How to Lose All Credibility When Posting a “Top” List
By Jennifer Mattern in Blogging with 14 comments
04
Jun
2009
2009
Just a very mini-rant today after catching up on some feeds:
If you want to risk completely turning off your readers and sacrificing your site’s credibility with them when posting a “Top whatever-the-hell-it-is-this-week” list, go ahead and include yourself. Better yet, list your own site or blog as the #1 resource (because of course nobody else would).
Just brilliant.
14 Comments
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queryfreewriter
I know there is a site that inspired this rant.
Do you have a link, or is that the sort of feature reserved for NakedPRemium subscribers?
Nothing PR / SM related. Just noticed when reviewing freelance blogs today that Freelance Folder put out a list of 30 sites every freelancer should visit, and topped the list with their own blog. And that reminded me of how much of a turn-off it was when they also previously put out a list of 20 blogs freelance writers specifically should read, and of course also included themselves. I didn’t mind that they threw themselves in there b/c they really are decent for the audience and they did put themselves at the bottom of the list. But in the process they not only left out several of the top blogs in the actual niche in favor of irrelevant things, but had the gall to claim they weren’t biased in including themselves. If you want to put yourself in the list, that’s fine and dandy, but for christ’s sake don’t pretend there’s no bias.
Glad to see that shameless self-promotion is more universal, and not just endemic to PR-blog hucksterism. (And PR/SM blogs are now a tiny fraction of what I read…)
The reason I stopped checking into laughable is because their whole site is pure link bait with top 10 lists for everything, no matter how insignificant and useless. They have jumped on to the whole social media bandwagon and you can tell that social media wannabees just think they are the greatest thing ever. Very depressing.
agree with ur short post pointing on listing your own site or blog as the #1 resource rather than giving out top credibility to others
nowadays most of the blogs are sharing or include top posts from other bloggers for their readers or like “Monday link love” or so and more.
why to give credit (links) to others posts and make our readers run away to other blog posts ?
While it may sound counterintuitive, linking out to other blogs is actually an excellent way to grow your own readership. Here are a few of the reasons:
1. When you link to other bloggers, they’re often aware of it (their blog platform may show them recent inlinks for example). If they didn’t know about you before, that might introduce them to you (a good way to meet more established bloggers in your niche – I’m relatively established in the blogging for the freelance writing niche for example, and that’s one of the ways I meet new writers / bloggers fairly regularly). When those people you link to check out your own blog, they may like it. For example, if you linked to my writing blog and I saw that link, I’d check out your site to see who you were. If I liked your blog I might subscribe, comment, or even mention your blog to my own audience as one I think they should check out.
2. When you link to someone else’s blog, you sometimes get a trackback link in return (similar to leaving your link in their comments). That can also make them aware of your blog (or make their readers aware of your blog). Links help your search engine rankings, but more importantly they can give you direct relevant traffic of people interested in what you have to say.
3. Sometimes linking out really is good for your readers. It’s about exposing them to things of interest that you weren’t able to cover yourself that week, but which they may be interested in reading nonetheless.
Jennifer
Why rant on only the overtly self-promotional “Top whatever” posts? They all wreak of self-promotion and repackaged platitudes regardless of who is on the list.
Astonishingly, personal branding experts like Chris Brogan advocate this style of writing, but it’s preponderance has made it the new spam. Trust destroying spam.
And yuck i have some on my blog too.
whoops…got that “it’s” wrong. Gosh i hate that.
I wouldnt mind if someone does that if the site is worth it. One example would be a post by alex of blogussion.com on his personal blog where he mentions top 10 thesis wordpress customizations and includes his own in the list. He mentions that the blog is his and is posted as #6 or so. I would definitely vote it as #1 for the customization.
My opinion is that if the blog deserves to be in the list then it must be!!! It would be great to include a line where it states that the blog is owned and operated by yourself if you are posting the top X list in another blog or website or forum
If someone genuinely belongs in the list, then they shouldn’t be the one writing it. It’s not that difficult to get someone to contribute a piece as an objective outside source (where the blog owner shouldn’t suggest their own, and if they are included based on someone else’s judgment it should still be disclosed that they own the blog). It’s just not that ethical to create a top list with the purpose of tooting your own horn.
Another option would be to write up a top list featuring others in your industry, and then mentioning at the end that you also create themes and link to them there for people to evaluate them on their own.
I don’t care when people include themselves in a “List of Blah, Blah, Blah.” The problem is when they do it with a “top” or “best” list as though they’re an objective source.
First I want to say I really like your honesty. It is refreshing how truthful you are without regard to being “pc.” Also, I have to say the “Top 10” or whatever lists do get annoying and very repetitive. For my blog, which is done for my class however, we had to do a list of tips for blogging. So, maybe some people do them because they have to for whatever reason. I do find it funny your, “(because of course nobody else would),” many people do list themselves as #1. I like your style, and will definitely read more of your posts.
I agree at the same time that I disagree with this blog post! Okay, including oneself in a “top” sort of list could be sketch maybe. Then again, why wouldn’t one attempt to engage in a self-plug sort of thing. That’s a PR is about – promoting and advertising and such. Then again, I can understand what you are saying, in some instances, an individual – whether deserving of the credit or not – would try to include themselves in their own “best of” types of lists. That’s just their opinion. Leave it up to the readers to determine whether the quality and content of their website or blog or what have you is actually credible.
Ummm, no. PR is not about “promoting and advertising and such.” Equating PR with advertising is not only blatantly false, but that’s the kind of thing that gives PR an often-undeserved bad image. PR and “promotion” are also not the same thing. PR, publicity, promotion, marketing, advertising — they’re not quite the same things, and assuming so takes a very limited view of something with far more depth. If this were a marketing blog, I might not have as much ground to criticize sleazy blatant self-promotion. But it’s not. It’s a PR and social media blog. BIG difference.