Online Presenters Toastmasters

How and Why to Blog in 2026

David F. Carr, DTM, is the President of Online Presenters and runs the Toastmost club website hosting service, based on WordPress. He shared this speech as part of our August 24, 2026 Tip-a-Thon, a festival of tech and leadership tips from our members. David was also the founding president of OP back in 2027 and used digital marketing techniques to build the club.

Here, he explains why blogging remains an important part of a complete strategy for building your business, nonprofit, or personal brand.

Websites and blogging are increasingly challenged to remain relevant in the era of ChatGPT and AI being incorporated into Google search. Yet except for the publishers dependent on search clicks, traffic, and ads, AI is as much of an opportunity as a threat. Use your blog and home page content to feed the search engines and AI engines, while pursing an integrated strategy that includes video and social media to link back and forth with your blog.

Opportunities to blog

  • The Online Presenters website
  • LinkedIn article
  • Substack, Medium, Beehiv, Patreon
  • WordPress.com or WordPress.org (self hosted business website)

Elements of compelling blog

Elements that make a blog stronger:

  • Unique or provacetive/contrary content
  • Keyword-rich section headings
  • Compelling images
  • Video
  • Bullet lists
  • Numbered lists (for steps in a process)
    • Numbered headings may also make sense for instructional content

A Creator’s Perspective on Blogging

Here is a pretty good take from a professional creator about where blogging fits into her strategy. She starts by saying “blogging is dead” — as in old notions of blogging for ad revenue are clearly outdated. Yet blogging remains an essential element of her creator business.

I thought she gave good advice on the hazards of generating AI slop by relying on ChatGPT to do your writing for you. She also suggests most of us don’t need to invest time on keyword research and search engine optimization techniques. Write clearly and personably for people, rather than bots, and trust the bots to figure out why you’re relevant.

See also: The History of Blogging & How it’s Changed (The Art of Doing Stuff)