Reader question time – can a blog get too much exposure?
I was over at Techmeme earlier today and after scanning through the latest stories there realized that TechCrunch is mentioned over 60 times on the front page. I did a keyword density test on the page and the word TechCrunch was the most common on the page with a keyword density approaching 3%.
Of course, this is partly because the TechCrunch40 conference is going on at the moment so there’s more than normal buzz going on – but I guess it’s made me wonder whether a blog can suffer from overexposure in a niche.
Another brand that could have suffered from this over the weekend was BlogRush which had so much buzz in this niche of blogging about blogging that I saw numerous bloggers complaining that it was being covered too much.
This isn’t a post bashing TechCrunch, Techmeme or BlogRush (I’m a fan of them all) – but rather just me wondering out loud whether there comes a point where a blog can dominate a niche too much and begin to harm it’s brand as a result of it’s over exposure.
What do you think? When does exposure tip into overexposure for you?
I think it’s a combination of quality of product and quantity of coverage. I think if there weren’t some serious negatives about both Techcrunch (the 40) and BlogRush the backlash would not have come on so strongly. I saw the “40” described by an AVC commenter as mostly “frivolous” web 2.0 companies and I think that’s pretty fitting. Similarly, BlogRush looks a bit too much like a here today / gone tomorrow pyramid scheme for my taste.
Definitely a blog can get too much exposure and that, contrary to popular belief, can be a bad thing. When that exposure is unjustified, or it looks as if it is just a lot of paid advertising mascaraed as real reviews can get people distant from the product/blog or whatever is that is generating the “buzz”.
In that case I think that the saying “There is not such thing as bad advertising” does not apply
My weblog is never as exposed as I’d like… So I guess that when the day comes to be overexposed I will not notice!
In terms of SEO it might be bad. A new site that gets so much attention might be penalized by google since that kind of instant popularity is somewhat suspicious unless you actually know whats going on. I dont think they have much to worry about though. Getting on google is the least of what Blogrush needs. All those widgets do enough for them as it is.
When the market becomes saturated, anything can suffer from over exposure. A common example is a song on the radio. It’s a good song, so it’s requested and played 30 times a day, on all the popular stations. After a while, you’re so sick of the song (and possibly the artist) that you never want to hear it again. Perhaps the same applies to blogs.
I think it depends on the context. If I remember correctly the same thing was happening with iPhone: people complained that it was being given too much attention by various bloggers. Whenever something generates excitement it creates a buzz, whether moderate or too much and I don’t think too much buzz is always bad. Sometimes it is, especially when something becomes so common that people stop noticing it.
Although I agree, I think it’s a pretty dang great problem to have. I wouldn’t mind having to deal with too much exposure myself! ;)
Wow… I’m so glad I saw this today. Seriously, yes I think you can totally over-saturate and turn people off. Yesterday I saw the blogrush promo on so many sites, that I’ve decided not to even bother with them – it was such a turn off. If you’re going to be promoting things, I think the best way to do it is in levels – so many a day, a week, a month. Because seriously, how much is truth – how much is crap. Are they sponsored posts? Are they the honest opinion?
After the 3rd blog of the same sort of review… I just zoned out and ignored them.
When it’s overdone – I think it becomes like ad banner blindness. People just start to ignore it before it becomes completely irritating.
I have yet to see a case of overexposure of a product on the Web. But I’ve seen Web sites overexposed in the mainstream medias though.
I guess the choice to be overexposed or not that we have with Internet (we can choose to visit or not the Web site, right?) is in high contrast with the imposed programmation of TV shows and newscasts.
Also, everybody has a different tolerance threshold.
That’s a problem that I’d love to have
If it’s just for a few days, I don’t have a trouble with that. It’s when it ‘s everyday for no reason at all that becomes overexposed.
An example of overexposed will be if “Blogger X posted that” on every blog on everyday.
I did my Blogrush mini-review like many but mixed it with my $500 contest update and 1 Cool File Teaser at the same time. This way people could read the other 2 if they were already aware of BlogRush. :D Plus, I waited before using it.
It’s a matter of context.
Any business can get too much exposure. And I think when something loses it’s exclusivity and the masses can access it from anywhere, then it can lose it’s appeal. Krispy Kreme springs to mind as a good example.
You can never have too much exposure. Just look at Paris Hilton. :p
I think that’s the problem with my site… I just have too many people talking about it right now ;-)
I think you can have too much exposure but I doubt that is something many of us are going to have to worry about anytime soon.
For the rest us (99.99 of people/blogs) the more exposure the better!
I think sometimes it’s a case of bloggers themselves rushing headlong into whatever they perceive the A-list is talking about because they want to be in on the action… without any regard to whether or not they actually have anything interesting or new to say.
Over the weekend, at least half the blogs in my reader were talking about Blogrush, and at that point, it just started to feel like spam.
You may be right, it probably ends up affecting a small amount of readers. Maybe in the beginning blogs won’t feel the affect but you could end up wearing people out, I guess that’s inevitable but if you’re going full throttle you may be pushing it too much. However, if that one niche is popular enough TV has proving some people just can’t get enough of certain topics.
It depends on what kind of exposure one is getting.
I think a blog is over exposed when you start seeing a dis honest shift in the writing because they are fighting for the exposure. Maybe I am really talking about selling out, either way you can start to see snarky, know it all tones in both cases because they want to be over exposed.
I think so, but it has to be absolute extremes. For instance, when the iPhone was released I didn’t even consider buying one. I was so sick of hearing about it online that it was the last thing I wanted.
Now that that is dying down a little though, it looks like a nice gadget. :)
I don’t think that overexposure will hurt you, so much as cause your popularity to plateau. All of the BlogRush reviews won’t actually lose them new subscribers, but it will reach a point where the reviews just don’t have any effect anymore.
(If you’d like to run an experiment though, I’d be happy to be the test subject in this case! ;) )
I feel that getting to much exposure for one’s blog could be a great thing and a bad thing all in one. Let’s start with the plus side getting all this attention could get new readers, and subscribers to the blog that has never heard of them before. Now let’s look at the negative all this exposure could be bad for the blogging site because then the loyal readers could get turned off to the blog, and hence stopping reading it all together.
Too much exposure is certainly what I need for my blog.. lol
sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. when the iphone dropped in price and apple was showing off their new itouch, i couldn’t go to any gadget blog and not see 10 – 15 apple posts, it made me not read the blog until the next week when i knew the posts would be down a bit on the page
I think BlogRush suffered from too much traffic that overloaded their servers or whatever… more so then getting bad press.
I’m still waiting to see my stats however, kinda feel like I’ve given my $1.00 to the coke machine and still waiting for my can to fall out… but it’s only a buck(free) so I’m just waiting to see
It tips when the others have no chance to grow up.
No! I don’t think a blog can get TOO much exposure… As long as the exposure is mostly positive!
I Think Search Engines Help To Get Much Exposures On Blogs…. I Think Other Then Search Engines Some Other Stuff By Which Blogs Get Great Exposure….
Wow, I haven’t been in the blogosphere for a while. Nice transformation, Darren.
Like me, I’m guessing there are people who just get back to their online life, or are just starting one. All this about BlogRush is new to me. So I will be interested in reading about it.
But, as Empress said, i will be zoning out all this BlogRush attention pretty soon, once I’ve discovered what it is and does.
On the other hand, I think the context is also important. When I see TechCrunch somewhere, I scan the surrounding lines and move on if there’s not something new and interesting to read.
So IMO, the more there is to find about you on the web, the easier it is for new folks to find out about you. You do risk saturation, which can harm you when you really have something important to tell.
I believe that once a site becomes too exposed people expect something more than what the site can offer. We expect the popular sites to continual intrigue us and grab are interest but there comes a point in which this may not be possible. Everything has it’s peaks and over-exposure simply leaves you more open for ridicule.
I think the biggest problem with Debo Hobo dot Com is I have too many folks talking about it and the over exposure is just swamping me. Yeah right!
I agree with Empress. Tiered marketing is always better than immediate saturation. Most of us don’t have the problem of overexposure, though, and would welcome having to deal with it. That said, the initial buzz probably won’t last very long and you’ve got your name out to a lot of people who will likely go and check you out eventually on their own time. Over the long run, an initial publicity overload might be a good thing, and, as knupNET said, as long as it is positive!
Well its just like O.J. who is in the news these days. Its pretty seasonal just like everything else.
BlogRush was on the news now, but a month from now I dont think so.
I dont think its unfair. Its just like everything else in life.
I think this is like fame. I am not going to worry about it until I got it, haha. (And when I do, maybe I’ll do crazy stuff like celebrities that don’t know how to deal with fame.)
Overexposure may or may not be a bad thing, but it’s certainly better than no exposure at all.
I didn’t use blogrush because I read it everywhere this weekend, I was sick of it by then, and wanted to read something else.
Make of it what you will.
I think blogs can become to over exposed. Generally blogs are ran by one person. I’d guess one person doesn’t always have the time and energy to keep hundreds of thousands or millions of eyes informed, entertained, and intrigued. An extended period of over exposure can make a blogger quit his job and depend on his blog for income, once that exposure goes away or he gets bored with blogging, he’s in the poor house.
On the Blog Rush front: I blogged just last night about it being ridiculous how everyone is pimping it with affiliate links. In fact it was pimped so much that I couldn’t sign up for over an hour last night because the server was down so they lost a sign up from me.
This morning, I read a blog post somewhere in the blogosphere that Blog Rush might not be the best thing for smaller bloggers like myself as you only get as many impressions as you give, people signing up via your affiliate link give you extra impressions.
If it works how this blogger explained; The whole thing is just a traffic exchange program able to be gamed by the best affiliate marketers and of little use to the small guys who could really use the traffic.
I think that it’s hard for a blog to get too much exposure. For one, we want people to know about our blogs, don’t we? Second, even if people write about how tired they are of hearing about your blog at least they’re talking about it, which generates interest and traffic.
I think you hit a wall when you get too much traffic though, because this can take out most blogs, and if people can’t get to your site the first time round then they may never come back to try again. Thus, a lost visitor.
There really should be some thing done for the smaller blogs to help them get noticed. I am really wandering if things like adsense are going to work for me as every other blog has them, we are all trying to make money off the same thing…….how is that going to work…..we need to draw in the none blogger types cause really how many other bloggers look at someone elses adds. I never look at them, I have my own. with that in mind once I launch my contest as soon as my site is rebuilt through wordpress I am hopeing I can generate thoose needed people. The blogging community is strong and I am counting on that but we do need more….don’t you think
Good question. Yes, blogs can definitely be over-exposed. One way around it is to keep delivering original content, but it’s easier said than done.
We’re entering the blogging scene at a time when hype blogs seem to be getting attention. IMHO, these hype blogs are no different from the sales letter of the past decade, only that this time, blogging is the medium.
The danger with blog overexposure is: For how long is the blogger’s gonna keep up the tempo without tiring out readers? And what will the blog look like without the hype?
Ever hear the saying, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity?” Well, for blogs, a clause may need to be added to that statement. There’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as it’s not seen as paid publicity.
I opened my feed reader today for the first time in a little bit and hit some of my favorite blogs. Nearly every one had a blogrush post. It’s a neat widget and all, but certainly over-exposed
I think that a blog can get too much exposure, just like how a product can get too much exposure. The iPhone is probably the most talked about gadget in the last few years, many people are getting tired of it, when people begin to get tired of things they are getting too much exposure. (I AM getting tired of TechCrunch).
“When the market becomes saturated, anything can suffer from over exposure. A common example is a song on the radio. It’s a good song, so it’s requested and played 30 times a day, on all the popular stations. After a while, you’re so sick of the song (and possibly the artist) that you never want to hear it again. Perhaps the same applies to blogs.”
-that seems to hit the spot.
Good question Darren.
techmetechme is a really good site but it obvious they are part of the inner circle at the top of the interent
Like Empress suggested I think overexposure can lead to reader blindness. I know it does for me, especially on sites I visit frequently. When I was a newcomer there would be prime click locations that I’d check out, new ads and links to places I’d never seen before but after the initial introduction it’s a case of been there, done that. I tune out after that, the same banner ad, the same product, the same whatever anywhere else doesn’t generate interest.
I guess that’s where it’s important to be in the forefront, breaking the news. Thankfully Problogger was the first place I heard about BlogRush and thus you’ll get referral credits (pitiful as they are) from me. But I’ve been there, done that, I’m signed up now and so there isn’t any point clicking the link again. Of course, if someone has something new to say I’m interested, but it has to be fresh, it has to be something I’ve not already seen somewhere else other wise it’s a swift scan and moving on to the next fad.
As a somewhat new blogger, I can see the pitfalls of overexposure when things are first getting started. I am continuously tinkering with the look and feel of the site, posting frequency, use of widgets and overall tone. Many of these things will take me some time to work out and too much traffic at this point woudl not necessarily be ideal for users that may expect a certainly level of consistency.
Also, on a new site with little content, visitors may get the impression that the author has little credibility or experience even if he/ she is well-established in the offline world.
Overexposure? I’m far from that. If you are a business blogger I would think having as much exposure to your blog would be helpful to build awareness of your company…as long as it’s not negative exposure.
I saw you were leaving for a couple of days on another post. Have a nice trip!
Yes, I think anything can be overexposed, even blogs. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just the nature of the beast.
Besides, given the fast-pace of internet trends, what’s hot today will probably be gone tomorrow and a new blog that hasn’t even been born yet will be hogging all the good traffic. :-)
I think blogging is best way for earning from adsense , regular posting will help to get regular reader and also Search engine loves blogs because of fresh content.