Is writing Bullshit good enough to keep your readers?
I’ve always wondered this. Are fluff and bullshit posts good enough to keep people satisfied until your next good post? I read a lot of blogs, and most blogs have good posts, just not everyday. A lot of them post crap filler posts quite frequently.
Now, let me explain what crap filler is. They are the sorta on-topic posts that are very broad and general. I’ll do a quick example here:
3 Tips to improve your blog!
1. Stay healthy. Making sure you eat right and get your excercise will make sure you have the energy to write those posts.
2. Get enough sleep. This way you don’t fall asleep while working.
3. Stretch. Keeping yourself limber will help prevent cramps during those long post writing sessions.
Follow these tips and you will have a great blog in no time!
If you read any blogs anywhere, I know you have seen this kind of junk all over the place. I was surprised at first that posts like this actually got comments, but I figure it’s one of two types of people. Those that are idiots, or those that are trying to get the top comments award.
So here is my question. Does this thing count as a post to you? Do you appreciate this crap as at least it is something, or would you rather the writer just wait until they had something to say?
Also, would these posts help yoiur rankings at all? Besides filling them with keywords, it will show your blog as being more active. Does that have any bearing in the SERP’s at all?
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I used to float bullshit posts fairly often, feeling obligated to give my readers something, anything to read nearly every day.
Now that I have added so many blogs to my google reader, I am much more appreciative of the bloggers that only post when they have something to say.
Incidentally, I haven’t posted to my quitting smoking blog in over a month, and it has been higher in SERPs over the last few days than ever, with a siginficant increase in hits from all of the big 3 engines. It’s actually rather strange.
Comment by Chris — September 7, 2007 @ 8:53 am
It’s best advised to run a blog search on topics written about before publishing and find out what the saturation level is like on a given topic. If it’s high and there hasn’t really been something explained better or added to the conversation in a meaningful, useful way then pull back the piece and wait.
One thing about blogs is a lot of the saturated topics (IE. blogging about blogging) are cyclical. It’s best to time your piece so that you aren’t in the middle or end of a resurgence of the cycle but at the beginning. Easy to say in the comments area, much harder to do.
Like anything else, finding and writing about good unsaturated topics is part of the challenge.
Comment by TDavid — September 7, 2007 @ 10:31 am
As for your question “Does this thing count as a post to you?” — that example seems kind of light and perhaps even factually incorrect (see guys like Robert Scoble who stays up and posts into the wee hours of the morning sometimes, I bet he isn’t getting all his sleep). The example seemed more like an appetizer or something like a linkdump. A musing.
Personally, I tend to prefer meatier, more pensive posts with examples, pictures, real world data to backup any advice, etc. Who is the person giving this advice? Do they have any track record of success using said advice?
But as I eluded to in my first comment, blogging about blogging is a very saturated topic right now. Almost any other topic is better.
Comment by TDavid — September 7, 2007 @ 10:41 am
wow, thanks for those tips. yeah, you´re right, i should really stretch a little bit more. my thigh hurts like hell as i´m sitting in front of my computer the whole day… stretching and sleeping, that´s the 2 vital points for me.
Comment by chilli — September 9, 2007 @ 8:20 pm
Problogger did a compilation recently of the most popular blogs on the net today.
The closer to number one you got, the higher the post frequency. As to if these bs posts will help you along these lines, I don’t know…but it seems to have worked for John Chow.
Comment by Dave RH — September 10, 2007 @ 1:25 pm
The same old recitings can get to b pretty boring sometimes. Throwing in some off the wall stuff tends to break the monotony. Just look at magazines, even the ones that cover specific topics go was left of center on a regular basis.
You never know what people are looking so that one off the wall post might gain you 10 readers even though you lost 2 or 3 because of it.
I think it’s a form of marketing that can be used effectively to attract people that wouldn’t otherwise come to your blog but might find it interesting none the less.
Comment by James Pegram — September 11, 2007 @ 10:43 am
[...] potty mouth, but he’s got an interesting point to one of his latest posts too. Jason asks if writing bullshit is good enough to keep your readers. I know that I’m guilty of putting in some filler posts from time to time, just to keep the [...]
Pingback by What’s Up Wednesdays: Sabotage, Violations, and Bullshit || Beyond the Rhetoric || — September 12, 2007 @ 6:21 pm
well, i won’t say that it’s all bull. That really depends though, to some readers they may find some meaning in those posts, really! Though as crappy as it may seem, some people read blogs for those kinda stuff.
Comment by Donald T — September 14, 2007 @ 10:51 am
I hate filler posts. The trouble is that without them you can sometimes wait weeks between decent posts so you lose the urge to check back on the blog.
Comment by Chamonix — September 17, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
I think a lot of bloggers get bored just creating content for one topic. Instead, they will drift away and write about random crap. As long as it’s interesting, I don’t really care!
Comment by Tom — September 17, 2007 @ 7:55 pm
I believe in only writing quality posts, but you have to do it often enough to keep your readers. I totally agree with being in shape. I’ve spent far too much time sitting at the computer, and sometimes I get to sleepy to even write.
Comment by HDTV Guy — September 18, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
Frankly, there are a lot of people misunderstand what does blogging mean. They consider blogging as diary? or perhaps a kind of way to let go anger? Consequently, “blogs” are not blogs. In my opinion, people who is blogging about rubbish contents, start from this moment, should try to change the content of their blogs.
Comment by Killer — September 23, 2007 @ 7:14 am
To me its a matter of perspective, there are so many motives, what is right for me may not be right for someone else.
Comment by Patrick — September 26, 2007 @ 12:42 am
If the person has a sense of humor and a little bit of flare they can write about anything I don’t really give a crap. If it’s entertaining I’ll read it. As far as keeping fit so you can have the stamina to post a lot is ridiculous. Ugh, you can tell when someone is just writing a cheesy filler post though. As far as this page is concerned the blogs are all entertaining if you ask me.
Comment by Science of Identity Foundation — September 26, 2007 @ 8:17 am
I would rather that bloggers wait until they have something valid or valuable to post. I think there’s a lot of pressure to post every single day, and I wish more people would just relax and post higher quality entries even if it means that they won’t be posting every day. That is just my opinion (in regards to the blogs that are reader-focused). But I do agree with Patrick in that one one hand it does depend on the type of blog or the goals of a given blog. Some blogs are (ironically) not necessarily created to please readers! They are just built to make money..
Comment by Education Blogger — September 26, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
Yeah! I think your tips given are good enough! And I feel that It’s important for bloggers to know that, actually we don’t blog because we need to blog, instead we blog because we want to blog.
Comment by Valik Rudd — October 3, 2007 @ 2:58 am
There are still a lot of people don’t really understand what does blogging mean.. Thanks for the tips given. Actually we all should always be clear of what we are going to blog..:)
Comment by Sharm — October 3, 2007 @ 12:45 pm
interesting post, it’s very different from other blogs
Comment by Gorilla Trades — October 9, 2007 @ 2:30 pm
BS posts seem to be the norm, rather than the exception. Take a look at Activerain - I think the ratio of quality to BS is in the low teens.
Comment by Austin Real Estate — October 25, 2007 @ 2:10 pm
I think you are right that there’s no better way to have good writing than to watch and take care of your health.
Comment by paulette — July 5, 2008 @ 10:35 am