After a long contradictory discussion that I had with some of my fellow bloggers, I have decided to research thoroughly this matter, in order to settle the everlasting dispute.
Quantity or quality, which is the most important feature of an outstanding blog? Is it better to bombard the visitor with thousand of meaningless articles every day, or write just twice a week, but care about reader’s opinion and even try to make them interact with you, by stimulate them to comment the things that you have wrote?
This two concepts can be bond to two different characters, the powerful S.E.O. that is trying to maximize his profit by flooding the search engine with pointless articles filled with keywords and, on the other side, the blogger that cares about his readers, trying to get their attention and even admiration.
It is up to your decision, if you want to get traffic fast, you can flood your blog with useless articles, but this is a short term solution and you may regret it later. If the visitor will guess your intention, then he may treat your articles disinterestedly, even if you write something very interesting. In my opinion this is a desperate measure and I’d rather choose another option.
By the other hand, the first step to rise your traffic is to build your credibility, and if you are a novice blogger like me, the best way to obtain credibility is to provide good content. You must realize that you are not the only blogger on the network and you must admit that people don’t know you. Before you will stand out from the crowd, you will need a continuous flow of original article. Once people notice you care about what they think, you may see some encouraging results.
In conclusion, my personal advice is to keep things simple, because often simple is the best option, and try to impress your visitors. You will be surprised by the results. And as an experiment, you may try to combine quality with quantity, but I consider that is exhausting to write a lot and well, especially if you have a day job or classes to attend to, or both, even though this combination can offer far more superior results.
I consider this subject far from closed, and if someone disagrees with me, I will be delighted to hear their opinion. This is my way to keep things interactive.
Written by: Liviu Moldovan
6 comments:
To me, the most important element isn't simply quality or quantity, but regularity. If you are posting daily, weekly, or monthly, adhering to your scheduled is something ablogger owes their readers.
The key is to decide why you are blogging in the first place. It traffic your primary concern? Ad sales? Personal updates for friends and family? Or is it because you need to write?
There are times the words are just dying to get out. They demand to be written. And it's important to let them out when that happens, lest they fester and die.
One of the most overlooked feature of a blog is the draft function. Write all those articles and save them as drafts for when the ideas come. Then you can still maintain what ever schedule you set even with when the real world intrudes.
Great blog you have here! I think generally it's about balance, weighted towards quality. No one wants to read crap (ever) and few people will stick around if they have to wait for the quality (forever). I guess blogging is a lot like life that way...find a comfortable balance and you should be fine.
I agree with Politi gal, balance, One thing that you need to think is, what you can offer to your reader...the visitor will come to your site to see what can they get and if you have what they are looking then they will come back. Every Visitor is a potential readers. You don't need to post everyday or else you already have posted something else before your readers read your other post let them catch up of your post.
Quantity vs. quality are important things to consider, but you also have a consistent desire to blog. I have 3 blogs and each covers different areas, quality is my main goal, but I like to make sure each blog gets a post no less than each week.
Most of what I've read about successful blogging agrees that you need to post at least three times per week. And post should range between 250 and 400 words on keywords related to your blog.
So my answer is that to have a successful blog you have to provide both regular posts (quantity) and quality posts.
I'm surprised at the number of blogs I visit through entrecard with no posts at all for some weeks. Some haven't posted in the last month.
That's fine if blogging is a hobby, but not if you ever want to make any money.
Cromley that's right. Regularity. Let your readers get used to a certain schedule and they will always look forward to posts on a regular basis. They'll keep coming back because they know that every day or every so many days they're sure to read something new on your site.
Personally I post three times a week, Monday Wednesday and Friday. Once in a while something may happen in my country that needs an immediate post and I'll post even if it's not one of the posting days. I've found this schedule to work perfectly.
Politi gal Hi. I have your advert running on my side right now. Hope you get clicks from there! I agree with you and Iris about the balancing. Sometimes I do posts that are heavy, thought provoking and require a bit of research and sometimes simpler ones that are easier on me. But I try my best for them to be quality. Mine is a mixed bag blog with politics, entertainment and sometimes humor.
Thanks Hategan for this great post.
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