Written on September 1st, 2009 at 12:09 am by Darren Rowse
The Myth of ‘Great Content’ Marketing Itself
One of the common misconceptions that some new bloggers start out with is that in order to find readers for their blog all they’ll have to do is regularly write quality content.
- “Great content will market itself” – a statement I heard one speaker make at a blogging conference last year.
- “Write it and they will come” – a motto I’ve heard a number of new bloggers sharing as a secret to their yet to be found success.
- “Quality Content = Readers” – an ‘equation’ I saw being written about in one online blogging course recently
Each of the above statements has elements of truth to it. Many bloggers have built successful blogs on the back of great content. However there are almost always other factors at play.
The reality is that many blogs produce quality content that doesn’t get read. The reason isn’t that the blog’s not worth reading – but in many cases it’s because nobody knows to go read it.
Here’s the thing…..
Letting your content market itself DOES work IF you already have an audience to help with that process by spreading word of it through word of mouth – but if you’re just starting out and don’t yet have a readership the reality is that YOU are the only person who knows your great content exists.
Word of mouth can still play a part in your finding of readers – but as YOU are the only person that knows about your great content YOU need to be the one who starts the process and starts the process of getting the word out.
It’s time to hustle and get word out about your content.
Seeding Content
Later in the week I want to highlight 9 methods to do this – however today I want to start with a more general suggestion that comes from my own experience of getting content read
Seed it – Don’t Force it!
Perhaps it’s just my personality or style – but I find that sometimes less is more in the blog post promotion game. Here’s how I’d chart the effectiveness of my blog promotions vs the amount of effort (or aggressiveness might be a better word) put into the promotion.
Let me flesh this out a little:
- In my experience if you only put little effort into your blog promotion you get little results. This is what I talk about above – if you don’t let people know about your posts how will anyone find them?
- If you put in too much effort into it and get too aggressive with your promotion you can also get little results. In fact sometimes when you’re too aggressive you can actually go backwards and hurt your site.
- For me it’s about putting in some effort – but not getting too full on about it. It’s a real balancing act at times.
I like the term ’seeding’ to describe how I try to promote my content.
I’m not really a great gardener but I do know that in order for me to have a new plant grow in my garden I need to go to some effort – but that if I do too much I can actually hurt the growth of the plant.
To have a plant grow I need to plant a seed, I need to ensure it gets water, I can give it some fertilizer, I need to give it a little protection from my kids digging it up…. but after that it’s up to the seed and the environment to make it grow. It takes some effort – but there comes a point where I need to step back and let the seed do it’s thing.
This is similar to my experience of promoting content on blogs. Often it takes me getting the ball rolling but if I force things it can actually have the reverse effect.
As I look back on some of the biggest traffic events on my blogs there’s been a real mix of my own promotion (usually to start the process) and a more organic thing happening. Sometimes I push too hard and don’t get results – other times I don’t push enough and get little return also – however getting it right can lead to incredible days of traffic.
Update: read the continuation of this post at my next post in the series – 9 Things to Do to Make Sure Your Next Blog Post is Read by More than Your MOM
115 Responses to “The Myth of ‘Great Content’ Marketing Itself” - Add Yours
Asswass
September 1st, 2009 1:22 am
I completely agree with you Darren. Maybe this were great mottos back in the days but not for today. If you create a great blog with a great design and great content but no readers then you’re wasting your time. SEO has become so difficult that good content won’t matter if no one is reading that content.
It’s easier to find newbie bloggers that are looking for link exchange and want to build a blog community than spending hours writing good content that no one will read.
yash
September 1st, 2009 1:26 am
I love your articles man!!
Its great
because it reviels the truth
Ben
September 1st, 2009 1:27 am
That’s interesting about not putting in ‘too much’ effort. How do you know if you’re putting too much effort in, if with less effort your results are nothing special? I’ll be tuning in tomorrow for the continuation.
Joshua Elliot
September 1st, 2009 1:28 am
I agree. I have a couple of blogs, some have to do all means to get readers, some just have natural readers.
But the blogs that I have are all of different niches.
Enrik
September 1st, 2009 1:30 am
Great information, I can’t wait for tomorrow when you post about the 9 things to get traffic.
Kulbir Saini
September 1st, 2009 1:35 am
Content that get readers naturally (I think) works best. Putting too much of an effort to get readers actually turns into failure.
Casey Stubbs
September 1st, 2009 1:35 am
Darren,
Great points, I have heard of a concept called sowing and reaping and it is definately true in this case.
I have an example with my own blog. I have been consistant at writing my posts and then one day recently one of the biggest Forex Sites ( I have a Forex Blog) came and announced that I would be one of their featured writers.
It happened be being consistant not pushy. If I would have never approached them in the first place they would never have found out about me.
Good article, thanks
Amy
September 1st, 2009 1:40 am
Great post with very helpful insights (I am a newbie blogger). I look forward to reading your follow-up posts on this topic!
Don Mak
September 1st, 2009 1:41 am
Great content is not the end all be all. It is necessary. In fact highly necessary. But it needs to work hand in hand with many other elements to succeed. SEO, the author’s involvement in those communities interested in the content of the article.
For instance. I have great content on a music site I own, but that alone doesn’t guarantee traffic.
I visit certain music forums online related to my niche, and when a question comes up in the forum and I have an article on my site that addresses it, I will point people to it.
If I DON’T have an article I’ll create a draft in wordpress for a new article. Thanks to the forum I’ve just found a need that can be answered with an upcoming article! Hooray!
Thanks for the article Darren.
Don Makoviney
Oscar - freestyle mind
September 1st, 2009 1:43 am
I’m curious for tomorrow lesson and I agree about the fact that content alone is not enough initially.
Chris Mollo
September 1st, 2009 2:01 am
I’ve had several articles picked up by bigger blogs without them even contacting me. They just published them on their blog with a link to my blog and a disclaimer from where they got them. I was a little peeved about it at first but then I saw the traffic I started to get and I was okay with it. One of them was a big veterans site. I’d published an article about a couple of women who stole vets benefits and they liked it. How they noticed me, I have no idea. I know it only happened after I eased off the marketing and just began to do a little writing and a little marketing and SEO, so I think there is something to what Darren is saying.
Dan Smith
September 1st, 2009 2:09 am
I think I’ve gone into the realm of “too much” effort. I am stagnant, so either I’ve already found everyone who is going to read my blog (that would be sad!) or I’m doing something wrong…over-thinking something. Hopefully tomorrow can help me!
Rich Lazzara
September 1st, 2009 2:10 am
Darren,
Good points. Also, I think it adds a lot more credibility if someone else is pointing out your content as opposed to yourself.
Terry Heath
September 1st, 2009 2:22 am
This is something you don’t hear often but has the ring of truth to it. I constantly get comments about the quality of my posts but largely attract the same devoted crowd with very few new recruits. I look forward to the rest of this series!
Megan {Velveteen Mind}
September 1st, 2009 2:24 am
At a conference panel I was moderating, I recently said, “Writing well is not enough anymore.” In context, the audience nodded and agreed, as the panel was about finding your “tribe.” But then they went home and quoted me on their blogs and, as you can imagine, their readers tried to hunt me down and kill me.
Everyone is in love with the romantic notion that their amazing writing will bring in the masses. Apparently because the masses are psychic and these URLs just pop into their heads.
Marketing feels dirty to so many in my genre, which is heavily weighted toward mothers.
Time to get over it, ladies.
I’ll link my name to the post I ended up writing in response to the absolute horror of my saying that writing well is not enough anymore. Frankly, I don’t think I ever believed that it ever was enough, but I was willing to play along for argument’s sake.
Of course, now that you’ve said it, I think they just may believe me.
R.W. Jackson
September 1st, 2009 2:27 am
Darren,
I agree that good content by itself won’t draw readers, but I think it is also worth pointing out that great promotion of bad content has an even worse effect.
Sure, if you write tons of good content and no one sees it, that doesn’t do anyone any good. It’s like masturbation, satisfying but lonely.
However, if you take the time to write quality content and then do a small amount of promotion, I truly believe that your efforts will pay off in greater magnitude.
Once again, thanks for providing such great advice and insight…
~R.W.
By the way, when are you going to get around to reviewing my site? ;)
Deepak @ BusinessAttitude.com
September 1st, 2009 2:54 am
This is true. I have seen some blogs where they have copied text from offline magazines – good quality content of course… but no one reads it… no comments on the articles.
Good content is necessary but not enough :)
Shajib
September 1st, 2009 2:56 am
wow……. nice post. Thanks for sharing.
Shajib
http://www.livenetcafe.com/
Ms. Freeman
September 1st, 2009 3:00 am
Ahhah!!! Marketing this is the information I have been searching for. I realize writing is one thing but finding and grabbing folks to read it is a whole other animal.
I’ve got you in my reader and will be looking forward to the 9 Examples tomorrow.
Partha Bhattacharya
September 1st, 2009 3:03 am
How true, Darren. I know that for sure. I read something similar in Copyblogger sometime back – Why No One Links To Your Best Posts, http://www.copyblogger.com/no-links/.
Todd - Home Construction Improvement
September 1st, 2009 3:16 am
I’m looking forward to this series. I feel as though my blog has hit a plateau of traffic…with over 800 quality posts and growing…seems as though I need a new approach to take the traffic to a new level.
Mark
September 1st, 2009 3:46 am
The content should atleast be decent I would think. :)
It’s hard to know when you might be over-promoting yourself. It seems the one thing that can really drive traffic is being promoting by just the right people. I’ve seen some great content with little popularity. I’ve also seen mediocre content with great popularity due to the right people promoting it.
Collier Ward
September 1st, 2009 3:53 am
Darren;
I’m just starting up the curve, but it’s good to hear the voice of experience laying out what is ahead.
Blogercise
September 1st, 2009 4:22 am
Perhaps an exception and not the rule, but it is possible to let your content speak for yourself. If Google ranks the page highly then people will come regardless of any other marketing efforts.
If a lot (not all!) of “super affiliates” and “probloggers” were honest they would reveal that they are where they are today thanks to getting there first.
My biggest success was just that, I got the first site up about a new trend that became massively popular. I didn’t have to spend a second on marketing it, Google just ranked me well from day one and with that momentum people linked naturally and the site grew.
But like I said, maybe that is an exception and not the rule! Good luck out there bloggers :)
Carl Coddington
September 1st, 2009 4:43 am
I can’t wait to see your 9 examples. I have never thought of the fact that you can over-promote.
Rebecca
September 1st, 2009 4:49 am
So what you are saying is that we don’t want to just leave people finding our blogs to chance but at the same time we don’t want to market them so much that we start ending up on blacklists?
You can count on me to be reading that post tomorrow. I am especially interested in it. I have been running my blog for a few weeks and haven’t gotten a single comment. So yesterday I did a search for it using both the key words and the actual name of the blog and not once did I find it before page seven of the results. That’s a blog to anyone’s ego – to buried like that. So no wonder no one was commenting – no one is reading because they’re not finding it – I mean how many people look that far into the results when they search for something?
So it seems I really need the info you will be giving tomorrow. I look forward to reading it. Thanks for having such a great blog. I’ve been following you for a little while – and my heads been spinning a bit with all the info you have available. Thanks so much for maintaining this site!
DebugLife.com
September 1st, 2009 5:00 am
I have facing the exact problem.
I am told by those who read my articles that they love it. They say I write useful information for my niche.
But it doesn’t always produce more readers.
Only when I actively promote a post (not necessarily the blog site), do I see a spike in readership and subscriptions the next day.
I look forward to tomorrow’s post with the 9 methods from Darren.
-Arif
Adam Baird
September 1st, 2009 5:02 am
Great article Darren! It is indeed a very delicate balance and I find myself struggling to find the correct amount of “planting” on a pretty regular basis
Rob Mangiafico
September 1st, 2009 5:13 am
Nice Intro / Teaser, and a good primer on what thigns to think about when writing a blog. As others have mentioned, being at the right place at the right time is always a good thing.
When you can’t time it perfectly, writing good content coupled with some timely tweets, email signatures, comments on other blogs, forum posts, etc… will help get things started, but I’ll leave that to tomorrow’s post. :)
- Rob – LexiConn
Blogger User
September 1st, 2009 5:35 am
I like your way of developing post. The flower and seed example was really good and more important trick in this post, you do as always is you made us wait for the next.
Anyway waiting for the next post. Enjoyed reading.
http://www.bloggeruser.com
Stephanie
September 1st, 2009 6:17 am
Hi Darren! I completely agree with your advice.
Especially this part: “If you only put little effort into your blog promotion you get little results. If you put in too much effort into it and get too aggressive with your promotion you can also get little results.”
I think some promotion is good. But too much promotion can reek of inauthenticity. That said, a little bit of marketing goes a long way.
The best way to grow an audience, in my opinion, is to give to others – to help others, to encourage others, to provide valuable information. Building relationships is crucial.
I’ll look forward to your post tomorrow.
Dayo Nurudeen
September 1st, 2009 7:12 am
Link building with a content to kick off is not bad. focusing on only readers but nothing to offer is simple lame, I can’t wait to read more about this 9 great tips you are talking about.
We Fly Spitfires - MMORPG Blog
September 1st, 2009 7:57 am
I think good content is the most important part of any blog and yes, to a certain extent, if it’s good enough it will eventually be found but I see it more about playing the odds. The more you promote yourself, the more likely people will find your content and speed the process up.
Looking forward to reading more about seeding.
Vilmis @ Travel Tips
September 1st, 2009 8:23 am
BTW, today (at least in North America still August 31st :) is Blog Day http://www.blogday.org
John
September 1st, 2009 8:27 am
Thank you for this post Darren, blog promotion is important especially to new starters, but you do need to good content to go with it… I’m looking forward to those 9 tips you mentioned.
José
September 1st, 2009 8:36 am
Hi,
I’m a believer that quality content does count; of course that marketing is needed, namely creative marketing.
However – I only skimmed through your article – one thing is quite important : quality is not enough, content must be relevant. it’s this relevancy that will keep readers engaged and coming back for more.
A blog must give something useful to its readers.
Best regards,
José Carrilho
frank
September 1st, 2009 8:50 am
I’ve seen this effect personally so I CANT WAIT to see your next few posts about how to do it well. I look forward to the tips.
Content obviously matters, but promotion is critical – as you point out. What has worked best for me is using Twitter to build a loyal group of friends that will generously help spread my work.
Making it simple to read, easy to subscribe via RSS/email and mindless to share via social bookmarking/twitter widgets also play a big role in helping the promotion go further. Making it easy for reader to spread your content is key.
Thanks Darren
http://twitter.com/franswaa
needmoney.com
September 1st, 2009 8:57 am
Look forward to the follow-up posts, and agree that being too aggressive with promotion can actually end up hurting you–particularly in terms of being excluded from promotional channels due to negative user reaction.
Jhay
September 1st, 2009 8:58 am
So it boils down to a good balance of good quality content plus being a marketing ninja?
Wesley Green
September 1st, 2009 9:13 am
This is the hurdle I am facing right now with my blog. My blog is under a year old, and it is frustrating to write what I think is solid content but not have a loyal audience or a daily increase in unique visitors.
But like a lot of people have said already in so many words, YOU- the blogger- have to be your biggest cheerleader. People won’t find your blog and read your work unless they know about it. This is why it is imperative to get out there and promote yourself and your blog. I’m doing this now on a regular basis and while I’m in no danger of crashing any servers from my blog’s traffic, the page views and unique visitor numbers are climbing.
As always, great post, Darren, and I look forward to the 9 pointers. Cheers!
Wesley Craig Green
The Geek Entrepreneur
Technology Slice
September 1st, 2009 9:13 am
How will anyone know the content is great if they never see it?
Eric Yerke
September 1st, 2009 9:26 am
This principle can be applied to nearly everything in life. It’s about finding the right balance in things. If you have amazing content, but no marketing or networking skills forget it.
The latter is also true… We need to find balance and it will come.
Eric C
September 1st, 2009 10:12 am
I half agree. Yes, networking, connecting, promoting your blog is half the battle of making a successful blog, but write content still is the other half. The two golden rules of blogging: Write great content regularly, and get it out there.
Side note: loved the promotion curve. Recently had someone blatantly spam my blog with a comment that had no interest except in promoting another website. When i called this person on it, he said he had been on the internet for 20 years, and this was the only way to get the message out. Your promotion curve shows this isn’t true.
Seth W
September 1st, 2009 10:34 am
Exactly. This is what I have been trying to tell my readers! They can not just expect results to happen without them working for it smartly. Can’t wait for tomorrow!
Rob Mangiafico
September 1st, 2009 12:18 pm
Very nice article. Brings up a number of solid ideas as a primer to more effective blogging. Cannot wait for part two.
Rob Mangiafico
Karthik Kumar | Between a Breath
September 1st, 2009 12:43 pm
Great points! Here’s possibly why too much marketing backfires:
The psychology is that if you have to market so much to ‘make the sale’ (get readers in this case), your product is probably not very good. Hence people shy away.
That’s just my guess, as that would be my baseline snap judgment. :P
Reel Advice
September 1st, 2009 1:09 pm
This is one of the best posts I have read for awhile. It truly makes sense word per word. I cannot wait for tomorrow’s more specific post!
Thanks man!
Andi | Web Marketer Depot
September 1st, 2009 1:25 pm
Yeah, I agree with you 110%, Darren. I always hate when some blogger gurus tell the newbies that you just need great contents to succeed. How absurd?!
It’s just like if Spielberg creates a movie but no publisher (Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures, etc) are willing to take and publish it. Do you think that particular “Spielberg”’s movie would be a success? No. The same apply to blogging.
Vijay - Meditation Techniques Guide
September 1st, 2009 1:34 pm
Excellent Post! What you mentioned regarding “Great Content” does not market itself – or atleast requires a lot of other efforts to market itself, is really an eye-opener for me. It’s really true that just writing excellent content is not enough. I guess it is important to keep a good balance between the time spent for writing high quality content and the time spent for popularizing and marketing it.
Casey Brazeal(North and Clark)
September 1st, 2009 1:40 pm
You have to make the best stuff you can.
It might not market itself, but its too hard to be average. It’s too frustrating. If you’re not in danger of working yourself out of the game you’re in danger of boring yourself out of the game.
Or maybe not.
You raise an interesting point and I think there is a lot of value in your post, but the line of reasoning above is compelling to me.
Vintage Mommy
September 1st, 2009 2:39 pm
There are lots of examples of “successful” blogs where the writing is mediocre, sometimes even poor. I’ve almost reached the conclusion that blogging is not really about writing – blogging for profit, that is.
Blake @ Props Blog
September 1st, 2009 2:49 pm
I haven’t been reading problogger very long, but this is definitely going to get me coming back. I can totally identify with several things you mentioned; many experts (both real and self proclaimed) say that content is a key to traffic. It seems the real experts all go to point out that promoting your blog and getting involved in the community is just as critical. like you said, you have to get the people to read your blog before the quality of the content is even relevant. I look forward to reading your post tomorrow… nice cliffhanger.
Mathew Day
September 1st, 2009 3:11 pm
I learned a thing or two about blog traffic on what to do and not do to for promoting. I’ve really never looked at it like that. Even though it does make sense. I totally agree about new bloggers thinking Great Content is really all you need. If you’re the only one admiring it and awed by your articles and content that doesn’t really help at all for traffic.
Thanks for the great post and I look forward to tomorrow’s post!
Julia
September 1st, 2009 4:02 pm
The parable is so right at the point. I’ve promote my new blog
so hard but gain nothing. My visitor number don’t even increase. Feel tired and useless i stop promoting it, even not checking it for days(i used to check it every time:D), and when I checked it few days later, i saw that there’s a jump of visitor number! After reading this post, i realized that all that I should do is to let it seed….
Asim
September 1st, 2009 4:30 pm
Hi
Im one of newbie on the list. And I face the exact situation. Am looking forward to your next post.
Joshua
September 1st, 2009 4:40 pm
This completly true.
Work smarter not harder.
A month ago i was on goarticle writing a ton of articles. i wrote 100 and i am getting mabey 5 clicks a day. the problem is if you want to article market and get alot clicks you need to have 1000+ to see results and if you on ezine you probably should pay some one to do article marketing because i have used article i wrote in highschool and they were A and my teacher loved the article but guess what ezine rejected it. They are very pickey. Pay some one and then go out and build up a social network of people and work somewhat hard and give your self breaks workaholics like me have issues with that.
http://dailycashsaver.blogspot.com/
Igor Helps You Succeed
September 1st, 2009 6:21 pm
Really profound way of approaching this, Darren.
Enjoyed
Igor
Roschelle
September 1st, 2009 6:52 pm
Great article. And in my opinion, a great form of SEEDING. It’s the “article series” approach I’ve read about here and on other blogs. I will definitely be back tomorrow to read about the 9 methods you’ve written about today and I’m sure others will too.
You are a master at what you do. Thanks for the tips, inspiration and ideas.
Joe Gelb
September 1st, 2009 6:56 pm
I have noticed that every top site has a substantial sales funnel in social media and around the web.
Dave Doolin
September 1st, 2009 10:21 pm
I write “great content” because I have to. I can’t not. While I’m not sure how “great” my content is from any other point of view, I try pretty hard to make it great for my own personal benefit.
But “write it and they will read” is a fallacy in most cases!
Mike from Drop Ship
September 1st, 2009 10:23 pm
Promotion of the blog is as important as the content.
pochp
September 1st, 2009 11:49 pm
Brave and excellent post.
By the way, there might be a typo in the last sentence, 2nd para:
‘…The reason isn’t that the blog’s not worth reading – but in many cases it’s because nobody knows (sic?- where) to go read it.’
Kyle Hansen
September 1st, 2009 11:53 pm
I look forward to the next posts of the specific seeding ideas, I think this will be the key!
Holly Jahangiri
September 2nd, 2009 12:26 am
It’s not enough for book sales, why should it be enough for a blog? But if you promote a blog with mediocre content, it doesn’t help you much, either.
Cold Sore Cure
September 2nd, 2009 12:30 am
Anxiously waiting for your examples.
The discussion seems to be quiet interesting. SEO people often say that GOOD CONTENT is a must. It will give results on automatic basis.
But marketing should complement the good content.
kav key
September 2nd, 2009 1:36 am
Thank you for another out class article.We will always learn here.
Thank you
Andrew
September 2nd, 2009 2:04 am
Nice sharing Darren
fas
September 2nd, 2009 2:50 am
But we do need to market our articles because everyone does write some good content but without promotion it stays there.
Lloyd Lemons
September 2nd, 2009 3:07 am
I enjoyed your post and look forward to your 9 practical examples of seeding. Content is important, but of course there is much more to it. There is no singular “best idea” for garnering readership. As you say, it’s a balance of multiple things. Thanks.
Rebecca
September 2nd, 2009 3:17 am
I’m really looking forward to seeing the “how.” Twitter hasn’t been working for me. I’m trying to decide whether or not to push at all with Facebook, but I have a sense that it’s going to be the same. Most of my traffic comes from Tagfoot, where people aren’t particularly interested in my niche (but are all over yours — blogging AND photography! ;) ).
Lunatic Family Tree
September 2nd, 2009 5:23 am
With my newest project, I need the right advice at the right time more than ever. Which is what led me to you. Love that I found this post today. Very much looking forward to the next piece of the puzzle. Wondering how much is too much…how little is too little? Neck deep in finding out!
Thanks, Darren!
Fruitfulvine2
September 2nd, 2009 7:32 am
Looking forward to the 9 methods.
ayo olaniyan
September 2nd, 2009 7:40 am
Hello Darren,
Lovely article here!!! It captured my whole attention. Looking forward to the 9 methods tomorrow.
Have a lovely day.
Grace
September 2nd, 2009 10:41 am
This has come at the right time for me. I was asking myself this question? I have been writing great blog posts but who is reading them. I wrote about my twitter mistakes and I know they can benefit someone but who is reading them. I realized I better start knowing how to get my blog out so that other people can read.
This is great and I look forward to future posts.
Grace
yournontoxiclife
September 2nd, 2009 12:04 pm
I couldn’t agree more!! It seems to me it’s actually 50-50 marketing to quality post writing and it can be exhausting sometimes to be doing so much of both. Now I have over 500 followers on twitter and only 9 on my blog. Gotta figure that out!
David Stillwagon
September 2nd, 2009 12:59 pm
Great point about good content driving traffic, its like a great store that nobody knows about
Rita
September 2nd, 2009 1:47 pm
This just what I need. Thanks. Bring on the nine things to do to market your blog.
Rita blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide at http://boomersurvive-thriveguide.typepad.com.
Rajendra
September 2nd, 2009 2:42 pm
Hi Darren,
Its really an important thing for any good website that it having an good readable content for its readers. As most of the new bloggers like me will definetly find useful from this.Its really having an
good stuff to refer and implement these things.
Darren Rowse
September 2nd, 2009 3:11 pm
Ben – I’m not sure it’s about putting too much ‘effort’ in as such but it’s about being too aggressive or not subtle enough. I’m sure it varies from niche to niche but I see some people pimping their blogs so hard over and over again that it puts people off. I guess it’s about watching how people react.
Chris Mollo – I think in blogging circles the general ettiquette to someone linking to you is not to ask your permission first – people just link up and you then benefit from it both from the traffic and in the long term with the SEO benefits. The only real time you’d want someone to ask before publishing is when they use your whole post.
Megan – love this quote “Everyone is in love with the romantic notion that their amazing writing will bring in the masses. Apparently because the masses are psychic and these URLs just pop into their heads.”
Very wise words
RW Jackson – yes promoting bad content can hurt you too – all of the methods I share in my next post are only ever going to work if you have something worthwhile to say!
Blogercise – you’re right in that if you can rank well for content you don’t need to do much promotion sometimes – HOWEVER – to get ranked well by Google you need people to link to your blog at some point…. so you do need to do some marketing some where along the line. Once a blog gets successful and starts to rank well things can be a bit easier.
Rebecca – yep it’s a fine fine line between putting it out there but not getting too aggressive
Jhay – ‘So it boils down to a good balance of good quality content plus being a marketing ninja?’ Yep, exactly.
Cris
September 2nd, 2009 5:16 pm
Waw- That’s exactly how i feel!
I started my blog two months ago but started it wrong by raising the bar too high for me to manage.
I realised this at the start of the second month already and thought of -and like written in my last post- to take it easy.
And though I took it easy, my blog views were stable and rising at days as if the blog was promoting itself on his own.
So yes, this post has definitely truth in it!
hospitalera - Niche Blogging
September 2nd, 2009 7:37 pm
But if you don’t have great content, what do you have then to market? SY
Amit Mehta
September 2nd, 2009 8:05 pm
Nice and easy does it every time with most blogs, I’ve found (PPC is a different game however!).
The “write it and they will come” attitude always seems to assume that marketing is a bad word. But if you tell someone you’re having a party on Saturday night, you are engaged in an act of marketing!
Doing it for a blog is a little different–you do have to be all “ninja” about it–but it’s worth the effort (or lack thereof, as teh case may be!).
Paritosh
September 2nd, 2009 9:22 pm
True, people need to know about our blogs to come and appreciate what we write. But then there is a phenomena of bloggers ganging up. These gangs plague various bloggers’ group promoting each others blogs regardless of the content and thus wasting the readers’ time.
I a firm non believer in such “I scratch your back , you scratch my back” policy.
It was only a few days ago, I wrote an article on my blog regarding this content vs networking dilemma which plagues the bloggers.
http://fictionandlife.blogspot.com/2009/08/networking-or-content.html
farouk
September 2nd, 2009 9:53 pm
i strongly agree with you, i am sure there are lots of great websites buried because their owners didn’t know how to market them well
Carl
September 3rd, 2009 12:54 am
Really great post, thank you! I think the word “aloof” is what could sum this approach up, especially when letting your content market itself…I’m looking forward to the 9 practical examples. Anyone looking for the missing tenth one can find it here: http://www.studiowide.co.uk
Reza Winandar
September 3rd, 2009 1:13 am
Great content will works fine, but great content+promotion will works perfectly.
Jackie Cuyvers
September 3rd, 2009 1:46 am
I think you’ve pinpointed the balancing act nicely of creating awareness of your work without overselling. I look forward to reading more about your 9 steps.
Fery
September 3rd, 2009 3:25 am
it is far from my reaching because creating good content still a dream for me, I need to learn more especially from master blogger like you. thanks for sharing the information.
Angie Dixon
September 3rd, 2009 5:34 am
Thanks, Darren.
Early this morning I went looking for great information on blog promotion. I somehow missed this post, but when I checked Google Reader, there it was.
I’m looking forward to your series on seeding.
As a writer with a few (:>) unpublished books, I know that great content doesn’t sell itself. I’ve been amazed at how bad some of the information on promotion is.
I can’t wait for your new articles.
David Meerman Scott
September 3rd, 2009 5:39 am
Good content is indeed essential, but you are correct that it is not enough.
I’ve found for me and people I work with that having blog promotional tools outside of the blog itself is key. Tweeting new posts is an obvious one. Making the new post your Facebook status helps. If you work for a company with a web site, have a link to the actual post (not just the blog front page) from your site. Getting on the speaking circuit is very effective.
BudBay
September 3rd, 2009 4:28 pm
If a blog is the centerpiece of a website, you can consider other components (forum, image gallery, free web tools, job board etc) to be fertilizer that nourish and support the sprouting blog with traffic.
Once a blog is receiving abundant traffic, one can clone the process and adapt it to another endeavor.
Then with the fruits you’ve harvested, you can write a best-selling book containing the sweet nectar of your efforts.
http://www.budbay.com/blog/
Earn Money Online
September 3rd, 2009 9:03 pm
People should write the meaningful content so that the content will help others.. It is true that Great content will works fine, but great content promotion will works perfectly.
koms
September 3rd, 2009 9:23 pm
Very good points. thanks for sharing…
Jeff H.
September 4th, 2009 1:37 am
Great content is definitely a key to gaining readership. But you’re right, there are countless blogs with great writing that just don’t get read consistently. Helping others and getting involved with others can bring a steady flow interested readers. And for businesses it brings a steady flow of possible clients. Its social marketing at its best.
Can’t wait to read some of the seeding ideas.
Willie Plasencia
September 4th, 2009 2:03 am
Effort is generally not an issue for many who are serious about blogging.
Each day more and more blogs are added to the list of blogs that I have to compete with.
Great post ,
Thanks!
Kevin
September 4th, 2009 6:00 am
I prefer to use article marketing and document sites to gain authority backlinks and to rank for low competition high search keywords as my secret traffic technique.
http://the-traffic-secrets-101.blogspot.com/
Alex Yeo
September 4th, 2009 6:49 am
This is the first time I saw such a graph base on effort vs effective of promotion. Yeah, the seed story makes sense.
Will keep a look out for your next blog post for the 9 tips. Thanks.
Paul Hassing
September 4th, 2009 11:14 am
Thank you, Darren. Every time I come here I have a good experience. Keep up the ace work! Best regards, P. :)
SefermPost
September 5th, 2009 6:10 am
Great article. The thing is, how do I grow my readers and retain them? Anyone help.
rajput
September 5th, 2009 7:27 pm
Very truly said. Here we have a quote “Too much Lemon makes the Juice bitter”. If fact too much aggressiveness or less aggressiveness is too dangerous. When it comes to build the foundation of a blog, balancing is very important.
Great post Darren…….keep blogging
Pete | The Tango Notebook
September 7th, 2009 1:03 am
FACEBOOK! FACEBOOK! FACEBOOK!
After reading and loving this article, I tried thinking outside the box a bit and got the idea to try using Facebook to increase my blog traffic.
I started a Fanpage for my blog and created 2 campaigns with Facebook advertising, one for getting people to my blog, and the other for getting people to join my Fanpage. My goals are to:
1) increase email subscribers to my blog
2) get loads of fans on my Facebooks Fanpage
3) get heaps of exposure to my blog and Fanpage
In 5 days of advertising, I’ve got almost 100 fans and over 30 email subscribers to my blog… It’s working! At this rate, I should have over 150 subscribers by the end of the month, with a budget of $300 spent.
The money is small potatoes if you think about how many people you can target (my small niche totals about 40,000 qualified people on the Facebook network) and the kind of authority and traffic you can build during your experiments.
It’s all because of the ideas in this article.
Many thanks!
Pete | The Tango Notebook
P.S. – One of my Facebook ads.
XBox Ninja
September 8th, 2009 9:58 am
I’ve seen hundreds of people start up blogs and write a whole WEALTH of information on them, without actually finding any form of actual audience. Strange how that works, truly… :(
-X3N | xbox 360
Super Blogger
September 8th, 2009 10:59 am
A valid point made. Writing good content is useless if you’re not gonna market it well. Writing useful content is not enough, you need to make sure that it gets read.
But when they get there .. make sure that they see good content..
Super Blogger
http://superbloggertricks.blogspot.com/
Ron Passfield
September 10th, 2009 7:15 am
Darren very sound advice as usual. I’ve been struggling with the balance between too much and too little myself. I like the concept of seeding and have been using the new social bookmarking site, RedGage, lately to increase my seeding activities. RedGage allows the uploading of links, videos, pictures and documents and provides an RSS feed of your uploads. My colleagues lately have also been discussing the benefits of “selfless marketing” – promoting the work of others – as another form of promotion and branding.
film izle
September 11th, 2009 12:42 am
Very truly said. Here we have a quote “Too much Lemon makes the Juice bitter”. If fact too much aggressiveness or less aggressiveness is too dangerous. When it comes to build the foundation of a blog, balancing is very important.
rahul garg
September 16th, 2009 1:37 am
nice post.
i want to know what all things can i use to “seed” my blog
KETAN RINDANI
September 16th, 2009 10:01 pm
I agree with you. In the last so many days I have been doing a lot to try and get people onto my blog. But just a few smart moves and it looks like it’s working. Only that I need to keep posting and doing the basics right – letting people know something new has come up for them; and leave the rest to natural laws. It will work, I’m sure.
Robert
September 23rd, 2009 4:09 am
There is so much content out there that the “build it and they will come” model no longer works for an up-and-coming blog.
Kevin
September 23rd, 2009 5:48 pm
..
I agree with Robert (commented above), the build it and they will come model doesn’t really work anymore. I am not actually sure if it ever worked – beyond the very early days. That being said it shouldn’t be understated when laying out how important unique content is for an ultimately successful site.
Bora Paris
September 25th, 2009 9:57 am
Hi Darrenj, Thanks for great post again!
The graph you’ve provided is gaussian distribution or Normal distribution (close to) is a Nature low on the Earth we live.
One more prove of natural traffic.
What great in your articles – subject and clear content. And…. people response. Such articles are trigger for new ideas.
Vance Sova
September 27th, 2009 3:17 pm
Hi Darren,
Your post about the myth of content marketing itself is very helpful to me.
I’ve heard and read that content is king but as you point out it needs to be found first.
As for the seeding the content I can see your point.
I’m just starting with blogging and the only promotion I’ve done is within a forum.
I found that when I try to push it too much people get turned off. If i don’t say anything they don’t come either.
So as you say it needs to be helped just the right amount.
Thank you for writing great stuff.
Vance
Realtor
October 5th, 2009 8:03 am
Thank you for another great post.
I look forward to many more entries with high quality info.
I’m a marketer myself and your information always seems to get my business brain going!!
[http://www.facebook.com/CraigslistSoftwareForRealtors]Craigslist Software For Realtors[/url]
Without Dash
October 7th, 2009 1:21 am
Thanks for this, because I was still hoping that my great content would be ‘found’ by someone and got marketed by itself, just like as a little girl I was always sitting sweetly on a swing hoping for some agent to discover me and make me into a moviestar or supermodel.
I guess it is time to put myself out there.
JEM article!
October 19th, 2009 11:33 pm
I sometimes find that promoting a blog article works in an opposite direction. It produces results, but not for the product or service I was trying to target. Instead I get results from something I had previously promoted! Or I get traffic in an unrelated area.
Modified | Proton | Cars | Modifikasi Kereta
October 22nd, 2009 1:09 am
i really like this post and agree to it. too much pressure distort the excitement. its like to attract an attention of a woman. it should be noticeable but at the same time not too aggressive or otherwise she will run away…once you are noticed, traffic will keep coming continuously though you are not posting regularly…
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