Killer Content Is Not Possible Every Single Post
Jul. 31st, 2009 by Danny BrownEvery Sunday evening from 8.00pm CST, #blogchat takes place on Twitter.
Hosted by the uber-smart Mack Collier, it’s a discussion by bloggers about blogging – tips, tricks, tools of the trade, best practices and more.
It’s quickly evolved into one of the must-attend chat events on Twitter, and I never fail to come away with some cool new tidbits of information every week.
Last night, an interesting side discussion popped up around the quality of blog posts. It stemmed from a tweet by George F. Snell III, who said that the most important part of a blog post was the headline. Scott Stratten’s view was that the headline didn’t matter if the content sucked, while my take was that a killer headline can help guide the post itself.
This then led to the question of the post itself. I mentioned that it’s not always possible to post killer content every single post, as much as we try to as bloggers looking after our readers. Scott mentioned that if the reader learns, then isn’t that killer? I responded yes, which means that in that respect even mediocre can be killer.
This turned into a great follow-up discussion about whether you should post at all if your writing is just mediocre, with Scott suggesting that instead of regular posts, only publish when and if you’re going to knock it out the park every time. Unfortunately at this stage I couldn’t reply as my Twitter usage had been used up, seemingly.
I don’t disagree with Scott that mediocre posts shouldn’t be published (it’s why I have about 15 posts in draft mode, waiting on some tinkering with content). Where I do differ is that it’s down to interpretation.
As a blogger, I go out of my way to make sure that whatever I publish has both relevance and information that will help my readers. I’m pretty sure every single blogger out there is the same. Yet the relevance and “brilliance”, if you like, is down to the reader.
Say I write what I think is a killer post about social media monitoring tools.
To some readers, it could be the greatest thing since sliced bread. To others, it could be, “Meh, I know this, this post has no value to me. Next.” To that person, the post is mediocre because of the information (or lack of) inside the post. Yet to the reader who never knew this information, the post may be killer because it’s opened their eyes to something they never knew.
As I mentioned to both Scott and George, no-one sets out to deliberately write a mediocre post – but sometimes some posts will always be better than others, that’s just natural. The point is to be happy that what you wrote doesn’t short-change you or your readers. Unless you have that confidence, don’t publish.
Does that work?
About The Author
Danny Brown is the owner of Press Release PR, a boutique agency specializing in search engine optimized press releases and social media PR. He offers consultancy advice on social media and PR to both individuals and corporations He has guest authored at leading web and search marketing site Web Analytics World and is a blog partner of the WebProNews and iEntry business networks. He is also a regular contributor to the Dad-o-Matic project.Posted in: Technology, The Net |
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August 1st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
The title is all-important. You can get away by skimping on the content, as long as your keywords / keyphrases are repeated twice in the 1st 100 words, and in the last sentence.
September 1st, 2009 at 6:34 pm
There are pros and cons to everything, I am not sure if I entirely agree with waiting for the post to be perfect, from my perspective…. I guess it depends on you’re current exposure, you’re audience, and how much of an influence you have on that audience. Because if you have a high influence, and you’re viewers perceive your blog to be a high quality content blog and you are an authority in your industry then yeah the pressure is there to hit that home run every time. But otherwise I always say just hit the post button when you think the post is decent, but keeping it consistent is key in the end.
Till then,
Jean
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 am
I agree that the title is all-important. You can get away by skimping on the content, as long as your keywords / keyphrases are repeated twice in the 1st 100 words, and in the last sentence.
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Adding killer content to my blog can you think of anything else ?
September 5th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
title also matter besides content.. but don’t forget themes layout also matter !
November 1st, 2009 at 3:39 am
@itsoke, I would rather have great content, over a great theme any day of the week! In fact.. I know there are quite a few websites that are very successful who do not have great web themes to it.
Till then,
Jean
November 11th, 2009 at 4:34 am
I agree, the title is very important. Also you must express a clear content and follow the rules of keywords.
A good article should hold the reader’s attention.
March 17th, 2010 at 9:42 am
Yep, always try to keep it short and to the point with important keywords to grab their attention. It’ll also be easier for them to remember what you said.
Till then,
Jean
April 16th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Killer Content isn’t always do-able but I would say as a blogger you should always try your best, and there will always be that one shining post that will come out. Definitely though… in the long run all your posts quality should be increasing.
May 7th, 2010 at 7:28 am
Yes, I agree. The effort from you, the blogger, should always be 100%, doesn’t matter what the response is like. If your heart is in your work, it’ll pay off if it’s meant to. Of course, do pay attention to any tips or advice from more experienced bloggers because that can help you improve.
Till then,
Jean
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:27 am
Exactly, that’s the most a person can do. So even if it don’t work out, he can be sure he put forth his best effort.
December 7th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Every post will not be perfect. But, if you made a great effort, and your readers will get something from it, then it should be posted.
February 15th, 2011 at 10:44 am
it’s true
April 16th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
I think I agree that you can only do your best, and hope your readers realize and appreciate that. Sometimes, it’s just not possible to make every single post a gem and that is to be expected.
May 20th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
I used to be questioning what’s up with that weird gravatar??? I do know 5am is early and I’m not looking my best at that hour, but I hope I don’t look like this! I might nevertheless make that face if I’m asked to do one hundred pushups. lol
May 27th, 2011 at 7:59 am
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May 29th, 2011 at 6:53 am
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May 31st, 2011 at 6:44 am
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July 8th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
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July 15th, 2011 at 12:49 am
Does anyone out there know of any single post bulletin board software out there for php?
July 20th, 2011 at 2:49 am
HI i came here to see only your blog and articles but the others are also lovable. We can not say it also occurs many times but to maintain is also difficult one.
August 5th, 2011 at 4:53 am
Adding killer content to my blog can you think of anything else ?
August 5th, 2011 at 4:55 am
Can the contents of ready to use weed killer be transferred to a watering can?
August 20th, 2011 at 6:53 am
it is very difficult to add killer content for every post and there are many problems occur.
September 16th, 2011 at 11:38 am
Nowadays, it is more important than ever to come up with unique content due to Google updating their algorithms to seek out duplicate and reward original content. So bloggers have to devote more time to coming up with better content by themselves.
September 20th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Very nice post and right to the point. I am not sure if this is actually the best place to ask but do you folks have any ideea where to hire some professional writers? Thanks in advance
October 5th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
But you need also to promote ever single post to make it constant in giving a priority in your user.
October 6th, 2011 at 8:05 am
@Komodo: That is a very good point about the newer algorithms of Google seeking out duplicates and rewarding original content. It definitely makes it more important than ever to be original.
-Jean
October 12th, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m schizophrenic, and so am I.
November 2nd, 2011 at 1:49 am
I think killer content is possible nowadays due to Google Panda update. and even you don’t have supported links on your content this can be kill by de indexing.
November 5th, 2011 at 6:25 am
Good content is extremely important now. Even Google is now focusing more importance on search results that have higher emphasis on content originality and quality than those using SEO tricks to rank high.
-Jean
November 10th, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Nice post. I learn something more challenging on different blogs everyday. Thanks for sharing.
March 11th, 2012 at 5:02 am
What’s most important to remember is that you post something genuine and meaningful. Doesn’t have to be nobel prize worthy but atleast something that you would want to read if you were a visitor to the site.
-Jean
March 22nd, 2012 at 11:04 am
you are right about that. Not every post can have awesome content but it should provide good info/
June 1st, 2012 at 8:55 am
Yes, the person that has arrived at the page should atleast have his query answered to some degree.
-Jean
July 1st, 2012 at 10:21 am
I know there are quite a few websites that are very successful who do not have great web themes to it.
July 1st, 2012 at 10:32 am
I like this post very much and very interesting to read one. Thanks for sharing this information with us.
September 7th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Your right You can’t give top notch content all the time but that doesn’t mean you can’t pull out good content all the time. It doesn’t always have to be more than spectacular.
October 1st, 2012 at 1:19 pm
Well written article and very interesting to read one also.
November 21st, 2012 at 2:39 am
Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon
December 1st, 2012 at 1:42 pm
I agree your points! Surely I will try to follow your points and thanks for sharing this information.
December 13th, 2012 at 11:51 am
you are right it isn’t possible all the time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go back and update old articles and make them better.
April 9th, 2013 at 11:46 pm
Thanks for the points you have shared here. Another thing I would like to state is that computer system memory needs generally increase along with other innovations in the technological innovation. For instance
April 10th, 2013 at 12:12 am
I quite like reading through a post that will make people think. Also