Comments on: A Foolish Consistency Is The Hobgoblin Of Little Bloggers?

By: Results from the Killer Titles Group Writing Project } Group Writing Projects

Results from the Killer Titles Group Writing Project } Group Writing Projects — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 07:10:49 +0000

[...] A Foolish Consistency Is The Hobgoblin Of Little Bloggers? by Jonathan Fields [...]

By: Glynis Smy

Glynis Smy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:09:10 +0000

I came here because I found you through Problogger comp. I am new to the world of blogging, I visit blogs and the routine same post different title ones don’t get a second visit. I like your style, write it as it comes, the passion and personality of the person shine through. I hope that will happen with my blog, I don’t want to have to stay on the same track I like to go off and explore and write in my own time, I don’t want to be routine,will it make my blog no man’s land with no comments? mmm I don’t know, I don’t care, I write it’s mine and if it doesn’t fit into the world others feel blogging should become, I apologise to their need of seeing something new on a Friday, it might be there Monday tho Happy Scribbling

By: Jean Gogolin

Jean Gogolin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:32:36 +0000

It’s that Old Black Magic “passion.” When you wake up feeling strongly about something, you should absolutely write about it. The words will have juice.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:53:15 +0000

Staying consistent is important for users and SEO. I know a lot of people who jump around a lot, and their blogs simply are not enjoyable to read.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:36:13 +0000

I tend to focus on a general topic for a while and then I’ll get the fire in me about something else and most posts will be to do with that for a week. And so on. It’s largely a pattern for me and not planed.

For example I come in side earlier this week all twitching and shaking from my 12 minute kettlebell workout and just felt like writing about it. Now I’ve written about 4 articles regarding diet and exercise since. Soon something else will catch my attention and I’ll move on.

Consistency? What consistence?

Stephen

By: Karen Swim

Karen Swim — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:34:58 +0000

Consistency is fine but we should not allow rigid rules to stifle creativity. I believe the off topic posts are often most popular because they are typically pure, unplanned and honest. There is something to be said about coloring outside the lines.

By: Roy

Roy — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:38:20 +0000

rules are good. Consistency is good.

And sometimes breaking rules are better coz I do feel — sometimes readers love surprise.

** My most popular posts have been the ones I never planned to write.

Same for me. Even I do find lot of ideas when I reply some comments. So in my case, a comment gets turned into a post, and it gets well response!

But yeah, whenever I got an idea or in mood to write, I write it down & later make myself busy – what should I post – this one or that one

Yeah, I loved to go for XTRA.

By: katinka - spirituality

katinka - spirituality — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:51:04 +0000

Ultimately it’s about engaging readers. And yes – they should be able to find something new if they come to your blog weekly (so one should publish at least weekly).
I do think passion is key.

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:38:45 +0000

Your right Jonathan lots of narrowly focused blogs are popular and even I find some interesting. But is the number of readers the only guide to the success of a blog? People return to a blog because it is interesting. So I think the most important thing for a blog is to be consistently interesting.

By: Jonathan Fields

Jonathan Fields — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:14:20 +0000

@ Flora – I don’t even think consistency is about Google, its more about what Maki alluded to as patterning your readers, especially those who thrive on regularity (never been me). But, yes, fire is what it’s really about

@ Stephen – yeah, I follow a similar rule about posting on the weekends, generally avoiding it, but on rare occasion lightning strikes on a Saturday and when it does it’s damn hard to hold off on hitting the publish button until Monday morning.

@ Shelley – great yoga teaching analogy, the thing that allows you to riff and go off plan is the fact that you know why the plan is the way it is in the first place. And, that gives you the freedom to diverge from it when you feel the call to do something different.

@ Amy – I like it when people get personal, too, but only when it somehow ties in with or reinforces what the article of post is all about. I know their are some major “voyeur-driven” blog that get a ton of traffic and loyal followers, but I’ve just never found them all that engaging. The exceptions, of course are the storytellers with amazing voices and writing abilities who can make you howl with laughter or weep with tears…and sometimes swing relentlessly between the two.

@ Martin – Agreed on the issue of rapport, too, it’s nice to see a give and take. Though, on the issue of niche or narrowly focused blogs being disinteresting, the vast majority of the Technorati top 100 blogs are tightly focused topic-wise, so while they might not grab you, they are definitely grabbing millions of others.