“They don’t want to write – they want the fame, money, and prestige of a writer.” ― Ayn Rand, The Journals of Ayn Rand
Most bloggers do not actually want to be writers to express themselves. They do not care about expressing original ideas or writing for the pleasure of creating something powerful. They do want the fame, fortune & prestige that comes to some bloggers. Fame, fortune & prestige are all good things so don’t mistake my intent. I think those are fantastic reasons to blog.
However, if Hamlet were written for 2015 the title would be “Five Ways to Extract Revenge at All Costs.” If the Harry Potter series was adapted into a Buzzstream article, it could be “A Boy Gets a Mysterious Birthday Present. You Won’t Believe What Happens Next!” The Neverending Facebook Story would end with Willy Wonka ironically saying “tell me more…” After a while these blogs become extraordinarily boring to read.
We too often write according to the analytics and what brings people back. Readers don’t want to read Hamlet in a business blog post. They want Five Quick SEO Tips and we can prove that with data. On the other hand, if you look at the top posts on Reddit, Inbound.org or any other blog aggregator, the articles that stand out and get the most upvotes are high quality and unique. Yes, your marketing blog is very likely boring to most industry professionals.
Should You Change Your Writing?
The majority of your client-based traffic will come from solid list posts, a couple expert round ups and some discussion around a Google update. Those who love you the most will come from your unique, thoughtful and most intense work.
You don’t have to write to appease your industry. You have to write to connect with your paying audience. Who cares if your blog is “boring” within the industry? Everyone has an “SEO 101” post on their SEO blog (or they should.) Every wedding planner should have “Top 10 Tips to Save Money on Your Wedding.” Those posts are only “boring” to those who have read 100 of them. Those are your competitors, mainly, not your clients.
But Know Why You Write
Why do you write? Is it for the fame, fortune or prestige? Is it to express who you are as a person or teach people what you know? If I won the billion dollar lottery I would be writing and teaching. If I retired to a private island blogging about marketing would be my primary distraction from the white sand. What would you be doing? Whatever it is, try to be interesting.
Are you writing because you have to express something inside? Or are you writing because those are the words you feel you need to put on your website? Figuring out the difference will guide your strategy and make you a better blogger.
What do you think? Are you easily annoyed by repetitive articles in your industry? Do you understand their place and the need for everyone to write them? Or are you constantly amazed at the new and interesting material you find to learn from and enjoy? Comment below & share with your friends!
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Why it's fine to write 'boring' articles from time to time.
Posted by Matt Antonino on Monday, August 17, 2015
A boring blog about how boring other people’s blogs are!
Either you missed the point … or I hit home just a little too hard.
The point, as I wrote above, is: “Who cares if your blog is “boring” within the industry?”
I have definitely written “boring” blog posts and will continue to write them. It’s important that we fill out the content on our own site and don’t rely on other sites to complete our thoughts for us.
That doesn’t mean *every* post on our sites have to be “9 Ways to Blah” or “How to Blahblah.” Once in a while we should write because we have something to say.
I couldn’t resist commenting – this is perfectly written and makes a lot of sense. Thanks for writing what others are thinking!
Thanks & very interesting blog! Agree many are very boring and repetitive these days.
Well … that kind of misses my point but I’m glad you enjoyed it! 😉
Another excellent post Matt!
I saw this particular blog post title, just as I was leaving a comment
on another post, and I thought,I definitely have to where he’s
going with this one!LOL!
And I definitely concede your points!
And my biggest and best takeaway is, you have to or you
definitely shouldn’t be blogging merely to appease your industry!
instead, do it to get connected with your ideal target audience!
That is some excellent advice Matt! thanks so much for sharing it1
I’ll definitely help spread the word!
Thanks Mark – and I think we saw another example of this recently with “Expert Roundups Must Die” on Inbound.org. WE as an industry are SO EFFIN TIRED of expert roundups. But who cares? They work, they do the job, they aren’t as bad as a crappy infographic someome spams out in Canva.
But people think they have to be interesting to their competitors. I don’t care if another agency finds me interesting. I care if my clients do! Exactly as you said.
Thanks for the great comment!