Recently, I wrote what I thought would be a great link bait about vehicles that I would love to own, but in doing so, I might not have been thinking like the common person in the demographic I was supposed to be targeting, as my post quickly got a vast number of negative comments towards it. The vehicles I had chosen were either too expensive for the average person to ever own or too cheap to be lusted after like the super cars of today.
I had created a post that very few people could really enjoy and see the positive aspect of. I had created something that wasn’t realistic to most and wasn’t outlandish enough to be drooled over by others. While writing the post on College Crunch, I hadn’t thought about this issue, and so when this backlash started trickling in, I was shocked.
I had made too many assumptions about the people that would be reading it, and of course the vast majority weren’t happy with what I had published. I have always been the type that reminded people to publish what they wanted and not worry about the audience, but in this case, I didn’t know what to do as I had attempted to publish for a certain demographic only to realize that I didn’t necessarily understand it as well as I had thought.
Had I taken some extra time to try and really pick apart what I had created and think of it in a more common person way, rather than the slanted view I normally take of the world around me, then I think the article would have been a much bigger success rather than being such a controversial mess with some people taking either side of the issues at hand, and others dismissing it completely.
Success in writing online can sometimes mean thinking like the common person in any demographic you are targeting. Don’t write something that most of the people you are writing for can’t empathize with or understand and support. I have done this far too often in my career and while that can sometimes divide people and make posts controversial and as such, very popular, other times it can mean hours of work on a single entry can be a big flop.
So before you publish a pillar article, check your post for these simple things:
- Will it interest others?
- What response am I looking for?
- Could there be any misunderstandings?
If your post passes those three simple questions to your satisfaction, then it should be ready to publish. When trying to hone in on a certain demographic or niche, make sure you truly understand what they are looking for before giving them what you think they want.
It's kinda sad. Even after really considering your target audience, sometimes a blog post that you've really poured your heart into or are especially proud of can seem to go by unnoticed or even draw unexpected responses.
I usually do try to put myself in my site visitors' shoes so that my posts will have some interest but I'll admit that on rare occasions, my blog also serves as a bit of a brain dump for me – if I've got something I know I might want or need to reference much later, I sometimes will blog about it so I can easily go back and reference it weeks or months down the road.
Its tough to think that way, as people in the process for earning have become so much money oriented that they write anything that strike their brain…..
If we write for the people, we should get audience…However writing for the sake of doing so will land you nowhere in the coming future, when paid content will be only for selected few…
"So before you publish a pillar article, check your post for these simple things:
Will it interest others?
What response am I looking for?
Could there be any misunderstandings?"
I completely agree with this. Most bloggers have to answer themselves these questions.
This is quite common really. I have made that mistake numerous times throughout my career. In fact, most marketing fail because marketers didn't think like their customers!
I think my problem is simply that NOTHING I write will interest others
I'm random at times, goofy, and the majority of the time, extremely passionate about causes like child abuse, pediatric cancer, etc…how do I get others who can enjoy my blog to my blog?
SOMEONE must be interested in the same stuff as me? Or am I destined to talk to myself through my blog for the rest of my life?
I have a great design (er, at least I think so!), writing skills (well, most of the time…at 3 AM I'm not always the best, but who is?) and all that.
I guess what this comes to, is how can I get my blog out there for people to find (and criticize if they so choose)
Oh and by the way, I listed my blog, but when I think of a better name
the name will probably be changed
I think that many times the 'great posts' a blogger writes doesn't get the response it deserves because a large % of the blogs readers aren't interested in that topic. I found that with BloggingTips when I wrote some css posts ie. the css posts I wrote which took hours to write were getting less comments than posts which took me 10 minutes to write.
It is always put me into dilemma.What's the propers for us to write a post? Sometimes we just find something interesting and can't wait to share with others.Well, it turned to be no one cares. So should we write for ourselves or just for our readers? It's a sad question to ask.
Thanks for sharing these info with us!
I will keep in touch with your blogreading..
Stumbled your URL…
have a great day
Hey guys, Im new here so Im gonna get straight to the point and hope to get some good replys
I recently downloaded couple files from limewire and now my computer is acting really messed up, It takes long time to start and after turning on
I get many notifications from my firewall that something is trying to connect to the internet, Im worried if they may be trojans or viruses and
that someone is trying to steal my passwords.
Please help me, Im kind of low on budget and wouldnt like to take the computer to an expert and pay a lot of cash for it, all the ideas are welcome
and I will definetly try them! Hope to hear from you soon!