I got on Zoom with a content marketing agency owner the other day.

He asked me about starting a newsletter business.

And I asked him about the reality of running a content marketing agency.

An exchange of ideas.

“I could have expletives on the homepage and nobody would notice,” he said about his agency website. “It’s all but useless for finding clients”

Instead, this agency owner sources most of his clients from word-of-mouth referrals and pitches. His website is a form of social proof, nothing more.

This agency owner is busy publishing content on LinkedIn and building an email list. He takes that more seriously. An expletive in either of those places would stand out.

And another agency owner in Ireland told me his website drives 0 business. “I don’t spend much time working on it,” he said. “Clients don’t find us from search.”

Instead, this agency owner sources clients from his network.

So are websites a waste of time today?

I spent years building and writing on content websites and blogs.

Writing on a personal website or blog is a harder game to play than back in 2020 or even 2016. Standing out in search is hard.

Most readers’ attention spans are frazzled.

They’re too busy swiping madly on their social media app of choice than searching for a random article on a content website.

And that’s before factoring in how AI has lowered the bar for what qualifies as content.

Even then, you’re lucky if a reader spends more than 60 seconds scanning an article that took hours to write (or a few minutes to generate).

And yet…

A big difference exists between agency owners and online writers.

An agency owner gets paid to deliver content for another business. They don’t have to write this content themselves.

Meanwhile, a writer publishes online, usually under their byline.

They enjoy the act of filling a screen with words.

They get a kick out of pressing publish.

To get paid to write today, and you can do both…

Find your ideal client.

(They’re probably on LinkedIn).

Pitch them your writing services.

Then, get paid to create content for them.

And…

Write authentic, personal content that you enjoy… the type that AI can never generate.

Publish it on your personal website.

But treat that site like a newsletter.

(That’s easy with ConvertKit and Substack.)

Using this approach, you can capture the email addresses of readers.

Every time you press publish, they get your latest articles… right in their inbox.

If your work lands in their inbox, readers are far more likely to consume it.

Then, to get paid, make regular offers for your books, courses, and services.