Discussions
Is Good Content overrated?
Posted by bloggernoob • 1 year ago • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS]
Topics: content
every blog about blogging talks about how writing good content is the only way to grow your blog. i find that advice to be very overrated. www.bloggernoob.com/writing-good-contenting-is-overrated/15/
i think a blog gets popular when it's marketed right. and for those who try to make money by blogging, good content isn't the way to make money. it's all about marketing. creating buzz. dumbing down for your audience. etc
your thoughts?
User Comments
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I like writing, so I really don't care if I make a buck more or a buck less. It's the way for me to express myself and to convey my thoughts to others. It also makes me very proud that people come to my blog with their problems and leave with a resolution -
Why does it have to be an either-or proposition? Good content needs publicity to get noticed. All hype and no content won't keep readers.-
good point. i guess most discussions have to have two extremes. makes for a more interesting debate. i think writing good content is an important part of blogging, but it's overrated cause a lot of people only focus on that. and, what exactly is good content?
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Thank you, but I've done just fine with that very formula.
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I am not sure too many blogs with poor content are going to make livable incomes. I'm sure there are a lot of blogs posting crap making some money and the rare few posting crap making large amounts but generally the content on some level would have to be good, or in the case of a blogger ending up writing for money but not necessarily in their own blog the content would also have to be good. I can't say as I've never blogged for a living.-
i wasn't just talking about people who make full time income by blogging. i was just talking about people who blog part time. or people who blog has a hobby. in the beginning, the time spent on research and writing so called "good content" could be used for creating buzz instead. it'll probably help in growing the blog faster. you can always start writing good content later.
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I guess it depends if you just want buzz. In order to have buzz really you have to have content it's pretty had to buzz crap. I know it's hard to believe but some people just blog for the blog. I don't think buzz matters to the majority of bloggers - you seem people here worrying about it but this is just a very small number of bloggers really. I can say some of the best blogs I read are totally unaware or uninterested in buzz or promotion. This is why I think I am reading blogger who started for hobby four years ago and they are still blogging when a lot of those out there trying to create buzz are gone in a few months.
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Marketing IS king yes
But good content is the most valuable thing because without it there is no credibility
There's lots of crap guitar blogs, only a few decent ones that I have found so far -
Well, there's no question that crap is king--and a blog full of crap that's brilliantly marketed would probably be the best way to go if making money is your only impetus.
But, for good or for bad, this is not my fate....-
no i disagree, people don't read crap
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i agree with both. people do read crap. have you visited the magazine racks in super markets? but at the same time, if you want to a regular base of readers, u probably have to mix in some good content with the crap.
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One person's "crap" is another person's "literature." -
@bloggernoob--great point. There's crap in hard copy too, being sold at respectable (and disrespectable) stores everywhere. Lots of people aren't interested in thoughtful content--they are driven by sensationalism and bling.
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"dumbing down for your audience"
Not sure about this point generally although with make money blogs I would definitely agree since most of the audience seem to speak English as a second language-
eversince I started writing on the internet, I realise content is important for credibility (checked @acousticguitarist). Just like a good song is timeless.
I have comments on my blogs which are written in rotten english. The owner's site however have great content. Admittedly they use ghost writers.
Writing good content takes skill and lots of practise. Years ago, you don't have to make any effort to get noticed on search engines. If you think writing good content is overrated, it is probably correct in the present time since there are already millions of blogs on the internet.
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I think it depends on the type of blog you have. Good writing is great if you're looking for people who want to read. And not all people who don't want to do that are dumb, lol. I mean, maybe they just log on for a laugh and the interaction with the blog owner, etc.
Some people may not be gifted at writing but their blogs are engaging and people return. If the grammar is so bad that it's hard to read, then yes ... return visitors will be few.-
I mean it is not their grammar on the site is bad, it is their grammar on comments. It is amazing disparity in identity.
I take at least 2 days to finish a post. I want to maintain my presence on ezine. Just got my article approved again by the way. -
Yes I knew that's what you meant, I'm talking about the grammar in the post. Who cares about grammar in the comments? That's not YOUR content.
And I doubt news paper's on line are concerned about the grammar or spelling in the comments left there ... that's obvious if you ever read them. The quality of the comments doesn't reflect the blog or its contents. I don't know what ezine is but if they base a blog on the grammar of the contents it sounds goofy.
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Buzz is New Coke. Everybody tries it, maybe even comes back for seconds, but it won't last. -
Not in the least. Content absolutely is king.
However promotion is emperor.
An Emperor with weak kings won't long have an empire, and a king with no emperor is limited in what he can accomplish.-
great analogy
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That is a great way to put it, Dane. I've been struggling with the King/Queen/Prince analogy because really one can't survive without the other. It seemed to me that "king" was the wrong designation for either, since a king stands alone...but, of course, that's not entirely true. Great illustration. -
can i add god into this analogy? where god oversees the emperors that was annointed. nevermind. don't want to turn this thread into a bloddy religious debate.
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Q: bloggernoob asks:
Is Good Content overrated?
A: No. IMO unless you have good content you have nothing to market. If you are skilled at marketing "nothing" and promoting a blog that lacks original content then the readers you draw will quickly discover that and click out never to return again. -
Im not a very good writer, but i enjoy displaying beautiful images on my blog, whicn I think for some people is just as important as a medium to express your point.-
That's still "good content", Xan.
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yeah that qualifies as good content.
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One thing is for sure - good content is NOT king. It may be a prince, princess, or queen, but not the king. Promotion and networking is King. -
Here is the problem with declaring promotion to be King.
You underemphasize content, to your peril. Last year I lost everything I had built to this theory. I had tons of stuff out there. I had domains with dozens and hundreds of blogs in sub domains.
I focused entirely on promoting these pages, with just enough marginal content on them to get by with. As long as the pages were there and I could drive traffic across them I made money.
When a hacker took down my entire network, I was left with a whole bunch of promotion pointing first at the hackers phishing pages that had replaced my thin content pages, and ultimately at 404 errors as I realized that he had subverted my backups as well as taking down my pages.
Promotions pointing at nothing, yield nothing.
Thin content that disappears is not missed by anyone.
Had I placed more value on strong content, and had I leveraged that content into loayl readers that I was able to contact via a list mechanism, I would have lost relatively little. But because I focused exclusively on promotions, driving traffic through thin content blogs to affiliate sales letters, I lost every thing.
This is not a fun place to be. I spent months making half hearted efforts at rebuilding, but because i was still focusing on thin content and strong promotions, I deeply understood, that it could all be taken away again just as easily as it had been the first time.
Promotions are only good so far as they generate usable results. Passing those promotions across strong content that will turn visitors into members is ultimately a long term strategy for building a business.
Passing those promotions across thin content designed to simply move the visitor along to the sale is ultimately a short term tactic for generating an income.
In other words, both need the other to be strong. A weakness in one will bring both down.
I'm going to modify my earlier statement about kings and emperors. They are yin and yang, take either one away and you are left with half a circle. Make either one too far the superior and your circle is deformed.
Try going anywhere worth going with half a wheel, or an oblong deformed wheel, and your trip is destined to derailment.-
dane- great arugment. u know what. this could be a great blog post. it's wasted on this thread. bc should profit share for special members like you who contribute bit time.
true. you can't sell nothing. even stupid people aren't that stupid. so i think it's good to have balance. balance the right amount content with marketing to maximize your return on investment. both time and money. -
"you can't sell nothing"
True. And on the flipside, even great content can't sell itself. If no one knows it's there, it doesn't matter even a little how incredible it is. -
exactamento.
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If great content is written in the middle of the woods, does anyone read it?
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if the woodsman markets it right, yes.
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Hey...Dane...do you want to write a book with me?
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On this topic?
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Yep.
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I think you have my email, right?
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[incorrect placement]
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If the content in a blog isn't good, why on earth would someone return to that blog again and again? Good means many different thing to different people!-
Well, the thing is when you are focusing on just the promotional side of things, all your content is there for is to move people along. You aren't building loyalty or readership.
It's about moving the reader along to the money page and taking the sale. It's a very different thing from what a person who is blogging for the love of blogging is doing. It's also very different from what some one who is trying to turn blogging into a long term business should be doing.
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I dunno, I write and write, and market very little (BC is really my only place to market myself) and I still get decent traffic. Most of which developed quite naturally.
Of course, I don't have a money making blog so....perhaps my point is moot
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You are a good writer besides IMO you are one of the coolest people here. You are nice to everybody and have a very open mind. Not trying to brown nose - I just think it's true.
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Nice?!?! Anok's always mean to me!
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i second that. u are one of the nicest people on here. your point is never moot.
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Aww, thanks guys.
Dane, I'm only mean to the bald guys - it's like Jr high, I swear it. You're lucky it's only online, in person I'd hit you instead (Just ask the Mr how his arms feels on a regular basis)
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True, true. I've found that by the time advice makes it mainstream, it no longer works. Content may have monetized a blog when blogs first came out, but no more. Now it's about buzz.-
No, no, no...it's the dramatic pendulum swing that's the problem. First, it was all marketing with no content. Then it was all content and marketing was dismissed. Now we're swinging back to all buzz. It's a symbiotic relationship, and either one will die without the other.
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If content is the King and promo is the Emperor, then feedback is the Emir, CEO, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Bottle Washer of the entire operation.
When I started a year ago, I went month after month after month with nothing but 0-0-0-0-0 in my comments column. This was maddening. All that effort and I am only talking to myself.
It's feedback that is the lifeline of your entire blog operation.
Now, with my comments column up to 20-60 per blog piece, it's satisfying. At least I know somebody is reading my stuff again.-
Agreed Jack! -
I like that, Jack. You've got a way with words. -
i think feedback is important, but it doesn't define a blog. i've noticed that certain types of posts get more comment then others. i think there is a trick to this, and it's not just about creating buzz either. i guess you have to write posts that create a reaction in your readers. sometime has to make them get off their lazy arses and type in a few words.
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I'm not really sure I get the importance of this at all. It can help boost traffic if there's a lot of discussion going on, but it's not the only way.
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But there are also blogs out there that are very successful and don't even have the facility for comments. Seth Godin comes to mind.
But there are no blogs that are successful in and of their own right that do not have both great content and effective marketing behind them. -
I wanna be the chief bottle washer!
Is that like being the CEO of towel girls? -
I read that Jack perhaps lots or readers are just that readers!~
HB~
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Writing from the heart helps - with belief and passion...
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My content is among the best there is... I see it growing my readership little...
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Content's purpose is not growing readership. Marketing grows readership. Content retains readership and builds relationship.
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I do think your content is good.
Now if I could only change your points of view on things... -
lol
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First off, congrataulations, Noob. You throw up some of the most provocative discussion topics around here.
Now, back on subject. Sure, if you hang yourself alone in cyberspace, and merely shout, "Here I am, read me," you're apt to stay that way: alone. (Not all that bad in a lot of ways. Hermits have no peer pressure.) No matter how brilliant your content, it will fall on blind eyes. Sure, it takes sharp marketing to compete in this market of a new blog--worldwide--per second. That premise should be a "given."
But--and here's the big but--word of mouth is still a powerful, if silent, marketing weapon. And, how is this measured but by feedback. In my case, I pay no attention to marketing. I have a marketing agent who takes care of all that stuff for me. All I can say is, he must be doing a great job. Every week now I get more and more over-the-transom comments in, stuff that I have no idea where it came from. He keeps telling me keep sending me good stuff, and I'll keep getting you good traffic. A nice marriage.-
Jack Lemme go leave you a comment you are just too smart & sweet for your own good~
hb~
ps Im a crappy lil writer but I have PASSION!!
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thanks jack. i like to play the devils advocate. it also makes for interesting conversations. i like to do that with my blog as well. takes for taking part in my discussions.
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Wait, word of mouth is silent? Do you suppose your marketing guy is bored and need another blog to promote between your posts? Maybe?
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YES you are right... but Marketing is EFFECTIVE only when your content is good enough to attract others .. what you say?? -
In my humble opinion, content is more important than buzz.
But there are many factors that go into deciding which is more important to you as a blogger. One major consideration is what are your goals?
Because different bloggers have different goals, they focus on different parts of blogging.
As stated some (1) blog for the joy of creating good content, (2) some blog for money, (3) some blog for recognition (comments), (4) some blog for the sense of community, and this list could go on and on.
So I think it is difficult to definitively say which is more important without taking the goals of the blogger into context.
What I enjoy the most is creating good content (and sometimes I think I actually pull it off), but I also know that I have to create a certain level of buzz if anyone is to read or enjoy the content that I create. I have to be part of a larger community that passes my blogs around and considers what I write. -
like everything, it's pretty much all about balance. need to have the right balance of marketing and content.
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If you are offering something new and pitch your content just right there is no such thing as "bad content" - there will be a reader for just about every subject you choose, and at every level as long as what you have is fresh. So many blogs out there are just regurgitating stuff found on other blogs, you know, "Ten ways to re-write someone elses idea and pass it off as your own" type stuff. Yawn. Do they really get a sustained audience? I'd prefer a blog that is fresh and interesting but not so polished to a well written one that was stale any day - but I'd have to find it first. So I'd guess an original blog with great word of mouth should be the one to rise to the top and stay there.-
Half of me wants to vigorously agree with this, and the other half wants to say that the presentation is just as important--if not more important--than the substance. I don't WANT to think that, but the fact is that everything is new to someone, and even readily accessible information is a commodity if you've done the gathering and saved the reader work. I'm NOT advocating regurgitation, but I think that some writers get paralyzed in the other direction, waiting and waiting until they can "come up with" something unique enough. Having at times made my living writing articles about things anyone could have looked up for him/herself if they'd been so inclined (beach safety tips, anyone? I live in ILLINOIS!)
When I say "presentation" I don't mean that flash will substitute for substance, but if YOUR substance is clear, well-organized, engaging, and easy to follow, and if it's populated by those occasional "wow" moments for SOME people in your audience, you do not have to introduce something revolutionary every day in order to keep your audience. -
Also remember that "regurgitation" isn't automatically a bad thing. The thing is that people interested in a subject don't buy just one book on the subject. I can't even tell you how many books I have on marketing and small business. I can't tell you off hand how many books I have on various computer languages. Or ancient military history.
One book may cover nearly all of the same topics as another, but because they do so from different world views and perspectives, I still learn different things from each about the whole.
I say thank god for people who still don't think enough has been written about blogging, Internet Marketing, Harley Davidson, Cicero's Rome, Alexander's Greece and PHP scripts.
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"if YOUR substance is clear, well-organized, engaging and easy to follow..."
Madame x, engaging is what I was grasping for! And I'm all for putting a new twist on an old theme if some engagement, thought and originality goes into how it is expressed. It's when that hasn't happened that visiting blogs can become a bit of a weary trudge and I know I don't visit a blog twice if it has a whiff of same old same old. I should add that it's mainly blogs about blogging that make me feel that way, it just feels as if the blogosphere is eating its-self sometimes. -
Presentation is part of good content. You can have the most valuable information on the planet, but if you can not put it into a format that your target audience can get value from, it's garbage. Or maybe not garbage, but it's just research material for someone else who CAN format it and present it properly.
All those list you are so tired of are everywhere for a reason. Huge numbers of people absorb more information from them more rapidly and with less strain than they do from essay posts.
They continue to be the most linked and most read kind of posts on the internet. You don't have to like that and you don't have to "give in to that", But you should understand your choices and what they mean for you.
What I would propose, actually, based on some experimentation I'm doing is to create some solid content on a subject split into several meaty, in depth essay type posts each covering a single facet of the information, and then a list post to capture and filter readers to those parts of the whole that they are most interested in exploring. And finally interlinking the essay posts to each other in contextual links in a manner similar to wiki style linking.
But knuckling under and posting that list link WILL put more eye balls on those essay posts than they will attract on their own. That's part of the marketing equation. -
good content that appeals to no one=no readers
sometimes things can appeal to people without realising initially, I had fierce difficulty building up any sort of readership and now I've got a small but solid readership.
...I'm pretty much incapable of making the jump to larger readership though cos the content is far too exclusive. -
A lot of people seem to be hung up on "marketing", but marketing isn't always what you think it is. Most of us automatically think about crappy banners and adwords when we think marketing.
But the truth is that marketing takes place at every point in the sales process, both pre and post sale.
A service rep who asks for your fax number to fax you some forms for a shipping damage claim and then takes the time to FILL OUT THE FORMS before faxing them, just engaged in marketing activities.
A list post that points to five or ten in depth essays on a common theme, just did some marketing.
A BC member who posted some thoughtful information on a serious topic yesterday got me to click through to their profile to find their blog and ultimately got a comment and a link from me. That was marketing. And my comment and link were marketing.
Also for those who aren't in it for money, well neither is the US ARMY, but they have a HUGE marketing budget. UNICEF, The Red Cross and Christian Children's Fund all have marketing budgets. Marketing isn't necessarily about getting more money, it's about getting more of what you want, even if you are my daughter and what you want is another ice Cream Cone. That little girl is one hell of a marketer. -
"Good Content" is such a subjective thing. What I consider good, you may not. To that end, marketing seems to a certain extent irrelevant. (I have seen about a million marketing campaigns for things that I will never buy, watch or pay any real attention to. However, I find things all the time that grab my attention without any marketing behind them whatsoever). I think that the key, (or at least part of the key), is how well one communicates their ideas. It seems like there needs to be some kind of emotional, aesthetic, or otherwise personal value for the viewer to invest themselves in. Otherwise, even the "Best" content has no value.-
What you just described is actually called targeting.
Most marketing is still very untargeted, and most well targeted marketing does not feel like being marketed to. -
I know nothing about marketing and have nothing to add to this discussion other than to say that I'm benefiting from reading this thread. Thank you.
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I would say that investing the time to learn from a discussion like this can add as much to it's value as anything the active participants write. After all what's the point of all these electrons if no one takes anything away from it?
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On some levels marketing is subjective too. Some of the things that you are attracted to may have been passed to you by friends and family. When your friends says try brand XYZ and you do, they may have been swayed by marketing campaigns that you ignored. Research shows that buzz is most effective when it comes from those you know.
Most blogs fit into a very narrow niche, which means that no matter how much marketing you do most people will not be interested. On the other hand if you blog about a topic that is really popular you may not need to do any marketing. -
dane, you've been really helpful in this thread. u should be writing this on your blog. bc should seriously profit share with you. mods, if you see this thread, show some love for dane. and sprinkle me some cash too.
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