Ghostwriting Blogs
It’s your genius. With less pain.
I ghostwrite blogs for clients because they often don’t have time, and perhaps writing like this just doesn’t come naturally. They may see the value in blogs to expand on what they do, build credibility, provide social media content, and make themselves more referrable but they simply can’t make it happen. Professionals and experts have a lot to share, but converting that into a compelling article is not so easy. In addition to drawing out your value and skillfully writing the post, a ghostwriter is more like your audience than you are, so they can provide an objective, layman’s perspective that helps your audience relate.
A Time-consuming Task
I’ve shared Deanne Kelleher’s observation that people are going to choose to do what they enjoy first. Me too – I should be billing instead of writing this blog, but it’s my jam. As an expert in something other than marketing, you’d rather focus on your jam, and it naturally feels more important. It takes time to draft, revise, and proofread it. You should also find an accompanying photo. Then there’s actually posting and sharing it. If writing doesn’t come easily, that makes it drag on even longer. You would still need time to provide info to a ghostwriter and then review and comment on drafts, but the time commitment is much less. The more I write for a client, the better I get to know them and the faster we get to a final piece.
We Don’t Write How We Talk
This is probably a good thing, though. If you transcribed a live conversation, you’d see a lot of ums and ahs, incomplete sentences and other crimes against grammar. What I really mean is writing can feel much less natural. Experts like you talk, write reports, type emails, and communicate in other ways every day, so writing an article should be easy, right? Nope. Conversation is a stream of consciousness. With live feedback like reactions and questions, we can adapt the narrative on the fly to ensure we’ve communicated what we intended. When we sit down to purposely write something for marketing, it’s very different. Organizing thoughts into an informative, compelling article that’s grammatically correct and covers your intentions is a real skill.
Writing for Me, Not You.
Experts often don’t know how to transpose their ideas and knowledge into something their audience will enjoy reading. Or even which thoughts to use. Initial thoughts may be too high-brow because experts forget readers don’t have the experience or education they do. They’re also often excited by different aspects than the reader might be. A ghostwriter is much closer to your audience than you are. With arms-length from the expert’s field and skill in asking questions, they can pull out salient details and figure out what the reader needs to know and will care about. When my clients start talking at a very high level, my natural questions to understand often uncover the need to simplify the post or add more detail before diving-in where they thought they could start. Why? They take for granted what they know.
The Brain Dump
When I interview clients, I can ask questions for clarification and to get to the good stuff. There can be a lot to wade through to generate an article. A very experienced real estate client started every call with, “I don’t think I have anything to say.” I’d ask questions on the selected topic, and off she went. She was chock full of wisdom and interesting experiences. Even if she saw it herself, she’d never be able to get it out on paper. I had to sculpt a string of notes, anecdotes and sometimes legal rules generated around our chosen subject into an article with a proposition, supporting points and a conclusion. I’ve also written for a lawyer (posts not for her legal practice) who’d send me a draft. Lawyers have no trouble writing, but it was often very formal and wordy or too complex for a single post. I’d re-write it to appeal to the intended audience, sometimes splitting one into a series.
It's Like Me Hiring an Accountant
I could do my own taxes. It would probably be very painful and may not be done correctly. Best-case, I don’t get what I could out of it (save on taxes). Worst-case, it could damage me (like lead to an audit). Never mind not doing them at all! Using a ghostwriter can make the process much easier. It may feel somehow dishonest, like you should do it yourself, but it is still your knowledge and expertise being shared. You can even be transparent and include your ghostwriter’s name as a credit. Experts do it all the time because writing is difficult and time-consuming. They have better things to do.
Do you think my accountant writes his own newsletters?