Should You Outsource Your Company Blog?

August 18, 2008, 9:48 am

Should You Outsource Your Company Blog?

Posted by Kelly Spors

There's no question entrepreneurs are strapped for time and can benefit by outsourcing things like payroll or administrative work. But, outsourcing your company blog?

Some technology consultants are pitching "blog management" services to companies they say want the benefits of blogging but are too busy to manage a blog themselves. They do everything from writing pithy, thought-provoking posts about a company or industry to managing comments and getting a blog better play on search engines.

I spoke with one such company, MoreVisibility, a search-marketing consultant in Boca Raton, Fla. About a year and a half ago, MoreVisibility began selling blogging services, including building a blog, writing and maintenance.

The company brainstorms "hot topics" to blog about with its clients and then its search-marketing-experts-slash-copywriters write "keyword rich" posts on those topics, says Danielle Leitch, executive vice president. The ghostwriter also embeds relevant links in the posts and lets clients review the posts before they're published.

MoreVisibility charges clients about $500 a month for one weekly post to about $2,000 a month for daily posts. It also charges a one-time fee starting at $2,000 for setting up the blog. The company manages blogs for about 20 businesses, Ms. Leitch adds.

The main reason companies outsource their blog, she says, is lack of time. But also many companies like the idea of having someone handle it who understands search-engine optimization and has the technical know-how to best write and market a blog.

One client, PoliSeek Insurance Agency, an El Segundo, Calif., start-up auto insurer, pays MoreVisibility about $500 a month to write a weekly blog post on topics like the dangers of chatting on a cellphone while driving and tips for teen drivers.

"To find time to do the blogging and do it accurately and make it work, we just didn't have time to fit it in," says Kim Riddle, PoliSeek's marketing manager. The insurer's lawyers review all the posts before they go up.

Though outsourcing a blog may be a tempting idea, some social-media experts don't think it's such a smart move. The whole point of blogging, they say, is having an authentic voice and giving customers a more personal connection to the company. Hiring a ghostwriter defeats the purpose. "You will get a better response from the public/community when you are the one writing," social media blogger Kyle Lacy writes.

Readers, do you think outsourcing a blog can be a good solution for a time-strapped entrepreneur? Or should businesses make the time to do it themselves?