Comments on: Why your most popular blog posts come from the most simplified places

By: seth1492

seth1492 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:20:01 +0000

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.

By: Nick Stamoulis

Nick Stamoulis — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:43:18 +0000

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.

By: Lisa Irby

Lisa Irby — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:49:43 +0000

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.

By: Christian

Christian — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:44:28 +0000

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

By: Mike_hts

Mike_hts — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:10:30 +0000

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.

By: Marko Saric

Marko Saric — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:23:06 +0000

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)!

By: karsten holmquist

karsten holmquist — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:16:05 +0000

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.

By: migwickert

migwickert — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:45:33 +0000

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

By: Mariano

Mariano — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:36:57 +0000

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.

By: Typegeek

Typegeek — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:05:33 +0000

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.