Blogging has traditionally been one of the fastest and easiest ways to get started as a writer. Your own business blog helps you…
- build your portfolio,
- attract clients,
- earn your first paycheck,
- land your first retainer gig, and
- expand and grow your business.
However, there’s a new player on the scene these days. It’s a competitor that never gets tired, never runs out of ideas, never suffers writer’s block, and at the same time…
- takes mere seconds to do complex research,
- makes instant edits, and
- churns out decent content on almost any topic.
Yep. You guessed it. We’re talking about artificial intelligence (AI). Programs like ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing, and Google’s new Gemini are either the best thing since sliced bread… or a precursor to Armageddon.
Now, living the writer’s life is all about figuring out what works to sell our services, and what services we can confidently offer our clients… and that means figuring out where new technologies like AI tools fit in.
Is AI Killing Traditional Blogging?
Some people are excited about AI and all the opportunities it offers. Others are concerned it’s destroying any possibility of making a living by blogging. After much research and thought, I see two unavoidable ways AI is changing how we can use blogging to grow our writing businesses:
- An overabundance of new content being added to the web — some of it high-quality and some of it only so-so.
- A changing SEO landscape.
These two things are throwing how we (or our clients) earn traffic from search engines like Google into question. The good news is, if you can get creative with solving these problems, blogging is not only not dead, but you can conceivably make even more money than ever before.
AI Creates Great Content… for Computers
If you feed it the right prompts, AI can create a quality result. There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of these tools to build your business faster. I personally use ChatGPT to create outlines and help build my “Ugly First Draft.” However, I’m careful about letting AI write large chunks of my content for two reasons:
- I don’t want to lose my ability to write well.
- The more AI input your piece has, the less it will connect with your human audience.
It’s not easy to define, but AI content has an inhuman flavor, one that becomes more apparent the more you encounter it. For myself, after I read any AI-generated content, I still feel hungry for that connection with another human mind.
AI’s content generally satisfies the demands of algorithms, which might explain why we’re seeing so much of it… while leaving readers with a feeling of vague dissatisfaction with the results.
Provide That Deeper Connection
Ironically, the best way to make sure we’re not outmoded by AI is to loosen up and allow our personalities and passions to shine through in our writing a little bit more.
Have some fun! Find joy in your message and be authentic in your presentation.
We still need to create quality content, of course… but, especially when it comes to creating a blog, our focus needs to be on the value of our topic, as well as how unique and human we can make it.
Someone who’s doing this very well is Ilise Benun. While I’ve lost track of other content creators, Ilise continues to show up in my YouTube and LinkedIn feeds.
Ilise is totally focused on how small businesses can market themselves. Her unique tone, deep passion, and quiet sense of fun and humor make her irresistible. Whether it’s a YouTube short or an AWAI article, I always leave Ilise’s content feeling satisfied.
Let Computers Talk to Each Other
The second AI problem — changing SEO standards — is the more challenging part of the equation. Search engines — notably Google — are evolving:
Here, Google’s new AI program is scouring free articles and other available content and providing the answer to my “Lord of the Rings” question on the front page in a handy-dandy little paragraph. Which means I’ve no reason to dig deeper and discover other creators.
This can affect our ability to be discovered by new clients through our blogging efforts.
The good news on this front is, as people are starting to feel a hunger for human connection more pressingly, they’re more actively seeking options to connect with primarily human contributors and readers.
Even better news for you, as a blogger, is people are now more willing than ever to pay for access to that type of human content. It almost seems counterintuitive that, in a marketplace suddenly saturated by content, people are happy to pay for even more. However, AI has very kindly created that hunger for us.
How to Grow Your Blog on Medium
At the time of publication, the content site Medium.com is probably one of the BEST places to circumvent the AI problem, so you can grow your business blogging.
This idea was shared by my mentor, who writes and publishes and has attracted clients on the site. I’m currently working to finish my content strategy and join her in this exciting new frontier.
Medium is a membership site, not unlike Digital Copywriter.
There’s a free option, but to get any value off the site, you need to pay for membership, which starts at $5 a month, or $50 a year. This money primarily goes toward paying content creators.
Whenever someone on Medium reads and — more importantly — claps for an article, Medium directs a portion of your membership fee toward that writer.
And… Medium just lowered the bar to monetization. It used to be you needed 100 followers before you could start getting paid. Now you can earn money with zero followers.
Granted, Medium is not a get-rich-quick scheme. As my mentor said, “It’s more of a get-rich-slowly scheme.”
More Medium Goodies
Many official newsletters, magazines, and publications have homes on Medium — or are on Medium exclusively. So, in addition to publishing content yourself, you can also pitch your ideas to these editors to get them broadcast more widely.
Another great feature to Medium is their signature “Boost,” where Medium may choose to highlight select editor-recommended articles.
Even better, Medium is fundamentally opposed to AI content. Which means the site’s becoming a safe space for human writers and readers to connect. In fact, there’s some severe penalties if Medium catches you publishing AI-generated content as your own on the site. They’ve also gone to bat against the AI programs to fight for fair treatment of content creators.
You can hear all about the most current basics of Medium as an opportunity on this incredible interview, but to sum up, Medium’s a low-stress way to:
- publish content,
- experiment and test your content topics and style,
- build some street cred,
- start making money (slowly-and-steadily),
- connect with publications and editors, and
- get sitewide recognition for your work (i.e., attract clients).
Right now, Medium’s an exciting environment with some real growth potential that’s attracting motivated writers and potential clients! Plus, it completely circumvents the SEO and AI content headaches.
Other Ways to Expand Your Blog
There are a couple of other sites that, like Medium, combine the reach of social media with the ability to create content. One is Newsbreak, which I’ve heard great things about, but it’s a little more focused on travel and local news items.
Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of a few other monetization sites worth exploring. Plus, some more traditional methods to grow your blog are still viable options:
- LinkedIn Newsletters
This is a free feature anyone can easily turn on. While you still must provide free content, the newsletter feature drops your articles into your subscriber’s inbox. You’ll have to work extra hard to stand out, if you follow this route, and you may want to consider using your free newsletter more as an advertisement for your premium content.
- Create Your Own Subscription
The best way to really cement your authority as a top blogger (and set your own price) may be to charge for a premium blog on your own site. This may be more of a next-level step once you’ve built an audience using other platforms, but it’s worth considering.
- Video Content
I know being on the camera scares most of us, but one of the few ways you can still hit the top of Google search for answered questions and how-to content is via video. It’s also a great way to stand out on LinkedIn, Facebook, and — with the right messaging — even YouTube.
Go Forth and Blog!
While AI and a changing search landscape do present us with unique challenges as bloggers, I hope I’ve given you some light at the end of the tunnel. Blogging is still alive, relevant, and necessary. And really, while I’ve tried to share the cream of the crop of the ways to make money blogging, it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
I encourage you to go out and explore your options and refuse to accept the current “limitations.”
Whether you’re a beginner or experienced, a blog is still one of the best ways to share your ideas, prove your value to clients, grow your audience, and make money.
It’s also one of the most readily marketable skills a copywriter can have.
So, go forth, and BLOG! (And have fun, make money, and become famous, while you’re at it.)
