You sit down to write a blog, and before you've written the first paragraph, you're already trying to talk yourself out of it. You don't know what to write. You're not sure how long it's going to take. And now AI can answer people's questions without sending them to your website, so is anybody even going to read the thing?
I hear this all the time. “I know I should write a blog, but I don't want to. It's too hard. I can never figure out what to write.” And then there's the question of whether blogging is still worth it for your business when people can get answers from AI without ever visiting a website.
I still believe in blogging for business. It is worth it. If you're asking, “Is blogging dead?” you're probably looking at only part of what a blog can do. Getting clicks from Google is one reason to write. I talk about three kinds of blogs with my clients, and knowing which one you need can make deciding what to write a whole lot easier.
Key Points
- AI has changed how people discover you, and a direct website click doesn't capture every part of that process.
- I use three categories with my clients: SEO blogs, resource blogs, and heart blogs. They can overlap, but knowing the main purpose helps you decide what to write.
- In my five years of experience, businesses rank faster when they publish useful, SEO-focused blogs more often. Those blogs need to answer real questions and bring your experience and expertise into the answer.
- Resource blogs give people useful support, while heart blogs make room for your perspective and the things you want to say.
- Once you've chosen the purpose and planned the work, put it on the calendar and do the thing. If you still can't follow through, use SCAN to find the stop and determine whether you need a reset session.
Watch the video: Is Blogging Dead? Here's the Truth for Coaches
AI has changed how people find you
What we're seeing is that people are getting more answers directly in their search results without clicking through to a website. But something else is happening too. AI is introducing people to you. It may mention your name or your business while answering a question, and it may or may not include a link to your website.
I've seen estimates that about a third of AI answers reference individuals. And it can take a lot of times for someone to see your name before they go looking for you. I've heard as many as 27 times quoted. Someone might see my name in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude and later go to Google and search for Jennie Hays. When they find me that way, it can be hard to tell where they first heard about me.
About two-thirds of people are still going to websites when they Google. But that other part of the picture, the AI answers, the summaries, and people typing in your name, has become a wild card. It's harder to control and much harder to track. The tracking tools are still developing, and some are expensive. Bing has an AI performance report that can show you some of that activity, but they're still figuring it out.
Being on the first page of Google doesn't guarantee that an AI tool will include you in its answer. It goes by the quality of the information and the answers you give it on your website and in your blogs. AI search tools use that information to help build their answers. Sometimes they mention you and link to you. Other times, they use your information without putting your name there, and you won't know. What you can see is whether people are searching for your name or business, or clicking through from AI tools when that traffic is identifiable.
Then there are the people who find you without either of those routes. Somebody refers them. They meet you. They hear you speak. They want to know more before deciding whether to work with you, so they visit your website. What are they going to find when they get there?
Blogging for business starts with choosing the job
The three kinds of blogs I talk about with my clients are SEO blogs, resource blogs, and heart blogs. These are my categories, a Jennie-ism, and they overlap. A resource article can also attract search traffic. A personal perspective can help someone understand your expertise. You don't need to keep each type in its own little box.
You do need to know why you're writing this particular post. Knowing its main purpose helps you decide what to write and what to put into it. An article you want people to find through Google needs different preparation from an article you're writing because a client needs a resource, or because you simply have something to say.
SEO blogs answer questions people are already asking
The SEO blog is the one we write for Google. We do our keyword research and make sure the article aligns with the questions people are asking. Before you spend hours writing, check whether people search for the information, what they mean by that search, and whether those people are part of the audience you actually want to reach.
That last part matters. A keyword can have plenty of searches and still bring you the wrong visitors. Choose a question connected to the people you serve, then answer it well enough that the reader understands something they didn't understand before. Put your experience into the article. Include relevant certifications and anything that helps Google understand your expertise and why you have a reason to be teaching this. Give people a reason to engage with the information.
Over the last five years, I've seen businesses rank faster when they consistently publish useful, SEO-informed content more often. The content needs to answer questions people are genuinely asking and demonstrate experience and expertise. That's the combination I'm talking about when I recommend blogging regularly.
SEO blogs need to come out at least once a month. Depending on where you are in your SEO journey, that may mean publishing every other week or once a week. We want to get onto the first page of Google for a keyword people are actually looking for before we switch keywords or slow down how often we're publishing. That's a key part of the strategy.
Keep the quality of the answer in the plan. If your schedule says “write a blog,” but you haven't chosen the question, researched the phrase, or decided what useful experience you're bringing to it, you still have work to define before the writing starts.
Resource blogs give people somewhere useful to go
A resource blog begins with something someone needs to understand. You've got clients coming into your business, and you've got people who call you who won't become clients. They may not be a fit. They may not be able to afford it. Or, for some reason, you may not want to work with them. All of those are legitimate, and those people may still need a resource.
Someone you're referring to another person might need something in the interim. A new client might need to understand part of your work before you meet for the first time. Or you may keep running into the same stumbling block and want to give a client something to read between sessions. These are the articles you send people to regularly because they help with the work you're actually doing.
For example, someone mentions imposter syndrome. I can send them to a blog about imposter syndrome and reset sessions so we can decide whether that's something they need. The article gives them a way to understand what we're considering before we make that decision together.
Or they mention procrastination. I want to nail down what kind of procrastination we're dealing with and where the stop is. I'll ask them to read the SCAN blog before we meet again so we can look at whether we're dealing with Strategy, Clarity, or Alignment, or whether we need to look deeper and do a reset. We can use these resources between sessions, instead of sessions, and in addition to sessions.
I also have guest articles on my site about things such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, and AI. Those give me resources to share when someone needs information in an area another expert teaches. The value of that article includes being able to send the right person to a useful explanation when the question comes up.
A resource blog can absolutely include SEO. If people search for the same question your clients keep asking, you may be able to serve both purposes in one article. But the immediate reason for writing it is that somebody needs the resource. An article you repeatedly send to clients can be doing worthwhile work without becoming your most visited page.
Heart blogs make room for what you want to say
Sometimes you want to write because you have something to say. An event brings up a strong reaction. Something in the news needs a response. A holiday makes you think about something you want to share. These are what I call heart blogs.
I have a series of blogs about election stress because it happens, and the last few elections have been stressful. Those blogs get traction right before an election, and then they disappear. Christmas blogs go away in January. You can refresh them, but once they've had their moment, it's also okay to leave them there. They don't all need to keep bringing in traffic forever.
Don't worry about SEO for that heart blog. Write it because it's part of who you are. You don't have to turn every personal observation into a coaching lesson or attach a business offer to it. Sometimes the subject matters to you, and you want to explain what you believe, tell a story, or leave a record of something you've learned. You have something to say. Say it.
Your blogs tell people who you are and Google that you're still here
All three types of blogs may or may not get read. But when they do get read, they help somebody become a hell yes or a hell no. That is what we want. We want clients who love us for who we are and want to work with us. Your blogs tell the world who you are, how you think, and what you have to say.
They also tell Google you're alive and still breathing and still kicking. Thousands of websites are set up every day and then abandoned. The companies go under, or they never get started. You don't have to be one of them. You need to let Google know you're alive, who you serve, and why you're serving them. Blogs are an amazing way to do that.
So blog regularly. Write something useful. Answer the questions your audience is asking, do the keyword research, and bring your experience and expertise into the answer. Give people a reason to want to engage with what you've written.
Choose the kind your business needs now
If people aren't finding you and search visibility is part of your strategy, prioritize SEO blogs. Find the questions your audience is asking and give them useful answers. If you're already busy with referrals but keep explaining the same concept to clients, a resource blog may be more useful right now. And if there's something you want to say, give yourself permission to write the heart blog without forcing it to win a keyword competition first.
You can have all three on the same website. The choice is about the purpose of the next article, not a permanent identity you're assigning to your entire blog.
That purpose should influence how you evaluate the result. For an SEO article, look at whether you're appearing for relevant searches and reaching the people you intended to reach. For a resource article, notice whether it helps someone prepare, understand a problem, or continue the work between conversations. A heart blog may have done what you wanted simply because you said something that mattered to you.
You can also reuse ideas from these articles in your social content. The explanation already exists. You have something substantial to point people toward, and your perspective can remain recognizable wherever they meet you. Blogging for business becomes more useful when you can see where an article fits into the work you're already doing.
When you know what to write but still aren't writing
Now you've chosen the kind of blog you need. You understand why you're writing it. You have a topic and some idea of how often you want to publish. The next step is to put the work on the calendar and actually try it. What happens then is useful information.
If you understand why blogging belongs in your business but still aren't publishing, that knowing-doing gap is worth looking at more closely. I use the term execution block for anything that repeatedly prevents intended action from becoming consistent execution. SCAN helps us figure out what's creating that gap.
Start with Strategy. Does blogging fit your practice and the result you're trying to create? If you need SEO, if you need AI recommending you, it probably does. Be clear about the job you're asking it to do and whether that job fits what the business needs.
Then check Clarity. Do you know the question you're answering, what goes into the article, and what the next action is? Researching a keyword, outlining an answer, writing a draft, and publishing it are different pieces of work. If you sit down to write and still need to make every one of those decisions, finish defining the task.
Alignment asks whether you can write this in a way that makes sense for your body, your nervous system, the way your brain works, and your schedule. You may explain an idea easily when you're speaking but struggle to produce the same explanation by staring at a blank document. Talking it through and then working from that material may fit better. The way you write needs to fit you.
Now What? Once you've made those practical pieces workable, execute and observe. If a clearer task or a different writing process helps you finish, keep what helped. If Strategy, Clarity, and Alignment are all good, but you still can't do it, then we need to ask what's happening. We need to look at whether there's an Underlying Block, and we need to think about a reset session.
I can tell you all day long what kind of blog to write and how often to write it. I believe in blogs. But if you don't write it, it doesn't matter. Put it on the calendar and do the thing. What comes up when you try?
If you're still thinking, “I don't think I'm going to write a blog,” go back through the SCAN overview. Keep the blog you've been putting off in mind as you watch. Check the strategy, get clear about the work, and make sure the way you're doing it fits you. If those pieces are good and you still can't do it, it's time to look at what's stopping you and whether you need a reset session.
Suggested Reading
Website Traffic but No Leads? Your Strategy May Be Attracting the Wrong Audience
What to check when your content attracts attention but the people arriving aren't the people your business can help.
How to Build a Marketing Action Plan You Can Actually Execute
How to turn a decision to blog into specific actions, a realistic schedule, and a clear definition of finished.
When to Change Your Marketing Strategy and When to Give It More Time
How to evaluate the evidence before you keep going, adjust your approach, or abandon a strategy that needs a fair test.
Full Video Transcript
[0:00] Is blogging still worth it for your business when people can get answers from AI without ever visiting a website? The answer? Yes. But getting clicks from Google is only one reason to write a blog. There actually three kinds of blogs that
[0:16] I talk about with my clients. And knowing which one you need can make deciding what to write a whole lot easier. Because I hear this all the time. I know I should write a blog, but I don't want to. It's too hard. I can never figure out what to write.
[0:32] And then there's another question. Is anybody even going to read it? What we're seeing is that people are getting more answers directly in their search results from AI without clicking through to a website. But something else is happening, too.
[0:47] AI can actually introduce people to you. It may mention your name or your business when it answers a question. And it may or may not include a link to your website. I've seen estimates that about a third of answers reference individuals. And it
[1:04] can take as many as 27 times for someone to see your name before they go looking for you. So someone might see my name in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and then later actually go to Google and search for my
[1:19] name, Jennie Hays. When they find me that way, it can be so hard to tell where they first heard about me. And just because you're on the first page of Google doesn't even guarantee that any AI tool is going to include you
[1:35] in its answer. It goes based on the quality of the information and the answers that you give it on your website and in your blogs. And about two-thirds of people are still going to websites when they Google. But
[1:51] that other part of the picture, the AI piece, the summaries, the typing in your name, has become a wild card. And much harder to track. And the tools for tracking are still developing. Some are expensive.
[2:07] Um I have recently found Bing has an AI performance report that'll show you some of that activity. They can be helpful to kind of get an idea of what's going on. AI search tools, like I said, use information from your blogs to help
[2:22] build answers. Sometimes they do mention you and link to you. Other times, they may use your information without putting your name there. You'll never know. What you can see is whether people are searching for your name or business
[2:39] or clicking through from AI tools when that traffic is identifiable. And then there are people who come to your website because somebody referred them. They met you or they want to know more before deciding whether to work with you.
[2:55] What are they going to find when they get there? This is where the three kinds of blogs come in. Now, this is a Jennie-ism. The three types of blogs can definitely overlap. But knowing the main purpose of the blog itself helps you decide what to
[3:12] write and what to put in it. The first type of blog is your SEO blog. We write this one for Google. We go and we do our keyword research. We make sure that it aligns with the questions that people are asking. We put
[3:29] our experience in there. We make sure and let Google know about any of our certifications, anything that will help it to determine that we are an expert and have a right and a reason to be teaching this, to be
[3:44] saying this. These need to be coming out at least once a month. Depending on where you're at in your SEO journey, you may need to be doing these once a week. We want to get on the first page of
[3:59] Google for a keyword term that people are looking for. That's a key. Before we switch keywords and before we slow down the amount of blogs that we're putting out.
[4:15] So, SEO blogs we're doing SEO. All right? I'll do a separate video on some great SEO tips for your website that aren't as difficult as you've been told. The next type of blog are
[4:31] the resource blogs. So, you've got clients coming into your business. You have people who call you that don't become clients. Either they're not a fit or they can't afford it or for some reason you don't want to work with them.
[4:47] All those are legitimate. Um but we need some kind of resources for them sometimes. You know, the person that you're going to try and hook up with somebody else might need something in the interim. Uh that new client might need to understand something about what you do
[5:05] before you meet the first time. Or you may run into a common stumbling block and you may want to give them something to look at it uh between sessions. That's what these are for. These are your reference blogs. These are the ones that you send people
[5:22] to on a regular basis to say, "Hey, you know, when we were talking, you mentioned imposter syndrome. I really want you to go over and I want you to read this blog about imposter syndrome and reset sessions so we can decide if that's something that you need
[5:38] for imposter syndrome this time. Um or, you know, you mentioned procrastination. I really want to nail down what kind of procrastination we're dealing with and where the stop is. So, if you'll go back and read this scan blog so that that way I make sure that I
[5:55] know next time we meet, are we dealing with strategy clarity alignment or do we need to look at something deeper and do a reset? So, we give them these resources for between sessions instead of sessions, in addition to sessions.
[6:11] That's what a resource blog is. So, so far we have an SEO blog and a resource blog. Now, can that resource blog have SEO in it? Yes. You don't have to write it as a completely separate kind of blog, but that's not your purpose
[6:28] for writing it. That is a side effect that you go, "Oh, you know what? I need to write an SEO blog and I need to write this resource blog. How can I get some SEO into that resource blog?" It's not that hard. The third type of blog,
[6:44] this is the I just want to write a blog. I've got something to say. Uh these are your holiday blogs. These are your event blogs. Um I have a whole series of blogs on election stress because
[6:59] it happens. It's been very stressful these last few elections, right? These are the I heard this in the news and I want to set some things straight. These are the heart blogs, the things that it's just like, "Ooh, I have
[7:15] something to say." Now, these can be a flash in the pan. My election blogs get traction right before an election and then disappear
[7:30] because nobody's looking up election stress on November 4th, right? Christmas blogs, they go away in January. You can refresh them, but once they're done, they do their big
[7:45] bang if they're going to bang off at all, and they're gone. And it's okay. Leave them there. Don't worry about SEO. Don't worry about any of that. Write it because that's part of who you are.
[8:01] Okay? All three types of blogs may or may not get read. But when they do get read, it helps your client to either be a hell yes or a hell no.
[8:18] And that is what we want more than anything else. We want clients who love us for who we are and want to work with us. That is another big piece of what blogs
[8:33] can do. They tell the world who you are. They can be reused for all of your social media. So, you have a consistent profile everywhere.
[8:49] They are important. They tell Google you're alive and still breathing and still kicking because there are thousands thousands of websites that are set up every single day that get abandoned. The companies go under. The companies
[9:05] were never started. And you don't have to be one. You need to let Google know you're alive, who you serve, and why you're serving them. And blogs are an amazing way to do that. So, you're going to want to blog regularly.
[9:21] Write something useful. Answer questions that your audience is asking. Do your keyword research. Bring your experience. Bring the expertise. Give people a reason to want to engage in the information. Okay, so now that you've picked what kind of blog you
[9:38] need, now we've got to put it on the calendar and write it. Do the thing. What comes up? Is there still that resistance there? Because now we know what we need to write. We know how often we need to write it.
[9:54] We understand why we're writing it. Are we missing some pieces, some clarity? Are we looking for alignment? Does it like I just I don't write well or I don't organize this thing well. Or is there something deeper
[10:10] that is just making you feel blah when you think about it? Because if so, we need to figure out where the problem is. Cuz I can tell you all day long the kind of blogs and how often to write a blog. And then I believe in blogs still.
[10:26] But if you don't write it, it doesn't matter. So, if you are still thinking to yourself, "I don't think I'm going to write a blog." I want you to go back to the scan videos that I'll link below.
[10:41] And actually look at it. Is it a strategy that fits your practice? If you need SEO, if you need AI recommending you, it probably is. Number two, do you have clarity about how to write a blog?
[10:59] Number three, is it aligned with you? Can you write it in a way that makes sense for your body, your nervous system, the way your brain works, the way your schedule works? And if all of those things are good,
[11:15] but you still can't do it, then we need to ask now what, and we need to think about a reset session. Check those videos out. I'll see you next week. Let me know what kind of video you prefer. This was a lot more fun just talking to you and telling
[11:32] you what I think you need. Let me know.
