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ZDNET

Is it just me or is ZDNET one of the most superficial, rote tech sites on the web? For some reason they pop up in the RSS reader in my Google Sidebar and I am consistently disappointed. Not only are they regularly dead, dead wrong on almost every topic you can imagine, but they rarely break past 500 words.

Today they did a post they called: Google due for a fall? Donna Bogatin debates Danny Sullivan. I figured that as a stock holder and a guy with a ton of respect for Google innovation, I better check it out. I think I could have learned more falling out of my chair. The article makes Fox News Talking Points look like beautiful, original prose.

“Bogatin: Google’s ambitions are unrealizable, but dangerous. People may “trust Google” now, but “Google 2084″ is close at hand.”

Supported? Of course not. It’s just rhetoric from some tech dweeb who wishes she worked for Google but got stuck at along the way

Sullivan: Google’s the lifeblood of many sites, sending them huge amounts of traffic at no cost. Google’s an Internet billboard company, a pretty efficient one.

I’m so glad we got both sides to weigh in on the issue. Google sends traffic to websites for free? Really? Wow. Tell us more. This is exactly the kind of high quality, deeply technical analysis I read ZDNET for.

If you run a website, tech or otherwise, give ZDNET a look over and do the exact opposite. It embodies the attitude that infects most old media companies and mediocre blogs. They think that a catchy title is enough, or that an interesting concept will be all a reader needs. No. It doesn’t matter how much potential your story has, if you don’t deliver 100% every time, people will go elsewhere. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been disappointed by ZDNET, but it’s pretty damn regularly. Their writers drop the ball nearly every time, and yet, they have no problem rushing it to print and forcing it on the masses. The quickest way to earn ill-will as a content producer is to promise more than you can supply. Forget headlines, forget hooks, forget pictures, focus on quality articles. Until you can do that with your eyes closed, nothing else matters.

February 16, 2007by Ryan Holiday
Written by Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday is the bestselling author of Trust Me, I’m Lying, The Obstacle Is The Way, Ego Is The Enemy, and other books about marketing, culture, and the human condition. His work has been translated into thirty languages and has appeared everywhere from the Columbia Journalism Review to Fast Company. His company, Brass Check, has advised companies such as Google, TASER, and Complex, as well as Grammy Award winning musicians and some of the biggest authors in the world. He lives in Austin, Texas.