Scrivs takes a look at whether its best to write an original content blog or a syndicated (linking to others articles) blog. It is a good question that is well worth thinking through for each of your blogs.
My advice is similar to Paul’s – for me it comes down to a number of factors which will vary from blog to blog. These factors include:
So which is best?
I guess it depends how you define best’ but on a personal level I am drawn more to original content blogs. However as an entrepreneur blogger I know that it is not feasible for me to write any more than a handful of such blogs – the energy, creativity and drive to keep more than two or three of them going is too much for most people.
ProBlogger is probably the blog that I run that has the most original content on (although I mix it up with some link posts also) – and it takes more time than any of my other blogs to run. However I get a lot more personal satisfaction here than in most of my other blogs.
So the majority of my blogs would fall into the syndication category. I aim to mix some original content through most of them from time to time to add a little spice – but the majority of my 25 posts per day schedule is of a syndication nature with a link, quote and comment.
I have had some criticism for this approach from a minority – but most of my regular readers on the different topics that I cover value the blogs as places where they get a filtered, targeted, organised and relevant selection of the latest news on a particular area.
These blogs may not be quite as profitable on a per post’ basis – however due to their larger volume of posting actually end up being more profitable.
Darren Rowse is the founder of ProBlogger.net, a blog about the many ways of adding an income stream to blogs.
Darren owns and writes a variety of blogs including Digital Photography Blog and Camera Phone
Zone. He is also a co-founder of the Breaking News Blog Collective.