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It’s probably an understatement to say that most blogging advice out there is generic, regurgitated, and very rarely anything new. Everything you need to know about becoming a successful blogger is available already if you know where to look; the next step is taking action on what you learn.
Most of the advice that is being shared, and incessantly repeated, is dated. It’s aimed at a blogosphere where there weren’t millions of blogs in each niche, all working hard to grow an audience. I call this advice aimed at the Oldsphere, whereas you need to be focusing on the Newsphere. Things changed, and you need to know how to deal with them.
Mashable vs Techcrunch
For a long time, TechCrunch was the go-to place for news about startup companies. They’re still one of my favourite blogs, but, in my opinion they failed to capitalise on their brand and position. They remained stagnant in the types of topic they cover and it seems they’re unable to see the conflicting ideas in most of their posts.
With over 4 million RSS subscribers according to Feedburner, it’s clear they’re not struggling. Yet, they are being surpassed. Mashable was the much smaller fish in this market a few years ago, until they adapted what they covered, carved a strong niche for themselves, and focused on a specific audience to help them grow.
Their adaptions, which are helping them to thrive in this Newsphere has taken them past TechCrunch in terms of traffic figures and really put their brand on the global map.
The numbers don’t lie:
We can even look at their social media followers to see a huge difference:
- Mashable Twitter: 2,052,946
- TechCrunch Twitter: 1,417,305
- Mashable Facebook: 254,691
- TechCrunch Facebook: 79,716
The things that helped Mashable experience this growth and dominate their market can also be applied to your endeavours. The rest of this post is totally based on my opinion, but hopefully there are enough examples to help you see that you do need to adapt, if you want your blog to thrive.
Picking a Niche is Pointless
In the Oldsphere, it was very common that the first advice bloggers would pass around is to make sure you choose a niche you are passionate and knowledgeable about. The theory being that if you make your niche very clear in your slogan and the types of places you interact, you’ll attract the right kind of audience for you.
If you agree with this, then let me ask you a question. What niche is ViperChill in? If you believe the tagline I’ve had since the launch of this site, you would say I write about viral marketing. Yet, there’s only one post in over 50 that actually covers viral marketing directly.
Some of you may say blogging; others may say internet marketing or even affiliate marketing. The fact is, it isn’t that clear. Yet, I don’t think it’s hindered me in any way. I haven’t picked a niche, but I have picked an aim: to help people build remarkable websites which other people want to talk about. This is the focus of 95% of the blog posts that I write.
It doesn’t matter what niche I define myself in, it matters what I’m writing content about. This is what will attract a certain audience.
In the Newsphere, people define their own niches. Zen Habits, with over 190,000 feed subscribers, is a blog with emphasis on productivity and minimalism. They were very small niches until the owner, Leo, built a large audience by focusing on them.
You don’t need me to tell you what the blog, The Art of Manliness, is about. With over 70,000 subscribers, author Brett managed to focus on a very small (previously invisible?) niche and dominate it. Even Mashable went away from the typical “blog about startups” angle and defined themselves as the Social Media Guide to the web. Something that clearly worked out well for them.
Trying to put your site in a very common niche is not only a waste of time, but shows that your focus is on the wrong things. Decide what the main thing you want to help people with actually is, and then just focus on writing content about that.
Frequent Posting Doesn’t Matter Anymore
I think I’ve been the biggest advocate of this message and proved that writing more content is not a necessity. My blog grew by almost 700 subscribers last month, and I wrote one single post. I would have wrote more if I had the time – so this wasn’t some sort of tactic – but the results do emphasise my point.
It’s not just happening in the internet marketing niche. Steve Pavlina, the biggest personal development blogger in the world, spent the first 3 and a half years of his blogging life posting 5 times per week, Monday-Friday. Now he writes one or two articles weekly, and it definitely doesn’t seem like his audience has lessened.
Unless you run a news site or you’re in an industry where posting very frequently is crucial (e.g. politics), then you don’t have to post daily. I would be very impressed if people can post 5 killer articles per week in their niche for an ongoing period of time. It’s not only very difficult, but also unnecessary.
To put that into perspective, if I had written five posts per week for ViperChill since I started this site, I would have been able to write the posts I have for a period of eleven weeks, at the most. That’s not even three months, yet this blog has been going for almost eleven.
The reason that posting less has become commonplace is because the web is suffering from a serious case of information overload. Five years ago when the likes of Steve Pavlina and Darren of Problogger were taking off, there were no Facebook, Youtube or Twitter to take up people’s online attention. There were much fewer things to focus on online, so audiences appreciated daily updates.
There is no doubt that there are sites out there which post frequently, that don’t necessarily need to, and do very well. J.D at Get Rich Slowly is a good example of this. Posting just for the sake of posting however, is a total waste of time. If you aren’t writing amazing content for your audience, there will just be someone else who comes along and does.
To test this theory: Next week cut out two of your normal posts and double the amount of time you would spend on one. See if you can make it as detailed, fascinating and helpful as you can. Then, let me know the results. I think I already know what you’re going to say though.
Your Content is Everything
Though the idea of “build it and they will come” does not apply to the internet, great content generally does get attention if you promote it via the right channels. The great thing about building an audience is that the bigger it is, the less you have to do your own effort in terms of marketing, because your readers share the posts for you. Making your content great is the hardest, yet most crucial thing you can do.
I can’t define what great content is, because you must know what your own readers want. If you stick to the focus of what you want to help people with, then it should be very easy for you to figure out. If you want to make people laugh, then great content may be a picture that spreads virally around the internet. If you want to teach people how to play the guitar, then great content may be a detailed video tutorial for beginners.
The point is that you must figure out what you want to give people, and how to make it great.
If you aren’t giving priority to the content you produce more than anything else, then you need to change that right now. In this age of information overload, there has never been a more important time to write compelling content that people will give their valuable time to read.
Doing Something Different (Consistently) Is Your Best Chance of Success
And offering something different is probably one of the hardest things to do in a sea of 100 million “competitors”. With ViperChill, I believe I was the first blog that teaches you how to make money which has no affiliate links or ads. Mashable focused a large amount of their content around Twitter, which isn’t something I like personally, but appeals to a lot of people and helped them grow.
Leo Babauta of Zen Habits was the first blogger to come out and say that you can use all of his articles in any way that you wish. Many others then followed his Uncopyright movement.
I could list many more examples, but there’s a reason why it won’t help. Giving you too much information on what other bloggers are doing differently narrows your own focus as to what you can do differently. Your difference does not have to be something totally “out there”. It can be as simple as offering the best content in your niche, from your own angle.
The Superficial, a popular gossip blog, does this well by throwing in a lot of humour in their posts. Geekologie, a technology blog which is owned by the same company, does exactly the same. They picked two topics which aren’t always humorous themselves, and made both funny and informative websites which have huge audiences.
Recognise that most blogging advice out there, is dated. Learn to adapt to the Newsphere and your chances of creating a big blog are far greater. “Good luck!”
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Really great post Glen,
Exactly! Choosing a niche isn’t all what matters again, everybody blog about different topcs everyday so we can hardly say somebody is in a particular niche.
Concerning updating regularly, you are absiolutely right, I think the content quality is wht matters most and not the conetnt frequencey.
Hey Oni,
I found your post in the spam queue. Strange!
Good to see you over here
Sure Glen,
I have been commenting here always but I face the same problem, my comment ends up in the spam queue
– I have contacted akismet about this.
You should give the wordpress plugin “conditional captcah” a trial, it is not a captcha plugin so don’t let the name confuse you – I do get over 400 spam comments a day and I haven’t got any since using it
Thanks a lot,
-Onibalusi
It happened to me too. I had an email reply from Akismet within the week.
Great Glen,
You might want to try “conditional captcha” wordpress plugin (you can search in wordpress dashboard) to get rid of spam comments and alo make sure akismet no longer catch legitimate comments as spam anymore – it works like charm.
PS: Don’t let the name decive you, the plugin is not a captcha plugin.
What do you think?
Thanks a lot,
-Onibalusi
I’m generally pretty happy with Akismet right now but thanks for the suggestion.
Love this article, Glen! It only speaks to every reservation I’ve had for the past two years. One of my three blogs is on a niche almost no one is blogging about, and I haven’t invested as much time or effort into it yet because I’m not sure where to get my audience. I know they’re out there, but there’s not really a niche of blogs on the subject at this point. Guess there has to be a first!
Hey Daniel,
Really glad that you liked it
Definitely!
I’ve felt this way before too. It’s sometimes hard to blog about something that no one is blogging about, because, like you’ve said, the audience isn’t necessarily defined. That’s where your opportunity is.
It’s really easy to go after something like the “make money online” niche, because there are SO many people doing it and the audience is HUGE. Likewise, there’s a ton of competition and it’s very difficult to stand out.
Here’s a tip for your untapped niche: Take a look at what the “leaders” are doing in other, more popular niches. Are there certain traits or actions you can follow to crush it in your untapped niche?
Nice tip eric
This post has validated what I have set off to do on my blog…offer content without worrying too much about a niche-worthy statement so to speak. I started off saying I was going to post 3 times a week. I quickly found I couldn’t sustain that what with working full-time and all…Thanks for the permission to NOT do this. While my content is not earth-shatteringly new it is in my own voice, funny, irreverent. I am starting to get great validation via readers on twitter that this is working. I’ll keep being me…you do the same. Thanks.
Thanks for your comment Delta,
Great to see that you’ll now give yourself the permission to do what you think is best
Top notch as always..
I fully agree with you. I have decided to stop posting for the sake of posting and trying to step aside from everything.. currently thinking of interactive infographics using HTML5 and CSS3..
There are so many ways in which you can create your own platform, it amazes me that people spend their time re-wording stale information.
Looking forward to your future posts
Hey Lee,
I think interactive infographics are a great idea.
Thanks for stopping by.
WOW!! This content is like totally mind blowing !! You are totally throwing convention to the wind with the information in the post!
*Substituting a Niche with a aim makes a lot of sense and I never ever thought of a concept like that. I read a lot of E-books about being a successful blogger and picking a profitable Niche has always been emphasized; not to say it isn’t important to some extent. However this perspective is refreshing and I think the most exciting point made in the post
Ah, great post Glen.
I’ve resisted the idea of niche-ing myself and posting frequently, even though those are the two things everybody said I had to do when I started.
I began posting every other day, but I kept gravitating towards writing longer, deeper posts than the normal 700-word ideal. I dropped it to two posts a week, sometimes one, and it’s worked great. I spend about six hours on each and they tend to be 1500-2000 words.
My audience has grown steadily with virtually no marketing, and I have no niche to compete with.
Hey David,
Thanks for giving more examples to my points. Great to hear that your blog is growing well!
very interesting post Glen, you definitely don’t see this angle presented too often
the -don’t pick a niche- part was probably the most interesting information, gotta keep that on my whiteboard
Thanks Bergs,
Appreciate the comment
I would agree with you that a big problem with the web is information overload. I to find twitter can be too intense because of the amount of tweets coming through. No human being can read and absorb that info. Time is also the one thing we can’t get more of, so more posting means more time reading, writing.
What do you think of looking at the stats of a blog’s content and if you find that one or two articles in your whole site get all the traffic then you know there are people wanting to read that, so focus on that maybe.
Hey Gary,
You’re also in South Africa? Awesome!
I think that’s a great idea. If not focus your blog around it, at least expand on the topic in other ways if you know that’s what your audience enjoys.
Great post Glen!
Post less frequently leaves the reader anxious, and I think it good.
Like a loving relationship, the longing is also good, makes the relationship is more intense and longer
Thanks Caion,
Nice example
Hi Glen,
Great post as usual, but I do find myself disagreeing with your frequent posting point. You and the other examples you provide are established names in the blogging world. You have worked very hard for many years to get where you are and you can afford to be selective and post irregularly because you are a known quantity (though you mention ProBlogger – that’s a fairly heavy posting blog).
People know you write long, quality posts about subjects that they want to read, and so they happily wait for them.
I think what you’re saying is true for you, but not for someone who’s just starting out. If I’m just starting out and I write one post every 2/3 weeks, it will take me forever to grow – even using all of the other great advice that you provide on this site – because I am unknown.
One great post might net you 50 subscribers, but you’ll watch them dwindle away before you post again if you wait that long.
Writing solidly a few times a week, every week, over the course of, say, a year gives me the reputation as someone who is consistent and can therefore be trusted to deliver (i.e., is worth following). I’m on my fourth blog, and we post 3 times a week without fail. It’s this blog that has seen our most dramatic response (still puny by your standards, but definitely on the rise!).
Obviously, quality content regularly does mean a lot of hard work but until we’re a loud enough voice in our market, we can’t afford to stay quiet for too long.
Looking back at Plugin ID, it seems you were updating at least twice a week in 2009 before dropping to once a week near the start of 2010. Do you think your advice might therefore be aimed at more established voices?
Thanks and take care,
Simon
I started this blog up again less than a year ago, with a tiny audience that I hadn’t taken from PluginID.
With PluginID, I built a personal development blog to over 4,000 subscribers in a year, when I was a total nobody in the industry. So no, this definitely doesn’t apply to people with authority. Look at someone like Everett Bogue or Henri Junttilla from Wakeupcloud who have quickly established themselves with a similar strategy.
How? You would be surprised at how untrue that actually is. They may forget about you, but they’ll unlikely disappear.
I think 2-3 times per week still fits into what I was talking about. My main point was that you don’t need to post daily.
Hi Glen,
I believe this posts has opened my eyes towards the approach regarding my blog. I have been thinking about the posting frequency as sometimes i have nothing to write about. After reading this posts of yours, i have been more determined about producing quality rather than quantity. There is no need to post for the sake of posting.
“Focus on what your audience wants to read and not define on the niche”. This is really good advice. Thanks.
Lye
Hey Lye,
Great to hear you see things a little differently now. That was definitely my aim.
Thanks!
Hey Glen,
enjoyed reading your post. I agree – being consistently unique and owning your style is a grrreat way of standing out. And posting too many times isn’t useful at all if your content is (almost) timeless.
But about the niche – I think it totally matters. Ev Bogue is owning the minimalist area, if you type the keyword in Google you know what I mean. It’s his brand, and every article he writes about has to do with living a minimalist life one way or another. Or Corbett Barr. He’s focused on getting traffic, and although not everyone posts is strictly about that, it’s still discernible throughout his presence. Owning your space in a big niche and being specific does help you A LOT. Seth Godin started out as a marketer – and now ? He’s writing about almost every aspect of life and business. Or Gary Vaynerchuk. He branded himself as the wine guy (very specific niche), and then moved to personal branding and online business as he got more credibility. Being focused and owning your space in a niche is VERY helpful, especially in the beginning. Once you get to a certain level of authority, you can pretty much write and talk about anything.
*Clap*
I have been spinning my wheels for a month or so about trying to find a niche the fits all the common practice rules of finding a niche. I like the idea of having a aim rather than a niche as I feel pigeon holed in such a specific niche. Finding a niche is probably still good for beginners like me but as human beings we always seem to want to expand beyond our current ideas or environment. Great post Glen.
I agree with everything written in this post, as I usually do with this blog, but one small nitpick. TechCrunch as a brand isn’t limited to one blog. I know Mashable has other blogs in their network, as well, but not nearly as many as TechCrunch does. TechCrunch also holds several conferences throughout the year, developed Crunchbase (a database of companies and people), and recently started up an internet television channel. I could also mention that they were trying to develop a tablet PC, but I’m not sure how much that had to do with expanding their brand.
I’m not saying anything bad about Mashable, because I do follow that blog and enjoy it, but I do think TechCrunch reaches an audience beyond one blog.
Hi James, no doubt.
I knew someone would say something about that comparison. Though really, it was just something I’ve personally watched over the last four years so I wanted to make a comment on it. I don’t think of it as a main point of the post.
That being said, however, I know exactly what you’re saying. I read CrunchGear quite regularly, but it’s aimed at a totally different audience. CrunchBase was a good idea, as I bet they get a ton of search engine traffic to it, but I’m not so sure of the likes of TechCrunchIT. TechCrunch is still their main site, and it used to be far bigger than Mashable. Now, their flagship site is lagging behind.
Hi Glen,
I guess I just assumed that posting 2-3 times a week was frequent in comparison to once or twice a month. I suppose that, compared to posting daily or even multiple times a day, it’s really not THAT frequent.
Thanks for the clarification.
Simon
No problem Simon,
Thanks for the discussion!
Great advice Glen. Most of us prefer to blog less, go in depth and provide more value, but in industries like Soccer or Politics news, we must blog daily because that’s the value we offer (up to date news with our own opinion on them..etc) it’s really tough to blog in these industries.
Keep up the good work
Yep, totally makes sense in the niche you’re in Adam.
I hope Spain is treating you well
Hey Glen, you make some great points today. For new bloggers, I think they’d have to post consistently 3 times a week until they establish an audience.
Daily? Nah, not anymore
Possibly, though I only posted twice per week on PluginID and didn’t have any issues growing that site.
Thanks for the comment.
Thanks Glen.
Picking a niche is pointless…for some reason this hit me in a completely new way here. It’s been slowly dawning on me over the past couple of months, but this post smacked me on the nose with it.
Thanks so much for the insight!
Hey Paul,
You’re welcome! Glad you liked the post
Hey, Glen
Wow, you don’t ever let up, do you?
I’d love to have the time to post WAAY more often, as I work long hours and my blog is fairly new. For now, it’s once a week, but at least it’s something! As always, great content. Thank You.
Nope
You’re welcome Alessio!
Glen, Thanks for the thoughtful article!
Reminds me: A marketing friend recently suggested a new way of introducing yourself when business networking. Describe who you help and what you help them do. So, for example, I used to say “we design and build websites.” Now, it’s “We help marketing professionals take control of their website and online marketing.” This generates a little more curiousity and interest.
Similarly, your idea about having a goal rather than a niche is fantastic! It greatly broadens your subject matter and possible content, and speaks to your audience in a way that helps them achieve their larger goals rather than focusing on one specific tactic.
Perhaps one issue might be how targeted, narrow and niche your market or the people you want to target is (say, marketing consultants who work with women-owned businesses in San Francisco, California, USA). But even in that case, you still need to throw a wide net to simply get in front of a large enough audience so it might include people in that small niche.
Finally, as you remind us, great content still rules and always will.
Hi Eric,
I actually wrote about that on a blog post here recently and on one for Problogger. Maybe they read it
“Decide what the main thing you want to help people with actually is, and then just focus on writing content about that.”
And there it is. ViperChill clicks and all the stuff I’ve been reading here for the last few months falls neatly into place. Outstanding.
I’ll be honest with you, Glen, I don’t recall how I came across this site, or even why I subscribed and kept coming back. I couldn’t even tell you why I count your feed among my “dailies,” that precious few feeds I make a point of reading in their entirety on a daily basis, but I just had this feeling like I needed to hear what you have to say. Today I see that, while you and I are in different vehicles, we’re on the same path.
ViperChill is 11 months old and gets eleventy-billion hits a day.
GearboxMagazine is 10 months old and get less than 5,000.
It’s all about giving people what they need to accomplish the things they want to do. I can see that my biggest obstacle is that I’m trying to show people how to do something they don’t yet know they want to do. Each post is flint against steel and each reader is kindling. I’ve got some embers glowing, but I’m really excited that, in the next six months or so, it’s all going to catch fire.
Here’s hoping we never lose that all consuming excitement for what we’re doing.
Thanks, Glen. Great post.
Hey Brian,
What a great comment. Thanks a lot for taking the time to share it.
Here here!
Hi Glen,
I’m only echoing what all have said, but this is really timely post and has confirmed what I’ve suspected a long time.
However, I couldn’t help but ponder the following: The blogger examples you’ve mentioned that have cut back on their posting frequency; would it be fair to say they can take that risk after posting volumes of content indexed by the search engines?
I mean, the history is there attached to the author/brand in the space they’re in and it would seem their page rank, traffic stats and online community created are their social proof.
Would love your opinion on this.
Well I know for Steve Pavlina (one of the examples), he stated search traffic makes up 2% of his traffic, so it’s not someting he (nor myself) are relying on heavily.
With PluginID I never posted more than 3 times per week (usually twice) and didn’t have any problems with growth or SE traffic.
I think this is a key point Glen. For sites that are looking for a lot of search traffic having a lot of quality content is of key importance vs. site’s like yours that rely on buzz and and established audience rely on it less and should lean towards less frequent higher value posts. I have no doubt your way is the more value producing engaging method it is just a matter of executing on that strategy.
As far as niches go I think it really depends on how specialized the topic is as well. For a site about dogs shows (or information security in my case) people probably prefer the consistency of a tight niche vs. having to worry about me discussing my political ideas for example.
I’m slowly applying your advice of using my blog as a tool to help other people and to identify that goal of helping them clearly. Reminds of Tara Hunt’s opinion that a blog is meant to build others up, and it’s not really about you- the blogger! ViperChill epitomizes the essence of such objective!
Thanks for another great post man!
You’re welcome Caleb,
Thanks for the comment.
Great advise like always. Going to bookmark this post aswell.
The information overload in the net is crazy. Now when there’s so many blogs, people choose very carefully, which ones to read. So the content must be great and the site has to look great aswell.
I like the fact that you don’t have any ads on ViperChill and the site looks nice and clean.
Thanks Martin
Hi Glen, I just started following your blog and appreciate the insights. Many of my competitors are creating insane amounts of content. It is refreshing to hear a different professional opinion. Thanks
Hey Kyle,
Good to have you as part of the community.
You’re welcome!
This is the nuts! Thank you:) Recommending an aim rather than a niche is a good plan. I agree, “Everything you need to know about becoming a successful blogger is available already if you know where to look” the problem is a lot of it is bad or irrelevant and people don’t know where to find it. Plus it’s designed for clever geeks like yourself so older technophobes get confused!
Speak for yourself
Haha you’re welcome Annabel. It was cool seeing you on the Problogger video a few days ago.
Hey mate,
Great comparison but to give my two cents.
Mashable is good, although sometimes very biased (Apple) and not really comparing the brands they need to compare. Referring to their battle where they test brand x vs brand y.
They deliver almost too much content as my RSS feed is bloated every day.
Techcrunch seems to be a bit more specific and thorough in their research. Mashable has got a great following and resources so their research is good also.
As for your blog Glenn, I always read your post because I know its good, unique content and insights. Regardless the headline (ok maybe not always) I will read it just to at least skim it. With Techcrunch and Mashable I just skim the headline and only if I like it I will read it.
Cause you only post a few headlines I will read it. If you would crank it up to 10 a day you would probably loose my interest and commitment a bit… no offence
Rather have a great one, good and thorough story than 8 stories updating each one.
Hey Ralph,
People will always have their preferences between the two. I actually prefer TechCrunch, though most of the commenters are trolls and a lot of their posts are just written to rack up pageviews. However, I can’t deny that I think Mashable have done a much better job at adapting to a bigger playing ground.
Thank you
You’re not lying about the “information overload”. Even with your blog posts, I pretty much “File” them in a special folder until I can “batch” my reading of them. Most other blogs, I just don’t read.
Glen, short and sweet, this is clearly one of the best articles and some of the best advice I have read on this subject. Thanks for telling it like it really is.
It’s funny I have been thinking about posting frequency and I think I have settled on two posts week so i can write better more consistent posts. Reading your article really helped hit that home. Thanks.
Thanks Glen, I spent the time last week to write a 3000 word post on simple living. It wasn’t necc the most amazing piece of journalism in the world but I tried hard and genuingly tried to give something worth reading….. Well it worked and brought a lot of comments and traffic and I now know that effort on the big long important posts will be a focus in future.
I used to drive myself crazy trying to post to 4 (or is it 5 ? ) blogs a day.
When people visit your blog, they are usually in a rush and will only read the top post, which means they never see yesterdays post.
I like to post every other day or so in most cases- give everyone time to read what I’ve written.
And I’m not feeling so stressed
really enjoyed reading this glenn
…much food for thought in going forward with my blog…I feel I already do much of what you mentioned content wise…but I have a lot of work to do If I want to grow my blog to the next level…thanks again…hope all is well
Hey bro,
Hows life? Nice to hear that you are still growing so much while only writing one post a month. I’m writing one a week and growing at 200-300 per month, which is pretty nice.
One thing I’ve realised is that it is a LOT of work to build up a popular blog, and far from the easiest way to make money online. Of course, if you keep it up with the right strategy, then over a few years you can build up something very decent.
Cheers!
Diggy
I think that regulary writing isn’t that bad. We could write on some day three posts, but we shouldn’t publish three killers, we should publish these posts in time when we won’t have an inspiration.
Glen, I must say that with all the information I’ve read the last 120 or so days yours has been the best written and well received in my mind. I’m new to this ecosystem and the amount of information out there is incredible. I want my blog to touch folks and your words jumped off the page at me. Thanks for sharing and I will use this information to build my blog differently.
Great article! I like that you kind of go against the norm of what everyone has said before about blogging. I have actually worried that on my own blog that I am sometimes too broad, since I cover photography, design, and art in general and some other related things. I thought, “Am I screwing this up by not sticking to just one of those categories?” but you gave me encouragement to stick with what I am doing. I have been growing very slowly, but still growing.
As for the quantity over quality of posts argument, I totally agree. In fact, blogs that I subscribe to that put something out every day I typically trash on most occasions and the weekly (or less) I read nearly every time.
regular updates are essential at the beginning, later on when the blog grows large enough, it can be sustained with a few number of posts every now and then. that also depends on the strategy, if the biggest source of traffic is search engines then regular updates are a must else there would be a slight traffic increase
Glen,
I am a new(er) and slower blog that follows this guideline, am I successful as a blogger? hardly but I feel like I have steady slow growth and loyal readers and friends.
I post only 1-2 times a week,
I have no set schedule
I am not on any social media : a suicide I know!
I comment on blog only when I have something worthwhile to say!
I am not on cut throat blogging ladder rac
slow and steady win a race! May be I will not win, but I bet I will have funnest (yeah that can be real word according to my 5 year old) journey ever.
Have a great move to Thailand.
Hi Glen,
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
I’m new to blogging, having been at it since July 2009, and have been working on a strategy for building an audience and growing.
The advice you’ve offered through ViperChill has made a difference in our efforts and I’m grateful for your insights.
I think we’ve been on a “Goal” approach instead of a Niche approach since our beginnings and we’re tweaking it to really provide value.
Good to know that judging from your article and the comments that followed, the universe seems to have confirmed our approach is best…to help others by delivering content that adds value to their existence.
Totally agree Glen! I’ve finally woken up to the fact that doing what is typically suggested in the blogosphere ‘works’ but I’ve found it unauthentic, unenjoyable and unnecessary. Some will say that to make the most money, you put your opt-in box at A, your additional opt-in box at B, your RSS button at C and so on. Yes it works. I’ve done it. But there are alternatives. Like offering something awesome that has people searching for the RSS button, that has people looking to see if you have a newsletter or something they can buy! I do give it to the blogosphere though, I know that we can make a lot of money by going that route. But for me, it became unenjoyable when I’m trying to force content out, trying to ‘milk’ my site, to thinking about link bait, unsubscribe percentages, JVs, Twitter, Facebook and on it goes…..it’s easy to get lost in all that.
I didn’t post for over a month recently and in the back of my mind I figured that when I finally did post that no one would comment, I got quite a few comments quickly. Most significant of all, I guessed that my current readership wouldn’t respond to the changes I’d made to my site and the content of that post because it wasn’t typical blogosphere; no ’7 steps to’, no ‘Why everything you know about X is wrong.’, it seems that they did indeed resonate with it. The blogosphere can work but it doesn’t work on every level for me personally and in that case ultimately won’t work for my readers.
Thanks for showing people that there is another way, that giving people our authentic, awesome selves, value not vernacular, can indeed be a road to success.
I love the way the web is moving – just be social. I started the blog just because I found the information hard to find so I thought post it all in one place and save someone else the time and effort.
After reading a lot of what I should and shouldn’t do, I had a hiccup when I didn’t post for four weeks – the traffic, although not huge, didn’t change. It made me realise not to get so hung up about the ‘rules and regulations’ and just to try and see what works.
I just focus on doing what I’m doing and talking to like-minded people and it grows steadily.
Love the post Glen. Very true about the importance of niche anymore. And content is still king! Look forward to more from your blog!
Great post with good points! To me frequency of post does not matter but what you feed your audience is what matters alot! Yea to the quality post, am still confused the question i want to ask is should a post be lengthy i mean is it compulsory for a post should be 1000words or more? Hope to hear frm u soon thanks.
Its Really Get , I have also some blogs , I am managing on daily basis should I get the same traffic as like you mentioned , Its a really Great News You gives US
Thanks Glen, its always great to read an interesting post.
Hi Glen
Thanks for this great site – I am reading evey word on it (almost). I did get your Cloud Living program and it’s great. One thing I am curious about, using the Bookmar Demon how long does it take to see any kind of results? are we talking days or weeks?
Thanks again for a great blog
Zaegirs
Hi Glen,
As I was reading your post I actually felt a load literally life off my shoulders. Ironically it seems to me that what you are saying is that a smaller more quality focus often leads to a greater result. I have felt overloaded with the “more is better” syndrome for too long and I am exhausted. So much so that last week I posted twice and that was it. I usually post five times a week. I am going to contemplate that key question – “What do you really want to help people with?” – Thanks for the great advice.
~Marcus
Everything is constant change so like you said, we really need to adapt, it’s how one can survive. Playing the same old tune all the time will literally make you boring and unattractive.
Glenn,
You really do have the pulse on what is going on with the “newsphere” as you like to call it. It’s so crazy how things are moving so fast that people who were kinga few months ago can be taken over by an up and comer that is more hungry.
It’s all about getting to be in that habit of the person’s daily routine, and that is where I would argue that frewuent posting can be a benefit. When a person is looking forward to reading their favorite blog on a daily basis, they are going to need some content to feed that habit. If their blogger has only written one time in a month, they may forget about him, or at least not remember to come back to look for new content.
Although I am a very small pup in the world of blogging, I think that as long as you are providing content that is not re-written slop that can be found in about 300 other places, then you can create quite a following that will stick with you for the long haul.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
I’ve been in a blogging slump for the most of August and have been toying with the idea of dropping down one post week to only do four instead of five. When you work full time it is really difficult to keep writing really good content five days a week. I know some people in my niche that can post everyday because they are students or full time stay at home mums but it’s not something I am able to do. I want to grow my readership but I also need to keep my sanity otherwise my blog won’t be something I enjoy it will just become a chore. Thanks for the advice as usual you are wise beyond your years!
Your post validates my philosophy. Thank you. I must be newsphere from the old school. I didn’t like the niche thing so my goal/aim is help and educate the 50′s something bloggers. I wrote my last post using your post as a guide………I’d appreciate your feedback……you look like a curry kinda guy so I’ll send you one if you visit. I have a picture of the curry if you don’t believe me.
I totally agree with you. There is a serious information overload happening not only in the Internet but also in life in general. I once tried to focus on rather long and extremely interesting articles. And after a while I simply gave up and started creating rather short posts. What you have to keep in mind is that it’s not as easy to grow a blog, especially if it’s smaller, while not writing too many articles. I write an article every week and that alone makes me feel like I am not posting often enough. But you are right. In the end quality is what counts and not the number of posts you created over the years. Great article
another very interesting one …Glen…i confess i have been towing the “follow a niche line”…really got me thinking about “following a goal” line…will have to put some though to this …thank you
What’s up dude? First time I read your blog. You have some awesome material! Of course, that’s your point, right!?
I really didn’t notice the lack of ads on the blog until you mentioned it in the article. I have gotten so used to ignoring them. As soon as you mentioned their absence I also noticed how clean the edges of the screen look. Superb. I operate a church site for sunday school teachers. The purpose isn’t to make money but to make the church a bit more visible. Why make an extra $9.25 per month while annoying everyone? Just pay the web server bill and call it a business expense.
The Frequecny of Posting matters less but the quality of content posted determines the value of a blog
What about being crawled by the search engines? Google favors big money content farms (think eHow, Livestrong, etc.) which crank out thousands of articles per day covering almost every topic imaginable. This creates a problem for small websites. Health and wellness sites which present up to date information on health related topics can’t afford to post once or twice per week. If you don’t have a schedule for posting (or post inconsistently) the spiders will come less frequently. On top of that readers could raise eyebrows if you have too much space between posts e.g. weeks or months.
Google’s favoring of big business content farms makes this suggestion difficult for people who write on certain subjects.
They don’t prefer them. Read any news blog on marketing and you will see they are being cracked down upon.
I hope so. I’ve been following reports on WebProNews where they’re expressing concern that a few sites will dominate content. Still, it would be great post less frequently. But part of my site advert is that we publish daily. For a while much of that was supplied by article directories but since Google’s algorithm change I’ve been writing articles everyday, science based but written so that everyday people can benefit. That’s always been the focus of my site – wanting to post health and wellness info that people can use.
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Sheyi