I've been trying to find something "relevant" to point to a Performancing, Nick Wilson & Patrick Gavin's new foray into the blog publishing sphere and ran into this - The 80/20 Rule of Focus. From Nick:
The problem in brief is that some, and by my reckoning, many, bloggers start off very focused on their core topic. But as they run dry of things to say, usually at around the same time that their subscriber base starts to really get into interesting figures, they start to wander wildly off-topic. It's particularly common among those that blog on tech, media and marketing issues but most likely applies to all of us.
He goes on to note the inevitable shift:
It seems once you start down this slippery slope, it really does begin to build momentum. Right to the point where you become YATB™ (Yet Another Tech Blog). Everyone and his dog is out there reporting that Google did this, RSS will do that, some A-lister said (insert something stupid here) -- but yet despite the commoditization of tech news, specialist, knowledgeable bloggers seem destined to taste the forbidden fruit, and turn a good blog into YATB. It's distressing.
OK. So you've struck the fear into me, Nick. Now I need to know, honestly, from the readers... Is SEOmoz getting too "off-topic"? Do we cover the same stuff you read about from Barry, Danny, Todd, TW, etc.? If so, what would you like to see more and less of?
I think we all tend to have our own voice to things although there is certainly overlap. Barry and Danny are mainly news, and covering everything (and at it full time). I started blogging mainly to have nice information repositories (the tools), and definitely fall into this.
I think the draw of your blog is that it does not always definitively ANSWER questions, but sparks thought on the subject, and helps to aggregrate quality information (similar to TW). ON TOPIC Original thought and commentary is what keeps a blog good. That's also what's hard to do consistently while maintaining other facets of life.
FWIW -- I read SEOBook, Stuntdubl, Jim Boykin and you, but not any of the others. Why? You discuss specific SEO tactics and things I want to learn about as a webmaster. The rest pretty much just re-post search engine press releases...
oh yeah, and I read TW of course :-)
I agree with the things Andi mentioned.
I visit the blogs whose owners I've met, so that would be you, Barry, Andy Beal, Mike Grehan, Danny Sullivan, for example. I go to blogs of those who teach me new things, and most of those blogs fall under the usability or web design industries, not SEO/SEM. The majority of SEO blogs, with a handful of standouts, rehash what's already been reported.
When the personality of the writer comes through, and they grab me with the first few lines of a post, I will gladly come. Todd (Stundbl) puts himself in his posts, and that draws me in. TW, I'm less likely to visit because revenue at the expense of people's feelings is not my style.
Still, Nick had some good points in his piece. The moment someone has a good idea, it will be exploited and the knee jerk response is to go careening off-course to remain on top of one's game; until there's no longer an audience anymore and the thrill of blog ownership is gone.
Seomoz is so off topic that I am not sure what the topic of this blog is, but that is not important. I really enjoy reading the roasted mix content that makes Seomoz.
I think there's too much pressure to fill space once the traffic starts rolling. It's ok to not post if there's nothing worth posting, it's not like a newspaper that must fill all its columns.
If the blog is getting lucrative, hire someone to scan and edit. If not, let it go empty for a day, no biggie.
And if it's a big but routine story that you KNOW everyone else will cover, look for that special angle that will make your post different or just let it go. Redundant news ain't news.
edit: I should add that these are general comments, not specific reactions to earlier numbers of this particular blog... :)
Facts can become boring, especially when everyone reads facts differently. Perspective on the other hand, can never be boring to all and will always hold it’s own special following. It is the personality that makes people watch, and it is the personality that commands attention. If staying focused were the same rhetoric or facts, then all Teck Blogs would be the same. I think SEOmoz does a nice job by keeping it’s personality first, and the facts second.
PS. I am sick of the “gleaning of the fields” for information so that personality can be substituted for stapled responses. Thank god there are some in the SEO community that still think for themselves and are the forefront of new things. Keep up the good work Rand,
D
I read all those blogs, including yours, and I find yours original and thought provoking. I especially like that you've moved to a more holistic approach to internet marketing.
I don't watch Barry's blog anymore (sorry Barry). I have SEW in my RSS, but rarely do I find something there that I really dig into (not really concerned much about industry news type stuff). Todd, I don't read. Threadwatch I have loaded up as well. I think you cover something between all of them and that is a good mix of the higher-level stuff and the low-level stuff. My 2 cents.