Corporate Blog Tip #3 (write in a granular style)

You want people to talk about you, right? And pass around your information, right? So, make it easy for them.

Make one post contain one idea, or set of links.

One guy who makes it hard is Mike Gunderloy. His list of links is one of the best on the Internet for programmers, but look at the RSS file his site generates. It has his entire list of links in it. But often we want to email or IM just one of his links. He makes it hard on his users.

Instead, it'd be better to split the list up to make it more friendly to RSS news aggregators and make it easier to talk about each link and pass that around in email or reblog it.

The granularity is particularly important now that linkblogging is getting popular on services like http://del.icio.us.

What do you think? Which style of blog do you like the best?

Comments

[Michael Kaplan]

I like Mike's blog like it is -- its how he is. Too much "do it differently to up your hit count" makes it more of a sh*t count as far as I am concerned.

People read his blog because its cool, and believe me Mike does things in a way that keeps them easy to do. There is more to life than kissing up to the people who are too lazy to care about that sort of thing....

[Darren Rowse]

I think either can work depending upon what you become known for. However I tend to go for the 'one topic per link' approach on all of my blogs.

Good tip Robert

[Cori Schlegel (kinrowan)]

No.

No, no, no.

The best blogging is about honesty, right? It's about being who you are, right? As Julie says;

"A blog is a bowl and we can pour pieces of our souls into it, as an offering to others, for whomever will hear."

I'm not a particularly spiritual blogger, but I think Julie's approach is right on. Blog who you are, not what's easy. If you're blogging well then readers will get it even if you blog complexly.

Granular blogging is great for granular blogs. Other kinds of blogging are better for other sorts of blogs. Some people (like you, Robert) blog in a stream of consciousness fashion, and read blogs the same way. Others blog differently, and that's just fine. A wide variety of voices is what's needed here.

All of that ranting aside, if you're blogging from a purely commercial standpoint, you are more likely to get good link quality and more traffic if you blog in smaller bits. So maybe instead of saying "no, no , no", I should be saying "no, no, maybe."

[Darren Rowse]

I agree with you Cori - however I also disagree.

I run a number of blogs - one of which is somewhat from the heart - you might even call it 'spiritual' - and I do tend to cram numbers of topics into one post - however one of the constant pieces of feedback I get from it is that people are somewhat overwhelmed by the diversity of topics in one post.

They want me to be more granular because they find too many threads of thought too much to bear and are put off by it.

So whilst i agree with your comment, I'd also want to say that whether your blog is commercial or from the heart - there is still something quite powerful about simple, clear, concise, on topic, granular posting.

[Robert Scoble]

Michael: the problem is I'm writing a book for businesses who want more traffic. I've done lots of anecdotal research that shows that Michael isn't getting the kind of traffic he COULD be getting exactly because his blog isn't RSS and viral friendly.

Darren gets it.

[Michael Kaplan]

I get it, Robert. I am just pointing out that if you take away someone's ability to express themselves creatively by forcing them into a cookie cutter image that will get them the "best traffic", you may well lose the sustaine interest of that person to provide the content.

And then you will have a high-traffic site until people notice it is not useful anymore.

I know that there are things I can do to spike my own numbers; I know it because I have watched them spike after certain kinds and styles of posts -- to tell you the truth I shy away from it. The only thing higher traffic has given me is uncomfoftable requests to link to things that I would never voluntarily link to. Better sometimes to be unpopular!

An if nothing else I know that my hit count is not a sh*t count. :-)

[Randy H.]

I prefer granular content, but Mike's feed is unique. It is designed for digest reading by folks that have similar interests to his. To communicate a key concept or idea, fewer links (one perhaps) is better.

[Bud Gibson]

I think the real issue is having an effective communication style. Usually that means staying on one topic but maybe more importantly providing REAL information. What I cannot get over is that some people blog by reblogging others' posts. The posts are granular but essentially content-free. Even though I sometimes stay subscribed to those feeds, I scan the headlines like junk email.

What would be your advice for someone who is trying to establish a reputation for innovative ideas by using a blogging strategy? That might be stretching the medium. Sometimes the posts can get a little long.

[Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate]

I believe people will read somewhat lengthy posts...

...but ONLY if you break the text up into very short paragraphs, maybe two, three or four sentences each.

...and IF, as Bud says, the content is rich, relevant, reliable, rare, and well-written.

Some bloggers have posts I wish were a bit longer. Others could shorten their posts.

But almost every blogger could work harded at chopping the text into more easily scannable and readable chunks, including all the recommended techniques for online writing in general, like bullets, numbered lists, bold type, hypertext links to substantiating information, etc.

One topic per post sounds good, but I honestly haven't explored blogs who violate this "granular" style.

I know the Email Marketing Experts, and blog posts are similar to email messages, say that an email should generally be as short as possible and stick to one topic per email message. This is not always practical, but it is a good rule of thumb for most cases.

Business blogs have different guidelines from personal, art, literary, etc. blogs.

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