Is it fair to hire a writer for a company blog?

Martin:  For the past year or so, I’ve been seeing advertisements by companies wanting to hire writers to blog for them. Many show they don’t value the writer by offering writers $10 for a 300-400 word blog, or to write for them because the writer will get great visibility and experience. But some are more serious and understand that it’s not just about hiring someone just to fill blogspace with blather but really about hiring a writer with copywriting or journalism experience who can contribute meaningful ideas and content.

Both approaches raise the question—is it fair for companies to even buy writers to do this? I’ve ghosted hundreds of articles for companies and individuals with no qualms. So what is it that makes me queasy about companies hiring writers to blog?

My knee jerk response is no, that’s counter to the blogger’s code. Then after some reflection, my answer is why not? Companies hire writers to do their annual reports, marketing collateral, ad copy, their Website and a blog is just another extension of a company’s communication.

The crux of the issue is that like ghostwriting, the writer has not only to know your audience and your subject matter, but also the person and the company you’re writing for. It takes effort to bring all these together. Someone writing for a blog for a dime (or less) a word can’t do that. Their interest is more on quantity—and in amounts even prodigious Isaac Asimov was capable of—if they are going to make even a fair living.

And that’s at the heart of my issue. Companies don’t often trade off quantity for quality in their communications. It’s too important to their image. They spend a lot of time and effort to get their messages right. And they want them integrated well into their external communications. So they don’t want to hire someone who’s just blogging for bucks.

Fair disclosure also applies here. While it’s easy to not disclose ghostwriting for print, it’s not appropriate to for blogging. If a blogger is really ghosting for an executive, then say that the blog is by both the executive and the writer. That’s what they do in the book world when you see and expert’s or celebrity’s name on the book cover followed by “and” someone else. But for this level of visibility, the writer needs to significantly contribute to the effort and not just transcribe the executive’s notes.

So my opinion is that it’s fine to hire writer to write for a corporate blog. But hire one who can knit together the company, the subject, appeal to the company’s audience and add significant ideas at the same time.