To Blog Or Not To Blog That Is The Question?

The importance of blogging is talked about all the time. But is it really THAT important?

If you've opened your inbox anytime lately you'll know that everyone is either trying to sell you a blogging package or are preaching about the benefits of blogging.

But is it really any better than just sending your articles out to the article directories to get traffic?

I don't believe so and here are 4 reasons why.

1. Blogs are time consuming.

Writing to a blog on a consistent basis can take up a lot of time or your time. You've got ideas to some up with and you need to deliver quality posts or you'll never keep a big readership.

Compare that to writing article that takes up less time and you can write an article whenever you get the inclination to write one. Plus you can vary your topic's everyday. Write an article on dog training one day, weight loss products the next. (Something you could do if you had a blog only based on one subject)

2. Is everyone actually blogging?

Yes, I know there are a few genuine blogger's out there who provide genuine unique content. But if you visit the majority of blogs online (that claim they're blogs) you'll see that they're only full of other people contents either in the form or a small excerpt leading to another blog or articles they've downloaded from the main article directories.

But if you're writing articles you're forced to write unique content that that's not out there already. Plus you'll get the full credit it for it and look like an expert. (Rather than a middle man who knows nothing about his topic and is only hoping for a couple of clicks on his adsense ads.)

3. Blogs can drop out of the search engines.

Yes, a blog is a great way of getting noticed by the search engines and picked up but if you're not blogging on a consistent basis you find your blog and posts slowly falling down in page rank and search results until they disappear.

Compare this to having your article that's in an article directory the majority of which actually climb up in page rank and increasing traffic. Plus if your website is only new why not just submit an article to an article directory and then just "Digg" your post or "Stumble It" on the social networking sites. Digg has a high page rank and you'll find your site getting spidered very quickly plus you'll also get a lot of free traffic on your very first day.

4. Do blogs really get read that much? Even if you have a blog with great posts does anybody really read them all? The majority of people who visit blogs usually only stay around for 2-3 posts at most before moving on to do something else online.

If you're writing a blog you can get attached to it ("your online baby") and because you've spent so much time writing to it, looking for subjects to write about etc, and when people spend more than a few minutes on it, it can knock your confidence and make you wonder if it really was worth while.

But with an article you spend hour or so putting it together and sent it on its merry way and it does well that's great and if it doesn't do well, back to the "drawing board" and try again (no harm done).

Conclusion

After reading this article you may be wondering am I totally against blog and blogging and the answer is "No."

I do think there are some great bloggers out there that give great content but I think a lot of people are being mislead into thinking that blogging is a type of "set it and forget" way of making money online which its not.

Instead I think if you've got something to say put it done it in an article instead. This way you're not making as big a commitment both in time and money and who knows you'll probably end up on someone's blog further down the line and increase your profile and traffic to your site. Something you were looking for in the first place.