One important lesson I have learned in my time of blogging is that having assumptions about blog readers is wrong. I used to go into different topics without introducing the readers to it and without explaining the basics first.
In some cases I even decided not to write about a topic as I thought it was very obvious and easy to do so why would anyone need to read an article or a tutorial about it. I have found that this is a very wrong way of thinking.
Simplified blog posts go popular
Some of the easiest and most simplified posts I have written are also some of the most popular posts on my blog. For example the magazine style blog frontpage article and the top Wordpress plugins article.
I thought these articles and processes I have explained in them were so simple and so easy that there is no chance anyone would be interested in reading a guide on it. But it turned out that many people found them useful and the articles were tweeted, stumbled and bookmarked many times. One of the articles even went on front page of Delicious.
I have learned that it is very important to always explain everything from scratch and in detail. When writing blog posts you must be clear, you must break down the process and explain it. It might be too simple, you might think that everyone knows it and no one wants to read about something that is so simplified, but it is not true.
Simple, filler type post goes viral
I recently spoke to how to make a blog reader Mike McEvoy and he has a similar experience on his blog. In Mike’s words:
It’s hard to tell what gets hot and takes off. I did a simple post on 30 Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts that I thought would get ignored. Just a simple list in a nice format. It spike big time and I ended up with over 12,000 new visitors and 200 new subscribers for my RSS feed.
And I thought the 30 FF shortcuts was kind of a simple, filler type of post when I wrote it. Kinda impossible to predict what will transpire on the web
Do you have assumptions about your blog readers?
Are you having assumptions about your blog readers? Do you think everyone knows something just because you know it? Do you explain things very clearly, do you simplify your blog articles?
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Very true, especially consider the fast paced nature of the web medium, short, simple posts have a tendency to get digested and share quickly and frequently.
One of my most popular posts ever, Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare, had 34 words. I kid you not, 34 words and thousands of StumbleUpon visitors and lots of essay-esque comments. It was one of those posts I thought might get a chuckle or too and ended up turning viral.
I guess sometimes it's not safe to assume that your readers know exactly what you're talking about, so it's better to explain things clearly. And I notice readers like to read a list of things like the “Top 10…” because it's easier to understand and follow. “How to” articles also work very well too!
Cheers!
Tom
I think simple and basic work because they have the largest potential audience. In each market, the 'beginners' group is always the largest segment, usually over 50% of the market. Good post.
A couple of great points you make here. 1 never assume your reader know or understand something simply because you do. 2 sometimes simple and sweet is the way to go.
Very, very true – having hard and fast assumptions about your readers can be detrimental to the well being of your blog. I believe that part of the reason for this is the ease with which blog posts can get picked up by other social media such as Twitter, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Digg, etc. Each of these social media sources may then connect with audiences that have somewhat different interests or needs than your regular blog audience.
This was definitely the case in my 30 Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts. While this post was popular with my regular blog audience, it really took off after being stumbled a number of times on StumbleUpon. Apparently my post met the needs of my expanded audience. This generated thousands of unanticipated (but very welcome) referral visitors over several days.
In the process it has made me more likely to take chances and experiment with the style and content of my future posts. In essence you have to consider an audience that is potentially much larger and perhaps somewhat different than just your regular readers.
PS. My FF post took off again over the last few days with several thousand additional visitors. Go figure.
Interesting post. I'm quite familiar with explaining things right from the beginning in my day job, but my main problem always comes up to be “Why write about it so many others have already written about it?” For example, the a google search for “Firefox keyboard shortcuts” returns 1 million pages. Its been said, why say it again? Of course, in Mike's case it seems to work for him.
Is there perhaps more of an attitude that “I've never written about it, so my readers might not know it.” In this way you start to think only about your small group of “followers” or your readership without thinking about what all the other people on the web are doing.
Good advice. It's always hard to tell what people will like when you post a new article. There are some articles I've written that I really thought would take off and they've only done marginally well. Others that, as you indicate here, might be just filler for you end up taking off in the blogo/twittersphere.
I think some of it is timing too, however…very often, people just have to be reading at the right time in order to catch your article and find it interesting enough to read.
Marko,
Right on man, I've been thinking about this a lot lately… we tend to think easy questions, at least in our own minds, aren't worth writing about; it's during these times when we need to remind ourselves that for others, that same topic could be hurdle they can't jump alone. Never assume a topic or potential solution is too obvious, it's bound to help someone as individuals are at different places of learning and understanding. Cheers!
-Mig
Another great point. Many new bloggers want to seem professional so they write things that are very complicated. As you explained in the article, they don't know that it's actually hurting them more than it's helping.
I also agree that you should, even if you have developed a steady fanbse, continue to write as if you are attracting a new audience every day. That way, you maximize the possibility that someone will want to read your blog.
Thanks for taking your time to comment! I appreciate your time and I am glad my advice made sense to you.
Keep it simple (sometimes)!
Typegeek, you raise two very good points. Regarding “hasn't it already been done before” I think this is a matter of timing and of how people currently find relevant content. There may be a topic that your audience won't be going to the search engines to look for, but if they see a blog post about it or a mention of it in social media (Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, FriendFeed, etc.) they will find it interesting and read it.
Personally there are tons of items I read and bookmark based on social media that I would not have gone searching for regardless how many results there might be on Google. It's a bit like the power of suggestion.
Your other point about what your specific readers may be aware of is also very valid. To some degree the answer depends on who you see as the real audience that you are writing for. This can range anywhere from just your current subscribers or followers to the entire world.
Another aspect of this I believe is how you present your information and how accessible and “readable” it is. I've found success on a number of posts by taking a complex topic or a topic where the current info available is not well written and making it easier to read or understand. Just because there is a million search results for a phrase from Google doesn't mean the results answer the searcher's questions.
After reading other personal blogs I realized the importance of making sure each post could be understood by a new reader. So many others write to their original followers leaving new readers lost and confused. I was also shocked at the response of writing a post about hot dogs causing cancer on bloggersbase.com. I just threw it together and people commented like mad!
I've been seeing this to be true. When you spend a lot of time learning something, it's easy to assume everyone else understands the same things you do. It's not true…if you're an expert, OF COURSE it's easy to you. It's not easy to everyone else, and people want to read about it
I've learned the same thing. This also holds true for video or any content. When I do my YouTube videos sometimes I wonder if people will think it's too simple or obvious, but it's those very same videos that seem to get the most attention!
Taking the time to put information in laymen's terms is always a good thing. I think it's because most people don't take the time to explain things well enough so people find it refreshing when others do.
I find that sometimes when you just start writing without putting too much thought into how it will react in the search engines you do get better results. People can sense when something this written from an analytical stand point or if they are written from the heart.
Simplification is by far the easiest way to manage and write your blog posts. I have found that my post ideas often come from the questions and comments I am getting on my blog, twitter account, or other interactions online.