Internet Marketing Toolbox

I subscribe to Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox series and always find it an interesting read. For those that don’t know, Nielsen is a usability expert, and has been publishing tips on improving web site usability since… well, forever! (1995 to be exact)

His most recent column, Write Articles, Not Blog Postings is of particular interest to me because I’ve recently implemented WordPress as a publishing system. And I’ve particularly impressed with how it can drive traffic almost automatically, through all the pinging, and trackbacks and all that other stuff I’m still not too sure about.

Now Nielsen is an advocate for investing your time in writing thorough, regularly published articles, so it probably should come as no surprise that he does NOT recommend that people publish blogs, but maybe not for the reasons you first thought…

Nielsen says the reason most blogs “fail” is because they are comprised mainly of numerous short “comments” about ongoing blogosphere issues which are little more than “information pollution” (love that term!)

This is “commodity” content - stuff that is easily consumed, easy to write, can be controversial and drive short-term traffic, but generally does NOT offer any sustainable value.

So if you are interested in going beyond the normal Web model of single page visits by freeloaders driven by search traffic, to building a web site you can make money from… I’d recommend checking out the rest of Jakob’s column

As always, it’s an interesting read that gets the old grey matter working a little harder.

While I tend to agree with most of what he said, I do like to disagree with Nielsen from time to time as well…

In my case, I chose a blogging platform as my publishing tool here at the ‘Net Marketing Toolbox, because I felt it would create a more “relaxed” environment for my visitors/customers…

…Where the mix of informative articles and occasional blog-like, “coffee table” style comments is something that just “works” for both you and me…

Otherwise I might just chuck this old computer into the ocean…

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