Random Posting Vs The Structure Of A Series?
Posted on November 17, 2008 by Eric Hamm |
The way I see it, there are 3 general categories that make up this topic:
- Random posting.
- Mixed. (Series and random)
- Series.
It seems that most bloggers have a mix of the bunch, but some go more in one direction or the other.
Leo Babauta of zenhabits, for example, rarely has an official series on his blog. Darren Rowse of problogger, though, mixes it up with many random posts along with the occasional series. And Barbara Swafford of bloggingwithoutablog fills her week with mostly series based posts (though she still publishes a few non-series posts as well).
Over at “Motivate Thyself” I’ve usually been in the #2 category by mixing it up. I’ve been writing the Motivate2ACTION! series for a few months now and the ‘Community Insight‘ series for a few weeks. And today I just published the second part of an ongoing series called “Enduring The Road To Success“. The more I create and publish these posts in series form, the more I see the different ways my readers react to the format. I notice how many leave comments, what they say and whether or not they mention the ongoing characteristic of the content. Then, as the creator of these posts, I note the enjoyment and fluidity of the time spent working on them. In doing so, I get a rough idea of the unique impact these particular publishing’s bring to the table. I can’t yet say for sure, but they certainly seems to be well received and I generally enjoy the structure they provide. But, I know that in the end, it’s the quality of the post that really creates the positive or negative reaction.
Natural progression.
I think it’s a natural progression for people to find what works best for their styles as well as their readers preferences. Over time we find that having more structure to our content creation either works or it doesn’t or both. I don’t think it can be argued that either way is necessarily best, though. The three blogs that I just listed are those with very active communities. And yet all have quite different ways of sharing their insight with their readers.
One of the issues I started running into with ‘5 day a week posting’ at “Motivate Thyself” was that of finding good topics day in and day out. With no structure to the solution I was struggling with my consistency of ideas. I then added one series to the week and found it very helpful to have one less topic to concern myself with. Then, after adding two more, I’m finding myself at a much better place as this new found structure allows me to focus more on my writing and less on the question of what to right. I don’t think I’d ever completely fill my days with series, but more days than not is perfectly fine with me.
So my question to you is, “Which way do you prefer and why?” (Based on your experience as a reader as well as a blogger.)
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DutchSchoolKid
November 17th, 2008 3:52 amI think series are fun to write, and also fun to read. But you have to follow them from the beginning. So in my case, a starting blogger, it isn’t a good idea I think.. But I will consider it.
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Ross
November 17th, 2008 6:41 amInteresting post… I like when blogs mix it up I guess, motivatethyself has quite a good structure to it. I’m just about to embark on some series trials myself, so I’ll have more thoughts to offer after that. Up to this point I’ve tried mixing it up by alternating some different categories within my niche… Keep up the good articles, Eric!
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Betsy Wuebker
November 17th, 2008 9:10 amHi Eric! I think you hit on it when you said you were topic-challenged by your commitment to posting frequently. A series is a great way to funnel and organize ideas, and condition your audience. Barbara Swafford does a great job with that. We know it’s Tuesday and we’re going to see a great New Blog of the Week, for example.
I’ve resisted committing to a posting schedule, but I think around 3x per week for new articles is our thing. We’ve done several series - one long one on Alaska, and a shorter sub-series on women in Alaska’s history - that were fun to do. Now, another series topic seems to be presenting itself. I’m going to let it sell me in the comments section for a bit to see if it’s a journey we want to take.
I’ll be interested to see what others think.
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Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy
November 17th, 2008 2:16 pmCool topic Eric. For my own blog, I use structed series posts as a way to ensure I always have content to fall back on. If I have a temporary case of writers block, I’ll look to my series posts to fill the gap. But the one-off posts, for me, seem to be more popular because they are accessablie to new readers, where as series posts may turn off new readers if they’re coming to your blog in the middle of the series.
Another class of posts are the “sequel” posts, which I think differ from structured posts because they usually only contain 2-4 posts all back-to-back relating to one topic that was too big to cover in one post. These can be clever ways of getting new readers to return to your blog in the future to check out the the next post on the same subject.
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Eric Hamm
November 17th, 2008 11:24 pm@DutchSchoolKid: I can definitely see your point here. As a new blogger, you really need to establish your ability to drop solid posts on many different topics. A kind of ’show of your diversity’ when it comes to your writing. Great point!
@Ross: I’ve read your stuff and it’s excellent either way. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts after dropping few series posts.
@Betsy: You mentioned conditioning your audience. This is a great point to mention. If we can give them topics to look forward to, than we have a kind of ‘hook’ to keep bringing them back. But the key here is that the posts be good enough to draw fans of the series. So I think it’s definitely a combination of a good series topic and good writing and ideas.
@Matt: You raise a great point that there is a kind of ‘middle ground’ here. The ’sequel’ post is different than a series as well as a random post. I guess you could say that my ‘Enduring The Road To Success’ series is more of an ongoing sequel than a series. Interesting ideas, Matt. Eric.
Tess Marshall
November 18th, 2008 2:59 amI’ve not tried a series yet. As a newbie I’ve only posted randomly. If I found the series interesting I would make an effort to read all parts even if I did begin in the middle.
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Miguel Wickert
November 18th, 2008 5:08 pmI enjoy a mix of both. But you’re right, I see how bloggers might struggle because of the pressure to post daily. There are times when it may be best to organize your thoughts or topics and write out a nice pillar series/ articles. Being flexible is important… Good question.
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TheAndySan
November 19th, 2008 3:27 amHey Eric!
As a blogger, I find that all of my posts are random, hehe!
I’ve tried doing series before, but something would always happen that would break the order of the series.
As a reader, I wouldn’t mind reading any writing style (random posts, series of posts, and mixed) as long as they’re interesting and not too long-winded.
Long-windedness is a problem I seem to come across in a lot of blogs, although I wouldn’t want every blog entry in the world to be super-short either. We as bloggers should ask our readers if they enjoy daily detailed 1,000 word-plus posts or maybe a nice and concise 500-700 word post instead.
What do you guys think?
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Barbara Swafford - Blogging Without A Blog
November 19th, 2008 4:14 amHi Eric - First, thank you for the mention.
I like having “series”,such as my New Blog of The Week or other ones I’ve created. It provides a little bit of consistency and actually makes it easier for me as I know what I will be posting on Tuesdays, for instance.
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Grounded Fitness
November 19th, 2008 2:21 pmmy posts start random and then follow in a series. I will post something, someone will ask a question, a commenter will say something that triggers another post and then it rolls from there into about 5 or 6 posts. Then i start over. Just when i think there isn’t anything to write about, I end up overwhlemed with topics.
Kelly Turner
http://www.groundedfitness.com
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Eric Hamm
November 19th, 2008 3:31 pm@Tess: I’m with you. If I come upon a series post that I like, I’ll start from the first one and make my way through.
@Miguel: Flexibility is definitely the key!
@TheAndySan: The long winded topic is, I think, an interesting one (maybe I’ll hit on it next week). As a reader I usually like the shorter kind (Sean @writerdad.com does this beautifully), but as a blogger I can be a little wordy at times. I like to think, though, it’s only when the content benefits from it.
@Barbara: Your welcome. Your series posts are done so well that you were the perfect one to use as the example.
@Grounded Fitness: I really like your point/concept here. That’s a great way to let the ideas ‘flow’. Thanks for sharing! Eric.
AverageGal
November 19th, 2008 5:12 pmgood point! I guess that I prefer a variety of blogs. I like when somethings are predictable, but like it to be mixed up too.
Hey - congrats on being featured on problogger! Awesome job!!!
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Eric Hamm
November 19th, 2008 8:13 pm@AverageGal: Thanks for the high five!
As far as the topic goes, a good mix is often the way to go. Thanks for you thoughts. Eric.
joe gelb
November 20th, 2008 5:25 amid like to believe that there is some method to the madness when the greats take the helm lest im too big a fan…
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