How much should Industry Blogs stray from Industry Posts?
They’re been coined as "Cat Posts" before; I’d define a "cat post" as a "personal post" or "off industry topic" post. (I’ve done a few this past week, but started post with "Cat Post" in the title).
I’d like to ask YOU, how much (if any),"Cat posts" should an Industry blogger ever do (not just me personally, but as a whole across all topical bloggers)?
Do blog readers like, or dislike it, when an Industry blogger gets off topic….or even personal. What is acceptable in tossing out cat posts? As readers, do you care, do yo mind, do you hate, do you like, does it depend (on what?)?
6 Responses
Those are some of the best posts. (Seriously) I think the mix is usually about right. It breaks up the SEO monotony. I loved the one about implanting a microchip under your skin. (No, I would never do that) If you ever take a vacation, you should post pictures, etc… Just be your self.
There was a time when I was bigger geek than I am today (yeah right) and I belonged to the chess club and played in chess tournaments. We used to get our bi-weekly newsletter filled with chess articles via email. Most of the articles were about chess and had some tangentily connected life experience. However one author named Sam Sloan, had articles about life that tangentily related to chess. To say he was a fox in the hen house would be pretty accurate. While many people hated his pieces and were continually campaigning to have him removed, most people found him quite entertaining. Reading his stories alone every week would have been boring, however reading his stories mixed in with other serious items such as the siccilian opening or the giuoco piano opening were just about right. Cat posts should definitely be in the minority, but you need some nonsense from time to time.
I think blogs are about fun, if you want to focus on developing the perfect seo site flavor to serve up to the engines use your main site for that. Blogs are playrooms, want to come over to my blog and play? Well, that sounds a little gay, but you get the point. =P
I agree that the off-topic posts are often some of the best, and at least built a rapport/trust that somehow makes you seem more credible.
Maybe you just run two blogs – one industry related, and one “get to know the friggin’ author” related. Then you could do a “twist cone” mix for those two lazy to point their feed reader at two separate feeds…
Never forget readers are only human too.
Take a look at SEOBlackHat.com, that guys in South America right now headed up the Amazon River. That has absolutely nothing to do with SEO, but who cares! I love reading about it.
I’ve got a ton of blogs on my Bloglines account. I can’t read everything. I’ll tell you what I read closely:
– Blogs by people who are making good money online & enjoying life
Here is what I quickly skim over:
– Blogs by people who regurgitate official press releases and project having pretty boring lives.
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