- Author: [[animalz.co]] - Full Title: Your Blog Is Not a Publication - Animalz - Tags:: - URL: https://www.animalz.co/blog/library-vs-publication/ - ### Highlights first synced by [[Readwise]] [[2020-12-18]] - [[Intercom]] has raised $240 million, employs nine people on its content team and, perhaps most importantly, has deep buy-in from the executive team. ==It is the rare SaaS company that can run their blog like a publication and it's a strategy that is nearly impossible to replicate.== ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899778)) - Publication vs. Library, Explained - > The best content strategy is the one that prioritizes quality and depth, not volume and breadth. - You may think you're already doing this—but I encourage you to take a closer look. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899780)) - Here's what a publication mindset looks like in practice: Topics are ==horizontally integrated==, meaning that content creators cover a broad range of topics rather than the full range of depth. ==Posts are published on a strict schedule==, so it's hard to make time for content that requires additional time and energy. Content serves an audience, therefore timeliness is prioritized. And here's why those things are problematic: ==Depth is almost always more useful to readers than breadth.== ==Content efforts that require a lot of effort (think benchmark reports, data analysis, etc.) often deliver 10x the results of a post that requires less effort.== The huge majority of readers are not regular visitors to your site. Instead, they seek out specific articles to solve specific problems. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899789)) - ==The more you rely on organic search—which is by far the best source of traffic for SaaS blogs—the less you need an audience== ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899797)) - Content is ==vertically integrated, meaning that each topic is addressed from the top of the funnel to the bottom==. Organic search is prioritized, therefore ==evergreen content== is paramount. Time is allowed for content efforts that slow down production. Content is built for people who need it, when they need it. We call it the library approach because, done this way, a blog becomes an ==evergreen catalog of easy-to-access information rather than a feed of loosely related blog posts==. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899801)) - You can also employ ==hub pages to collect resources on a specific topic==. Hubs are usually created to target top-level keywords, then link out to posts on relevant, longer-tail topics. You can create the content in any order, but present it in an organized, hierarchical way rather than a feed. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899804)) - The 3 Principles of the Library Approach ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899812)) - 1. Flat Site Architecture ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899810)) - 2. Content Planned by Topic and Funnel Depth ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899815)) - The site is “flatter”—i.e., content can be accessed in fewer clicks—which makes it easier for both people and search engines to find. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899821)) - In order for a library to be complete, each topic must be addressed from multiple angles for readers at the top, middle and bottom of the funnel. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899822)) - Most people seek out content when they have a problem to solve (see principle #3 below) and won't even notice if the newest posts all cover similar things. We ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899826)) - 3. ==Audience as a Byproduct== ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899829)) - Your readers are likely not part of a growing audience, but rather a continuous stream of people with a problem to solve. ([View Highlight](https://instapaper.com/read/1370506921/14899830)) - # Zettels - [[Library vs feed]] - [[Chronological feeds work well for social connections]]. - [[Libraries work better for strangers]]. - [[Seek to inform, not perform]]