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 right this moment? That’s a fable I used to be keen to analyze.
To get a transparent reply, I turned to entrepreneurs throughout search engine optimisation, content material, and digital technique to search out out whether or not running a blog continues to be well worth the funding. Here is what they mentioned.
Desk of Contents
Are blogs useless?
In line with entrepreneurs, not even shut.
Blogs aren’t simply alive — they’re evolving. In line 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 12 months earlier than. And practically half plan to take a position much more in 2025.
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 larger than it’s ever been, however the payoff continues to be there for these keen to fulfill it.
That mentioned, “Are blogs useless?” is a query that refuses to go away. Each time a brand new platform will get sizzling — whether or not it’s TikTok, a podcast, or the newest AI pattern — 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 line with Google Traits, the time period “weblog” has seen a constant drop in recognition.
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.
However the fact is, blogs are nonetheless very a lot alive — and in the precise arms, they’re making an actual influence.
In line with HubSpot’s newest State of Running a blog report, 65% of entrepreneurs work for firms that preserve blogs, and most publish content material a number of occasions per week. Much more telling, 93% of entrepreneurs say running a blog is necessary — or crucial — to their technique.
And on the subject of finances? Almost three-quarters of entrepreneurs put greater than 10% of their advertising and marketing spend into blogs. That type of funding speaks volumes.
The worldwide image backs it up, too. In line with Tech Enterprise Information, there at the moment are over 600 million blogs worldwide, contributing to greater than 7 million posts printed each day. That’s a whole lot of phrases — and a whole lot of alternative.
That scale isn’t simply spectacular — it’s efficient. In order for you extra proof, Ross Simmonds, a B2B advertising and marketing skilled and the founding father of the content material advertising and marketing company Basis, has spoken about how running a blog has helped his shoppers triple visitors and shut offers quicker — and primarily based 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 out there and, most significantly, actually assist others in our trade study 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 trade, places it merely:
“Proudly owning a web site and rating on Google is likely one of the greatest long-term advertising and marketing methods. Beginning a weblog is the best advertising and marketing 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 worldwide content material at HubSpot and present CMO at UX Design Institute, says it isn’t sufficient to simply have a weblog these days.
“You’ll want to constantly create content material that’s extra beneficial than your competitors’s content material. You’ll want to be an search engine optimisation skilled 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 advanced 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 consultants, too.
Brian Dean, founding father of Backlinko, summed it up nicely. (He’s been referred to as an “search engine optimisation genius” by Entrepreneur and a “good entrepreneur” by Inc. Journal. Forbes even listed Backlinko as a high weblog to comply with.)
“All in all, right this moment, search engine optimisation is much less about optimizing your website to assist Google and extra about being the perfect outcome that deserves to be #1,” says Dean.
That mindset applies to running a blog, too. Hitting publish and hoping for the perfect doesn’t lower it anymore. To get actual outcomes, you have to spend money on high quality, distribution, and long-term technique.
And in a panorama the place AI-generated content material is in every single place, being the “greatest outcome” means creating one thing unique, useful, and price trusting. That’s what search 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 certainly nonetheless there, and price it.
And that brings us to the following large query: Even when blogs aren’t useless, how do they stack up towards every thing else on the market?
Blogs vs. Different Advertising Channels
Now that different content material advertising and marketing channels — specifically, video and podcasting — have surpassed blogs, will blogs quickly turn into redundant?
Properly, all of it is determined by the consumer personas you are concentrating on. However at the same time as different platforms develop, blogs nonetheless provide many benefits.
“Podcasting 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 possible 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 and marketing fellow at HubSpot, highlights that there isn’t any purpose to decide on between two platforms in case your crew has the bandwidth to sort out 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 will probably be useful. Having a video showcasing its use or the best way to set up it might be helpful on your viewers,” says Chacon Guzman.
He continues, ” House Depot has performed a unbelievable job of doing this. Whereas they inform and educate their prospects on their merchandise, in addition 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 totally different functions.
“Social content material would not at all times 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 precise moments, participating with them one-on-one, and establishing belief by way of neighborhood constructing.”
She provides that social media could 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 mentioned, blogs do not come with out their disadvantages. AJ Beltis, a principal content material advertising and marketing supervisor at HubSpot, mentions the excessive drop-off charges usually seen in weblog posts.
“Blogs lack the interactivity that many crave attributable to 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 out there to their video and podcast creating counterparts.”
What it usually comes right down to is your model targets and which channels will make it easier 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 comply with. Podcasts, nevertheless, greatest function a model alternative,” says Brown.
“You would not measure a sequence of weblog posts on their model uplift capacity, similar to you would not measure a podcast present’s lead technology. That’s until you want grey hairs and a critical lack of sleep.”
On the finish of the day, the perfect advertising and marketing 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, search engine optimisation skilled, and conversion fee optimization (CRO) specialist to work on my weblog. By combining these talent 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 12 months lengthy,” says Dahmani.
She continues, “Or, I might put the identical $200K into an promoting marketing campaign and perhaps 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 stream.”
Dahmani provides that almost all of HubSpot’s blog-generated leads come from older weblog posts. Which means running a blog is usually a nice lead supply lengthy after posts are printed. Aja Frost, senior director of worldwide progress at HubSpot, echoes this sentiment.
“Natural visitors is extra necessary than ever. In contrast to paid visitors, which stops coming within the second your finances runs out, natural visitors is usually self-sustaining after you’ve got put within the effort and time to create a weblog put up,” she says.
She provides that the majority content material administration programs (CMS) have search engine optimisation instruments built-in into their platforms, which makes it simpler to optimize your posts.
Running a blog can be beneficial in shaping a model’s product positioning.
“Blogs are nonetheless the most effective channels we now have to create narratives round our product,” says HubSpot Product Advertising Supervisor Alex Girard. “They provide us the chance to deal with traits we see out there, how these traits influence the reader, and the way our product may be capable of 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 would not need to be promotional. Whenever you set up your self as a thought chief and acquire the belief of your viewers, they’ll organically look into your services.
With that mentioned, it may take greater than good content material to have a profitable weblog.
“Progress with out a purpose is not going to assist your corporation – 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.
“Concentrate on one thing attainable, like producing new contacts, and ensure each put up you are placing out has that purpose in thoughts.”
She provides that one of many greatest errors manufacturers make is creating content material just for individuals on the decision-making stage.
With so many phases between studying a weblog and making a purchase order, entrepreneurs ought to have posts geared at customers in each stage with corresponding gives.
Be taught extra about that by way of HubSpot’s enterprise running a blog course.
From an search engine optimisation perspective, manufacturers may wrestle with producing visitors as a result of they’re pondering weblog first, hyperlink constructing second.
“What I usually 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 the best way to earn backlinks to them,” says Irina Nica, former senior product advertising and marketing supervisor at HubSpot and present senior product advertising and marketing supervisor at SurveyMonkey.
“As an alternative, they need to embody linkable property into their common content material calendar, alongside different forms of articles which can be perhaps designed for producing natural or social media visitors.”
Regardless of the numerous advantages we‘ve gone over, running a blog isn’t at all times the perfect technique for each model. Why? Properly, what in case your splendid consumer persona would not learn blogs? What if they like emails as an alternative?
“Some manufacturers have nice e mail communication and workflows the place they supply individuals with downloadable gives the place they do not need to go someplace else to get the data, it is simply of their inbox right away,” says Sandra Mpouma, head of digital advertising and marketing 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 at all times been: provide one thing free of charge in trade for that consumer interplay.”
So, in that case, blogs would not precisely be useless, extra so irrelevant.
Why Advertising Is not Lifeless
In the event you‘ve made it this far and also you’re nonetheless questioning whether or not advertising and marketing itself is useless — let’s clear that up, too. Regardless of what some headlines recommend, advertising and marketing isn’t going anyplace.
The truth is, it is extra influential than ever. And that applies to each conventional methods and digital initiatives.
The worldwide content material advertising and marketing trade is experiencing huge progress. Just some years in the past, international content material advertising and marketing trade income was estimated at roughly $63 billion U.S. {dollars}. Presently, it’s projected to extend to over $107 billion by 2026, in response to Statista.
“There is a purpose why Nike and McDonald’s proceed to take a position hundreds of thousands each month in advertising and marketing despite the fact 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 when you make an funding that’s rooted in a strategic plan — that funding ought to return dividends for years (perhaps many years) to come back.”
So no, advertising and marketing 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 one of the crucial highly effective progress levers you’ve.
Running a blog Is Far From Lifeless
Right here’s the underside line: Not each advertising and marketing tactic works for each model, however blogs aren’t going anyplace.
They’re nonetheless one of the crucial efficient methods to construct belief, drive visitors, and seize leads over time. They’ve developed, sure. They’re tougher to win with, certain. However they’re removed from useless.
So for now, blogs, you may step off the chopping block.
Editor’s notice: This text was initially printed in January 2022 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
