Screw Blogging Rules

There is something slightly obnoxious about blogging rules. They get this little creative Sydney copywriter in a tizzy.

Usually because some poor client I’ve inherited has been frightened off blogging because of some nincompoop and their mystical set of rules. Balderdash!

The reality is SEO, guest blogging, frequency of posting, post timing and so on are all trumped by one thing- the quality.

Join me in screwing blogging rules and be prepared the next time you find yourself in the company of someone who tells you blogging rules are more important than the quality of your content.

Here’s how:

1.       But you need SEO!

Yes, of course you do. It’s a big wide web out there with lots of people telling their stories and hustling their services. But the days of filling up your articles with multiple keywords and soaking them in whack-a-doo non competitive phrases are over.

How can I speak such SEO blasphemy?

a)      The major engines change their strategy as SEO specialists change theirs. At any given time you can only really get a baseline right and grow it through other touch points- unless you want to change your copy every six months to suit.

b)      A high Google ranking doesn’t mean automatic customer conversion. People aren’t search engine spiders- they are people. It doesn’t matter a hill of beans if you have the number one rank if your copy doesn’t convert to actual interaction, sales and usage by consumers.

c)       Sharing is the new measurement…and Google knows it too. So having sticky content that gets liked, tweeted, bookmarked, pinned and commented on does you a heck of a lot of good these days and will only continue to grow as the benchmark.

2.       Do lists, lists are great!  

Do lists because they give form to content and make it super easy for people to find out the itty bitty bit of information in a sea of a larger article. Exhibit A and Exhibit B.

Focus on quality otherwise it’s a pointless exercise.

How do you make a quality list?

a)      Make it Useful. Think about it as an exercise in helping someone with good, solid advice in an easy to read format.

b)      Fun is better than dry. Add humour or a sassy tone or pictures. Make it interesting.

c)       Be Original. It’s a terribly disappointing experience to click through to a list that has the same tired information everyone else has. Unless you want to actively piss your readers off, in which case you are free to keep recycling crap.

3.       You have to post on Tuesdays at 2pm with your left hand inside a monkey shaped oven mitt.

You may certain times work better than others through watching your audience and that’s fine. But the whole “OMG you just like totally sent that at the wrong time, no-one will read it yo!” is just there to make marketers feel happy about knowing stuff.

Why can I be so sure timing doesn’t matter?

a)      Your customers are not always at work, at their desks, waiting patiently for your latest post or newsletter. They have things like holidays, moods, meetings, making a cup of tea and fighting with the printer to consider. Stop being so vain.

b)      If you are an internationally reaching blog or business, it’s always the right time somewhere.

c)       Content doesn’t always get responded to when you first share it. Some of the best blogs in the industry repeat their content months apart and still get comments and likes and responses. Some of the hottest startups only send you emails when they have news. The time doesn’t affect the reading rate because whenever it arrives, it’s quality.

The bottom line on blogging rules: 

Let’s not make this harder than it has to be. Write interesting stuff on a regular basis that is relevant and make it count.

Feel free to sashay past and mock my approach or share your own ideas below.

I’ll keep referring to myself as a creative copywriter and screwing the blogging rules regardless!