Which do you prefer? Personality-driven blogs or just content heavy blogs?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by webmasterlabor.com, Apr 1, 2007.

  1. #1
    Commercial blogs fall roughly into 2 camps: personality driven blogs and content blogs

    Personality driven blogs focus on the writer of the blog. Many of these types of blogs' domain names are the names of the authors. These blogs are primarily the commercial 'diary' of the writer.

    Content blogs are, well, content blogs.

    Which do you prefer and why? Which would your target traffic market prefer?
     
    webmasterlabor.com, Apr 1, 2007 IP
  2. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

    Messages:
    8,908
    Likes Received:
    794
    Best Answers:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    455
    #2
    I think a lot, if not most, blogs don't actually fit cleanly into one of those two categories, but are rather a hybrid. For example, I run a PR blog and a marketing blog. All of the posts are highly opinionated, and that's why readers read them and link to them... it's not just generic content. They're definitely personality-driven. However, they're also filled with useful content (I hope), and aren't even close to resembling a "commercial diary."
     
    jhmattern, Apr 1, 2007 IP
  3. brizzad

    brizzad Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    214
    Likes Received:
    10
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    110
    #3
    I'm sure steady readers love personality-driven blogs, but we all know search engines love some good ole content.
     
    brizzad, Apr 1, 2007 IP
  4. jl255

    jl255 Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,762
    Likes Received:
    211
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    185
    #4
    i think one cannot do without the other. It's like saying, do you like your palm better or your fingers? ;)

    having alot of content with NO personality, will just bore readers. They may stay for the content but its not gonna be very ideal for u to grow your blog. Similarly having extremely interesting writing prose with NO content will not even attract readers.

    Nevertheless, if u ask me, i do recognize that it is better to have CONTENT without STYLE than STYLE without content. At least for the latter, ppl might still 'reluctantly' return for the good food :)
     
    jl255, Apr 1, 2007 IP
  5. fennimore

    fennimore Peon

    Messages:
    139
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #5
    I think personality should only be represented in the way you write, not so much in what you write about. Focus on content, but give it your personality to make it come alive :)
     
    fennimore, Apr 1, 2007 IP
  6. webmasterlabor.com

    webmasterlabor.com Peon

    Messages:
    2,889
    Likes Received:
    76
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #6
    Thanks for rephrasing. Sounds great. Good points!
     
    webmasterlabor.com, Apr 1, 2007 IP
  7. Cheap SEO Services

    Cheap SEO Services <------DoFollow Backlinks

    Messages:
    16,664
    Likes Received:
    1,318
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #7
    I prefer personality driven blogs but don't have a big enough steering wheel. :D

    Col :)
     
    Cheap SEO Services, Apr 1, 2007 IP
  8. gr8liverpoolfan

    gr8liverpoolfan Notable Member

    Messages:
    6,719
    Likes Received:
    538
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    285
    #8
    Depends on what my mood is like, and what I feel I want to read. As Jenn said though, most of them are a mixture of both. Blogs are basically opinions of the blogger, and therefore even in pure content driven blogs, the personality driven aspect does come into play.

    That said, personality driven ones tend to receive more attention than content driven ones- if you look at comments.
     
    gr8liverpoolfan, Apr 2, 2007 IP
  9. grg

    grg Guest

    Messages:
    2,692
    Likes Received:
    73
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #9
    "Personal" - but depends who's writing. And mainly the content is important for me, whoever writes it.
     
    grg, Apr 2, 2007 IP
  10. OliverG

    OliverG Active Member

    Messages:
    222
    Likes Received:
    4
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    78
    #10
    I think the best blogs are those that offer a an equal balance of both. There's very few of them around, but they're always an excellent read.
     
    OliverG, Apr 2, 2007 IP
  11. The Club Crawler

    The Club Crawler Peon

    Messages:
    313
    Likes Received:
    8
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #11
    depends on what I am looking for, I read one blog i like regularly, because the writer is an awesome story teller and the context of the story is brilliant, but if I am looking for information on a certain topic then content driven blogs all the way. When I am looking for quick information I can do without too much personality, but no personality is just too plain. fine line, it depends on the readers motives I guess.
     
    The Club Crawler, Apr 4, 2008 IP
  12. Luq

    Luq Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    496
    Likes Received:
    14
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    123
    #12
    i think some personally driven blogs is a content heavy blog but it doesnt go vice versa..content heavy blogs arent personally driven..so i guess i lyk personally driven blogs which are content heavy as well
     
    Luq, Apr 4, 2008 IP
  13. PlateFish

    PlateFish Banned

    Messages:
    620
    Likes Received:
    18
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #13
    I think blogs really require both in a big way but I think that content is the most important of the 2.
     
    PlateFish, Apr 4, 2008 IP