greatest long-term advertising methods. Beginning a weblog is the simplest advertising technique in 2025.”
Nonetheless, running a blog right this moment 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 is not sufficient to only have a weblog these days.
“You have to constantly create content material that’s extra useful than your competitors’s content material. You have to be an search engine marketing professional to get your articles rating on web page one among Google, and also you want a distribution technique to advertise your content material throughout all of the channels your viewers likes to devour content material on,” says Dahmani.
“It is much more advanced to win at running a blog now, however should you can grasp it, it is definitely 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 effectively. (He’s been referred to as an “search engine marketing genius” by Entrepreneur and a “good entrepreneur” by Inc. Journal. Forbes even listed Backlinko as a high weblog to observe.)
“All in all, right this moment, search engine marketing is much less about optimizing your web site to assist Google and extra about being the most effective end result that deserves to be #1,” says Dean.
That mindset applies to running a blog, too. Hitting publish and hoping for the most effective doesn’t lower it anymore. To get actual outcomes, you might 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 end result” means creating one thing unique, useful, and value trusting. That’s what engines like google, and readers, are rewarding.
So positive — it takes extra work to face out. However should you’re keen to place within the effort, the payoff is certainly nonetheless there, and value it.
And that brings us to the following large query: Even when blogs aren’t useless, how do they stack up in opposition to every 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 change into redundant?
Nicely, all of it relies on the consumer personas you are concentrating on. However whilst different platforms develop, blogs nonetheless provide many benefits.
“Podcasting just isn’t with out its personal set of limitations. There are many discoverability and viewers progress challenges. At this level, blogs have a fairly 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 assets to spend money on a weblog that may principally 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 not any purpose to decide on between two platforms in case your workforce has the bandwidth to deal with each.
If it aligns together with your consumer personas, you may interact your viewers from a number of angles.
“Making a weblog constructed of articles round the advantages of your product might be useful. Having a video showcasing its use or tips on how to set up it could be helpful on your viewers,” says Chacon Guzman.
He continues, ” Dwelling Depot has executed a implausible job of doing this. Whereas they inform and educate their prospects on their merchandise, additionally they add a fast ‘how-to’ for the extra educated one that 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 exhausting to check it to blogs as every platform serves completely different functions.
“Social content material does not all the time have the shelf life or the discoverability of weblog posts,” says Nyst. “It is extra about constantly assembly your viewers the place they’re, in the proper moments, participating with them one-on-one, and establishing belief through group constructing.”
She provides that social media might 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 essentially the most compelling factors out of your weblog posts, creating social-first content material, and utilizing it to drive 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 resulting from its nature as written content material,” says Beltis. “This challenges weblog writers to hook their readers in a number 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 right down to is your model objectives and which channels will assist you to 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 collection of weblog posts on their model uplift skill, similar to you would not measure a podcast present’s lead era. That’s until you want grey hairs and a severe lack of sleep.”
On the finish of the day, the most effective advertising channel is the one which helps your objectives, 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 era.
“I may spend $200K to rent a full-time author, search engine marketing professional, and conversion fee 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 visitors to my web site and converts it into leads for my enterprise all yr lengthy,” says Dahmani.
She continues, “Or, I may 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 movement.”
Dahmani provides that almost all of HubSpot’s blog-generated leads come from older weblog posts. Which means that running a blog is usually a nice lead supply lengthy after posts are printed. Aja Frost, senior director of world progress at HubSpot, echoes this sentiment.
“Natural visitors is extra essential than ever. In contrast to paid visitors, which stops coming within the second your price range runs out, natural visitors is generally self-sustaining after you have put within the effort and time to create a weblog put up,” she says.
She provides that the majority content material administration techniques (CMS) have search engine marketing instruments built-in into their platforms, which makes it simpler to optimize your posts.
Running a blog can be useful in shaping a model’s product positioning.
“Blogs are nonetheless among the best channels we’ve to create narratives round our product,” says HubSpot Product Advertising Supervisor Alex Girard. “They provide us the chance to deal with tendencies we see available in the market, how these tendencies impression the reader, and the way our product would possibly be capable to assist them meet that pattern 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. While you set up your self as a thought chief and acquire the belief of your viewers, they are going to organically look into your services and products.
With that stated, it should take greater than good content material to have a profitable weblog.
“Development with no aim is not going to assist your small business – if 10,000 persons are studying your weblog, however none of them suit your persona, that is not going to do something on your firm,” says HubSpot’s Director of Content material Advertising Karla Hesterberg.
“Deal with one thing attainable, like producing new contacts, and ensure each put up you are placing out has that aim 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 way of HubSpot’s enterprise running a blog course.
From an search engine marketing perspective, manufacturers may additionally wrestle with producing visitors as a result of they’re pondering weblog first, hyperlink constructing second.
“What I typically discover is that entrepreneurs see ‘running a blog’ and ‘hyperlink constructing’ as two completely different disciplines. First, they write the weblog posts, then they give thought to tips on how to earn backlinks to them,” says Irina Nica, former senior product advertising supervisor at HubSpot and present senior product advertising supervisor at SurveyMonkey.
“As a substitute, they need to embrace linkable belongings into their common content material calendar, alongside different forms of articles which can be possibly designed for producing natural or social media visitors.”
Regardless of the numerous advantages we‘ve gone over, running a blog isn’t all the time the most effective technique for each model. Why? Nicely, what in case your excellent consumer persona does not learn blogs? What if they like emails as a substitute?
“Some manufacturers have nice e mail communication and workflows the place they supply individuals with downloadable affords the place they do not must go elsewhere to get the knowledge, 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 trade. I feel the weblog has all the time been: provide one thing without spending a dime in trade for that consumer 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 advertising itself is useless — let’s clear that up, too. Regardless of what some headlines counsel, advertising isn’t going wherever.
In reality, it is extra influential than ever. And that applies to each conventional methods and digital initiatives.
The worldwide content material advertising business is experiencing large progress. Just some years in the past, international content material advertising business income was estimated at roughly $63 billion U.S. {dollars}. At the moment, it’s projected to extend to over $107 billion by 2026, in accordance with Statista.
“There is a purpose why Nike and McDonald’s proceed to speculate hundreds of thousands each month in advertising regardless that they’re already family names. There is a purpose 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 should you make an funding that’s rooted in a strategic plan — that funding ought to return dividends for years (possibly a long time) to return.”
So no, advertising isn’t useless. It‘s simply evolving. And for manufacturers keen to fulfill the second with high quality content material, good distribution, and a transparent worth prop — it’s nonetheless probably the most highly effective progress levers you’ve.
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 probably the most efficient methods to construct belief, drive visitors, and seize leads over time. They’ve developed, sure. They’re tougher to win with, positive. However they’re removed from useless.
So for now, blogs, you may step off the chopping block.
Editor’s be aware: This text was initially printed in January 2022 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
