I have read several books on blogging and subscribe to several blogs for bloggers. I have even attended a few blogging seminars. They seem to all talk about similar things.
I have heard the experts talk about:
- The differences between blogging platforms
- The elements of great blog design
- The merits of including or excluding advertising
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Comment engagement and strategy
- The use of social media
- Third-party widgets and hacks
- Unique visitors, page views, and bounce rates
- Page load time optimization
But I rarely hear the pros talk about the one thing that is essential: content.
All of these other items are interesting, but none of them will help you if you don’t write great—or at least, pretty good—blog posts. In fact, these items can quickly become a distraction if you are not careful. It is much easier to search for another blog widget or tweak your blog design than actually write. (Don’t ask me how I know this!)
Writing itself is difficult, arduous work. As someone once said, “I don’t particularly like writing, but I like having written.” Amen to that.
So before you open your blog admin page and start fiddling with the secondary stuff, I suggest you do the following:
- Commit to a specific number of posts per week. Frequency is more important than you think. In fact, it is second only to the quality of your content. If you are writing good stuff, most people want to hear from you. My goal is five posts per week.
- Determine when you will write. Everyone’s schedule is different. You might be in a season of life when you can only commit to an hour a week. Perhaps you can commit to more. But, if possible, schedule your writing time just like any other appointment. I try to write for an hour every morning before work.
- Keep your posts short and to the point. Blogs are not a long-form medium. Brevity is a virtue. I shoot for 400–500 words. I often go over this, but I am working to whittle my posts down. I can tell you from experience that readers will bail out or scan if your posts get too long.
- Make it easy to get through your posts. Lists—both bulleted and enumerated—are magic. Why? Because reading is hard work. Lists, subheads, and even quotes make your content more accessible and help people get through it. It creates a sense of forward progress.
- Invite reader engagement. Make it easy for them to comment. This is why I do not require people to register to comment or fill-in some silly CAPTCHA test to prove they are human. All of this just adds friction and discourages people from commenting. Yet, I rarely have a problem with spam or inappropriate comments.
In summary, focus on creating content before you get too concerned about driving traffic. If you don’t post good content with enough frequency, none of the other items matter.
Building Champions has been coaching me since 2002. They have taught me to be more proactive and intentional in both my business and personal life. Visit their Web site to learn more and see their special offer for my blog readers.
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Great post! I would agree. And if you do put the cart before the horse and get a bunch of traffic before you have a decent portfolio of writing available, I doubt anyone will come back.
Exactly. It's like advertising for a retail store and then going to the store and being disappointed. All great marketing begins with a great product. In fact, David Ogilvy says, "great marketing will only make a bad product fail faster."
Very good advice Michael. These are the things that I need to focus more on, especially #1.
Yes, #1 is the #1 thing that has helped me build my current traffic to over 5,000 page views a day (sometimes as many as 12,000-15,000).
1. This is why I read your blog. Consistently great content. Good lead-in's tell me immediately if it's not relevant to me (rarely happens) so I don't waste time.
2. This is a reassuring confirmation. When I get discouraged about low traffic, I sense the Lord prompting me not to worry about it, but just be faithful about the content. I appreciate Him using you, Mike, to affirm that.
Thanks, Anne. You are too kind.
Excellent post. And I love your WordPress theme. Is it a customized theme? Available to purchase?
Yes, I had it built from the ground up by Milk Engine. I highly recommend them!
You said, “if possible, schedule your writing time just like any other appointment. ” This is a great tip that I intend to put into practice. It’s easy for me to say that I’m going to write one or two posts each day, but if I have a particular time when I will write that post then the whole office :) (I work from home) will realize that is what I’m doing. Hmm, maybe that would work for all of my writing projects. Thanks for the thinking points.
Mike,
A great reminder for those of us currently working to take our blogs to the next level. Points 1 and 2 are the biggest challenge for me-what’s a good starting number per week?
I started with one. That number is good to strengthen your writing muscles and find your voice. I did that for several months. Then, the next hurdle is three per week. I think this teaches you new writing skills like writing under pressure and just getting it out. That will start building your traffic. Then five is the next hurdle. I am doing this Monday—Friday. I set aside the weekend to read and find ideas and just "be."
This alone deserves its own post :-).
peace | dewde
Good idea! Thanks.
This is a great article for bloggers to remember what really matters. Especially from some e with a sucessful following as an experienced writer. My goal is two posts per week and I’m trying to ok igmy content to four or five topics.
Perfect!
There are so many blogs out there that truly – in the end – content has to rule. If you can't write for squat, then the SEO and all that stuff is great… but it won't matter. No one wants to read a boring or poorly written blog.
Amen to that!
This is very well written & helpful in so many ways. Thank you!!
Thank you. My goal is five posts per week also and I have calendared out themes which help me stay focused. After three previous blog attempts (now discarded!) I finally have a feel for the audience I want and am working to write relevant posts that will be a balance of encouragement and challenge. Your post today reinforces what my "gut" has been telling me … write first, write often, write well.
Yes, I am starting to calendar them out, too, especially for my video blog reviews. This usually takes some coordination with people in my company, and they need to know what is coming.
We are building our company blog (http://blog.goyello.com) for a couple of months now. In the beginning we were mainly thinking about subjects. But as you mention, without frequent posts hardly anybody will return. “Content is king”, it’s just like it is.
Thanks for your post, it made me even more convinced. Keep writing!
I started blogging this summer and love it! I blog five times a week and what I hear so often is readers like it because it’s short. My posts average 250 words. I really believe shortness is the secret key. I read many blogs that I either end up skimming or not finishing.
Yes, 250 words is even better. That's one of the reasons I really like Twitter. It forces you to be concise. It's great practice!
Thanks for the post. I am a fledgling blogger who has learned much both from your posts and the example of your blog. I especially needed your advice about scheduling writing. I have learned to finding the time doesn't get anything written. Making time does. Again, thanks for the insight and encouragement.
Yes, that's the key: MAKING the time.
I suppose "rarely" is the keyword here. Some pros talk about content. I dedicated a whole chapter to it in Church Website Design: A Step by Step Approach. Having said that, content is problem specific and most of the people writing about blogging are talking about a more general subject. Many of them are like me. I am a computer expert. I am qualified to write the code required to write the code behind a blog. I can tell people a lot about the subjects you mention above, but what I can't do is tell people what content they should put on their blog. We tend to think that bloggers will write about what is important to them. It isn't our place to persuade them to write about a popular subject. Some subjects will naturally attract more traffic than others.
As for my personal goals, much of my blog traffic has been from writers. I hate to chase them off, but I'm making changes to content that I hope will eventually attract more people who actually buy books.
Intuitively I knew to have months of entries before announcing my blog, http://www.TaraDillard.com. Initially my blog was totally organic. OMG!! Within weeks I began getting clients. Formally announced this month my blog has surpassed expectation.
You don’t mention using pictures, Pictures are worth a thousand words. Educate visually & with words. Topic arrangement is critical. Delight returning visitors with new tangents into the main topic.
Mission statement, Am I RELEVANT to my reader? And, Am I honoring my reader’s time?
Clients are coming locally & thousands of miles away. My blog allows me to manifest a belief of famous author E.M. Forster, ONLY CONNECT.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara Dillard
A delight for me, Tara, to hear that one phrase again from E.M. Forster "only Connect." (from Passage to India)
Yes, I believe in powerful pictures, too. They pull people into the content. I get almost all of my photos from iPhoto.com.
Being a social, with the odd personal post thrown in, my blog depends on events occurring in my area or those of the world that effect it, so initially I did not task myself on a definite number of posts per week. Then I discovered that one can really find as many relevant items to one's blog as one has the stamina to carry out. My problem was that they have been on many occasion far too long for comfort. As I feel blogging is in my blood, I will take your advice and try to shorten my posts. After all even St Mathew, whom I consider one of the best "bloggers", cut up his Sermon on the Mount in palatable chunks.
You bring up an important point, Eva. When you have a longer post, you can break it up into parts. I have done this myself and it really works well.
Frequency. I know all the big guys (hey, does that include you now? ; – ) talk about the importance of it.
But it's not critical. Because if you have good content people will come back even for once-a-week posts [she says, after an unusual 3-post week]. So bloggers can relax a little. Which is good. And might just make our content more vibrant too.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. How do I know for sure? The numbers don't lie. Google Analytics is a wonderful tool. I can show a DIRECT correlation between frequency and an increase in traffic. Obviously, if your content sucks, frequency won't help. But all things being equal, it will.
As a newbie in the blogging arena, your advice is very helpful. Thanks.
Michael, Great advice as always. Your articles on blogging are wonderful resources for new and veteran bloggers.
I admit as I started launching my blog, I got wrapped around the axle with the small details. Too much time spent worrying about site setup, plug-ins, etc.
I zoomed back out and am concentrating on the content first. Thanks.
Good for you. That's the right priority. Frankly, I save Saturday morning for tinkering on all the design and SEO stuff. But during the week, I'm focused on one thing: WRITING! One hour a day, before work or, occasionally, after.
GREAT blog. Content is key but too often overlooked. I think every aspect of marketing (and much of business and life) boils down to the ability to tell a story in a meaningful way that resonates with people. Thanks!
Brevity is my goal.
I'm terrible at it!
I also am working on improving my writing quality while still keeping my own style. It's hard when you can only snatch a few minutes here and there to write!
Mike,
Your blog has inspired my to take up the practice. For a much different purpose, however. Its a great outlet for me personally, but I needed to improve my writing skills. So write, then edit, then re-write, and edit somemore. I suppose my editing skills are getting a workout as well.
Like anything content is king. When it flows from the heart, people know it. Family and friends (old and new) now have picked up on it and are waiting for my next post.
Good for you. I think a blog is a great way to improve your writing.
Great one. Thanks.
Talking about the importance of frequency usually raises a few questions in my mind. I do blog but very unfrequently which obviously negatively affects traffic. I think the best thing to do is to schedule time for writing every day, this must be a priority for anyone interested in writing, but when it comes to the frequency of posting in a blog, I usually wonder:
1- How much frequency would affect quality? If we have to post a certain number per week, wouldn't we have to sacrifice some content quality? Wouldn't it be better if we focus on the frequency of "writing" instead of the frequency of "posting"? meaning we write for an hour a day, but we don't have to post 3 or 4 o4 5 times a week, we write til we have the the right content then we post it? Would we get better quality this way and in this same time frequency might go just a little down but content/quality wont be affected?
to be continued! (comments box couldn't take it all!)
You are totally right. Your frequency can't exceed your quality. You can't just post garbage to meet some arbitrary posting goal and expect it to work. This is a good reminder.
2- Blogging is kind of a disposable form of content. People read the new posts and rarely go back. Even when you have a new subscriber, they will read the new posts and a few will go back to old ones. If we put all or most of our writing energy into blogging frequently, would we have any energy left for, say writing a book, with more comprehensive content?
3- my third concern is about quantity. with so many good blogs out there, the reader may not always have time to be up to date with all the ones that he/she likes. If all of our favorite bloggers post daily, the reader might feel behind, with no time or energy in the day to read all of it. Then the reader will have to scan instead of reading. with this much information coming in, we might lose the ability to focus and give the needed attention and time to good quality content. It's like food, if we eat too much good and healthy food, we would actually be unhealthy and wont be able to process it. Our best strategy would be reasonable amounts of good food/content.
Do these concerns make sense?
I share your concerns. I see blogging as a fundamentally different way to deliver—and consume—content. Personally, I make time for both. For example, I have spent the last hour reading a book. However, earlier this morning, I spent 30 minutes scanning a 100 blogs or so. The ones that interested me, I read word-for-word.
Thank you for writing this post, Michael. I get so sick and tired of people writing about traffic and followers .. to amass an army of following.
If you build good content, people will come. That, I think, is the key to unlocking every blogger's field of dreams.
You're a great example of that.
Thanks so much. I agree. I get tired of the traffic-talk, too. Obviously, it is not either/or, but there is a priority and sequence.
Yes, Michael. Good clarification. There is excellence to be applied to the craftsmanship of blogging – including employing all the great tools to speak in our modern day "Acropolis". But, not, as you say, at the cost of truly saying something meaningful.
Well, I have one thing that I will do that should help me immensely and that is I have begun using a recorder to capture my thoughts as I go along. Increasingly, I have thoughts about new blog posts that happen when I am separated from my computer or it is just inconvenient to write it down. So I whip out my little recorder and speak my mind. And I will also work on watching my word count. i can get to 1,000 words in a heartbeat. The other thing that I know will help me is selecting a certain time to actually sit down and write. I have a lot of thoughts to post but the distractions of life slow me down.
I occasionally use the recorder built into my iPhone. Before that, I would call my office phone and leave myself a voice mail. The key is to be able to capture it when you are inspired. That doesn't always happen in front of the computer.
I love that iPhone, however, I love my Verizon service too. I'm hoping against hope that Apple and Verizon will reach an agreement that will let me upgrade to the iPhone on my current network. I have my fingers crossed.
Thanks for the post. A great reminder of what people are coming for. As I said jokingly earlier, if there are not new posts, I don't visit someone's blog to take in the nice design/atmosphere. I want to engage with the blogger.
Exactly, know keeps coming back for the design if there is not good, compelling, frequently-updated content.
Right now I am posting twice a week, and since my posts are what I would be writing in a book, they're coming in between 600 and 1200 words. I consider my blog to be a lot like the serial stories that magazines published
"long ago"–I try to interest my readers enough for them to come back.
Last week, I put an ad with just my blog title and url in my local newspaper. The traffic increased on that day, but more important was the fact that the page views skyrocketed. So, not only were people coming to my blog, but they were also staying and reading all of my posts.
I'm planning to keep writing over the next two years and then I will consider my next step which may just be to keep on blogging. Meanwhile, I'm having fun and hopefully people are being blessed when they read what I write.
You might consider making those four 300-600 word posts. You could cover the same ground in more bite-size pieces. Just a thought.
Okay, I'm willing to flex–but, please pray for me because I've been spending a lot of time getting ready for school (my official first day back in this Friday) and I will need help from God to fit writing that many posts into my schedule. Thanks!
Excellent advice, Mike. I try for 2 posts a week, and I know it’s not a lot, but I seem to be able to maintain my readers with that.
The biggest benefit, I find, though, is that the search engines seem to like frequent posts. My ranking in Google continues to rise until now I am surprised how often I come up in the high rankings on the subjects I am blogging about.
Part of that may be the fact that a lot of searchers click on my blog to visit, but I honestly think the new content helps a lot.
-Robert
p.s. It was fun to be part of your logo contest, You must have had a tough choice with all the excellent quality presented. I must say you picked a great logo and it’ll be fun to see it on your masthead.
Google does indeed love frequency!
Thanks also for your participation in the logo tournament. I couldn't believe how many entries I got. Thanks also for your participation!
Hi. I found you through Twitter. I loved this post because it emphasizes content. FYI, a great resource for blog "training" is The Blog Squad (you can find them online). They emphasize the same thing.
I'll definitely keep your blog bookmarked! :)
Great. I added Blog Squad to my RSS feed. The content looks great, though they probably DO need to focus a little more on SEO and design. I had a difficult time finding them via Google.
Michael,
Thanks for the incredibly PRACTICAL insight and wisdom you share through your blog. Reading your numerous post son blogging and watching your sample presentation (that used to be available on your site) has encouraged me to start a blog. However, you named my biggest challenge in this post…GOOD CONTENT. I will take up your #1 instruction and commit to at least 2 post a week.
Thanks again.
Good for you. One little secret I have used to accomplish big goals is to go public. It keeps me from backing our when the going gets tough—as it inevitably does.
Great! your advice.
And very goood for me If can commit about my goal to publish blog. It's not easy. But that's good idea.
;)
Dear Mike:
Thank you for your commitment to post 5 times a week whether or not you feel like it. I'm taking your advice in a previous post and have started to build a platform for my professional writing. Within the next month, I'll be launching a blog!
It's exciting as I watch God use perfectly timed info (your post), combine it with my life experiences, college studies, previous careers and motherhood to create "a new thing."
By the way, I also appreciate NOT having to participate in the registration gyrations many blogs require.
With much appreciation,
SEO can get consistently drive large amounts of traffic to a site able to deliver consistently hot content..
Orangy – The Sweet Sour Tangy Taste of Life
I agree with your recommendations on building content, but I think a person would put a blog at an immediate disadvantage by ignoring traffic considerations. Certain plugins (Analytics, SEO, spam filters, etc) are vital and easy to install. On-page SEO takes one minute per post unless you have to update months worth of content with appropriate tags and titles. SEO is much easier on the front end. And if you're not participating in or creating an online community (through commenting or social media), you're forgetting that blogging is social media–it's more than a publishing format. Community is the point.
Excellent post. I've been blogging for a while and I've learned that these are all excellent points. Content is king. Provide consistent quality content and you can build a great following over time.
I have to say that right now, I am more of a writing when I feel like it, but I am trying to get into the habit of writing at least three times a week. I just need to get into the habit. Heading uphill, in this case, is a good thing.
Great food for thought. I'm hungry now :)
Regarding #3: This is one I struggle with. I have much difficulty in keeping my posts short and to the point. My question: If the content really is good, and worth the reader's time, is it okay to go over 400/500 words? I suppose one may do whatever they desire with their blog, but in order to really draw in readers, is it an absolute necessity to keep all posts short?
Thank you for all your great advice, by the way!
Really good advice. Thanks.-Mike R.