Warning, this article is full of my opinion about blogs that are actually “not a blog”. Lately I’ve been stumbling across a lot of (relatively new) blogs, and since I’ve been blogging about blogging a lot of new bloggers are asking me for advice. Unfortunately I’m seeing a disturbing trend. Many new blogs are popping up (and have been for years and years), that are publishing content and calling it blogging, when it’s not. This post is strictly my own thoughts about people who are blogging, or are they? Sometimes these sites are just NOT A BLOG! One can blog on any topic, and since it is your own little place on the web, who am I to tell you what you can and can not post on your blog. However a lot of what people often call blogging is not, and here’s why.
When a blog is NOT a blog
Blogging is NOT reposting content you found elsewhere on the web. If that’s primarily what you’re doing, or doing a lot of what you’ve got on your hands is not a blog. If your blog consists of You Tube videos, infographics, images from celebrity websites, or articles that you grabbed from another site you are NOT blogging. Seriously. I’m so stunned at how many sites I visit that are doing nothing but reposting content they found elsewhere on the web, and the vast majority of the time the content they post was harvested from BIGGER and BETTER sites. Why do you think taking this content and posting it on your little blog is a good idea? Why are you calling this blogging? It’s not.
Share it somewhere else
There are plenty of other fantastic platforms for sharing the content you discover on the web – the blogging platform is not one of them. If this is what you want to do, then use your facebook account to share your discoveries with others. Use Stumble Upon, use Delicious bookmarks… but PLEASE stop posting it on your blog, and then publishing it and tweeting about it and calling it a new post.
In one way I do understand the desire of so many to publish something and then have visits, traffic, clicks, comments etc. But these type of blogs are not flourishing, for the most part they are filling the web with duplicate content, they are not as offensive as splogs but they may as well be. To be blunt, I must say that if you can’t write original content and actually post something that will have value to readers and groups of people other than your immediate family and friends than blogging may not be for you. Okay here’s an admission of my own guilt, when I first started blogging I posted some articles that I’d grabbed from other sites (shoot me now!), not because I was intending on stealing content, but because I truly didn’t understand blogging, and I thought that really was a common practice, oops! Well it may be common, but it’s not right. If the topic of stealing content piques your interest you may also be interested in reading a recent guest post here about article spinning.
Now I know what is not a blog…
so what IS a blog?
If you’re wondering what a good blog is full of it’s this: Original, quality content that offers advice, tips, thoughts, opinion, or help. It educates, informs, entertains, and adds value to the web. The keyword in all this is original. There are a lot of articles written about what makes a good blog, how to blog, what to blog about etc… but I think the above description just about sums it up, if your content fits that description than you can transform your blog into something that people will appreciate!
Of course I don’t want to be rude and offend people, if you are one of those who runs one of these blogs that is not a blog, well the web can be your playground (who am I to tell you stop having a blog that’s not a blog?). Feel free to post whatever content you like, just be aware with this kind of content your traffic won’t increase, you won’t have people commenting, your PageRank won’t increase, and you certainly won’t make money online. If that’s okay with you, then you and your friends will have a great time on your blog, and the readers you do have will obviously continue to enjoy the content you are regurgitating from other parts of the web. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just post a link on facebook to the original content?
Ouch! Was I too harsh? 🙂 What do you think about blogs like this? Do you stumble upon them often? What advice could you offer bloggers that operate this way?
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net – When a blog is not a blog by Daniel Snyder, follow me on twitter @danielsnyder1
28 comments
What logging IS NOT. Examples: Not a Blog. | Info Carnivore | Blog about Blogs says:
Dec 8, 2010
[…] Michael Giberson wrote an interesting post today. Here’s a quick excerptBlogging is NOT reposting content you found elsewhere on the web. If that’s what you’re doing, or doing a lot of what you’ve got on your hands is not a blog. Read the rest of this great post here Related Posts:Why you should e logging! | Info CarnivoreSix of My Biggest Blogging Mistakes, Round 2 | Info Carnivoreexamples of student loggingblogging examplesSpeed logging « Knowledge Problem […]
Patricia@lavenderuses says:
Dec 8, 2010
Hi Daniel
Interesting topic. I have come across sites that just post other people’s content! And heaps of it. Don’t figure they will be around for long.
I bounce off those sites and don’t go back. I figure on my blog I want to write my own content. If it is a post where I have to quote others I will acknowledge the source. Much prefer putting down my own words though.
Visitors to my site appreciate that what they are reading is what I have researched about or am sharing just my own thought on a topic. I tend to write most of my posts conversationally so it’s definitely me talking.
Patricia Perth Australia
Tweets that mention What blogging IS NOT. Examples: Not a Blog. | Info Carnivore -- Topsy.com says:
Dec 8, 2010
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Patricia Millman and giuseppe cavaleri, Daniel Snyder. Daniel Snyder said: What #blogging is NOT. When a blog is simply not a blog. http://bit.ly/g6kbnu #opinion Just published. […]
Lisa says:
Dec 8, 2010
Daniel:
Once again you nailed it! I have been coming upon alot of this myself and it is infuriating when so many of us work hard everyday to BLOG!
Daniel Snyder says:
Dec 9, 2010
We should do something about it… maybe go knock on these peoples doors. haha LOL. 😉
Paul says:
Dec 9, 2010
I hate it when I do a search in Google and come across about 10 sites with the same content. Many people think that copied content will lead to traffic, but Google is cracking down on such sites/blogs.
On my blog I strive for original content and opinion. I may not be the most entertaining blogger out there, but at least my own thoughts and opinions are in each post.
Daniel Snyder says:
Dec 9, 2010
Hey Paul! When you settle into your niche, your voice will be heard. You don’t have to be ‘entertaining’ to offer value. You are the kind of guy who educates and teaches us, and that’s exactly what many people are looking for on the web.
TheEventOf says:
Dec 9, 2010
Hi Daniel,
I think you should make one point clear about reposting content from the internet, like youtube videos for example.
Sure it’s not a blog if the post on your blog is “Hey look at this video I found! [insert any current viral youtube video here]”
But if you post a video, express your opinion on said video are you then blogging?
OR…
If you post an off topic viral video once a week, on an off traffic day for your blog (which consists mostly of original content) is your blog still a blog?
I guess what I’m saying is if your blog only consists of reworded, reposted, or regurgitated content then sure it’s not a blog, it’s a list of things you like, and you should probably just be sharing, tweeting or bookmarking the original work. If however, you take the time to expand upon the content that you found then it does become an original idea and your blog does add value to the internet and therefore is a blog.
Just making sure we’re on the same page! Otherwise great post! 🙂
Daniel Snyder says:
Dec 9, 2010
John! Of course, you are right. In fact if you peruse my blog you’ll find the odd reposted You Tube video. I’m not saying at all that using content from elsewhere on the web is inherently wrong – but rather only those that fail to inject anything new into the content. I’ve used videos to make a point, educate and entertain, but they are always attached to a further article and explanation written by myself. 🙂 You got it!
Gabriele Maidecchi says:
Dec 9, 2010
Not being original and “yourself” in your own blog kinda destroys its purpose in first place. I am not much worried about these people tagging their websites as “blog” ’cause, for natural selection, people won’t stick to them anyway.
Daniel Snyder says:
Dec 9, 2010
You’re right Gabriele… no need to worry, most of the time these blogs drop off the map shortly after they are birthed. It’s simply blogging suicide. Who wants to maintain a blog that gets no traffic anyway?
Jeevanjacobjohn says:
Dec 9, 2010
You are absolutely right about this, Daniel. No, you were not harsh at all (In my opinion, we should actually punish those guys – banish their blogs). I have seen a lot of people doing this. Some people even change some words and post the same thing. Another thing that irritates me is when I see people posting about the same thing over and over like how to increase your comments. Anyway, You got a nice article.
Thanks Daniel,
Jeevan
Tristan says:
Dec 11, 2010
You nailed it with this: “Feel free to post whatever content you like, just be aware with this kind of content your traffic won’t increase, you won’t have people commenting, your PageRank won’t increase, and you certainly won’t make money online.”
So true! I Not only do these un-blogs pollute the blogosphere by adding zero original content, they’re just a waste of time for the blogger! I’ve created several original infographics and put them on my blog, and for each one I get a few trackbacks of people reposting them on their infographic aggregater blogs! Part of me doesn’t mind because hey, more backlinks, right? But for all the time those people spend finding all of those infographics to link to, they could have made their own original infographic and gotten their own backlinks and traffic!
I think it just comes down to what is easy. It’s easy to have a blog of links, videos, and reposted content. People think that if they have a million of these and throw AdSense on them, they’ll be living the ultimate passive income dream. Except that no one will ever visit those blogs! That whole traffic thing is kind of the key ingredient to that whole AdSense thing…
Anyway. The point of all this is to say that yes. I agree 🙂
Great post, Daniel! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and allowing us to do the same.
Daniel Snyder says:
Dec 11, 2010
Thanks Tristan! Glad you agree. It’s frustrating seeing duplicate content – especially when it is your own. Just today I had to deal with another blog that posted one of my articles and claimed it was original and by them. Thankfully they removed it for me…
Ryan Hanzel says:
Jan 3, 2011
I think you are on point. I see many blogs with duplicate content but I think that everything should be original. It is hard to be innovative in todays blogger community. If you don’t have anything to add or explain in a better way with content from another source you shouldn’t post about it. Some posts are not very descriptive, maybe you can improve it by doing some more research on a certain subject and combining the information from multiple sources into one big post. To make it even more right throw down your sources at the bottom of the post to give proper credit to the authors.
Figure I would throw in my two sense, I am still pretty new to blogging and learning the ropes myself so I don’t know it all. Loved the post man, hope it clarified up some issues out there in the blogger community.
Daniel Snyder says:
Jan 3, 2011
Thanks Ryan, and I think the concept you are throwing out there of bringing the ideas of multiple posts together into one is very valid. Bloggers must find unique and original ways to publish good content without duplicating everything. You’ve got an opinion – use it – we grow up hearing that everyone’s got an opinion, but now as bloggers we have a platform from which to broadcast that opinion, so why is everyone trying to copy everyone else? I use my voice to be bold, and very opinionated online – some people like it, some don’t… that’s fine with me. Thanks for your two sense, they’re appreciated!
Justin Germino says:
Feb 1, 2011
Content aggregators or regurgitators are fairly common and I read that Google will be implementing further restrictions to diminish the reprinted content from being listed with authority in the SERP which will make it less likely such sites will be found via search engines.
This is why content on my blogs are 100% original, but I was experimenting with an aggregator site that I don’t promote. In some cases I see where article collaboration benefits bloggers for example BizChickBlogs has content read in from other contributing blogs, yes this causes duplicate content from original blog but also can expand audience and always includes link back to original blog.
Daniel Snyder says:
Feb 3, 2011
Hey Justin, I too have considered experimenting with an aggregate site – but haven’t done it yet. I want to tap some niche blogging markets this year with some very specific sites and keyword targeting but it is a time consuming project I haven’t launched into yet… plus I feel I’m still learning and want to gain more understanding on these topics before I just jump in! I think google’s new restrictions are a good thing however and hope to see big sites that are dominating results in this way drop down on the list. We need relevant results! Thanks for the visit.
A.Tatum says:
Feb 6, 2011
Because there are to many people thinking they can get rich off of ads. I’ve even seen sites that duplicate the same content across a network of sites and call it a money stream system. I mean really. I’ve found some of my own content being RSS’s into other sites full of ads. Good job Dan.
Daniel Snyder says:
Feb 7, 2011
Hey Alvin, thanks man! Yeah there is a mentality that the more sites the more money, so just fill them with crap/duplicate content… thankfully google is doing something about this and those sites are no longer ranking well in the SERPs.
Brad says:
Feb 10, 2011
Won’t stop them though 😛
Daniel Snyder says:
Feb 11, 2011
You’re too right Brad… but if it stops one, hey that’s good isn’t it? Yeah, I’m always the optimist.
John Morrow says:
Feb 11, 2011
Thanks for saying what I’ve been thinking Daniel.
Personally, I blame the hype about making big bucks from Adsense and SEO – if someone posts 15 youtube videos a day, they think they’re producing content that will make them famous and rich.
Daniel Snyder says:
Feb 11, 2011
You might be bang on there John, I think there is so much hype that people think if they own a hundred websites and just auto submit dupe content that it will generate money as a cash flow (like tons of adclicks or something!) … silly silly silly.
Lindsay Dianne says:
Mar 3, 2011
I completely agree. there are a number of “Blog” sites which are glorified tumblr’s, or rehash websites that harvest relevant news stories to copy and paste.
I’m with you %110. This is not blogging.
Daniel Snyder says:
Mar 7, 2011
Thanks Lindsay! I really appreciate the support on this issue… though I don’t suspect it is about to affect any change.
Google Duplicate Content Penalty, is it real? | Info Carnivore says:
Apr 18, 2011
[…] Duplicate content raises a lot of concern in the world of webmasters and bloggers, the fear of the infamous ‘duplicate content penalty’ abounds. We are constantly being warned against producing and utilizing duplicate content, and I agree, the use of duplicate content on your blog is not something I would ever encourage. After all your blog, is supposed to be YOURS, a unique piece of the internet where you can share your personality and be yourself. I regularly run into blogs that aren’t doing much but scraping content from other websites and when I find these blogs I leave them just as quickly as I came. I’ve even written about how these so called ‘bloggers’ aren’t really blogging at all (you can read my rant here, when a blog is not really a blog.) […]
Astro Gremlin says:
Apr 6, 2012
Daniel, I can’t believe how “comment friendly” your site is! I was perusing the comments and deciding whether I had anything interesting to add, and I saw this box that said “Welcome back Astro Gremlin.” WOW! Will you please share how to make this box? In the meantime, yes, a blog should be original and I know I’m not alone in being annoyed at seeing my content “curated” by scraper sites.