Post off-topic? Sure, but don’t overdo it

Darren Rowse posted today about an odd little result he got from blogging “off-topic:”

The second wave of responses was very interesting and a little unexpected. About 24 to 36 hours after publishing the post I noticed a second wave of incoming links to the site - from real estate blogs and other related topics (for example this one from Decorating Diva). What interested me about these secondary linkups was that they picked up the ‘off topic’ components of the article as their primary focus.

(And here’s his third wave - the people who are interested in the people who are interested in his off-topic stuff, right? )

I think it might be a little strong that going off topic can help you find new readers. That implies that these “new readers” are likely to become regular readers, which I don’t think is true.

Writing off-topic posts will certainly send your blog in new directions and I’ve always advocated a good mix of posting - a little personal, a little about, I don’t know, Martians, and a majority about what you’re actually supposed to be posting about.

The thing is that you still have an editorial focus. And for Pro-Blogger, that means that he’s got some Real-Estate bloggers interested in a post that is largely tangential to what he writes about. They’ll probably come back a few times, but unless their interests also line up with blogging tips, they’re unlikely to become regular, active readers like his core group is.

That’s fine. And I’d still say go for the occasional off-topic post. But just…don’t go nuts, that’s all.