Time-Sensitive Blogging

I’m always reading others’ blog posts, and sometimes it’s the comments on those posts
I find most instructive and interesting.  In one blog, Roman Jelinek had shared his view that posting a few blog posts, but better quality ones, is more productive than writing frequent and rushed posts. 

Then a blogger called Coupon Artist commented that she had a problem with that concept, because "if you wait too long to do research and write, the topic might become stale."  For example, she says, if you’re a personal finance blogger like her, and every other news source is talking about the first quarter economic results and discussing those to death, no one will want to come and read your blog discussing the economy.  So careful research is more effective in blogs, she says, only if you’re not writing about a time-sensitive topic.

Here’s my take on the subject of frequency vs. quality in blogging:

1.  The more you know about, the more you can blog about.
To deliver quality writing of any kind, including quality business blogs, you’ve got to keep educating yourself, reading everything you can get your hands on and "soaking in as much as you can from the world at large", as humor writer Robert Smigel says. So, it’s not so much about doing research for one particular post that’s crucial, it’s collecting information all the time, everywhere you are and from every one you meet, and then keeping a file on those tidbits of unusual information.

2.  It IS important to blog about time-senstive, current topics everyone else is covering.
Sure, searchers have the choice to go directly to more complete and even more authoritative sources when it comes to topics in the news, but what you have to offer is your unique perspective as you "translate" the information for the benefit of readers.  If your post helps readers make sense of the news, you’ll come across as a trusted and understandable authority. Blogging about what’s new – and why it matters – may go a long way towards making your blog the "go-to" source for usable information.

Not every blog post needs to be news-based, , but for those blogs that are about current news and that are therefore time-sensive, I disagree with Coupon Artist on the point about good writing taking too long.  Quality always counts. (Would you go out even one day without brushing your teeth and putting on deodorant??)

Like the Rabbi in the old tale who said "You’re right" to one person involved in a dispute, and "You’re right, too!" to the second, I think Roman Jelinek and Coupon Artist are both right – and both wrong.

Posting better quality posts AND posting them frequently is best!