I’ve got more normal content coming tomorrow, but for today I wanted to cover a thought I just had with regards to what I write on any given day; a problem that most any blogger will understand and relate to.
Should you write about currently trending topics, or about topics which have withstood the test of time?
New, trending topics can be great for a surge of traffic, but that means quite a bit of writing on the spot if you have many things happening in quick succession that you wish to cover. Those types of articles, however, can get incredible traction if published early on, but they only last for so long before the subject becomes “old news” and people move on. Often, articles about current events pretty much never get seen again after initial publication – a considerable amount of effort for such a short half-life for a post to have.
By comparison, an article about something less time-sensitive (in my case, let’s say, discussing an old game that was popular but is basically dead now) might not be too popular compared to any current event article, but it may well get continuous hits, and as time passes this article might well gather more traction in one year than the current event article did when it was new, and unlike the current event article, this one will continue to get a steady rate of hits for the foreseeable future.
I personally prefer to go with both – I’ll write about current events which have caught my interest and in the past have let that somewhat take over the site – hell, it’s part of the cause of the legendary backlog! At this stage, I’m pulling back on this where possible and trying to focus a little more on topics of lasting interest – as lasting an interest as such obscure or niche subject matter will have, anyway.
Of course, if you never touch on current events and just focus on other content, that’s fine. It’s actually probably a much more sane approach, and certainly allows you to write at your own pace.
There’s also those bloggers who cover current events in their own lives – like, software developers or hobbiests who write about their own projects (much like I do from time to time.) Those blogs too have their own balance with this, in that sure they are writing about something current, but it’s something they are in control of, so for what it’s worth the topic is as valuable to others as if it were any old subject. That throws another wrench in the works, so to speak, on this.
This dilema has always been a thing and will never change. This is actually true of YouTube content creation as well, but it seems there that quick trendy content holds up far better than more typical, long-lasting information or entertainment. Take of that what you will, I look at it as part of why I focus more on blogging than video production. I can focus more on what I like and feel less of a need to hit up trending topics, or at least put as much effort into such a short-lived topic that a video on such would demand.
I’m just thinking out loud at this stage – or at least, thinking in text, anyway. I don’t really have a point here other than to express the very idea which, as I said above, many are familiar with, but few of us really ever bring up.
As you can imagine, yes, this is part of the “one article per day for September” challenge. I’m really beginning to see just why I don’t write for extended periods now…. but more on that soon.