A client just showed me a draft blog post one of his outsourced workers “wrote” and it was an atrocious waste of time that gives blogging (and outsourced workers) a bad name.
It was a bland collection of sweet terms like “when it comes to xzy” we “help our clients achieve the best possible results”.
To my client’s credit, he pushed back and asked if they’d really written it. They confessed they’d used the worst AI writing tool, ChatGPT. And it sounded like it. In fact, it read like a testimonial the client never gave, written by someone who wasn’t there!
What should they have done? What can we do to squeeze the best value out of blogging? Here are some guidelines and examples.
Why Should I Blog When Google Steals All The Clicks
With Googe hording most of the clicks from its search engine (it tends to display an answer rather than just give a list of links to click), it’s easy to dismiss blogging and organic content as a waste of time.
However, nothing could be further from the truth.
This is not an era of easy wins in search engine optimisation, so do not let yourself get sucked in by the shysters who are promising hundreds of blogs at the push of a button. That gets you right where my client was: nowhere, or worse.
To succeed, we need to understand what role search plays in 2026.
Firstly, now more than ever, google’s so-called Search Generative Experience or SGE, and ChatGPT when it’s used as a search engine don’t just look for keyword like in the olden days. They are definitely looking for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust (E-E-A-T).
Applying E-E-A-T In The Real World For Effective Blogging
To give Google AI and ChatGPT the meat they are looking for in the forest of bony websites made of brittle nothingness (oh, what a mixed metaphor that was), we need to focus on what our ideal customers crave.
This means when someone is searching for a reliable wedding cake provider in the Adelaide Hills, these smart search tools want to get their teeth into something more than keyword frosting.
- Use specific examples in your blog posts because AI tools love latching onto specific statistics. They’ve been trained to sniff out such items like truffle dogs because they season results with “evidence”. This is also why they will often make stats up if they can’t find any.
- Decide what your hook is, and lead with it. The hook is the novel thing, the unexpected, the insight that challenges our assumptions. I started this with the incident that promted me to write this article. What is your hook?
- How To is a great opener and title because it forces you to create content in a way that helps people make better choices, while building your trust and authority.
- Include a local connection, especially if you are focussing on a local market and your story can involve someone or something known to your audience. Even if you are not focussing on a local market, Leonard Cohen’s insight is important: in the particular, we find the universal. Specific stories just carry more weight and most of us can apply the insights to our situations on-the-fly.
- Give us some technical particulars, too, don’t gloss over them with ‘we provided the most optimal solution” or other bland, lazy jargon. Did you need to weigh up a choice between two material types? Were they reasons for making decisions that might be obvious to the untrained person?
- True, effective marketing does its work without using “marketing speak”. This means we BAN the use of phrases like “meaningful moment”, “collaborative process”, “every step is handled with attention to detail”, and other clichés. They are “filler” words that people skip over at best, or decide to leave the article at worst.
If you skip over actually providing “helpful tips”, you just signal to Google and the world that your website is just another “thin” affiliate-style storefront, trying to make money from doing the least amount of work.
I have handwritten this post to this point. However, I will finish with two examples. I asked Claude to change the terrible blog draft I mentioned at the beginning of this post (to protect the innocent), so you can see what not to do. They I guided Claude to try applying E-E-A-T principles. The second is not perfect, but would stand a better chance of succeeding while hopefully inspiring you to dig deeper for the world’s benefit and your own.
A Bad Example Of Blogging And A Better Attempt
From Order to Oven: How BreadCraft Bakery Delivered Sarah’s Wedding Cake Right on Time
When it comes to celebrating love, it’s more than just a cake — it’s about joy, elegance, and sharing a perfect moment with the people who matter most.
Recognising the importance of getting the centrepiece just right, Sarah Mitchell, a bride-to-be from the Adelaide Hills, partnered with BreadCraft Bakery to produce a stunning three-tier wedding cake. What followed was more than just a standard order — it was a collaborative process focused on achieving the best possible result for her special day.
From the outset, the BreadCraft team provided hands-on support, working closely with Sarah to refine the design, recommend the most suitable flavours, and suggest the best decorating techniques. Every decision was made with purpose — to create a cake that not only looked breathtaking but also offered exceptional taste, elegant presentation, and standout craftsmanship, all while remaining cost-effective.
With the wedding day approaching, timing was critical — made all the more challenging by the fact that the celebration fell on AFL Grand Final day. This is where BreadCraft truly delivered. Through efficient production and a commitment to reliability, and despite the significance of the day on the sporting calendar, we ensured the cake was completed and ready for collection exactly when it was needed.
On the morning of the wedding, Sarah’s mother called in to see the cake. It was. What could have been a simple check-up turned into a meaningful moment, as she had a chance to chat with Glenn Marsh, owner of BreadCraft Bakery, who had made sure everything was in order before the first bounce. It’s this personal touch — combined with professionalism — that sets BreadCraft apart.
Most importantly, Glenn got the cake to the venue on time, ready to take centre stage. The finished product didn’t just meet expectations — it helped strengthen a sense of celebration and joy throughout the entire reception.
This project is a true reflection of what BreadCraft stands for: delivering high-quality custom products with speed, care, and genuine support. From concept to completion, every step is handled with attention to detail, ensuring a seamless and stress-free experience.
Because at BreadCraft, it’s not just about baked goods — it’s about helping couples like Sarah and James stand out, build memories, and create lasting impressions.
Glenn Marsh Missed The First Quarter Of The Grand Final So BreadCraft Bakery Could Deliver Sarah’s Wedding Cake Right on Time
The phone call came in six weeks before the AFL Grand Final. Sarah Mitchell was getting married that Saturday — yes, that Saturday — and she needed a three-tier wedding cake delivered to a venue in Hahndorf by 11am.
Glenn Marsh, who has been baking wedding cakes at BreadCraft Bakery in Unley for fourteen years, didn’t hesitate.
“Grand final day is actually one of our busiest Saturdays of the year for deliveries,” Glenn says. “People assume we’ll be closed or distracted. We’re not. If anything, we’re more organised because we know the morning has a hard deadline — for us and for our clients.”
The cake itself took three conversations to get right
Sarah came in knowing she wanted something elegant but not fussy. What she didn’t know was which flavour combination would hold up through a four-hour reception in the Adelaide Hills in September heat.
“A lot of couples don’t realise that a buttercream finish, as beautiful as it looks in photos, can soften significantly in warm conditions,” Glenn explains. “We ended up going with an Italian meringue buttercream on the outer tier and a fondant wrap on the base, which gave Sarah the look she wanted without the risk of a collapse mid-reception.”
The three tiers — lemon elderflower, dark chocolate raspberry, and classic vanilla bean — were chosen after a tasting session that Sarah later described as “the best hour of the entire wedding planning process.”
Grand final morning
Glenn was at the bakery by 5:30am. The cake was assembled, boxed, and chilled by 8am. Then he loaded it carefully into the van himself and drove out to Hahndorf.
“The Hills highway on a grand final morning is actually pretty quiet,” Glenn says. “Which is exactly how you want it when you’re transporting three tiers of Italian meringue buttercream.”
He had the cake in place at the venue, met the venue coordinator, and was back in his car by 1:15pm. The first bounce was at 2:30pm.
What other couples should know before ordering a wedding cake
Based on fourteen years and several hundred wedding cakes, Glenn offers three pieces of advice that most bakeries don’t volunteer upfront.
Order a tasting before you fall in love with a photo. “Instagram has created a generation of couples who choose cakes based on appearance and then discover on the day that they don’t actually like the flavour. Taste first, design second.”
Ask about your venue’s refrigeration situation. “Some rural venues have no cool room. That changes everything about what we can recommend. We’d rather know early than get a panicked call on the morning.”
Build in a delivery buffer. “If your ceremony starts at 2pm, you don’t want the cake arriving at 1:45pm. Aim for it to be in place by midday. That gives you time to breathe and gives us time to fix anything that shifted in transit.”
The finished cake
Sarah sent a photo through that evening — a three-second video, actually, of the cake being cut, the layers visible, the guests leaning in. Glenn showed it to his apprentice the following Monday as an example of what an Italian meringue buttercream looks like after four hours in October conditions.
It looked exactly as it should.
If you’re planning a wedding, corporate event, or milestone celebration and you’d like to talk through what’s actually possible — including the awkward questions about heat, transit, and timing — Glenn is happy to have that conversation before you commit to anything.