Can outdated articles do more harm than good? This is something I thought a lot about when I relaunched this blog at the end of November. I used to occasionally post silly pictures and videos here. There was nothing wrong with the posts per say but they didn’t really reflect well on me and my future plans for this blog.
Seth Godin spoke about this issue and whenever he talks, you should listen. Everything he says carries weight. He famously wrote:
Key assertion: you don’t publish it unless it’s good.
Nick from IncomeDiary summed this up well:
Your blog is your brand. Mediocre content is worse than no content at all.
I decided to remove some of the small posts and quotes that I had posted here. There’s still lots left that I need to review. If you have a quick look at my archives page you’ll see lots of posts that aren’t really useful to visitors. Posts about video games, upcoming movies and random news. They don’t offer any value to readers.
I believe strongly that Seth Godin is right. You shouldn’t publish anything unless it’s good. In the past I didn’t adhere to that. So the question is, should you remove outdated articles? Should you remove articles that aren’t of a high quality?
Many people would say that it’s not worth it as even though those posts are not of a high quality, it’s another way for someone to find your blog. Whilst that is true, I still think it reflects badly on a blogger to have poor quality articles published on their blog.
I’m still not 100% sure as to whether I should delete some of my older articles. I’d love to hear your views on the subject.
Thanks,
Kevin