Is SEO Blogging Worth It?

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News Source: http://www.seorefugee.com
Published: Nov 01, 2008 - 06:12 am
Story Found By: Skitzzo 1663 Days ago
Category: SEM

However, as search engines takes a more and more active roll in the community and SEO bloggers continue to publicly discuss previously untapped link sources, little known but effective methods, and conversations held in private, I’ve found myself asking a recurring question:

Is SEO blogging worth it?

19 Comments

Comments

from Jill 1663 Days ago #

Votes: 6

I guess I read different SEO blogs than you do. I don’t see many where people give out loopholes and can’t imagine why anyone would do that unless they’re purposely trying to close up that loophole.Like anything, whether blogging is worth it or not depends on what you are hoping to achieve. Certainly, preaching to the choir and speaking to a crowd of other SEOs isn’t going to gain you any business. So if that’s your goal, you’re wasting your time.I honestly don’t know why most SEOs blog these days. They’re simply regurgitating the same old same old just to hear themselves talk or something. I do think it must be more of an ego thing...see if you can get to the front page of sphinn or digg or whatever. Or just get traffic to your site. But in the end, if it’s not making you money (which for most it’s not) then why bother?

from theGypsy 1662 Days ago #

Votes: 1

Yer such a happy little camper lately Jill... giving me a run for the money in the ’jaded’ dept. - ;0)While I agree peeps better not be thinking about blogging for money in this industry, there is every reason to have it in SEO as there as in any market... Are you against blogs in general then?As long as search engines are evolving and new people are seeking knowledge (new site owners, webmasters, young SEOs etc..) then there is every reason to still have them. If you can tell me SEO hasn’t evolved in the last few years alone, then we may be living in different worlds.Haven’t you ever had a young SEO come to you with gratitidue for the knowledge you’ve shared? Passing along the artform is a huge part of why I like to write and those types of moments make it worth the effort. So, as long as there are new folks looking to learn, and search engines evolve, there is no reason why SEO Bloggers should stop spreading the word IMO... it’s all about the passion!

from Jill 1662 Days ago #

Votes: 1

Oh don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying people shouldn’t write about SEO. Like I said, it depends on what you hope to get out of it.I have been writing about SEO for 7 years with my newsletter and don’t plan to stop, so I certainly believe there’s value in it. But I’m not discussing loopholes. I don’t really get why people would do that other than as an ego thing.My own personal reasons for writing about SEO is that I just like it, and I like teaching my SEO methods to others because I strongly believe that the more people who are learning to make great websites rather than trick search engines, the better the internet will be overall.Of course, I do also do it to bring credibility to myself and my company. And while many of my readers are other SEOs, I do have a good portion who may be in the market for SEO services one day. (It’s a very long lead time, however!)But if you’re just regurgitating the same old stuff, you don’t really bring any credibility to yourself, and unfortunately, that’s what most SEO blogs seem to do.

from onreact 1662 Days ago #

Votes: 0

Ah come on Skitzzo, this post misses the point completely. The better is the enemy of the good. Forums were great in 2004, 2005 and even in 2006, but blogs are better since then.

from JohnHGohde 1662 Days ago #

Votes: -6

It is just another Sphinn, Jill.Nobody is trying to change the World. Just thought that you might want to know the score!

from Skitzzo 1662 Days ago #

Votes: 0

@onreact, I’m not arguing whether forums or blogs are better, the point is that I think a lot of the blogging SEOs do might be doing more harm than good.

from Jill 1662 Days ago #

Votes: 0

Thanks for that info, John. I actually thought Skitzzo was trying to change the world with this post, so I’m extremely happy you pointed out that he wasn’t. PHEW!

from kbf 1662 Days ago #

Votes: 1

I also thought Skitzzo was some sort of activist out to change the world through his post. Thanks for clearing that up!

from eKstreme 1662 Days ago #

Votes: 4

Is blogging worth it? Depends on the why you’re doing it, as Jill mentioned. If it is:For money from ads, hell no it’s not worth it.For building a reputation to attract clients, definitely yes if you do it right.For Engaging the SEO community (just like in any other industry), then definitely yes.For your innate love of writing, then yeah I guess you’re getting more satisfaction than not writing.There are other reasons to blog and you need to think of it as an activity and what you’re getting out of it. Shocking, isn’t it.As for a lot of SEOs regurgitating same old stuff, then read some other blogs :) One tip: as an SEO, start reading blogs about adjacent topics like usability or web programming or whatnot. You’ll be amazed what you can see as relevant from theser related fields and start applying them to your work.My 2 cents.Pierre

from iBrian 1662 Days ago #

Votes: 0

"I think a lot of the blogging SEOs do might be doing more harm than good."Absolutely right - that’s why you find very few commercial SEO’s revealing anything of advantage in public.Keeping to basics and best practices at least allows for a general education of the wider non-SEO community, without risking competitive advantage.2c.

from NaveenKapur 1662 Days ago #

Votes: 0

It’s just that people of same caliber do like to share thoughts. Right or wrong good or bad is for the readers to decide. SEO is not something one can learn in a day or from one website. There is more to it. "Lots of Research" And when you do the research, you are bound to go through many repeated blogs and techniques people use or discuss. As far as making money, I believe there is no SEO who doesn’t make money. What they discuss in their blogs about search engines and optimization, makes their site a flagship site to fetch them more work from their perspective markets. But hey, who am I saying this too, all of you SEO’s know that better already.

from JohnHGohde 1662 Days ago #

Votes: -4

What SEOs?

from yetanotherben 1661 Days ago #

Votes: 0

It’s my 3rd year working in SEO/SEM specifically, but coming onto the scene with ’yet another blog’ is not an obvious decision considering all the resources and credibility already out there.Being freelance, and doing a brief cost-benefit analysis, I can see the time spent blogging is paid off elsewhere. Thinking like that though is a little bit crude and short sited I feel. So I expect I’ll be launching my very own blog via my site, but the value it’s going to add to others will be far less than it will be to me for quite some time though. But blogging for other sites is not a long-term strategy for me. It’s well known, that people who work online are helped along if they have an online personality and presence. As you’ve said Jill, it’s kind of important to share your ideas in this community to build consensus and understanding, AND of course, it’s fun!Ben M

from incrediblehelp 1661 Days ago #

Votes: 2

Is it just me or do others only blog to categorize thoughts? I like to have a place where I can place things that are important to me to in a category forma for later reference. Let’s think selfish for once bloggers, lol.

from ANOnym 1661 Days ago #

Votes: 0

The main reason for me to start a blog is to point people there, when they ask the same questions. However, I think it’s perfectly fine to discuss various things, an example of which is this very post by Ben.

from SubmitPro 1661 Days ago #

Votes: 0

It gives great joy when sharing ideas getting knowledge of new ideas. Blog reading and writing helps a lot in developing a clear cut vision.

from johnandrews 1660 Days ago #

Votes: 1

Let’s imagine for a moment that no one blogged about SEO. Then there is no reason to blog, unless you want to "teach" or "preach". Then Blogger A starts to blog about SEO because she likes to "preach".Now a few SEOs will start to blog, because that Blogger A is saying things that are not accurate in their experience. Left uncontestested, clients will start to believe Blogger A and that leads to problems for everyone.One day another SEO "Blogger B" starts to blog, in order to teach. Now another set of SEOs will start blogging, because teacher Blogger B is teaching some wrong answers. Again, left unchecked, Blogger B will cause problems for all SEOs.Pretty soon you have a whole bunch of SEO bloggers. Now when you add in commercialization, you add new reasons to blog (not just "preach" or "teach"). And since you added so many bloggers surrounding the teachers and preachers, you created community, which brought with it more reasons to blog (support your friends, respond to more claims, show data, etc).If I try to address the original question, I find that I have to characterize each so-called SEO blog for it’s intent. Most of the ones outing sites and exposing tricks are nothing more than profit plays... they’ll do whatever it takes to make a buck. Like Google, follow intent.

from MattSawyer 1660 Days ago #

Votes: 0

Personally a lot of my blog posts are written to help educate clients. I try to pitch posts as something that a small business owner would want to read. As others have said, there’s little point writing for other SEOs, that’s not going to gain a client or help and existing one - that’s just building your ego.

from Silv 1659 Days ago #

Votes: 0

@ Matt - largely see where you are coming from but surely there is benefit to writing for other SEOs. As yetanotherben says, the bigger and more well known you are in the online space, the more likely you are to get help along the way, be it a digg, a sphinn, anything.But you are definately on the right tracks if your posts can help acquire and retain new business!

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