Graywolf's first video blog is entitled "SEO Bloggers Step Away from the Keyboard", in which he tells SEO bloggers to forget about posting SEO news. He basically says that there are already a few sites reporting the news and they have the industry contacts and good writers to do so. Everyone else should find something else to talk about, because no one is reading them anyway. He then got a couple of negative comments about it.
To be honest, he's not wrong, and that's why I stopped reporting SEO news a while back (pulling from my really bad memory, I'd say maybe a year or so ago). Let's face it. A few people DO have the industry contacts to be able to get the freshest news to you right away. I don't. Most other SEO bloggers don't as well. So there's really no point in me telling you the latest search engine news, when you've already read it over at Search Engine Land (which in my opinion, is THE place to get SEO news), or elsewhere.
Instead, I turned my focus back to discussions about SEO tips, tools, and theories instead. Every now and then I may share my opinion about some bit of SEO news, and rarer still, I may even report some SEO news that I haven't already seen elsewhere. But just reporting the daily news that floats by is just plain silly. You don't want to see the same news on every blog, I'm sure. I know I don't.
So, while Graywolf's admonishment sounds harsh, and does sound a bit like he got up on the wrong side of bed, his advice is spot on. And, in fact, it applies to anyone...not just SEO bloggers. Don't be a little fish in a big pond, republishing the same content that everyone else does (including the big fish). Find your own niche and your own voice, even if you don't have a blog. Be original. That is the real takeaway here.
I think the more who push this message around the better. As you say, Donna, it applies to everything. Only write something if you have something new to say. Particularly if your opinion is contrary to the mainstream, then it’s of much more interest. Even then do a Google Blogsearch and regular search before you write your piece. It may already have been mentioned a time or two already.
I agree, Barry. A blogger, especially, is under pressure to post on a frequent basis. When I made the decision to stop posting news, it was a tough decision to make, because I know how difficult it can be to consistently write non-news items. After nearly 3 years of blogging, one tends to have said nearly everything one has wanted to say. However, I’d rather post something new and original less often, than the same-old, same-old more often. And I assume that users would prefer that as well.