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What I learned in ten years of blogging

ferrucc.io

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Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#31

Post by DamnInteresting »

SonicSoul wrote: post #17

One well researched article is better than a lot of mediocre content I remember similar advice on patio11 (Patrick McKenzie) blog that i really took to heart. something along the lines of "it's better to have a few laser polished articles, than a ton of content". so to this date i start writing posts and quit half way through to keep only my favorite ideas up there.. there is another camp i.e. Seth Godin who write a…

I started a website in 2005 that is still in operation today. We started out posting 1-2 articles per week, I had a lot of spare time then. But that rate was unsustainable with our small team and small budget, and we reached a point of burnout, and had to decide whether to slow down or shut down. After a hiatus to mentally recuperate, we opted to continue writing, though publishing less often and digging deeper into the stories.

The results of this change of format are mixed. On the one hand, it now feels like quite an accomplishment when we wrap up research, writing, fact-checking, recording (podcast version), sound design, illustrations, etc. And most readers/listeners seem happier than ever with the quality of the content. But on the other hand, our rankings in Google have fallen considerably to sites that post frequent, low-effort content. The gatekeepers seem to prefer the pap.

Additionally, there are a minority of readers/listeners who are outright hostile about our reduced output. Just as an example, I received this via email a few days ago:

You are the laziest website on the internet. If I was to succumb to your nag messages and give you money, you would just waste it. This isn't really a real website, and it has no reason to exist. Give up and shut down. A website isn't worth visiting if it looks the same every 6 months someone visits. Just put a bullet it in already and end its pain. You failed. Just call time-of-death, already. Or, whatever, die slowly of cancer... It's not like your life amounts to anything...

So, while I agree that deeper content is "better", it has its drawbacks.

Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#32

Post by rchaud »

paulpauper wrote: post #28

I’m 21, but I’ve been blogging for almost 10 years. wtf..mindblown.. His IQ must be off the charts. no wonder he is so successful.

I wrote short stories and video game reviews for the kids section of my local newspaper when I was 10-12yo. When I was older (13-18) I switched to writing about music. My IQ, not that I've tried to measure it, is probably very average. I was a kid and I just wanted to write.

Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#33

Post by talkingtab »

martimatix wrote: post #10
andrenth wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sad and annoying. Top Google results are very likely to include long articles that ramble on and on and never get to the point, in the name of "optimization". Search Engine Optimization is Reader Experience Pessimization.

I look forward to the day that a recipe doesn't come with a life story prepended to it.

And often then at the end the recipe is junk! Click bait world in action. Valuable content is drowned out and click bait gets promoted.

Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#34

Post by marcosdumay »

AndrewStephens wrote: post #19
martimatix wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I look forward to the day that a recipe doesn't come with a life story prepended to it.

With video advertising, sites have started to optimize for length of stay on the page rather than hits and I hate it. The recipe format was perfected in the middle ages - a simple list of ingredients and a description of the steps required. But the sites that capture the first page of search results for even the simplest recipe are all designed to keep you on the page long enough for the video ads to play through. Li…

You won't even get to see the recipe if there isn't something about the dead granny sandwiches in there. It will be forever hidden into the 300th page of search results.

Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#35

Post by cantthinkofone »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #2

> No one has time to read your article, write the first lines like they’re a TLDR. So true! > For SEO don’t write short articles (>2000 words) So sad!

I'm conflicted about the notion that "no one has time to read your article." That says more about dilapidation of reading culture than the fact that length of a text is necessarily bad. I see it happening to me and I don't read something not because it is valueless on its own but because there is simply too much else outside of it drawing on my attention.

If there's more and more pressure to say less, eventually you'll say nothing. If you say everything, nobody will read it unless they have eyes set on your work.

Most people seem to be trained to write an expository piece in a classical model of assert a premise => provide an argument => yield a conclusion. They're not used to putting the conclusion where the premise should be sort of like an abstract.

Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#36

Post by rchaud »

AndrewStephens wrote: post #20

This is good stuff. I blog for fun and I agree with almost everything here, especially the stuff about advertising. I am not against advertising in general but putting ads on your page is an acknowledgment that you care more about money than writing what you want. There is nothing morally wrong with this, but it turns a hobby into a job. Lastly, I encourage everyone to publish blogs or articles. Each blog post on an…

I agree with your last sentence about "each independent blog post". But you must realize that hosting content isn't free. If you want a blog that doesn't end with .wordpress.com or blogspot.com, you'll have to pay.

Otherwise, you publish on Medium, which IMO is just as bad in terms of handing over your IP to content farms.

Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#37

Post by Kenji »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #2

> No one has time to read your article, write the first lines like they’re a TLDR. So true! > For SEO don’t write short articles (>2000 words) So sad!

Someone who doesn't have time to read my article doesn't deserve its contents. My articles are not fast food and nobody gets to treat them as such.

Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#38

Post by Mnlfrgr »

0xferruccio wrote: post #15
Mnlfrgr wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That long articles are necessary to rank in Google is a myth. https://twitter.com/mnlfrgr/status/1074653395997388800

Didn't know that! Great advice, I think that the origin of this might be in the fact that longer content is generally more researched and thus ranks better

Yeah, that is possible. However, correlation != causation ;)

Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#39

Post by rchaud »

exoducks wrote: post #5
andrenth wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sad and annoying. Top Google results are very likely to include long articles that ramble on and on and never get to the point, in the name of "optimization". Search Engine Optimization is Reader Experience Pessimization.

I thought this was just a "natural" trend for advertising or something, I didn't realize it was a SEO thing. I've been noticing more and more that every time I'm looking for a recipe, I end up with a blog post the size of a novella as the first few results.

Recipe pages are long because Google penalizes sites with "high bounce rate", i.e. where the user opened the page, didn't interact with it (clicked a link, scrolled x% of the screen) and left, or clicked Back.

A recipe blog post where you can simply copy/paste the recipe into your notes app is going to receive a bad SEO grade.

That's why so much of the Internet feels so 'corporate' or make so many seemingly 'WTF' choices. They are optimizing around a monetization and growth strategy, not for your experience as a user.

Re: What I learned in ten years of blogging

#40

Post by patio11 »

DamnInteresting wrote: post #31
SonicSoul wrote: post #17

One well researched article is better than a lot of mediocre content I remember similar advice on patio11 (Patrick McKenzie) blog that i really took to heart. something along the lines of "it's better to have a few laser polished articles, than a ton of content". so to this date i start writing posts and quit half way through to keep only my favorite ideas up there.. there is another camp i.e. Seth Godin who write a…

I started a website in 2005 that is still in operation today. We started out posting 1-2 articles per week, I had a lot of spare time then. But that rate was unsustainable with our small team and small budget, and we reached a point of burnout, and had to decide whether to slow down or shut down. After a hiatus to mentally recuperate, we opted to continue writing, though publishing less often and digging deeper into…

It's tough to win the "I hope you die of cancer" demographic regardless of your actions, so why bother trying?

(I have particular interest in this because geeks often cite them as the rationale for why not to price aggressively, because they complain about prices at every price point, including free.)

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