Why there's so much c#!p on the internet

...and why marketers should focus on producing quality content that builds trust and reputation. Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz explains all.

Is this really blogging?

The best business blogs are those that have a personal feel to them where you get to know the person or people behind the posts.  Some good examples that I regularly read are A VC, The Obvious? andBuzzMachine.  I trust the authors of those blogs and feel they believe in what they write.

I'm sure ghost writing services for blogs have been around as long as blogs have existed and no doubt do a lot to help with the SEO of corporate web sites.  However, in the long term I think it will become a zero-sum game as content is created purely to get more Google juice and not to express the thoughts and reflections of the people really running the business.  Emotional connections with an author and, by extension, their company will ultimately have more value than another cynical top ten list of this or that.