Welcome Guest!
Search
My Sites
Navigation Links
Copyright
All music on benbarden.com is free to share for non-commercial use only. Please see the music pages for more information.
All other content: Copyright © 2009 Ben Barden.
All Rights Reserved.
Would you publish a bad post?
< To republish or not to republish? | Writing great content |
Writing great content every single day can be quite tricky to do. Can you write a "best ever post" every day?Sometimes I write a post and I think to myself, you know what, this isn't a great post. When that happens, I usually save the post as a draft and write something else. Most of the time I'll be able to return to the post later and improve it.
There are days when I'm very motivated to write, and some when I'm not so motivated. For all of this week I've been publishing posts that I have been "saving up" - starting, saving, returning to later, then finishing and putting online. It's great if you can work like this, though I'm sure some people prefer to do one post at a time and if that means spending hours on one post until it's done, so be it.
Ironically, this post was one I didn't rate too highly when I planned it during an evening of bulk writing. But as I'm writing up my notes, I've found quite a bit of motivation. Sometimes I surprise myself.
I don't think there's any excuse for publishing a bad post, but can you always write a great post? Probably not. I see a lot of "mediocre" posts - they're not particularly good or bad, they just aren't the posts I remember.
Below, I've come up with a few possible reasons why you might publish a bad post (these are not suggestions, just things you might come up against):
1. Obligation to keep posting
Sometimes we feel obligated to churn out new content on a regular basis so our sites look active. I've read lots of posts on how often you should update; some say daily, some say more, some say less.Can you really write 7 great posts every week for the whole year? If not, is it OK to publish anything just to make your site look like it's being "lived in"?
2. A good idea goes bad
Ever had a really good idea for a post that didn't work out so well when you came to write it? Maybe your readers will see through the difficulties you had in writing the post and find some value.3. Don't throw anything away
Sometimes you might have an idea that never really gels, but you feel like you have to use it because otherwise it's a waste of a post. Maybe you've exhausted all other avenues for the time being and it doesn't seem so bad after all.4. What's one bad post?
Who's going to mind one bad post every now and again? Overall, you've probably got better posts than most sites in your niche, so you can afford to slip up once or twice.Hold on a moment!
Let's stop and think about this. Perhaps you can't write the best post in the world every single day. But that doesn't give you an excuse to be lazy. Let's break down those excuses...1. Establish a sensible schedule
If you can't keep up with posting every single day, don't keep doing it. Don't feel like you have to write every day if it doesn't work for you. It's not the only way to success.I think it's far better to write on a regular schedule, e.g. on the same days each week, rather than posting several times a day and sometimes being unhappy with the posts you're publishing.
If your latest post is doing really well and you don't have a suitable follow-up ready to go, why not leave your latest post for another day? Granted, you shouldn't fall back on this option indefinitely - you do have to decide when it's right to move on. But some posts may continue to do well if you keep them on your home page.
2. Plan your posts
If you come up with what you think is a good post but it doesn't go too well, take a step back from it. Leave it as a draft and maybe add a few notes to it every day or two. Or start again and plan it carefully.3. Ditch the bad posts
If you really can't get anything good out of an idea, either leave it as a draft for as long as you like, or delete it. You don't say everything that comes into your head, so don't publish every possible idea you think of writing about.4. Push yourself to new goals
Don't fall back on the excuse that one bad post won't matter. That way of thinking could easily lead to more bad posts - where do you draw the line?Don't settle for bad posts, and don't seek out perfection in your posts. Try to do the best you can but leave something for your readers to say in a comment.
Over to you...
No related content found.
Comments on Would you publish a bad post?
I don't like to publish bad posts (I keep revising my articles before I publish). I have so many topics on my head that I made a list so that I can explore around and see what I'm in the mood of writing about. That way, it is hard to publish a bad post =D.
Me? Write a bad post???? NEVER!!!!! ;)
My biggest problem (I think) is I'm very hard on myself. So I'd be tempted to ditch most of my posts if I was worried about whether they were "good enough".
However, I've not seen anyone yet actually come out and SAY that their blog suffered because they missed a day posting. I've only read the opposite kinds of posts "oh I missed a couple of days and it didn't make any difference". Having said that, my visitor numbers do go down if I don't post but I *think* that has to do with feed subscribers not visiting to comment.
I guess I'm saying it's better to skip a day than to publish a "bad" post but we need to be careful we're not *too* hard on ourselves in terms of what we class as "bad".
Hm... I do check for how easy it is to follow what I write, as well as the tone in which I write things because I don't want to be negative in anyway (unless I actually want to be)... so I guess I can say that I wouldn't post a bad post.
But I don't think I check for something being a great in the sense that someone is going to submit it to stumbleupon... you know what I mean? :D
Great topic again!
Vincent, good points. I really should follow my own advice and write a few shorter posts. Sometimes the longer posts really start to drag - and that's not good for me or my readers. Maybe I'll try that method in the next couple of posts.
MarketingDeviant - that's what I have started to do too, the only drawback being when my schedule gets a bit messed up. I've been on a bit of a posting drought for a few weeks, despite the fact I've managed to hide it well. I have yet to find my feet properly. I'd hoped that the organised approach to blogging would help but it just generated a lot of wordy posts. They have useful information, but I don't always want to write long posts. One to ponder...
Lightening - I agree. It's just very hard for me to break away from a daily posting cycle, because I know what will happen. I'll get lazy and not write anything for a week, then I'll come up with loads of ideas and post them all at once. I know, I know, there are ways to combat this... it's just very tough to do anything much when you're running low on ideas.
fragileheart - I think you do well; you captivate your audience. That's what it's all about. :)
Thanks for the comments.
Good or bad, who should be the judge? What may be good to some (including me) may not pass the standard of others. Or what we may consider a bad idea, is blogged by another who might even reap praises for it.
But before we press the publish button, the writer should at least be convinced of the quality his own post. Then let the readers decide afterwards. There is still room for editing in case we find errors.
Thanks for the comment ceblogger. You're quite right, of course - we need to be sure of the post before we let it loose on our readers.
When it's time to write, I sit down and flesh out an idea for an article from start to finish. Basically, I don't give myself any choice. It's write then and there, or not at all.
Sometimes, the idea didn't seem so great when it's written. If I still have time, I'd scrap the idea totally and come up with another one. Otherwise, I'd clean up the article. Get rid of bad and extraneous stuff. Leave the idea in its basic form.
Perhaps there's no examples. Perhaps there's no further explanation. That's fine. I can always write another article linking back to it, expounding it, and flesh out the original idea.
The main thing is to get that idea out there. In reference to your recent article on getting to the point, short articles force one to, well, get to the point.
This writing style actually forced me to be selective of my ideas, to be succinct when needed, to be wordy when appropriate. I wouldn't consider the ideas to be bad. I'm just insufficiently expressive in bringing them to life.
Besides, the pressure of having that idea/article out there might just force you to write better next time... :)