A Blogging Proclamation: Quality Content Wins

By jamesmBlogging

It has only been within this current year when I realized a serious difference in the way I was generating traffic for my blogs. I realized that it is no longer any use to me to simply link to great articles. It is an epic waste of time.

I am no longer concerning myself with posting frequency on my own blogs; instead, I will be focusing on creating only quality content. It doesn’t matter if it requires one day or one week, I will only publish original and quality content.

There are reasons for this:

Originality—original content is content that others talk about. When you look at news sites, social sites, etc., they are buzzing with original content. Original content generates interest by readers. We desire this originality, and we eat it up. So, feed your readers some originality.

Traffic-the amount of traffic I receive from completely original content, as opposed to that which has been written about before, makes writing anything but original and unique content a waste of time for me and my readers. I’m not going to make a name for myself by doing anything else other than be the creator of spectacular content.

Subscribers-when I write truly unique and quality content, I earn those reader’s trust. I earn subscribers. I know my audience, and I know that they are fairly technical. They subscribe to content, and they know what is going on throughout the blogosphere. I would not dare to bother them with the same content they have already read. Instead, I want to be the creator of the content they will read everywhere else on the web.

Links—truly unique and quality content has a great chance of generating links. Your common resource articles are, for the most part, great, and they do generate a nice amount of links. Will that be enough though? If you can write original, unique content that no one else can easily replicate, you have truly created a masterpiece that will be linked to by dozens, if not hundreds, of blogs.

Marketing—the ability to market quality content is easier than sub-par content. If you expect a piece to get noticed by the bigger fish, and you plan on attracting advertisers, the more unique your content, the better off you are.

Wasted Efforts

Another point is the fact that a lot of great blog posts just get pushed away by lower quality content. Now, I admit, it is necessary to let your readers know you are alive, but why give your readers with content that is just as bad as most of the other content they are subscribed to? Is it really worth it?

Future Demands

If I were looking at this situation from a competitive standpoint (which I don’t), I would be delighted with the fact that people believe they need to put out content every day. It’s those very bloggers who will be linking to my content and passing their readers onto me. This is what I want; this is my edge. If everyone worked as hard as I did to create original content, there would be little chance that I could make a living doing this.

I’ve previously stressed the fact that, in the future, people are going to want original content in the future. Those blogs that simply link elsewhere are in serious trouble, and I am even more convinced as I have experienced that same situation. No longer is it just enough to simply offer an opinion; it requires hard work to create impressive content.

It’s easy to search through hundreds of feeds and find great content to share with your readers—you might even offer some insight to the existing content, but this way of commercial blogging is going to come under pressure. Tools are already being developed which will render those types of blogs ineffective.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you believe that quality content is better than the amount of content the blog publishes?

23 thoughts on “A Blogging Proclamation: Quality Content Wins”

  1. I’ve already unsubscribed to quite a few blogs that have been doing such actions. It is really starting to become annoying.

  3. I nod in agreement that quality is really the most important factor.

    Posting sub-par daily will drive readers away. My take: if you really have faith in your blog and the message of what you have to say, readership will build over time. Also, the more quality content on your blog over time, the better search engines will pay you back. So will other bloggers with higher-quality links.

    A post I needed to read to keep from publishing for its own sake. Thanks!

  5. Exactly

    You could also make Wikipedia your bible. I tend to do that. Greatest site ever invented.

    Actually, listening to TWiTLive helps me keep on top of things. Plus I learn a lot of new stuff about technology from the guests.

  6. Good points in regards to the podcasting bit, I’m glad I took it upon myself to learning and honing my broadcasting skills. the next thing I have to work on now is screencasting and I think that will help round my skillset a bit more.

    I wouldn’t mind doing an audio post or two a day, I think that would be fun in addition to the textual content.

    Now, as for your last point. I guess that means that whatever it is we are writing about, to try our best to become pros in that subject. So although many people could write about it, an individual would be considered a pro and would have the notoriety to rise above the noise no matter how many people are writing about the same thing.

  7. It should serve more as an eye-opener.

    These problems are only starting to begin, but there is still time for people to work hard and make a name for themselves.

    For example, Jeff, you have your podcasting to fall back on, and it is a great skill to have. It makes you much more valuable than a person who could only do blogging. This means when bandwidth becomes cheaper (if it does), you have an advantage because we might be listening to quick audio versions of blogs instead of reading text.

    Could you imagine a future where instead of reading text, we are subscribed to podcasts that are easily managed and updated by the podcasters, and could easily be listened to almost the second it is published by all the subscribers.

    I honestly see a future where instead of seeing blog posts, many will be replaced with audio and video.

    However, with all the text content we already have in our feed reader, it would be quite difficult to convince people to subscribe to audio versions as well.

    Podcasters are great for making 30 – 60 minute shows, but when will they begin making podcasts that are updated several times per day? How about video blogs that are updated several times per day?

    Would be insane, but would also be interesting if it was done right.

    But for that to happen, it would have to begin with having amazing support within all of the consumer electronic products, and that still isn’t up to par yet.

    I also agree with you about wanting to create original content.

    I would write down amazing ideas back when I was writing on Tech In Demand, and I’d store it away to write maybe a few days later, and then I’d see that post which I had thought of on the front page of Digg. It would drive me crazy, because I would be kicking myself for not writing it.

    It is almost like people had access to all my amazing post ideas. It became very frustrating. I mean, there is still plenty of original content that can be created, but the blogosphere is just so crowded, that there has to be a limit to what we can handle. Once everyone is online, how on earth is one person going to stand out with the minds of billions creating content on a daily basis.

    If anyone thinks things are bad now…. I just can’t even imagine what it would be like 5 – 10 years from now. It’s just going to keep growing and growing faster at exponential levels.

  8. Man, this post makes me wonder why I even bother blogging. It’s true, originality sure does help an author or a blog to become successful, but for god sakes, there are over 100 million blogs out their, don’t you think everything is covered by now? I mean, when I take a look at my feed reader, I see all of the topics thats I would of loved to have talked about already being discussed in the blogosphere. So then, why bother. Then I see news stories which would make for good conversation starters but all the other sites have published the news, so why bother. The odds are stacked way against bloggers in terms of originality. Although everyone has an opinion and everyone has their unique writing style, is it acceptable to take a news story being talked about on the web and come at it from a different angle, or would that not be original?

  9. I know what you mean.

    One of my lesser quality posts made it on the front page of Digg, and I had no intention of it ever doing so. I was almost caught off guard and really didn’t want THAT post to be the one everyone saw, but… it worked out pretty well.

    Sometimes blogging is just weird like that. 😀

  10. Yeah! Brilliant idea. I should have mentioned that as I have written about it so many times before.

    Why not have others contribute to your blog on a daily basis. It works out well for both parties.

  11. It’s a constant battle with me, deciding what is going to be published. I always only want to create Great Content, but sometimes I have a problem deciding what that is.

    One thing I’ve decided, it doesn’t have to be Fitzgerald or Hemingway-esque. Sometimes, I think, it could be Dr Seuss-ish. But it has to be original.

    I have to mention that the single most viewed page on the site is a post I threw together in less than half an hour making fun of a scam email. I thought it was certainly schlock, but it spawned the embarrassing ‘Fake EMail’ series, by reader request.

    Quality might be an idea with an elusive definition, but originality is pretty obvious.

  12. Absolutely. Quality is the reason people visit, subscribe and come back.

    In ad sponsored blogs, quantity can boost traffic too but content should not be of low quality.

    Balancing between rants, short and comprehensive posts is necessary if the audience expects more frequent updates. Or perhaps, start accepting guest bloggers to help supplying fresh content.

  13. “It is hard work. I just spent a half hour brainstorming new topics for my writer’s website. But it’s worth it. My readers get information they can’t get anywhere else, and I get the pleasure of creating something that is uniquely me.”

    I only wish everyone took as much time as you do to plan out things like that. It should serve as inspiration to all bloggers.

    Also, you have a great blog.

    Thanks for commenting!

  14. Yeah, I see what you are saying. I also really like DoshDosh; a unique style, just as I was talking about. Everyone needs that unique style.

  15. I agree. Of course, it isn’t the actual writing part that takes me the longest, it is the research.

  16. I’m convinced that writing original content is the way to succeed. After all, novelists don’t tell you about other stories. They write their own books and that’s why we love them. They’re original.

    It is hard work. I just spent a half hour brainstorming new topics for my writer’s website. But it’s worth it. My readers get information they can’t get anywhere else, and I get the pleasure of creating something that is uniquely me.

    Thanks for this great article.

  17. I agree with you completely. Blogs that publish a lot of mediocre content only get glanced over by me. When I find a blog that has nothing but good content, I take my time & check back regularly. DoshDosh & Courtney Tuttle for example.

    Anyway, yeah I think this is a great idea. You publish a lot of great content here too, its a shame to push it down with other (not as good) posts.

    – Scott Sharpe

  18. While I believe quality trumps quantity everytime, it would be best if a blog/site would churn out quality content regularly. This way subscribers won’t get bored reading about the same thing all the time.

  19. My thoughts exactly. This is why I have unsubscribed from around 50 blogs within the past few months. It was just getting far too repetitive.

    It is of no use to me to see the same story 10 times, and this is especially true with the “big time” blogs. They rarely offer any great insight to stories. They just post links to other content. I find that smaller bloggers tend to offer unique insight.

    I believe the bigger blogs are just too focused on covering the news fastest. I feel it is kinda like when games are sold before they are completed. The marketing might make it a buy for many, but it is still missing the small things that I appreciate.

    Anyways, thanks for your comment Barry. I agree with you entirely.

  21. Good article, I completely agree.

    I find it frustrating that so many of the top blogs in a niche all post about the same subject within hours of each other. While this is understandable for breaking news it is not for articles on “products”. My view is that unless they add something new and significant (which they should highlight or make clear) then they do themselves and their readers a disservice.

    Barry Cleave

  22. well I think that quality content should be the focus of every blogger. It is of no use to create anything of lesser quality.

    I only subscribe to blogs that offer this “quality” you speak of. So yes I agree with your statements.

    Thanks for your work, James.

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