This is a guest post by Sherice Jacob.
Are You Practicing “Safe Blogging”?
When your blog is just starting to get attention, it can be all too tempting to stick to “safe” topics. But after awhile, you start to sound just like everybody else and people forget why they visited your blog in the first place. You become yet another face in the crowd. Indistinguishable. Unmemorable.
Ask yourself – is there something you’re afraid of when you start to write your next blog post? Does your blog seem like a sea of “safe topics” that everyone else in your industry has already covered? Are you constantly agreeing with everyone just so you won’t stir the pot?
Some of the Best Blog Posts You’ll Ever Write are Rooted in Controversy and Opinion
There’s no faster way to perk up your audience than to lay something out that steers away from the norm. If everyone’s talking about how bad Facebook’s latest redesign is – you can pinpoint ways that it’s better. If everyone’s fawning all over Twitter, you can discuss ways that the microblogging service wastes time and can hurt their business. Don’t stir up controversy just to see what happens though, as your blog will quickly suffer from a kind of “boy-who-cried-wolf” stigma that only attracts trolls and people looking for a digital food fight.
Even if you’re involved in a profession that’s notorious for being “boring”, you can still add your unique spin on things to really bring your audience out of the woodwork (and break out of your own shell!) Here are a few ways you can create some action while boosting your comments and your backlinks at the same time:
- Take a Stand – Make a bold declaration in your opening headline and don’t be afraid to back it up. A great way to find some hot headlines are to scour the news sites and look for open forums or commentary. They’re almost always based around some hot topic. How can you revise them to fit your blog? Example: “You Decide: New Apple iPad® Doomed on Arrival?”
- User Power Words – There are certain words that immediately conjure up a flaming opinion. Put your post together using action verbs that have a strong meaning, such as , crush, burn or flail. Example: “Are You a Link Whore? Why Backlink Begging Will Destroy Your Credibility.”
- Go Against the Norm – Is there a particular “golden” service or product that everybody’s raving about? Write about it’s “dark side” and explore some of the less-talked-about angles that people might not see for all their enthusiasm. Example: “Exposing the Seedy Underbelly of Facebook”.
- Rip the Gurus – Don’t just do this for the sake of argument or attention though, as it can easily backfire on you. If you have a valid point to make, you can even go so far as to post a video response over YouTube. Posts like these, done well, can attract a huge amount of followers who appreciate dissenting opinions and want to hear more.
- Predict Something! Prediction-type posts seem to do well over the New Year, but if a hot new product is coming out, you could make a startling prediction about it that’s either the complete opposite of the “experts” opinions or something totally unheard of. Follow up on your prediction a year later and see what ultimately happened.
Make a Few Ripples in Your Pond Instead of a Big Splash
If you’re not making people feel something – you’re not doing your job as a blogger! Yes, I realize not every post will be a brilliant gem, but those that are will truly stand on their own two feet and invite other opinions and the sharing of ideas. And at its core, isn’t that what blogging is all about?
Sherice Jacob helps bloggers improve website performance and increase conversions with custom theme design and copywriting. For more blogging insights and just plain cool stuff, you can also follow @sherice on Twitter.
In addition to the points above, we can take an idea or topic we really support, identify its limitations, and list them down in a post. This shows people that you care enough to show them the aspects wherein your favorite idea or topic needs to be improved, thus providing a more transparent viewpoint.
Michael, I agree with you 100%. My most read posts are where I take an opposite approach or act as the “consumer reporter.” I also think it's important to be respectful when you write a post that disagrees with someones opinion. My niche ( Small business SEO) is perfect for this type of post because there are so many unscrupulous players in my filed of expertise.
I'd argue that safe blogging can keep you from ever becoming popular in the first place, and even if you do…you're a dime a dozen and making a living is going to be tough.
I love this! Being risky and going the extra mile really does work – I am proof of it, whenever I take a risk on my blog I get WAY more interaction and comments than normal, but when I stick to the status quo the whole ordeal seems to be pointless.
I've definitely NOT practicing safe blogging, or 'safe' business for that matter – I am trying to rock socks and get places
and I don't feel as if you can do that playing it safe, great post 
got me pumped – thanks!
Groovetastic and I approve this message, from one incendiary blogger to another
The part about attacking sacred cows is especially valuable, but is difficult to do correctly. It also may not be available depending on the topic that you are blogging about. Investment gurus, politicians, and marketing consultants can be especially vulnerable for a blogger to engage in a controversial way. Chemists, mathematicians, and physicists are invulnerable. Depending on whether you are blogging about a topic that is a hard science with exact answers or a soft science like marketing, advertising or blogging determines whether this strategy is appropriate.
Here is where it can get very interesting. Sometimes bloggers talk about both hard science and soft science in the same blog. Distinguishing between the things that an expert says that are actually provable, and the things that are just his opinion can make a spot for the inteligent blogger to insert the cutting edge of his razor sharp blog.
Risky blogs are not well understood in many cases.
You can be different but not too much different else your average potential customer won't get it.
I can agree with many points of view, even if they are in contrary to each other. I think thats the real key to developing wisdom, and developing your business.
When people get into arguments, in my view it is because they are unable or unwilling to take on a different point of view!
Thank you for this post. I wrote a few controversial book reviews and thought twice about being sincere in my REAL opinion of the book which goes against popularity. The decision was simple. I started the blog so I could finally do something of my own and if I compromise my own thoughts, then readers and popularity aside, I have lost my reason to write.
Thank you for this post. I wrote a few controversial book reviews and thought twice about being sincere in my REAL opinion of the book which goes against popularity. The decision was simple. I started the blog so I could finally do something of my own and if I compromise my own thoughts, then readers and popularity aside, I have lost my reason to write.
I can agree with many points of view, even if they are in contrary to each other.