This is one of the most important revelations I’ve had since I started blogging and it applies to everything we do:
Quantity is NOT necessary!
Focusing on quantity is the reason that the Internet is littered with useless blogs and Web sites created by people desperate to make money online.
Having multiple blogs seems like a good idea when you first start blogging because a blog needs to give the audience what they want and ONLY what they want as much as possible.
It doesn’t work though because there are only so many hours in the day and each blog needs someone who is passionate about creating exceptional content and interacting with readers.
FOCUS ON ONE QUALITY BLOG!
Guest post on related high quality blogs.
Collaborate with social-media savvy bloggers.In all things you do FOCUS on RELATED collaborations!
That reality leads to trying to find ways to automate content which dilutes quality and sends your blog or business toward failure. Many viable sites drift along because the person who built them can’t focus enough attention on them.
People THINK quantity is required because they believe
that is what it takes to rank in the search engines –
especially Google.Fortunately that is NOT true because
QUALITY and RELEVANCY work even better!
I can prove this. Do a search for the phrase gift affiliate program and check the positions of posts on MurrayNewlands.com, GrowMap.com and ExecGiftsBlog.com or see the screen capture below:
Prior to doing this search I logged out of Google and I used Google Unpersonalized so the results should not be affected by personalization.
You can see from the screen capture above the positions of these
three posts that are today ALL on the first page at Google:
- Third: MurrayNewlands.com
- Fourth: GrowMap.com
- Tenth: ExecGiftsBlog.com
Note the dates of these three posts: Oct 23, Nov 1 and Nov 2, 2009 – over TWO YEARS ago. I have NOT done any link building to any of those posts and have rarely even shared or looked at them since 2009.
They immediately went to the first page and there they still rank.
Sometimes one of them will slip to the top of the second page and sometimes all three on the first page. This is in spite of there being several very strong affiliate marketing forums ranking, that being a very good phrase, and there being who knows how many hundreds of gift affiliate programs.
WHY ARE THEY ON PAGE ONE?
Simple. They are highly relevant quality content
related to that phrase and they link to each other.
Will my publishing this cause them to fall off page one? I don’t know, but we’ll find out, won’t we?
SEO MYTHS:
What does this tell you about commonly held myths about SEO such as:
- Reciprocal linking is ineffective – obviously not.
- Huge numbers of incoming links are necessary – doesn’t look like it to me.
That is NOT the only example of my using that strategy, but it is the only one I’m going to share. I invite you to try it for yourself or if you don’t have access to relevant blogs or blogging skills you can hire me to implement this strategy as part of blog outreach for your blog or small business.
Instead of focusing on more than one blog, massive link building, article marketing – and especially instead of using horrible automated linkbuilding tools that steal the time of others do this:
Focus on ONE high quality BLOG
Guest post on RELATED quality blogs
Collaborate with social-media savvy bloggers.In all things you do FOCUS on RELATED collaborations!
If you don’t already have one blog consider NOT starting your own blog at all – at least for now. Almost every top blog has evolved into a group blog even if they aren’t “officially” a group blog because they publish many guest posts.
Whether you have a blog of your own or not, what we really need are collaborations of related blogs and group geo-targeted blogs because reaching a specific niche geo-targeted audience is the logical next step for bloggers AND businesses.
Every blog (or collaboration) should have both a niche
AND geographically specific content
AND a geo-targeted Twitter account
Think of the blogs you read most or sites from which you have bought products or services:
- Q: Do they have auto-generated content?
- A: Of course not.
- Q: Do they spam other blogs?
- A: Certainly not!
- Q: Do you buy anything from blogs covered in AdSense ads with mediocre content?
- A: No? Then why would anyone else?
- A: No? Then why would anyone else?
- Q: Would you buy from a site that is spamming you with blog comments, spam email, or on any social network?
- A: Not if you have good sense.
- A: Not if you have good sense.
I assure anyone reading this that quality always trumps quantity and I hope by what I have shared here you now realize that huge quantities are NOT necessary.
I am NOT saying that link building is not important.
What I am saying is that links from a quality RELATED site
are more valuable than a zillion links from auto-generated junk.
Success will come from focusing all your efforts on reaching the audience most interested in what you have to offer. That is true on social media (and easily done on Twitter), in your blogs, through guest posting on related blogs, and in building collaborations.
RECOMMENDED READING: Hubspot has an excellent blog and offers exceptional advice on lead generation and management. Start with their post Content Quantity Diminishes Quality [Research] Here’s an exerpt:
The quality vs. quantity content debate isn’t an uncommon one in marketing, especially in the world of inbound marketing. High quality content is beneficial from a thought leadership and brand perception perspective, but marketers also struggle with the need to produce content regularly and frequently to compete for higher search engine rankings and fuel their inbound marketing strategies.
With recent developments in ranking algorithms such as Google Panda, however, quality has gained a competitive edge, as search engines are starting to value content high in quality and ding websites with low quality content.
That intelligence, coupled with the insights from the Presenter’s Paradox, make for a compelling case for quality over quantity in content creation, doesn’t it? The lesson is simple:
Don’t dilute your high-quality content
with mediocre or low-quality content.
Don’t take my word for it. Test it for yourself. Or hire me to show you by doing it for you. [NOTE: I only work with 2-3 total clients per month because I give them vastly more time than I charge them for and so I can mentor them in how to blog, do social media, grow their influence, etc. – so if you want my personal assistance contact me asap because once those spots are full I won’t be able to accept more clients.]
Read quality blogs about SEO, especially Aaron Wall’s SEOBook. Start with this interview with Aaron and Andy Hagans on Link Building. Don’t miss probably the most important post I’ve seen on Google’s plans and my comments in that post.
Lastly, check out the brand new SEO Infographic below by SEO Book:
The information in the above infographic combined with my posts detailing why Google IS Evil and How Google Limits Our Freedom of Choice By Discriminating Against Small Business clearly show that Google has declared war on small businesses.
As always, my readers are encouraged to comment and leave relevant links. Businesses and bloggers alike should take advantage of putting their best keywords in as anchor text in their comments. See the information about How to Use KeywordLuv for more details on how that works and how it benefits you.
CONTENT MARKETING EVENTS:
- Content Marketing World: The largest and leading content marketing event on the planet. The 2012 event takes place at the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus Ohio, September 4-6.
CONTENT MARKETING WEBINARS:
- Content Marketing Institute Monthly Content Marketing Webinars
CONTENT MARKETING BLOGS:
- Content Marketing Institute Content Marketing Blog
- See the Junta42 Top Content Marketing Blogs List for the best content marketing related blogs
Gail Gardner
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I definitely agree. quality is necessary compared to the quantity, relevancy is also necessary. There needs to be a mixture. There has to be quantity and quality at the same time. Especially when SEO is concerned. You need the links, but the better the links are then the better it is for you. When google is concerned PR plays a role.
Reciprocals are still effective but in the wise amount. It shouldn’t be look like an artificial link swaping and should be really niche targeted.
Pr1 = more then 100 Na pr so i agreed with your post and quantity is NOT necessary but higher pr and quality is very helping reach our niche site…
Just a quick thought: I do agree with the quality thing over quantity, but true success comes with combining quality AND quantity. This is very hard to do, of course. But if you could get hundreds of pages of content that was better quality than every other link in the SERPs? Boom, you’ve made it!
Great post! Provides reassurance that quality is king. Also, very helpful graphic by SEO Book.
The guest post is definitely the way to go, but requires work. That is why so many use the automated link building techniques. To me, it is telling when you see tons of low quality links. Someone has tried to put up many ‘cookie cutter’ blogs with as little effort as possible.
The funny thing is, sometimes, you get outranked by these guys! But I guess we hope that it will be a short term thing. Quality will outlast them.
I have been really curious about reciprocal link exchange thanks for clearing the air for me.
During our work we all experience failure , but for me it tells me that practice makes perfect, I think quantity sometimes is useless, if the content is not rare. so we should balance it.
Right I mean, quantity = failure is a bit rigid, and really is a value that’s different for different people in different fields, but judging from some of the comments here people do have a problem with trying to run too many things at once when they first start out…^
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It is true that the more you focus on quantity the more you fill up the internet with useless and unwanted blogs. You need to concentrate on how to get quality content instead of focusing on quantity. Filling up your website with only content will only make your blog look ugly. It will not help you in getting quality traffic over your website.
Yup, I am not surprised that quality is far more important than quantity. You cannot have both. This informative blog has excellent graphics and points to make. Also, be sure to proofread your content well beyond spell check.
Great quality post! I have learned so much from this article, love the graphics!
I agree with you Heather, this is a great quality post, I have also learned a lot from this post.Now I need to focus on high quality post , thanks again.
I agree that it is better to do little work abut the work should be rather well-done and of the best quality ever. Thanks for the tips how to be quality and relevant!
What a great article!! Luckily, I’m fairly new to blogging, so I’ve only dealt with my one blog. That’s time consuming enough. I couldn’t imagine having to work put dedicated effort into multiple blogs daily!
And having only been active for about 60 days, I’m starting to get pretty consistent organic traffic through Google and Bing. It’s mostly via image searches, but I ended up on the first page on Bing with 3 different posts, and 2 of those made the top 3. So I’d say my own results support the point of this article head-on.
Thanks for the great information!
~Barry
Barry would love you to read ..Organizational Culture And The Workplace (Part 1 of 3)
Yes I agreed with you that in Google and search engine case, Quality wins. If you want lasting results then always go for Quality.
Wow – what an eye-opener! I’m new to blogging and have been trying to combine both quality and quantity. It’s too early for me to get any organic search results so it’s good to know in advance that I should be focusing more on quality and submitting guest posts on relevant sites. Thanks for the tips!
Geoff would love you to read ..Traditional anniversary gifts
everybody knows that quality is better than quantity, but having a quality link by guest posting, press release or article writing is not easy (most of us is not good at writing) and very time consuming, so most of the beginner choose the easy way: quantity, and hope that a large number of low quality links will shorten the distance, but it could never be!
So when you start building link, think about the long term benefit and try to have a quality one.
thank you very much to clear it out!
Haha. The Universe just keeps giving me signs. I love this. I recently decided (or got a sign for this from my subconscious) to sell almost all my sites and focus on the few left so I can actually do some work on them. After a while I got another sign with an email form someone wanting to buy another site of mine, that I did not intent to sell. And now I open this post somehow and I read FOCUS on one blog! I love when I read the signs :). Thanks for being part of them.
The power of focus is really greater than people think. If you focus on one thing you can do so much more. I have tried with many sites and they eventually they got less and less attention. This is why I started this change :). Everybody watch this to remember forever the POWER of focus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRV19c8pEdE
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It could be a perfect match if quality and quantity can both be achieved 😀 But I agree with you that quality wins in most cases. Especially when we have something to offer, it’s good to write one useful piece of information than bombarding people with tons of crappy articles!
This is a great write-up on choosing quantity over quality.. it’s up to us if we choose to create more blog but the result is not good quality.
Joseph would love you to read ..AVG Antivirus Review
Hey! Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog! Your blog is interesting too.
[I edited your comment to add your link and some anchor text that will bring you traffic from Google and other search engines.]
Welcome to GrowMap maahum. I hope you subscribed to comments so I can share with you some tips.
First, you could have given us a link to your marine animals blog in your comment.
Besides just a link, you can use the keywords feature on blogs like mine to tell the search engines what your blog is about. See my post about How to Use KeywordLuv to learn more about that. I will edit your comment so you can see what it looks like.
Blogs like mine get a TON of spam because we support other blogs and small businesses by allowing DoFollow links in comments and writing about them in posts. Many bloggers will delete comments like yours because they think they’re spam because spammers use common comments when they spam us.
You can read my post about bloggers who hate comment spam to learn more about that. I have put it in CommentLuv in this reply. CommentLuv is a plugin that WordPress bloggers like me use to encourage comments and community.
I highly recommend CommentLuv and our friend Ileane created a video on how it can be installed on blogger, too. See How to Install CommentLuv on Blogger.
There are many influential bloggers who gladly assist new bloggers in getting more traffic and eventually earning a living doing blogging and social media. If you or your fellow students are interested just let me know.
One site we all really use a lot is Twitter. If you want to use Twitter see my Twitter Best Practices post. It contains everything from how to get started videos and posts, to how to use Twitter for business, and advanced strategies.
I hope you’ll come by regularly. Did you notice that I sent you traffic from StumbleUpon, Facebook, and Twitter or do you have any analytics data you can access? You can see all the tweets to any specific page on your blog by using Topsy. Here is one that shows the tweets that include links to your home page: http://topsy.com/maahum123.blogspot.com/
growmap would love you to read ..For Bloggers Who Hate Comment Spam
For me it was always a big dillemma if to focus on quantity or quality. I found the solution this way: we have to focus on effective things and do them intensively. First we need to figure out what is effective and working and then just rinse and repeat. This way we can focus both on quality and quantity.
I made a huge mistake when I began blogging. I started by buying 6 Domains, then paying for all of their hosting. I was paying monthly for 6 sites, without enough time to get content onto all of them. It would have made so much more sense to create one blog and build this up. That way I would only be paying for one blog, and I would have received a decent income from it a lot quicker. Eventually I learned from my expensive mistake and dropped 4 of the sites. I’ll get back to them eventually once my other sites are doing well.
Thats a really good tip to focus on one blog, especially for somebody who’s relatively new to blogging. I would recommend getting one blog filled with high quality content, with a decent subscriber list, and a steady stream of traffic before even considering getting another up and running.
Hey Gail,
I totally agree that quality wins in the long run. But unfortunately we are all told by so called “gurus” that in order to rank you have to keep turning out article after article. And so, many people actually believe that they should focus on quantity rather than quality.
I myslef started that way, but as I went along I realized quality was a much more important part for the long run than quantity.
Satrap would love you to read ..Online Surveys for Money
I need help!
I love this post, and I completely understand what you’re getting at, but I need a strategy to convey this to my bosses.
They want an article every hour, and they hire me per articles, instead of per hours. I feel that you need 2 hours to properly research, write, and source some getty images per post. Have you had success convincing superiors of this fact?
Thanks,
Jake
great post, i totally agree that you lose focus when you try to keep up with multiple blogs.
Great article. Quantity is nothing if your readers do not like the quality of your content. There are so many blogs that are on the first and second page of Google with a lot of vague content that is not helpful. I tried that approach and it resulted in a really high bounce rate from my site. It is much better to take your time and give the readers what they really need.
One more thing about the big “G” – 10 years+- ago the background color in the paid search results area was a bright pink – clearly denoting the area as the PPC area.
Fast-Forward to today and the background color is a VERY FADED PINK.
So much so that I and everybody else can barely discern it from the rest of the page.
Gee – do you think they did this on purpose? Trying to deceive?
Watch out for big “G” – don’t do as they do – do as they say.
http://sarasotaweddingideas.com/sarasota-weddings/
What a relief to here about someone focusing on the quality of the content. I’m so fed up of reading blogs that are purely designed for link building purposes, written by somebody who doesn’t care about the quality of the post, as long as it contains the right keywords. You can tell they have little in-depth knowledge of the subject area, and don’t even bother to research the topic. Really good post!
I definitely agree. The idea of having many blogs will help yet its hard to manage all of those blogs at the same time. I figured that out and now I only manage 1 to 2 blogs. Also the term quantity vs. quality can also be linked to backlinks of a site. What we need is a quality number of links that generates traffic to our site and also improves our rankings.
Quality is always considerable than quantity and it is the universal truth no doubt,people always search on internet to find the appropriate solution of there problem and here the quality of blog comes in.I am so relieved for once reading a blog post which encourages maintaining just one blog rather than a mass of auto blogs and assuring that the quality of that one blog will outshine a mass of high quantity but low quality blogs.Thanks for sharing this with us.
Best Regards!
Samuel Joshua
Samuel Joshua would love you to read ..Art Deco Stained Glass
I think a full-time blogger can handle up to four blogs (this includes quality articles and promoting them). A beginner should start with only one. As time passes by, he becomes an experienced blogger and he can own more blogs.
Hotels should increase their online marketing campaigns by allocating funds to attract quality fans. Fan quality is gauged by the fan’s potential to purchase or share and interact with your brand (and with other potential high quality fans). Many online campaigns don’t capture quality fans and mostly attract ones who “like” a page and rarely (if not never) interact or return to the page.
I couldn’t handle managing multiple blgos. I know some people can do it, but I’dd rather focus on the one blog and make sure that it’s got good quality content. As it is, producing content takes a good amount of time. I’d rather sacrifice quantity for quality anyday.
Richard would love you to read ..Adventures in Ecommerce: 5 Free Ways to Promote Your New Ecommerce Business
I totally agree- you lose focus when you try to keep up with multiple blogs. I have tried autocontent on other blogs and have never been successful at it. The only success I have had is with my “handcrafted” coloring pages blog.
Ginny would love you to read ..Homemade Christmas Ornaments to Print and Color
An excellent article – I’m impressed. It’s interesting, informative and fun to walk your way through the infographic that “SEO Book” did. I love(sic) the double standard that Google apparently has.
I absolutely agree with the quality over quantity. And I also agree that many people make so many blogs that are not even essential.
I am so relieved for once reading a blog post which encourages maintaining just one blog rather than a mass of auto blogs and assuring that the quality of that one blog will outshine a mass of high quantity but low quanlity blogs.
Thanks once again and glad that is the path i am towing.
Cool explanation! This is a good start-up mantra. It’s best to start right, invest in quality and hard work.
Claire would love you to read ..Date Night at MT’s Chophouse
I quite agree, quantity no longer works today as Google becomes more strict about quality. Quality search result is what google aims so we have to focus on quality if we want to appear on the top of their search results page.
You have inspired me to continue work on my blog on my anxiety experiences. Although I am not a professional writer, several weeks ago I decided to start up a WP blog dealing with the experiences I have had with my struggle with anxiety attacks. I feel this is good therapy for me.
Ellie
Ellie would love you to read ..my anxiety experiences
Quality is the best key of success every thing. Today human has not recognized by it self. Only his work will recognized depending of quality of work.
Although I prefer quality over quantity there are still many cases where something with poor quality trumps quality. Google tries to get it right, but I doubt they are perfect all the time. And, they are constantly changing their algorithm.
Ray would love you to read ..Upgrades Round 2
Relevance is definitely the most important factor when it comes to SEO. Being laser-targeted can help significantly! Great write-up as always. What’s your opinion on the length of the content? Do you think sufficient word length (perhaps 300 words+?) is a must to rank well for a not-too-competitive keyword? Obviously, it’d depend on several variable factors (such as the niche you’re in, competition etc.) but I’m wondering what’s your opinion on it in general.
Anish would love you to read ..Amish Heaters
Many peoples continously making a sites or blogs.but they don’t know that quality is much important than quantity.poeple have no time to read your huge sites or blog,so rather than large site or blog just tell your thing in a short manner.and also try to use your unique content.
Totally agree with you. I always opt for quality . I have seen sites use excessive keywords, cheat search engines, they can earn money but not fans.
Quantity is not important quality make important. One blog read is better then ten blog. Because every one need easy solution. If one blog impress 1 person he probably try to famous that blog. Every one want to easy and better solution blogging is the best key for solution. Thanks.
Enjoyed your article on Quantity Equals Failure. Success Focuses on Quality! I am not into internet marketing; but, merely looking for ways to popularize my new site on anxiety attacks. You have provided me some very helpful tips. Thank you 🙂
Ellie
Ellie would love you to read ..my anxiety experiences
Hi Jon and welcome,
While we can’t count on Google or any search engine always sending us traffic we CAN count on having loyal readers if we share content that is worth reading and are active in blogging communities where quality bloggers are the norm.
I am actively updating my Top Marketing Blogs list to prioritize blogs by their dofollow status and will be adding other lists to it as time allows. We are actively growing awareness of how to use blog collaborations to support small business and create a stronger economy.
The post I selected for CommentLuv in this reply is important because it explains the difference between spamming and what many bloggers THINK is spam but is actually from small businesses we need to support.
growmap would love you to read ..For Bloggers Who Hate Comment Spam
I know some people who are doing everything they could just for them to get the highest rank for their sites. What they usually do is sending out hundreds of links everyday in different different ways like spam commenting, spinning of articles for article marketing, etc. In short, they are after of the quantity rather than the quality so there’s a high tendency for them to lose their rankings in the future.
Christina would love you to read ..Step2 Neat & Tidy Cottage Review
Hi Christina,
and what they are doing is going to kill their site in the long run. Not only will they end up being dropped from the search engines but they will have alienated any real people who might have been their customers and ended up blacklisted by serious bloggers like me.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing: Where to Start
Yeah! This is absolutely true, but there are still some people who are taking their risk in doing these unethical strategies (so to speak). The main problem with them is they don’t want to spend time in doing the right way of link building and to wait for too long the result of all their works.
Christina would love you to read ..Little Tikes Picnic On The Patio Playhouse Review – Great For Group Play
We’ve been finding out this ourselves – quality over quantity every time. I like how you’ve addressed some of the ‘SEO Myths’ that everyone acclaims to be true – but in actuality doesn’t hold much basis. But what more can you hope for, all we’re really doing is guessing to begin with.
Hi Daniel,
While no one really knows exactly how the search algorithms work – and by the time they figured them out they would change again – I can guarantee you that there has been disinformation about SEO from the start and many of those who write and speak about it continue to only share bits and pieces while keeping what they really do to themselves.
Even expert SEOs have bought into much of the disinformation so the only way to really know is to test. A strong foundation of common sense and logical thinking are the best tools we have.
growmap would love you to read ..How to Increase Sales: Learn from Those Who DO
The only SEO that matters, at least for Big G, is joining their ad program and giving them money. What I find extremely funny (that’s sarcasm) is that publishers have 100.000 rules to obey which they do not have to. Like mixing paid search results with organic results so that when you click they make money, but you can’t do it on your own website or you get banned. That’s crazy. Is there any serious search engine not based on Big G results and not involved in selling surfers information or ads? I’m using Scroogle but it works on G. The problem is that everyone in the world uses G and still thinks their results are honest, which they are not. DucktoGo is good too but not so well known.
Merry Christmas.
I agree. I opened a couple of blogs but really I’m really working on one. But from what I’ve learned those who have multiple blogs usually use automated content, guest posts or simply pay someone to blog. I always aim for quality versus quantity and that’s why on my main blog I have just 40 articles, but given that I’m having traffic and some earnings I think it’s the right way to go. Thanks for the useful links which I’m going to read now. 🙂
What a great article – really detailed
Solihull would love you to read ..Dentists for nervous patients in and near Redditch – Worcestershire
Quality over quantity. It’s like the first commandment of the online business world. 🙂 A quality content gets read and shared while content in quantity gets marked as spam. This is something that more bloggers/marketers should be aware of, or maybe they are aware of it and they just don’t want to do it.
Great article.
Yes, everyone always says quality is more important than quantity. I have also heard that quantity can help you with Google by keeping your material always new and fresh! In the beginning I would force myself to blog every week and the results were dismal. I can also say that quality is what matters in the long run so don’t be fooled into quantity.
You don’t need to churn out quantity when you have a blog with an active commenting community because those comments = new content. It is a good idea to blog every week and that brings up another reason why group blogs make more sense than individual blogs = plenty of content without any individual having to push themselves constantly to create it.
Ken,
There needs to be a mixture. There has to be quantity and quality at the same time. Especially when SEO is concerned. You need the links, but the better the links are then the better it is for you. When google is concerned PR plays a role. It would be better to have 1 PR4 link than 20 PR1 links. Granted I do not know the actual numbers but working this model has certainly helped me rank 4 on google for my most coveted keyword.
I love the points you stressed here. If you establish or focus in a reputable blog, it will be easy for you to put another one.
Hi David,
While you can use an established site or blog to launch a new one, you’ll need more than one person to really do them both justice. We found that out the hard way and still need to find bloggers to drive quality blogs we already have installed.