I was going to leave a comment on Ms. Danielle’s latest post earlier, but decided that what I had to say was a bit too long to be just a comment and that it would make a decent post on keeping content quality up and the ratio of non-relevant posts to a manageable level. Besides, she was the inspiration for my post about not winning her Zune contest, which is currently the most read post on this site.

She poses the following questions:

Do you think posting music content on this blog is too off target? I like writing about internet marketing, ppc, seo, and industry news, but what do you guys think? I have such a love and innate passion for music that I just want to share it with everyone. Does posting about live concerts get in the way of my other content and spread this blog too thin, or do you actually read this music stuff as well as the more informational content? Let me know!

This post is to answer those questions. I’ll start with the last one, yes I read the music stuff as well as the other stuff. The blogs that I read regularly, I read completely. There are only about four blogs that are in that category at this time, and hers is one of them. On those blogs, I read every post whether it be about food, concerts, or ways to improve your site.

In regards to the other questions, msdanielle.com is generally referred to as being about internet marketing and PPC advertising. Because that is the declared focus of the site (not live concerts and music) and readers come looking for on topic content, I would say that the off topic posts should be left out…..most of the time.

The benefits of having off topic, more personal, posts on a site have been shown. It has been said that these posts give the reader more connection with the author and have some entertainment value as well. For these reasons, I would say Ms. Danielle and the rest of us should continue to have some off topic posts.

The key word in that previous sentence is some. I have often wondered if I have too many off topic posts, and try to keep the number of posts in my “ramblings” category to a minimum. I may reorganize my categories so that all the site reviews/contest entries (which are somewhat topical and might possibly provide some value to readers) have a more specific place to be filed. This reorganization would help this site to be more topical.

In regards to Ms. Danielle and her posting about concerts, Blinky, and the US Postal Service, the postings are entertaining, well written, and provide a look into the author, but they have been a bit too frequent.

In my evaluation of this, I would be willing to give a waiver for the last three posts currently on her front page because they are all relevant to the site itself and the promotion that she had. Of the remaining seven posts on the front page of msdanielle.com, there are three that are topical, two about her rabbit, and two concert postings. The ratio here is that over half the posts are not on the content that readers would come to find.

A more ideal ratio (in my mind anyway) would be 10 – 30% off topic to give the reader entertainment and a connection with the author but the remainder providing some sort of value towards what the reader is coming to find. Take note that my ideal ratio would be site-wide and the ratio I was looking at for Ms. Danielle is just on the front page. The content on the front page of a site, no matter what site it is, may or may not be representative of the entire site.

Also, following off topic posts after a short time interval with posts that are on topic is a good idea. Not only does it force the author to post topical content and help the above ratio, doing this in a timely manner improves the image of the site because the first article will be something topical and will make the readers feel like the site is providing real value.

Ms. Danielle usually updates once every day or two. Perhaps a concert review could be posted in the evening with a topical article the following morning, or the review in the morning with the topical article that evening. She could then wait a day or two for the next post and this would not disrupt her posting frequency too drastically.

As a final criticism, I would like to point out the length of the posts as well. It seems that the longest posts (the ones that take up the most space on the page) are the ones about the concerts. I know this is due in part to the video clips, but at the same time it makes the on topic articles a smaller portion of the front page.

Perhaps music.msdanielle.com should be born as a new site for Ms. Danielle to post all her concert reviews and footage, or the topic of the site should shift away from Internet Marketing and PPC towards concerts and other live music. Whatever happens, even if nothing changes on msdanielle.com, these are some things to keep in mind when creating your next update.