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rezzy
02-04-2009, 11:01 AM
Hello all,

I find myself making blog entries that dont quite follow my theme. For instance, I posted an entry about computer problems I had on web design blog. Is this ok, or should I always stay on topic?

I thought it made the blog more personable.

vangogh
02-04-2009, 04:54 PM
Your blog should mostly stay on topic, but you can certainly write posts that don't fit the usual. You just have to watch that you don't write the off topic posts too often or else your blog is now more about the off topic than the topic.

I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about how much you can go off topic, but I've seen 80/20 mentioned a few times as a topic/off topic split.

If you do write an off topic post or two, just make sure the next few get back to the topic and do keep most posts on the same theme, but it's absolutely ok to write a post that doesn't fit with the others you usually write.

As far as your post about your computer problems it's really not all that off topic. You don't have to keep your topic too focused and you can usually work in something in just about any post that fits with your theme.

orion_joel
02-04-2009, 11:24 PM
I agree with Vangogh, on topic most of the time, but deviate, to something that may be relatively parallel, if and when you feel it is appropriate.

My blog is about business primarily, however on occasion i will deviate to a little personal growth topics or such if it seems appropriate.

KristineS
02-05-2009, 12:42 PM
I think you can stretch the definition of "on topic" quite a bit, and that it also depends a bit on the type of blog.

Say you're writing a web design blog. That's the information that people want to see when they visit that blog, so suddenly starting to write about your dog, or the weather or something would be counter productive.

On the other hand, say you're writing a personal blog where you talk about your plans to change your life. In that case, you have a lot more leeway, because people are just checking in to see what's happening and not really expecting any particular kind of information.

rezzy
02-05-2009, 02:22 PM
My blog is more focused on webdesign. I have often considered making a personal blog about everyday life, but who would care to read about my daily activities?

vangogh
02-05-2009, 02:56 PM
You might not want to make the blog about your personal life, but you could always talk about something from your personal life and then make a connection to how it relates to web design. Did it make you a better designer? Did it lead you to a breakthrough on a design for a client? etc.

KristineS
02-05-2009, 04:02 PM
Rezzy, I have two personal blogs. One is about weight loss and one is about a changes I'm trying to make in my life and how I'm going about that.

If you can write in an interesting way and provide information that people want to read, you will find readers. It may take a while and it may build slowly, but the readers will come.

Vangogh also has a great point. You can always draw from experiences in your daily life and use these events to illustrate your points about web design. Blogs that do that sort of thing are often more interesting to read than blogs that simply do a dry recitation of the facts.

Dan Furman
02-06-2009, 12:43 AM
I struggled with this at first. The answer was to make the blog essentially about "Dan Furman" more than any particular topic. I mostly talk about business, entrepreneurship, writing, marketing, my books, etc, but I feel like I have the freedom to talk about whatever I wish, really. I like it that way.

rezzy
02-06-2009, 12:47 AM
Dan, the problem with that for me is, I tend to talk about a small set of topics. I would rarely jump outside, unless something significant happens. To larger degree, my posts would be about computers, so in that sense I have options.

Dan Furman
02-06-2009, 02:23 AM
Dan, the problem with that for me is, I tend to talk about a small set of topics. I would rarely jump outside, unless something significant happens. To larger degree, my posts would be about computers, so in that sense I have options.

Yea, I think you're fine then. I would expect some computer talk on a web design blog anyway :)

billbenson
02-06-2009, 04:48 AM
Kristine, how many uniques do you get on your personal blogs? if thats not getting to personal :)

KristineS
02-06-2009, 09:11 AM
Bill,

The truth is, right now, not a lot. Last year was a crazy year and the blogs didn't get the attention they deserved when it came to building up an audience. My blog on weight loss has also been sorely neglected when it comes to updates.

One of my goals for this year is to take these blogs to the next level. I really need to do some work publicizing them. Ask me this question again in six months and hopefully I'll have a much better answer.

orion_joel
02-07-2009, 12:47 AM
I actually had two of my blogs, more then double in visitors last month and the third grew by about 40%. This are still on kind of small figures though and will probably not be maintainable growth rates, but even if they last a few more months, i will have quite substantial visitor counts, over 1000 per month, on each i hope.

All three do have a bit of scope in variation on topics. While there is a core topic i am not to worried to step outside that topic a little sometimes.

greenoak
02-23-2009, 07:08 AM
im with dan...its all about me and the store.....i have so many topics...and cant seem to narow it down ..our store is like that too....and thats how i like it and maybe the only way i could do it anyway..

my big themes are about running a business and the wonderful eyecandy in my business world...no recipes and not much on my family, even tho i have sweet grandkids....i get about 80 hits a day...
..
i do try to use the tags and labels on the blog ...so if someone just wants to see one theme they can... my goal isnt making money directly off the blog tho..
. there are great blog discussions on here ..where a blog picks a theme, lines up affiliates, writes some good articles and makes money....
ann

customtollfree
03-27-2009, 04:51 PM
When I first blog in the old days, I used to blog about anything under the sun. I really didn't care about traffic, audience or anything. I just want to blog... But then, I soon wrote a series of post about a particular subject, I was amazed how many people visited my site often, post comments on my blog post. From then on, I only use one "theme" on my post with little deviation from time to time.

Marcomguy
03-29-2009, 05:15 PM
I'm not sure if it matters how far you stray from your stated topic. If you provide well-researched, exhaustive and useful information, you'll get readers.

vangogh
03-29-2009, 05:53 PM
You do have to stay somewhat on topic. If I subscribed to your blog for marketing advice and all your posts are about quilting, I don't care how well they're written and researched, I'll be unsubscribing. That's not to say your marketing blog can't ever write a post about quilting, though you shouldn't do it too often.

You may get readers as long as your content is good, but if you change topics you should be prepared for all your current readers to leave and have to start rebuilding for a new audience. I'd also suggest if your blog is meant to support your site then the blog shouldn't stray too far from the topic of your site. If you're business is in marketing services it makes no sense to place a quilting blog on the site. You can run the quilting blog elsewhere.

KristineS
03-30-2009, 01:13 PM
I have to agree with vangogh on this. Let me give you an example. One of the blogs I write is for our embroidery supplies topic. I've talked about any number of subjects on that blog, from going green to the economy to getting the most from trade shows to how to build a web site, but I've talked about them all as they relate to an embroidery business.

People come to the blog to learn something that will help their business grow or to learn about our business. If I suddenly started talking about basketball or something it would be too far off topic, unless I could somehow relate basketball back to running an embroidery business.

I think you can vary your subjects, but I think your main theme has to be consistent.

Marcomguy
03-31-2009, 09:17 AM
It depends on where you get your readers from and the purpose of your blog. If you write on a broad range of subjects, you'll get readers who are of a similar mind - like the people who read The New York Times magazine or Slate.

Agreed, if your blog is designed to promote your business or special interest, it's best to remain focused.

vangogh
03-31-2009, 11:03 AM
I'm still going to disagree. Even NY Times Magazine and Slate stay on topic. Their topic is broad no doubt, but you still know what you're going to get before you read them. That's really what this is about. You create expectations in your readers and you need to deliver on those expectations or risk losing your audience.

That doesn't mean you can never write off topic, but if you're always going off topic you'll soon have very little readers. Sure some blogs can write about anything and change topics daily and still build a large audience. But those are the exception more than the rule and those sites will do something exceptionally well to make up for the changing topics.

I'd also suggest that people who read the all encompassing blogs aren't reading everything. Think of a typical newspaper. Do you read every section? Some people do, most don't. Most of us have our favorite section or two and read the paper for those sections and ignore the rest most days. You need a lot of content to make that work. Imagine a newspaper putting out only one section a day. Today is news, tomorrow sports, and the day after is travel. People aren't going to buy the paper daily. If they know which day(s) their section(s) is published they may buy it on that day. If there is no set schedule they probably aren't buying the paper at all.

Marcomguy
04-01-2009, 03:48 PM
The NY Times mag is like the box of chocolates in Forrest Gump. You never know what you're going to get. One issue will have a cover story on models, the next will be about religion, the third will be about war.

Slate is something like that too. Sure they have their regular columns, and you know partly what to expect. But publications like these have a following because a segment of the population likes coming across unexpected pleasures in their reading material.

Agreed, it's hard to pull off, which is why so few people do it. But it can be done. First-class content will attract readers.

As for the daily newspaper, when I do read it, I read every section. But more and more people read only one or two sections, as you said, and these readers are more likely to hop onto their favorite web sites for the latest news in their areas of interest. (That's one of the things hurting newspapers.)

vangogh
04-01-2009, 06:03 PM
NY Times magazine and Slate may not write about the exact same topics each week, but they still meet the expectations of their readers. Both are also of much higher quality than a typical blog. I agree with you it can be done, but I wouldn't advise it for a small business blogger. This really is about meeting expectations. You do have to be exceptional in some way to be successful changing topics. Sure it can be done, but most won't be able to pull it off.

I think there's a lot hurting newspapers. I stopped reading them years ago because I got tired of them all collecting. Seemed like such a waste of paper. Plus news will arrive quicker online. To know today's news you can wait till tomorrow's paper or hop online and find out now. Newspapers can't compete on freshness, but that's what their business was all about. Some bigger papers will likely survive and I would suggest they would do better with columns and features than they will with news.

janiels
04-11-2009, 12:35 AM
Base on my experience, even though my blog was based on internet marketing and search engine optimization, I write random things in my mind where in it was totally off topic, but I still receive visitors and someone to leave comments for my random mumblings, its not a bad idea indeed.. I usually write something like an apology for breaking the thread of topics of my blog for a while.. (but it shouldn't be always)

vangogh
04-13-2009, 10:40 AM
It's ok to write off topic at times. I think it's important though to generally stay on topic. Very few people will subscribe and read if they don't know what to expect from your posts.