When Content Isn’t King
by Sean Platt on February 12, 2009
in blogging
We’ve all heard content is KING. It’s a maxim chanted through the blogosphere from our first post to our most recent tweet. Is it true? I’ve been writing every day, in multiple places, and I’d have to argue that no, content isn’t king. At least not without a few conditions.
There seems to be a formula to social media popularity. If it doesn’t fit, the chances of content taking off are barely half empty.
Writer Dad has generated almost 5000 comments off 150 posts.
Cool? Yes. Am I proud? Absolutely.
But let’s dig deeper.
Writer Dad, in six months of high quality daily posts, has never:
- Had a single post take flight from the runway of StumbleUpon. The highest number of hits ever from StumbleUpon traffic was around a hundred hits, for Sliding Doors, one of the best pieces of writing I’ve crafted.
- Never once had a post go anywhere near viral. I’ve had posts that have blown up within they’re own community. Posts that have generated amazing discussion before drifting over to different doormats, but nothing that could hope to throw open the doors to dig.
The few times I’ve gained traction with any sort of social media was when I asked directly for it. This made me uncomfortable. In my mind, if content is really king, shouldn’t it be telling people what to do? In addition, traffic from StumbleUpon is barely a blink; there long enough to register, but rarely to read.
This is not a complaint, it’s a study. A half year is long enough to draw a few conclusions
There are formulas to what goes viral, or at least variations on a blueprint. Perhaps the term content is a tad limited? Let’s ask ourselves, what is good content?
When’s the last time you saw a truly amazing piece of short fiction blow up? How about a song that sounded like it was born straight from someone’s soul? A short film that took ripped the breath from your throat? There are examples to the contrary. The Randy Pausch Last Lecture is one of my favorites, but the former are a mountain over the a meadow of the latter.
The Number + Subject + Adjective post is classic, but examples bloom far past those. Looking deeper, the stuff that scatters to the wind and goes viral is, by and large, disposable information, single use only. It makes sense. We are so busy consuming we rarely stop to think. I’m no different and probably guiltier than most, but really, is this what we want? Perhaps we should temper the variety just a bit. Cheeseburgers and candy are cool, but sometimes we need a piece of fruit.
What is GREAT content? To each his own, of course, but budding bloggers should ask themselves how they wish to proceed and how they want to help build the next generation. Disposable content is fine, but produced far too fast for much of it to stick, and we should start making room for something else. Stories, theories, ideas that still ruminate a full day’s distance from the thin gauze of the publishing window.
I believe things will change. This particular world is new and the majority have yet to embrace it. When they do, we should be ready. I am. I do believe that content is King, but we should decide what we want that content to be. Everything has it’s place and I like pretty much every flavor, but I expect my children to sift through the archives of the WD at some point, check out their Daddy’s once upon a time. I don’t expect them to do the same for my potty training site.
New Bloggers have a massive amount of power. As we climb our rungs, we should choose which ones we’re grabbing.
Sean, dad and ghostwriter.
Related Websites -
In the beginning This is an article I wrote during the first few weeks of blogging here on Gather Little by Little. At the time I didn't have many readers. This is actually one of my favorite articles and I thought I would "dust it off" and share it. The dictionary defines...... - A budget in your head isn't really a budget (This post is part of a Money Blog Network Group Writing Project on budgeting.) I've made it one of my goals this year to track my expenses better. Budgeting using The Force worked when I was single, but throw a wife and a kid in the mix, the cushion that......
- Meet Surefire Trading Challenge Winners-The Champion This Time Is A 20 Year Old College Student! Download this award winning Forex Trading System that made 1,306.50% PM FREE and watch this banned system video. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot that made 2,300% NET PROFIT in 2009 and get this Forex Auto Detector Software FREE that can increase the performance of any forex robot by 53% and......
-
Juicy Couture By Juicy Couture For Women, Eau De Parfum Spray, 3.4-Ounce Bottle (tester) User Reviews Send this to a friend Juicy Couture By Juicy Couture For Women, Eau De Parfum Spray, 3.4-Ounce Bottle (tester) Manufacturer: Juicy Couture Customer Rating: List Price: $85.00 Sale Price: $43.99 Availibility: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Now Product Description Launched by the design house of...... -
Money Saving Tips: 122 Ways To Trim Your Budget A while back All You Magazine offered to give away a few subscriptions to Frugal Dad readers. The rules for entering the contest were simple--leave a money saving tip in the comments. What happened next was one of those magical moments you can only get from blogs, and the sense......
I think content is king, but only the right content in the right niche. I’ve got one set of pages in a very limited niche with a very limited number of pages that is earning me an AdSense check every month. It ranges from just over the minimum to over $300 in a month. It would make more sense for me to be concentrating my time there trying to build that up, but I never seem to get around to it and when I do, I get distracted from it.
Oh, and those pages where I’m earning the money are not blog pages. They’re primarily old fashioned static pages made up mostly of links. The content in this case is links, believe it or not.
Mike Goad’s last blog post..Wednesday Weigh-In, February 11, 2009
Hey Sean,
To a large degree I completely agree with you. I’ve often told true stories on my blog to illustrate a point. Whether I’ve been talking about the “millionaire homeless guy”, or some excellent customer service I received in a small family store, as stories always do, they’ve proven to be a fantastic, engaging and interesting form of writing for my readers. But while they’ve contributed to some of my most highly commented posts, they haven’t brought in many new subscribers.
On the contrary, it’s often the short, sharp and to the point posts that bring in subscribers. Posts where my writing is less creative and more practical.
Of course, going back to Sid’s guest post from yesterday, we should vary our posts to ensure we entertain and help both our current readers and attract new readers.
Thanks for the interesting post, Sean!
Jamie
As you know I’ll stand on my soapbox and blow the Sean and Eric trumpet all day long but I have a confession; I don’t think I’ve ever socially bookmarked one of your posts.
I do feel guilty but I don’t think I’m the only one. For me I’m constantly reading other blogs and articles, I have about 60 feeds in my Google reader!
As I hurry around reading and commenting its easy to forget to hit the StumbleUpon button or to add to Delicious. On top of that I have to also enter a description and tags and pick a category (and StumbleUpon has far too many categories to sift through). This all results in psychological barriers.
I’m not trying to make excuses here because I know one thing for certain; if you ask me to bookmark your post or article I will. And therein lies the truth; ask and ye shall receive. It’s not because any of us are selfish and/or self-centered we just need a proverbial boot up the back side from time to time.
Over on my blog I use the Sociable plug-in. Not only does it give you a variety of social networks to offer up to your readers but you can customise the call to action. I’m afraid your “Stumble It” button is just not enough on its own.
Regarding content, it’s pretty straightforward. Once you found your target market identify what they need and give it to them. That’s the essence of marketing which at the end of the day is what all bloggers are doing whether we realise it or not.
Marc’s last blog post..5 Books To Help With Your Blogging. You Only Pay For 1
Well, I’ve had a couple minor brushes with StumbleUpon but the one that went CRAZY was “How to Be Homeless”. I wrote that one on a fluke because it seemed my iFriends/Family were terrified of chasing their dream because of the possibility of losing everything.
Anyway, I almost took it down because it wasn’t inspirational and a little more on the depressing side. Even now, I feel torn about it.
But I can tell you that StumbleUpon is a fickle community. Even if they like one post, it doesn’t mean they’ll hang around for the rest of them. I wouldn’t purposefully write for SU users because – unless you have multiple posts going viral – it’s simply a temporary spike in readers/blog stats.
Meanwhile I have noticed where people Stumble each others’ posts simply because they are friends, regardless of quality. It’s probably a good networking method but it isn’t something I feel comfortable doing.
Hayden Tompkins’s last blog post..This is What Love Sounds Like
I think variety is good. Lists, stories from the heart, adive etc that all pertain to your niche. I love the potty training site. Clever!
Tess The Bold Life’s last blog post..Bold Love for February 14th
I know the content that really grabs me is principle centered content and content that comes from the heart of the author. Both stir in me a desire to subscribe to a particular blog. Lists might get bookmarked if they are practical for what I need now, but for the most part I’m looking for stuff that inspires.
Great post, Sean! What I’m going to say next may shock our wee community, but as a relative newbie, I don’t know enough about the range of options under posts to feel confident clicking away. For example, I scrolled up to see if there were any buttons under this post, saw a Stumble It button, clicked it out of curiosity then lost my whole damn comment because I hadn’t submitted. I didn’t realise it would take me to a new page or that I didn’t need to be an actual member myself to be able to click!! Maybe there’s a post you could write for beginners like me, explaining them all with a get-out clause that tells more experienced readers to look away and not be insulted!
Can I make another suggestion? Both you and Sean find it difficult to ask for stuff but I’ve seen other blogs that actually spell it out underneath instead of using the big icons you seem to prefer. I’d be more tempted to click if someone spelled it out for me: If you’ve enjoyed this post, please share it (wee email icon)Stumble it (icon) or Digg it. (icon)etc
I’ve also clicked buttons in the past to buy folk a coffee or a beer. If you guys occasionally put one of those under Friday’s videos, for example, I’d happily buy a diaper, coffee or a glass of wine occasionally to say thank you for the week’s entertainment, learning and reading pleasure.
I’m with Welsh Marc on this one – ASK! You’re worth it!
Mike: WOW, Mike! That’s quite impressive. That’s really cool. You should spend a couple of days tweaking that. That’s quite a nice little supplement. Great job.
Jamie: My pleasure, Jamie. Thanks for commenting. I keep telling myself I should finally succumb to the list post. I’m sure I would do just fine at it, and I’m not quite sure why I’ve been so obstinate, but maybe it’s time. It would be fun to set out with the goal to make something go viral.
Marc: Well said, my friend, and no doubt. If a blogger isn’t marketing themselves, then all they have is an online diary. You’re also right about asking before receiving. I agree there as well. My thought is simply, “Wouldn’t it be nice if the content that was heavily circulated made the rounds because of the strength of it’s message, and that the best stuff was so good, no one would even need to ask?”
Hayden: That’s exactly how I feel about it. Being a part of a network that gives me temporary spikes in traffic for readers who weren’t looking for and probably don’t particularly care for my content, in exchange for promoting content that I may not think is all that fantastic strikes me as a dubious prospect indeed.
Tess: Thanks. The potty training site makes me smile at least once a day.
Dave: I’m glad to hear it. That’s the way I am too. I almost never bookmark anything, unless I have a very specific need for particular content, which is rare, but I do subscribe to any blog where I feel a connection with the author. I like the writers who don’t mind letting you see what makes them tick. This is a rarity in a list post.
Janice: You are too kind, Janice. I know you’re right. It really is as simple as asking. We shall get better at it. Eric and I will have to have a chat. Perhaps we’ll write a post and see how viral we can make it. I’m sure we’re up for the challenge!