The Blog Is Dead. Long Live The Blog

A few weeks ago, I was driving past a semi-truck graveyard just off I-70 East in Denver and happened to glance over and see an old True Value semi-trailer sitting there inert amongst the Mayflowers and Steelcases.  Written in bold lettering across the back of the True Value trailer were the words: 

Do It Right.  Or Do It Again.

I smiled and kept driving and didn’t think about it until a few weeks ago when I was reading some blogs online.  These blogs…were BAD.  I read a lot of blogs, mostly because it’s also my job to write a lot of blogs.  And as a student of them, one thing I’ve noticed as a whole is…they’re almost all crap.   Almost.  All.  Crap.  

The internet is littered with mediocre writing – and that’s not a surprise.  What has been a surprise to me, however, is how often people publish writing (mostly in the form of a blog) that is objectively terrible.  Not just terrible.  Downright BORING.  There are a lot of reasons for this, but the one that sticks out the most is this: No one is demanding that all these terrible content writers “do it right or do it again”.  No one is asking for better content; no one is holding these bad blogs accountable for jamming up the canals in our brains with poor writing.  

Till now.  Till me.  

Hello, my name is Ruben Rodriguez, and I’m here to insist that blogs should be good. 

I’m going to start by telling you why and then I’m going to tell you how (eventually).  

But first…why should blogs be better?

For The Love Of The Blog

Here’s the thing: I LOVE blogs.  When they’re well written, they can be uplifting, engaging, informative, and prompt me to buy or listen or learn.  As a runner, I read running blogs to learn how to get faster and run further.  As a musician, I read blogs to keep up with what my favorite bands or singers are doing in quarantine.  As a consumer, I read comparison blogs to know whether or not a product stacks up against its competition and to hear about people’s individual experiences with a product.  

Without blogs, I’d be a slower runner, have a poorer taste in music, and often buy things that wouldn’t actually fit my needs.  I’m a better person because of the blogs I read.  And I don’t mean that in a perfunctory or trivial way.  The blogs I read better me.  

But I can already hear some of the arguments beginning to form in the minds of people reading this.  Especially business owners… 

But Ruben, I’m not selling running shoes, or music, or consumer products; I’m a lawyer, or a financial planner, or a computer chip manufacturer.  Our product isn’t about art.  Our product doesn’t make people dance.  Our product is…well…kind of boring.    

And I totally hear that.  But if I may counter, running shoes are not that exciting.  I read about them because I love running.  Not because I love running shoes. I get excited about dietary blogs because the smoothie I make as a result might get me a mile further down the road than my usual pre-run bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  Because I love running, not creamed fruits and veggies.

But Ruben, people come to me because they NEED my product, not because they love it.

And again, totally fair.  Lots of people out there probably aren’t in love with a good legacy investment plan or the best roofing shingle to protect against hail.  But now a story: 

I wear glasses.  They aren’t prescription and I don’t do it for fashion.  I have 20\20 vision in both eyes.  But I need glasses. 

I wear them because I stare at a computer screen for most of the waking hours of my day and someone told me I should invest in a pair of blue light glasses or my eyeballs would melt and I’d never be able to fall asleep again.  That’s why I wear glasses.  But why did I buy THESE glasses?  

Because the brand blog that talked about them…was funny.  It was self-effacing, humble, and seemed to insist that the manufacturer of these glasses had taken not only my needs into account but also my bank account’s limitations and my aesthetic leanings.  It confirmed the lifestyle that I wanted to cultivate by protecting my eyes and looking damn good doing it.  

They didn’t insist that their glasses looked good.  They insisted that they would look good on me.  

Simply put, people don’t have to love your product or service for them to feel a connection to it.  They only need to feel that you are trying to make their lives better, and that through your product or service, their lives might actually be just that.     

Through A Different Lens

And this is ultimately why we need better blogs.  Not just for the sake of it (although better writing never hurt anyone). We need better blogs because we need better products and services made by better people at better companies everywhere.  As the blog goes, so goes the rest of the organization.  An exceptional blog usually isn’t crafted at a non-exceptional company.  

So how do we do it!?  

Well, the first lesson with blogs is: don’t make them too long! So we’ll be saving all the nitty gritty details for the next blog, which will be out in two weeks (lesson 2: build some anticipation).

Until then, I hope you’ll take a second look at the blogs you’ve been reading or writing.  I hope you take an inventory of the things you love about them and things you wish were different.  I believe deeply in good writing.  And I believe that we should honor people who take the time to read our work by making it the very best it can possibly be.

And that means doing it right.  Or doing it again. 

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