Hi Everyone,

I’ve been blogging for a few years now and I still find myself torn between the value of writing about news which is trending on either Google or Twitter.

Most of the popular news is never directly related to what my blogs have been about, but I’ve found that if done quickly and pushed properly, these ‘flavor of the moment’ blog posts can generate a modest traffic increase, if only for a brief time.

Of course, the readers are fair-weather visitors of sorts, and not likely to visit other posts or come back regularly, but part of me still wants to bring them in.

Does anyone believe there is any long term value from such posts? I’ve tried connecting the popular news to my content and ‘localizing the story’ as it were, but it can be a stretch.

@ryansegovich You have great advice here from  @kristi-hines.

Most of my posts are building a message around my topic and niche. But when something happens that hits the popular culture, I often write about it immediately.

It’s important to use the news situation as a learning point for people. Think about angles like: how your business can avoid having this happen to you, or what really went wrong, or what’s really important when the heat is on, etc.

I’ve done this about 6 times over the last 2 years (not that often) but I always get a big boost of traffic. My site is hardly a “Law & Order: ripped from the headlines” type of blog, but occasionally it is fun to write something like that. And I believe people learn best from others when you help them see what is important.