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 honest query. In any case, platforms evolve and viewers habits shift. However the concept blogs are irrelevant at this time? That’s a fantasy I used to be keen to research.
To get a transparent reply, I turned to entrepreneurs throughout search engine optimization, content material, and digital technique to seek out out whether or not running a blog continues to be definitely worth the funding. Here is what they mentioned.
Desk of Contents
Are blogs useless?
In response to entrepreneurs, not even shut.
Blogs aren’t simply alive — they’re evolving. In response to HubSpot’s 2025 State of Blogging report, half of entrepreneurs say they noticed higher ROI from running a blog in 2024 than the yr earlier than. And practically half plan to speculate much more in 2025.
However the way in which we weblog is altering quick. Over 90% of marketers now use AI tools 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 prepared 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 most recent 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 response to 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 suitable fingers, they’re making an actual influence.
In response to HubSpot’s newest State of Blogging report, 65% of entrepreneurs work for corporations that keep blogs, and most publish content material a number of occasions every week. Much more telling, 93% of entrepreneurs say running a blog is essential — or essential — to their technique.
And in relation to funds? Practically 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 response to Tech Enterprise Information, there at the moment are over 600 million blogs worldwide, contributing to greater than 7 million posts printed day by day. That’s loads of phrases — and loads of alternative.
That scale isn’t simply spectacular — it’s efficient. If you’d like extra proof, Ross Simmonds, a B2B advertising and marketing skilled and the founding father of the content material advertising and marketing company Foundation, has spoken about how running a blog has helped his shoppers triple visitors and shut offers sooner — and based mostly on what I’ve seen, that tracks.
“At Basis, running a blog with intent has helped us generate tens of millions 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 study and unlock new alternatives.”
Neil Patel, who’s broadly considered 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 an internet site and rating on Google is among the greatest long-term advertising and marketing 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 simply have a weblog these days.
“You could persistently create content material that’s extra worthwhile than your competitors’s content material. You could be an search engine optimization skilled to get your articles rating on web page certainly 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 in the event 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 properly. (He’s been referred to as an “search engine optimization genius” by Entrepreneur and a “sensible entrepreneur” by Inc. Journal. Forbes even listed Backlinko as a high weblog to comply with.)
“All in all, at this time, SEO is less about optimizing your website to assist Google and extra about being the very best consequence that deserves to be #1,” says Dean.
That mindset applies to running a blog, too. Hitting publish and hoping for the very best doesn’t minimize it anymore. To get actual outcomes, you could put money into 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 consequence” means creating one thing authentic, useful, and value trusting. That’s what engines like google, and readers, are rewarding.
So certain — it takes extra work to face out. However in the event you’re prepared to place within the effort, the payoff is unquestionably nonetheless there, and value it.
And that brings us to the following massive query: Even when blogs aren’t useless, how do they stack up in opposition to every little 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 change into redundant?
Nicely, all of it relies on the person personas you are concentrating on. However whilst different platforms develop, blogs nonetheless supply many benefits.
“Podcasting is just not 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 assets to put money into 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 is no cause to decide on between two platforms in case your staff has the bandwidth to sort out each.
If it aligns together with your person personas, you’ll be able to 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 methods to set up it will be useful in your viewers,” says Chacon Guzman.
He continues, ” Home Depot has carried out 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 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 arduous 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 suitable moments, participating with them one-on-one, and establishing belief through neighborhood constructing.”
She provides that social media might be an effective 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 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 typically 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 just a few quick sentences with out having the advantage of particular results or audio engineers out there 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 comply with. Podcasts, nevertheless, greatest function a model alternative,” says Brown.
“You would not measure a sequence of weblog posts on their model uplift skill, identical 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, the very best advertising and marketing channel is the one which helps your targets, and I consider 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 optimization skilled, and conversion price 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 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 circulation.”
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 lengthy after posts are printed. Aja Frost, senior director of world development at HubSpot, echoes this sentiment.
“Natural visitors is extra essential than ever. Not like paid visitors, which stops coming within the second your funds 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 almost all content management systems (CMS) have search engine optimization instruments built-in into their platforms, which makes it simpler to optimize your posts.
Running a blog can be worthwhile in shaping a model’s product positioning.
“Blogs are nonetheless top-of-the-line channels we’ve to create narratives round our product,” says HubSpot Product Advertising Supervisor Alex Girard. “They provide us the chance to handle developments we see out there, how these developments influence the reader, and the way our product would possibly 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 does not should be promotional. Once you set up your self as a thought chief and achieve the belief of your viewers, they are going to organically look into your services.
With that mentioned, it should take greater than good content material to have a profitable weblog.
“Progress and not using a objective is not going to assist your small business – 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.
“Give attention to 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 greatest errors manufacturers make is creating content material just for folks 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 presents.
Study extra about that by means of HubSpot’s business blogging course.
From an search engine optimization 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 totally different disciplines. First, they write the weblog posts, then they give thought to methods 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 a substitute, they need to embrace linkable property into their common content material calendar, alongside different varieties of articles which might be possibly 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 very best technique for each model. Why? Nicely, what in case your best user 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 folks with downloadable presents the place they do not should go some place else to get the knowledge, it is simply of their inbox immediately,” 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 believe the weblog has at all times been: supply one thing without cost in trade for that person interplay.”
So, in that case, blogs would not precisely be useless, extra so irrelevant.
Why Advertising Is not Lifeless
If you happen to‘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 counsel, advertising and marketing isn’t going anyplace.
In truth, it is extra influential than ever. And that applies to each traditional strategies and digital initiatives.
The worldwide content material advertising and marketing trade is experiencing large development. Just some years in the past, international content material advertising and marketing 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, in line with Statista.
“There is a cause why Nike and McDonald’s proceed to speculate tens of millions each month in advertising and marketing despite the fact 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 in the event 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 and marketing isn’t useless. It‘s simply evolving. And for manufacturers prepared to fulfill the second with high quality content material, good distribution, and a transparent worth prop — it’s nonetheless one of the highly effective development levers you could have.
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 efficient methods to construct belief, drive visitors, and seize leads over time. They’ve advanced, sure. They’re more durable to win with, certain. However they’re removed from useless.
So for now, blogs, you’ll be able to step off the chopping block.
Editor’s observe: This text was initially printed in January 2022 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
