— Daily Journal Entry 033 —
Will going off topic in a blog really hurt a creator in the short, or even the long, run? On the one hand I could care less, and on the other, I do kind of think about it on occasion.
First off, what is, “Going off topic?” That would be when you tend to specialize in one particular area, or write / create content around one specific topic, subject matter, or “niche.” The people who ultimately find you online tend to know you for covering a certain type of material. The question is, if you stray from that topic, could that create some distance between you and those that follow you?
I certainly think it can, but I also think that those who really are interested in what you publish online, whether in the form of a piece of written content or a video, reel, x post, whatever, will still read or view it finding something useful they can take away from it.
I most definitely do not have the experience necessary to steer anyone in the right direction when it comes to this (or ANY) topic at the moment, so I’m only going off the experience I have when reading / viewing content from the folks I follow online. When it comes to those that I follow online, I could care less if all of a sudden, they publish something completely off topic because I know eventually, they will come back to publishing the content I came to them for in the first place.
That’ the real trick I think… For well-established creators, they have enough content that lets potential followers know exactly what their main topic is focused on. And if you are just starting out, no one knows for sure what you are about and what to expect next from you.
If you’re new, it’s probably best to “Stay on Topic (or Target).” Think, “Star Wars…” – “Stay on Target,” Stay on Target…” (YouTube Link). This may NOT be exactly the best comparison, but it works to get the point across in my opinion. Straying too far off topic (or target) on a regular basis will confuse your / my potential followers.
To be continued…
Until Next Time,
Featured Image: Papa Ruppe on the rifle range (not sure where) during WWII time period. I asked Gemini / Nano Banana to make the picture larger (original was quite small), sharpen and denoise without altering the original picture’s content.
Note: These “Daily Journal Entries” are part of a mini blog within the main blog where I make every effort to publish a 250+ word post per day on top of the regular, longer posts. The idea is to just create a daily habit of publishing written content. And also, to try and become a better overall writer… We’ll see…
