Yesterday I started talking about five ways your blog should be growing and opened with the idea that your blog should grow warmer. Today, I want to move on and talk about how your blog can also grow deeper.
Let’s face it, a lot of blogs in existence today are simply shallow. They claim to offer great “content” but it’s really all the same elementary principles re-hashed or the same very basic how-to stuff that gets scattered out for the mere purpose of ranking high and gaining traffic.
I want to challenge you to use your blog not only as a vehicle for traffic and marketing products, but also (and really first and foremost) for the purpose of stimulating creative and even critical thinking. Make people think. Take them deep. How?
Leave Your Article Incomplete
One of the tips I offered yesterday that seemed to generate some discussion was the notion that you should edit less and do more shooting from the hip. I stand by that, but not only because it’s warmer and more authentic, but also because it forces you not to tell the whole story.
When you edit an article before publishing, you’re likely to spot all the details you’ve left out and then add them in before pulling the trigger on your post. Being thorough and well-researched is a good thing, but spoon-feeding your listeners has its disadvantages too. You may end up cutting the resulting conversation short.
Write Something Slightly Off-Topic
You’re in a niche, most likely, and I can respect that. But every niche has its bordering disciplines, and I can almost guarantee that tackling something a little off-topic now and then will not only stretch and deepen you as a writer, but will also stimulate the interest of your readers.
Brainstorm Often
I love the way Mike Brown tackles this issue on his blog, Brainzooming. His articles always make me think, and they demonstrate variety. I recently read an interview of Seth Godin who was asked how he came up with so much to write. His reply was classic Godin, “How can we, as marketers, not come up with so much to write. We are thinkers.”
Tackle the Ominous Subjects
Don’t fear the subjects that seem controversial. Granted, a wrong opinion can hurt your credibility on occasion, but I would argue that avoiding controversy will do so even more.
Let me put this challenge as simply as I can: Stop dumbing down the blogging industry. And I feel strongly about this. Make me think. Make me uncomfortable. Make me come back for more!
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I need and crave blogs that make me stretch my mental muscle – I like reading posts that start out saying something I totally disagree with yet by the end have me agreeing, even if only in part – somehow my perspective had changed.
I like posts that make those old light bulbs start popping on again. And in order to do that, you’re right, you’ll have to stretch your limits. I like juxtaposing unlikely topics together and making them merge somehow – to form new analogies and new knowledge. I used to give my professors a major headache when I’d propose topics comparing the work of Milton and Blake to someone like Richard Wright – but by the end of my paper, I had stretched their perspective. Now that I’m gone, they’re probably using my ideas… Oh, well :)
Kiesha @ Highly Favored´s last blog ..A Christian’s Guide to Social Media Interactions
Aha – that’s just how professors work – they sneak into your brain and get their teaching material for next semester!
I’d never thought about the fact that by finely tuning my article I am cutting back the amount of discussion that should be generated in the comments section.
Definitely makes says, and something I will be doing from now on – plus it makes writing your posts a smaller task!
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Absolutely – it’s almost like crowdsourcing the final touches.
Brandon,
Hey now! Just because I heavily edit doesn’t mean my posts aren’t incomplete. Huh? Umm… wait a sec. Yeah, that’s what I meant to say. ;)
Actually, If I stuck to a single point for my posts (another one of your suggestions) I can see how I would catch just about every angle. Since I can’t seem to have less than three points to all my posts, there’s always holes in them.
Great advice as usual. I would like to heartily second the taking on the big controversial issues. As long as you are thoughtful about your approach there is no good reason to avoid them.
Brad
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You’re right on that. And this article seems to have multiple “points” but the goal is that all the points reflect one single idea, like branches from a tree. But sometimes, you take the branches and make each one its own independent idea / post.