Blogging My Life...
Sometimes I feel like I am creating content just to create content. Yea, I write a ton - a ton - every day about search. Typically no less than 10 articles per day on search topics, but often more than that. Yea, I complained about spewing stuff out before, but now I am focusing on search content.
Is it useful? Does it help the search community?
The content is very routinized. Well, the content isn't but the process in which I discover and distribute that content is done in a very organized and routinized manner.
Often people miss what I write and find it months later on smaller blogs that write much less. Yea, it bugs me when this happens but it doesn't happen all that often, plus I make the mistake of missing information on other people's blogs as well.
But I believe this happens due to the sheer volume of what I produce every day. Take a look at yesterday, here is what I wrote at the two blogs I manage:
Search Engine Roundtable Topics:
- Are Low Google AdWords Quality Scores Due to "Penalties"?
- Case Study: Transferring Google PageRank With Redirects
- Yahoo Updates Search Advertisers Terms & Conditions
- Are Google AdSense Optimization Reports Helpful?
- SEO's View of Google's Greatest Achievements of 2008
- Is Google's PageRank Indicators in Webmaster Tools Useless?
Search Engine Land Topics:
- Google Trends Features ASCII Art Of 9/11
- Yahoo To Advertisers: We Can Create Ads & Edit Keywords Without Asking First
- Google Wins "Gu Ge" Lawsuit In China
- Google Claims That Google Checkout Increases Conversion By 40% & Clicks By 10%
- Google Finally Brings Picasa To The Mac
That was just yesterday. Did you read all of them? In six-months from now, will you remember I or someone else wrote about these topics, if you stumble upon it in the future? Likely not. In fact, I get emails from several people asking me if X has been blogged before or not.
In addition, I hand off topics for others to write about, causing more content. And let's not forget the daily SearchCap and Forum Recaps that include all the topics on search I saw, but didn't write about.
(1) Do I cause information overload for the search industry?
(2) Is that a bad thing? I mean, I try my hardest to only write things that I think would be useful.
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Comments
I personally think that you're a great resource. There are going to be a lot of posts that you write that will help a few people but there are then going to be those posts that help out a LOT of people and get read by thousands of people.
There's a lot of information out there and you just cannot get everything; you do what you can do.
Posted by: Bill Hartzer | January 7, 2009 10:54 AM
Are you serious Barry? My only problem with your level of coverage is it sets such a high bar for others in the space to meet.
Your coverage is more than helpful, it's credible, diverse and absolutely essential reading.
Posted by: jimhedger | January 7, 2009 10:55 AM
Why not try writing less? I can understand the temptations to write most of what you see out there, but in the end, will your blogs and post be judged for quantity or quality? I tend to think that quality is more important seeing how very few recommend sites based on pure volume, most recommend sites based on good ideas, and quality content.
Posted by: Joe Hall | January 7, 2009 10:56 AM
Bill and Jim, thanks!
Joe, I do try writing less. That is why I do the recaps, so for everything I don't write, I put in the recaps.
So I hope the quality of my stuff meets your expectations.
Posted by: Barry Schwartz | January 7, 2009 11:00 AM
I think overloading is fine here. As long as the ideas are good and the articles provoke thought, it's okay to overload. :D
Keep 'em coming.
Cheers!
Posted by: Mani Karthik | January 7, 2009 11:02 AM
I'm inclined to agree with Bill and Jim. You are this industry's best resource and you don't get nearly enough props for what you do every day. You were the person I looked up to when I first started in SEO and you're still that person. The sheer quantity AND quality of your posts is amazing.
You don't cause information overload, you help us find the signal in all the noise. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I'd be lost with your insight. You help keep us on the right road.
Posted by: Lisa Barone | January 7, 2009 11:07 AM
Awww... Too nice... Thanks so much Lisa.
Posted by: Barry Schwartz | January 7, 2009 11:10 AM
Each individual may not read every single post you write, but that doesn't mean the community isn't collectively reading all of your posts. *And* they (we) are most likely getting a great deal of wisdom and help from you on a consistent basis. You write things that can be advanced, but are always easy to understand because of how you write.
You are providing something for everyone. While I may not need to read about Picasa being on the MAC (because I don't have one) or as much about PPC (because I am not as involved in that yet) I want to read about the case study about transferring pr with redirects.
I think most people like having several articles to choose from.
Keep it up if you have the time and energy! :) You're great!!!
Posted by: Anna | January 7, 2009 11:16 AM
You're an asset to the whole industry. Don't stop.
The question is; can you ever write enough? There are dozens of topics that pop-up every day? Often they re-example somewhere we've been before but they're a new look.
If people overload themselves by tapping into your writing stream then I feel they're not cut out to be a digital marketer. :)
Posted by: Andrew Girdwood | January 7, 2009 11:21 AM
Your output is phenomenal, Barry, and you should not question your importance to a large number of readers. I don't read all your posts but via news feeds and searches I turn up through your posts some important sources that I don't get on my radar screen any other way. Please keep 'em coming.
Posted by: Barry Welford | January 7, 2009 11:28 AM
I guess I should clarify, I did not really write this to get a pat on the back.
I guess I am struggling with, is the content all necessary? I'm sure some of it is not, but its also hard to know what is necessary and what isn't.
I guess while some of the content is necessary to some of the readers, some is not and I can't expect to please everyone with every post.
But figuring out which content is going to be necessary to the most amount of people, is hard to do.
Hopefully that makes sense.
Posted by: Barry Schwartz | January 7, 2009 11:36 AM
You're not only a great resource but your ability to produce so much at such a high quality is absolutely mindboggling to me. I don't quite know how you do it, but please keep it up because it's all useful.
Perhaps not every post you do is useful to everybody but I think they're all useful to a critical mass of folks.
Posted by: Todd Mintz | January 7, 2009 11:49 AM
I have followed a lot of the stuff you have done for a while - since your days on the forums all those years ago.
Things havent changed, as Todd says maybe not everything is useful - but your certainly a first port of call for any search related breaking noise
Posted by: Peter Young | January 7, 2009 7:03 PM
I think you should do what works for you and what you enjoy writing about. Don't feel like you always need to do it for the community. As a loyal reader for many years I read a lot of your content but don't always catch all of it. Early in the morning I always come to seroundtable first for the news and branch out from there. You have an edge many other blogs or writers can't claim.
I have really enjoyed your more "editorial" pieces in the last year. Keep those up. "What Bugs Barry Schwartz" should be your new writing series. :-)
Posted by: Ben Pfeiffer | January 7, 2009 11:36 PM
So proud of you! (even though I don't read the real stuff you write :)
Posted by: wife | January 9, 2009 11:29 AM
I'm inclined to agree with Bill and Jim. You are this industry's best resource and you don't get nearly enough props for what you do every day. You were the person I looked up to when I first started in SEO and you're still that person. The sheer quantity AND quality of your posts is amazing.
You don't cause information overload, you help us find the signal in all the noise. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I'd be lost with your insight. You help keep us on the right road.Your output is phenomenal, Barry, and you should not question your importance to a large number of readers. I don't read all your posts but via news feeds and searches I turn up through your posts some important sources that I don't get on my radar screen any other way. Please keep 'em coming.
Posted by: Diane Forster | January 22, 2009 6:11 AM
it's good.
thanks
Posted by: Diane Forster | March 2, 2009 10:12 AM