Choosing What to Blog About

SEOmoz’s blog is hands-down one of my favorites. Rand’s posts, in particular, are both well-written and full of expert knowledge. It’s probably not a blog that you’ll want to follow unless you’re heavy into SEO, but Rand had a good post today about blogging.

Titled Blogging in an Oversaturated Market is Usually a Poor Decision, his main point is that few people will have any success trying to blog in markets where there are already a plethora of well-written blogs.

An aside…

Jefe: We have many beautiful piñatas for your birthday celebration, each one filled with little surprises!
El Guapo: How many piñatas?
Jefe: Many piñatas, many!
El Guapo: Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?
Jefe: A what?
El Guapo: A plethora.
Jefe: Oh yes, El Guapo. You have a plethora.
El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?
Jefe: Why, El Guapo?
El Guapo: Well, you just told me that I had a plethora, and I would just like to know if you know what it means to have a plethora. I would not like to think that someone would tell someone else he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has no idea what it means to have a plethora.
Jefe: El Guapo, I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education, but could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?

He also includes a clever flowchart to help you decide whether you should be avoiding certain categories, but I have to disagree with the very first question in the chart. I don’t think you have to be a great writer to have success in one of these areas. Witness self-professed horrible writer Shoemoney, who has quickly built one of the top blogs on the web.

My favorite point of the whole post, though, was this paragraph:

Many folks are shaking their heads reading this, saying, “but, Rand – those niches don’t have a developed readership yet – I doubt I could get more than a few hundred people reading a blog in that space, while DailyKos and Engadget have 20,000+ readers.” It’s true – arenas like technology, politics, and celebrity gossip do have a huge built-in audience. However, I’d argue that blogging is still a very, very young field and an emerging form of media consumption. While there may not be a massive market for blog readers in the field of traditional Spanish cooking today, my preference would be to take the leadership role and have a shot at becoming the Michael Arrington of sofritos and paella, instead of an also-ran Apple fanboy.

I think he nailed it there, but the entire post is definitely worth a read for bloggers at any level.