Writing a blog post yourself takes a business owner, in practice, three to five hours, from choosing a topic to publishing it. At an hourly rate of CHF 120, that's CHF 360 to 600 per post, which never shows up in any accounts. The bigger problem isn't the effort, it's keeping it up: without a fixed rhythm, the blog stalls after a few posts. Writing it yourself makes sense if you enjoy writing, one post a month is enough, and your voice is the product.
The decision to write your company blog yourself is rarely made consciously. It happens because it seems obvious: you know your field, you can write, and a subscription costs money. This page isn't here to talk you out of it. It's here to show what that path really costs, so the decision is made consciously.
The time calculation for one post
The following example shows a guide-style post of around 1,000 words, written by a business owner who knows their field but doesn't write every day. The times are based on experience, not measurement.
| Work step | Time | What often goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Finding and narrowing down a topic | 30 minutes | People write about what interests them, not what's actually being searched for |
| Research (regulations, figures, examples) | 45 minutes | If skipped, the concrete details are missing |
| Writing the first draft | 90 to 120 minutes | The first paragraph eats up half the time |
| Revising, shortening, adding subheadings | 30 minutes | Often skipped, because you're just glad to be done |
| Finding or creating an image | 20 minutes | The licensing question doesn't get sorted |
| Publishing in the CMS: title, description, internal links | 30 minutes | Meta description and links are missing |
| Total | around 4 to 4.5 hours |
At an hourly rate of CHF 120, which a tradesperson or trustee might charge for their time, the post costs CHF 480 to 540. At one post per week, that's around CHF 2,000 a month, which never appears in any accounts but is very much felt as evening and weekend work. At one post per month, it's CHF 500, which many find manageable.
This calculation is deliberately simple. It doesn't apply if you write quickly and enjoy it; in that case, the times are roughly halved. It applies all the more if writing takes real effort for you.
The problem of keeping it up
The hours are the smaller problem. The bigger one is that after the fifth post, those hours simply stop being found. There's no statistic we could cite for this, but there's a pattern that keeps coming up in conversations with business owners:
- In January, three posts appear because the resolution is still fresh.
- In March, a big order comes in and the blog waits.
- In June, the last post from February is still at the top of the page, dated, visible to every visitor.
- By autumn, the hurdle to start again is higher than at the beginning, because you'd feel you owe your readers an explanation.
A blog works through rhythm, not individual pieces. Google ranks pages individually, but a blog with 40 posts on related questions covers a topic properly, a blog with 5 posts doesn't. You can find out what frequency is realistic for an SME under how often a blog post should be published. And if you already have a blog that's gone quiet, you'll find your way back under reviving a dormant company blog.
The reason a blog goes quiet is almost never laziness. There are three things missing when you write it yourself: a stock of topics (coming up with something new every week is the biggest hurdle), a deadline set by someone else, and a process that keeps running even when you don't have time.
What a system takes off your plate, and what it doesn't
A blogging system solves exactly these three points: it supplies topics based on search queries, it keeps the weekly rhythm, and it publishes the post. What it doesn't supply is your voice and your story from last week, unless you put that in yourself.
| Task | Writing it yourself | Blog system |
|---|---|---|
| Finding a topic | You, from scratch every week | System, from search data |
| Research and draft text | You, 2 to 3 hours | System |
| Expert review | Not needed (you already know it) | You, 10 to 15 minutes |
| Personal examples | Automatically included | Only if you provide them |
| Image, publishing, linking | You, around 50 minutes | System |
| Keeping to a rhythm | Your discipline | Fixed schedule with option to pause |
| Costs | Your time | Monthly subscription plus 15 minutes per post |
Anyone who uses ChatGPT as writing help instead lands in the middle: the draft text goes faster, but topic, rhythm and publishing remain your responsibility. The page Using ChatGPT yourself or a blog system compares this approach.
When writing it yourself is the right choice
There are businesses for which the subscription would be the wrong path, and a page on a blog system website should say so openly:
- You enjoy writing. If writing the post on a Sunday morning is a pleasure rather than a duty, the maths works out differently. Enjoyment isn't a cost factor.
- Your voice is the product. Consultants, coaches, therapists, architects: anyone who wins clients through their own stance should put that stance into words themselves, at least for the important posts.
- One post a month is enough. In niches with little competition and for businesses that are already fully booked, one good post a month can be enough. Then four to five hours a month are manageable.
- You're a sole trader with a writing routine. Anyone who already writes newsletters, quotes and reports has the routine that others lack.
- The budget is zero. Then writing it yourself isn't the better option, it's the only option, and one post a month beats no post at all.
The middle ground
Many business owners end up choosing neither extreme, but a split: once a month they write the post that matters to them, with the customer story and their own opinion. The weekly guides on pricing questions, processes and regulations that customers google come from the system. A blog system like BlogPilot is built for this split: the weekly rhythm runs on its own, and alongside it you publish what only you can write.
Five questions to help you decide
- How many posts have I actually written in the last twelve months, not planned, but written?
- What does an hour of my time cost, and how many hours a month am I willing to put into this?
- Who sets the deadline if I don't keep it myself?
- Where do the topics for the next twelve weeks come from?
- Which of my posts need my voice, and which just need a correct answer?
Anyone who answers question 1 with "fewer than six" already has the answer to the original question. Anyone who says "twenty" probably doesn't need a system, at most some help with publishing.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to write a blog post with 1'000 words?
Experienced writers need around two to three hours for research, writing and revising, less experienced ones more like four to six. On top of that come the image, publishing in the CMS and linking. There's no reliable statistic on this, the range comes from conversations with business owners.
Is a self-written post better for Google?
Not automatically. Google judges whether a text answers the searcher's question, not who wrote it. A self-written post with genuine experience can rank very well if it's well structured and regularly gets company. A single good post in an otherwise empty blog doesn't move much.
Can I write it myself and still use a system?
Yes, that's a common model. You write the post that matters to you once a month, the system delivers the weekly guides on the questions customers google. Both types link to each other, and the rhythm holds even in busy weeks.
What about dictating instead of writing?
Dictating cuts writing time in half for many people, because talking about your own field comes more easily than typing. But the transcript still needs structure, subheadings and trimming, which takes time again. As input for a copywriter or a system, though, a dictation is very valuable.