I wrote this post in October 2006 and thought it was time to raise it up from archive limbo. I dressed it up a bit.
from Leonidas at Thermoplyae (Jacques Louis-David, 1814)
Content is NOT King. It’s time we overthrew this long reigning blog ruler. Sic semper blogger tyrannis.
Before the loyalists start sharpening the guillotine, let me explain. IMHO, there is no King to a successful blog, nor should there be. For one thing, success is measured in different ways. Success could mean a certain number of readers (whatever that is) or comments or new clients or ad money or simply recognition in the blogosphere or amongst one’s peers. There is a big difference in each of these measures of success. In addition, personal satisfaction is its own blogging reward, even if no one is listening (right now or ever) and you don’t care to please or measure success. Maybe you’ll have posthumous blog success. Kafka did. No wait, he didn’t blog. Anyway…
A Wise King Knows How to Rule
Judgment of Solomon (Raphael)
Even if there was a King, I’d crown Contextual Quality, that which provides useful information, in a particular way, at a particular time and place.
In his bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell writes about the Blues Clues TV show studying children’s distraction levels to decide the order of the 3 clues to be given on a show. The order of the clues did make a difference to audience interest (hardest to easiest worked best). It was the same content but the context in which it was presented made all the difference. He cited another example where a woman who had been trying to spread the word on breast cancer at church found far greater success when she delivered her content in beauty salons. Context. Time and place. The clothes of the wise king.
Since we are talking about quality, we must acknowledge its illusiveness. Quality wears many disguises: Passion, Humor, Novelty, Entertainment, Surprise, Pleasure– quality has a certain je ne sais quoi.
What are You Wearing and Where Will You Wear It?
Naked Cowboy, Times Square, NYC (Getty Images)
Proclaiming “Content is King” conveys nothing of value to me. Content, even good content, is a naked emperor. Content must be more than good. Content must be dressed the right way to attract a reader. And further, be in the right place to satisfy a reader.
Here’s an example— If 2 bloggers wrote exactly the same content but one always wrote in small print block text, and the other in easily scannable text, using bullet points, lists, subheadings, etc–the scannable content would win more return readers than that fine print fellow. If one presented the key content at the end of a long discourse and the other at the beginning (using the inverted pyramid style of writing), the fellow who gave the conclusion first would garner the higher readership and reader satisfaction. Same content, different presentation. Content is not King. (Why do you think they put fine print in contracts and the long wall of text in Terms of Use? — yup, so most folks won’t read them.)
I am not saying that any content can be dressed as an emperor and be adored by the reader. No. As the saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig, and it’s still a pig. But put lipstick on a pretty woman and her beauty is enhanced. She is made more attractive. Hey, maybe blogging is like dating … hmm.
Sometimes You Have to Walk the Streets and Flaunt It
Furthermore, even if you have the sharpest dressed, most valuable blog content on the web, readership is not guaranteed. You can easily be overlooked. There are a lot of bloggers out there that just haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve, because not enough people know they’re out there. If content were indeed king, they’d be widely read & linked. The key is marketing. You have to market your content, both online and off. Try bringing your well dressed content to the reader instead of waiting for the reader to come to you on the Google bus. SEO is somewhat passive marketing, I think. Useful, certainly, but maybe not as effective as Larry Cragun and his blog brochure at the library. (See 10 Marketing Tips You Can Learn from A Prostitute)
...Or Swim Against The Incoming Tide
As I said at the outset, their ought not be a king to successful blogging. I say be yourself, break the so-called blogging rules, push the envelope & don’t feel pressure to follow the mad crowd. Make mistakes. The only king you need obey is yourself. (See The Zen Blogger’s Manifesto)
I am Arnaut who gathers the wind
and hunts the hare with the fox
and swims against the incoming tide.
(Arnaut Daniel, 12th C. troubadour)
Related Posts:
How To Give Value & Create Demand: S.P.E.N.D.
The Best Place to Put Your Ad: Place Marketing
10 Marketing Tips You Can Learn from a Prostitute.
Marketing Your Blog Offline: Follow the Spider.
Further Reading:
John Blossom, The Quality Gap: The Race for Context Pushes Quality Content to the Sidelines.
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