Are you asking yourself "What is Content"?

[Melody]

Are you asking yourself "What is content"?

I just looked at the "show off your blog area" and I saw a few that have no real content.

Why is content so important? Well, everything you want so that your blog will be a success comes from having great content. If you really have content that rocks, you get powerful back links, great page ranking, and drive visitors to your site.

I know that I should not use my site as an example because it is too boastful to do so, but in 4 months I've been mentioned by the Seattle Times, CNN, Motley Fool, and I'm listed at Alltop - Top Starbucks News - There have been other small mentions too.

This is far better than "white hat SEO" or whatever that is.

So here is what content is:

1. Content is a topic you love. You must be able to write about it for years. Your readers have to be able hear, see, and feel your passion for your topic.

2. Content is a topic you know a lot about. You may love something but not understand enough about it to write about it for years.

3. Content is something YOU produced. It is original. It's an idea you thought up. People come to your site because they can't get the same thing elsewhere. It is NOT content if you just copy it from somewhere else. That's just a copyright violation.

4. Content uses perfect English. It must be perfect, otherwise you look sloppy. Perfect.

5. Content uses both text and pictures. Of course, you figure out home much of each, but you're going to need a little of both to hold the interest of readers. If you're writing about food, have pictures of it. If you're writing about knitting, have pictures of the yarn and the projects at various stages.

That is what content is. Anyone else?

[bgmacaw]

I'll have to disagree somewhat with #4.

You don't have to write everything perfectly. In fact, most popular bloggers outside of the writing niches use fragments, run-ons and other fractured grammar.

That leads to what I think is the most important thing and that's connecting with your target audience at their level and with their motivation for reading your blog. If you don't do that you can have all the passion, all the best pictures and all of the original perfectly written content in the world but your blog will be a failure because it doesn't connect with visitors.

[stephen todd]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

I'll have to disagree somewhat with #4.

You don't have to write everything perfectly. In fact, most popular bloggers outside of the writing niches use fragments, run-ons and other fractured grammar.

That leads to what I think is the most important thing and that's connecting with your target audience at their level and with their motivation for reading your blog. If you don't do that you can have all the passion, all the best pictures and all of the original perfectly written content in the world but your blog will be a failure because it doesn't connect with visitors.

Part of Google's algorithm is grammar checking - to automatically assess whether the site is an "authority" or "spam" site

Connecting with your audience is going to be meaningless if you don't get lots of Google traffic from the search results pages

If you don't care about grammar, nobody is going to buy anything from your site - which is OK if you just want worthless traffic from the social network sites

[Nathan]

If anyone wants an example of a site which has beautiful content one of my favorite blogs is by Dustin Curtis:

The Flimsy Doorknob & A Forgettable Receipt | Dustin Curtis
How Niko Tinbergen Reverse Engineered the Seagull | Dustin Curtis

The two examples above are incredible because of their image usage and typography. I highly recommend a tour of his site for ideas on how to add design to your blog posts and make them unforgettable experiences for your visitors.

[Melody]

Originally Posted by stephen todd

Part of Google's algorithm is grammar checking - to automatically assess whether the site is an "authority" or "spam" site

Connecting with your audience is going to be meaningless if you don't get lots of Google traffic from the search results pages

If you don't care about grammar, nobody is going to buy anything from your site - which is OK if you just want worthless traffic from the social network sites

I have to say that when I read your posts, you and I have completely different ideas about blogs. It's almost shocking to me. What you are calling a worthless site might still be a "community".

In fact, when I started my blog I wanted to create a community, and so social media became important to me (I was already active on twitter before the blog).

Nonetheless, we agree that grammar is important. Even when young children learn to read great books, they're well-written, and don't confuse to, too, and two. Nor should there ever be a "u" or "ur" in a blog.

[workinghard]

There is a lot of passion in the above posts. If you are serious about blogging from a writing perspective then I think that many of the above comments make sense.

From looking at various blogs, it appears that many blogs are about the fun things for that community or generation and they are not driven by content or structure.

Those individuals that are just having fun seem to be young, in school and most of their posts are surface. I think that blogging is a good outlet and they may evolve into "content" based blogging but I believe that will come in their "season".

[spogger]

I agree with those that disagree with number 4 . Unless you are writing a blog professionally, then grammar isn't such a big issue. Granted people may not want to read a blog that is sloppy in that aspect, but being absolutely perfect is not usually necessary.

[ChickenFreak]

Originally Posted by spogger

I agree with those that disagree with number 4 . Unless you are writing a blog professionally, then grammar isn't such a big issue. Granted people may not want to read a blog that is sloppy in that aspect, but being absolutely perfect is not usually necessary.

Whether or not you believe the occasional error is OK, I think that it's best to behave as if they're not, and edit to the best of your ability, and, if your ability is low, to the best of your most skilled friend's ability.

That's because I rarely see a blog that does have just the "occasional" error. The ones with errors tend to be packed with them, with barely a sentence that's free of one or more serious grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors.

My command of writing is pretty decent, and my blogs are purely for fun, and I still go through my content five to ten times before I post. To have decent content, editing and proofreading are not steps that can be skipped.

[Melody]

^That's why you have great blogs ChickenFreak. I am in awe of your dedication. If your blogs were even close to my niche, they'd be listed on my blog roll (and I've toyed with the ideas of putting them there anyway, though I know in the big scheme of things I don't think blog rolls really drive a lot of traffic, but it's the thought that counts).