How to Avoid Fool’s Gold and Create Value-packed Content
In my last post — why value rules the attention economy — I argued that concentrating value is a wise growth plan in the Web 2.0 era. Though a number of readers disagreed with some of the extra points I made, people did seem to respond well to the idea of creating value-packed content.
I do plan on addressing some of the concerns raised in future (particularly in the area of grassroots growth vs. social media), but in this post, I want to share some advice on making every post you write more valuable.
What value does
Value moves people to action. It takes a lot of momentum for a particular article to go viral: a lot of people talking about it, sharing it and championing it. Concentrating a lot of value in one place will provide plenty of fuel for that momentum to build.
Real value vs. perceived value
Content with the capacity to build momentum tends to hold either one of two qualities: real value vs. perceived value. Content with real value is truly useful for the reader. It might contain ideas and tips they actually use, tools to change the way they do things, important lessons and so on.
Perceived value is different. It looks like it could be valuable, but there’s little going on beneath the surface. It’s the 300+ item linkbait composed of mediocre resources. It’s the sensationally headlined post promising to solve all your problems in 5 minutes or less. It’s the article you’ll bookmark and never look at again. It’s little more than fools gold, and its benefits are illusory.
Real value will always grow your site far more than perceived value. Real value leaves a lasting impression on visitors. Content with only perceived value might do well on social media, but it will be soon be forgotten.
You can probably guess what kind of value I think we should all be working towards!
How to create real value
Think of each article you write as a gift to your target audience. The principle of concentrating value works like gift giving. A highly valuable gift will always make a bigger impact on the receiver than a gift with little value.
Of course, I’m using the word ‘value’ in reference to how much the receiver appreciates the gift, rather than how much it cost, or how big it is.
You’ve probably seen a kid running around on their birthday with the gift they like best, telling everyone with a proud and appreciative face “So and so gave me this.” It’s a good metaphor for the way readers will champion articles that hold real value for them.
Compare this to content with only perceived value. It’s the flashy watch, the sports car, the diamond necklace — the stuff you think you want, only to feel a little empty when you get it.
Providing real value is about giving your target audience what it wants most. It could be delivered in one short paragraph, or in a thousand word reasoned dissertation. It could be delivered in one tip, or a hundred. The packaging doesn’t matter. Length doesn’t necessarily matter.
As long as you can make every article you write something your target audience will treasure, the physical stuff doesn’t matter.
Don’t be constrained by post frequency, or length, or format. Focus on giving your target audience the most valuable gift you can manage. Posting less, or longer, might help you do that, but it’s important to figure out a method that works for you: one very unique blogger or webmaster.
Treat your interactions like a wish list
At this time of year, millions of children everywhere are drawing up wish-lists of presents they’d like to receive. If only your target audience could do the same thing, then creating value would be easy!
Of course, they won’t. Instead, you need to draw up your own wish list from what you’ve observed. The only way to anticipate what your target audience will find valuable is to listen to them. You can do this in a few ways:
- Ask them what they’d most like you to give them.
- Note down common concerns you get via questions and comments.
- Work out what other sites in your niche aren’t providing.
- Brainstorm the needs and wants of people interested in your niche. What are their goals? What are they looking for?
Something to remember: It’s also essential to provide value in a unique way. If another site in your niche has met the same need through the same methods, the effect will be similar to when you get two identical presents. The first person to provide it gets all the appreciation, even though the only thing separating the gifts is time.
The hallmarks of value-packed content
- It doesn’t alleviate problems a little — it solves them.
- It doesn’t make your readership think about doing things differently — it changes the way they act.
- It’s audacious — it tries to do many things at once.
- It expresses something your target audience didn’t already know.
- It answers a question your target audience didn’t know how to ask.
- It makes your target audience feel better about themselves.
- It helps them move towards whatever they’ve defined as their ’success’.
Case studies: Tim Ferriss’s blog
Zen Habits
and Freelance Switch
Perhaps I’m a little biased (or blinded) by the focus of this niche, but from what I’ve observed, the above blogs have risen more rapidly than most (if not all) in the last year or so.
The first is part of the lifestyle design niche, the second is part of the self-improvement niche, the third is part of the freelancing niche. They’re each very different areas, but there’s one consistent thread running between each of those blogs: they aim to make their target audience better people and more skillful at what they do.
If you’re looking for one guiding principle to follow when creating value-packed content, that might just be it.
I love each of those three sites and are signed up at all three :)
But, about your post, I agree 100%. I’ve been trying to do this with the articles I’ve been writing lately and do not want to put off-topic articles up, or “filler” articles.
Also, my niche, bootstrapping, doesn’t really have a BIG voice yet, so I’m hoping that by writing on this topic (as well as guerrilla marketing, as IMO, they run hand in hand) I will rise quickly like these blogs you mention :)
Value is why I’m here.
You put out high-quality and unique posts. They’re a joy to read and open my eyes quite a bit.
So many other blogs are cop-outs - they mooch off others for their content. (WebAppers.com and BlogPerfume.com comes to mind) While they are useful, nothing can compare to good and unique content.
Keep up the good work and thanks for the pointers!
Great post, Ive always read your post. Great job Skellie!
Good post, skellie, and very encouraging. I’m going to spend some more time thinking about how my site can provide something special in the personal finance niche…it’s tricky with all the other blogs out there.
Ah, another great article and as always “real value”packed.
I agree with the whole real value vs. perceived value aspect of any content. When bloggers ( including myself ) create linkbait posts such as 100 top blogs or 100 top sites etc. they are meant to give you exposure and certainly people will bookmark them. It’s perceived value because out of those 100 listed sites the user will probably use 2-3 which is the real value received from that particular content.
Real value gives the use the ability to find solutions to problems as you wrote on this post. This is why you are so popular Skellie and this is one reason why I can’t stop checking your blog every 25 minutes I am on the computer, to read every sentence again and again so I can apply it to my own content creation to add ral value.
Great post as always and thanks for the interview. Much appreciated.
I love this line:
“It doesn’t make your readership think about doing things differently — it changes the way they act.”
I think I have found my new goal. :)
Many blogs I have read are surface blogs, meaning that they have artificial content that doesn’t go farther than skin deep. These types of bloggers bother me because they really offer no good content. They are really the fools gold of the bunch.
Thanks for the real Gold Skellie!
One check on the quality of my posts that I use is: can I give people something to do with this content? - usually at the end of the post.
@ Mike Smith: You have good taste! Also, I think you may indeed have picked a good niche. There’s a lot of perceived value in that niche, but I think you’ll be the one to provide something real.
@ Brian: What a compliment! Thank you.
@ Joefrey: Thanks — I appreciate it!
@ Mrs. Micah: The personal finance niche is tough, simply because GetRichSlowly does such a great job. If you can be creative and innovative in the ways you provide value, though, I think you can definitely succeed :).
@ Ritu: Your comment brings a smile to my face — not only your kind words, but to see that you’ve resonated with the post and seem to have understood exactly what I was trying to get across. Thank you!
@ Paidtwice: That’s fantastic. One thing I’d like to write about in future is how there’s a new trend, I think, of people reading advice blogs in order to feel like they’re improving, but not actually being moved to action. I think we all need to start encouraging our readers not just to learn, but to start acting on what they’ve learned :).
@ Warren: Thank you! I pruned down my feeds a lot yesterday… I found all the blogs that made the cut had real value… the fool’s gold went out the door :).
@ Evan: That’s a cool idea — make it actionable. Ankesh Kothari does something similar by including ‘action plans’ at the end of his posts.
Good analysis of a subject - once more :-)
Great post and I agree, especially with the linkbaiting style of posts. These really offer nothing and are the first ones I skim over. They’re valuable to blogs for PR and driving traffic, but they rarely offer much to the reader.
I have seen some good linkbait posts, though, and those are the ones that link out - but also expand to add something of value to the reader, even if it’s just an anecdote.
I’m curious about which blogs you read did make the cut for value. Any chance of a glance at your feed subscriptions?
@ Bente Lilja Bye: Thank you!
@ James: I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with a post aiming to get links, but I do think that most linkbait posts tend to favor perceptions of value over real value, as you’ve highlighted.
I must admit to having written linkbait before (110+ Resources for Creative Minds, for example) but I really did try to offer authentic value ;).
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You know, I may disagree with you about details now and then, but at the overall view, you are doing a great job here.
One phrase I have a little trouble with is “target audience” because it makes me feel like I’m hunting something rather than sharing with people who have interests similar to mine.
Don’t misunderstand: I’ve used the phrase myself; I just don’t like it.
If you are “targeting”, it sounds like your audience is people you don’t care about except for what they can do for you (click on ads, buy your book/cd, increase your page rank.. whatever).
I’m sure there are bloggers like that, but I hope most of us do this for more altruistic reasons also: we enjoy our reading community because we share interests with them. We’re writing FOR them more than AT them, and “targeting” screams “at”.
I don’t have a better phrase.. it’s something like “embracing” that I want to express.. embrace your audience rather than target them?
Hey Skellie and Community,
@Ritu mentioned the posts that aggregate a bunch of links to related material together. I was wondering what the community felt about creating static pages for these links as an easy to find resource for the community that forms around your blog. To me this makes more sense than to have link lists as blog posts. I’d like to here your opinions.
For my blog I’m building a page like that. I’m currently assembling all the great Illustrator tutorials around the net. It also helps me to know what else is already out there so I’m not repeating material. Here is the static page: aiburn.com/links
@Skellie - I put the list of “The hallmarks of value-packed content” in a place I would see it when I go to create new content. I really like this list.
I’m trying to think about how I can implement this one: “It makes your target audience feel better about themselves.”
Thanks for another great post.
@Anthony - Target Audience is a common marketing term though you could substitute the word Potential for Target. So your Potential Audience. It puts the emphasise on what they could accomplish rather than you hunting them.
@Skellie - as for GetRichSlowly being so good at filling the personal finance need (which he does, indeed, JD is awesome) I can only thank him that even though he’s been working his way out of debt he didn’t make that the focus of his blog so there is room for me. lol
I can’t judge if I move people to action, for I’m on the internet. What I do love about that concept though is that I know *that* is what gives me internal satisfaction/reward if you will. Since I started my blog, there have been 10-15 other blogs started that cite me as inspiration and are trying to get out of debt through blogging as motivation as well. And *every* single time, I feel a little ray of light inside, and I try to frequent and support every single one of their efforts. Sometimes I feel like this isn’t even happening to me, it is like some kind of story I’m reading.
I can’t claim I am the first person to do this, I mean I was inspired myself by another debt-blogger to start my own blog. :)
It gets a wee bit overwhelming though. I need to start focusing a little more on recognizing through my blog vs trying to singlehandedly keep every other debt blog afloat with my support. It is a tough line to tread and I am still figuring it out.
And now that I have completely traveled down a tangent :)
@Anthony, it’s so interesting–I’m putting together a video series for people who hate marketing, and a lot of it revolves around finding new language. Sometimes it’s pouring new wine into old bottles, and sometimes there’s a real thinking shift, but either way it seems to help people get their arms around some useful ideas.
I’ll try to think of something new for “target audience.” Something like “cherished friends,” maybe. :)
Some of my posts contain several links to other things but I haven’t done any comprehensive list blogs. I really haven’t liked that idea because it seemed a bit like cheating. I have asked my readership several times for input on various topics, but as you pointed out, they don’t necessarily tell you. No news is no news.
I’m really trying to be local. Mnay folks tell me when they see me that they enjoy my posts or emails. They just don’t comment or bookmark anywhere that I can find.
Your post has encouraged me to keep working on valuable conetnt and to focus a bit more on the action end of things. Thanks.
@ Anthony: Perhaps target audience isn’t really the nicest turn of phrase, but all it really means is the audience you’re performing for. I think a prettier euphemism would probably just confuse things, so I go with whatever’s simplest, even if it’s a little ugly. The most important thing is to be clear :).
(I’ve just been told someone else needs the computer, so I’ll respond to the rest of the comments tomorrow.)
Great post; great tips; great ideas. If you want to go professional there’s no other way than providing quality stuff, ‘value-packed content’ as you say. But what is value for one may not be value for the other. There will always be a certain amount of bias.
I am not interested in entering into arguments; that’s not my aim. I’d just make some observations for the sake of discussion
As regards the wish list, although I’d agree, I wonder if it really works. Already with the information overload era where time is precious there’s much fuss about the question of priorities. I am a bit sceptical about an overburdened audience responding to your queries about what they’d like you to give them. I guess it might also be a question of ego and mastery.
An audience will either comment or not all. Either they’ll appreciate or they won’t; they’ll not necessarily voice out. No comments, however, doesn’t meant they are not interested with your stuff or they don’t appreciate. Very often they don’t want to spend time thinking about what they’ll write as comments or answers to your questions, unless they are regular and loyal. Now if at all they comment they’ll do so for either of the three following reasons:
(i) comment to give a make a valuable contribution to the discussion - positive approach;
(ii) comment to say nothing constructive; or just to mark their presence as regular or loyal visitors lest your forget them; and
(iii) comment to annoy you - negative criticism.
But all this boils down to what mission you’ve set yourself for your blog. And this is wide ranging: from pleasure of writing on an open platform to giving advice through just gossip. Have you come across some (many) blogs which look very popular with loads of comments with no real value elements; there’s nothing more than gossip, although nicely written? But there are many out there for commercial purpose.
That’s why I’d rather say value depends on who you are, what you do and for whom you are doing it. Value goes hand in hand with ethics. But that’s another issue.
Anyway, I have learnt a lot from this “value-packed” piece leaded with interesting tips and I can only commend it.
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excellent points Skellie, valuable content is something I strive in each of my posts. A good tip is to put yourself in your visitors shoes, look at your posts, if you didn’t know anything about the subject you’ve written about, what would’ve you learn ? What would make you keep on reading ? This is the best way to understand how you traffic thinks and perceives your content, and is the first step to producing valuable and helpful content.
So true, Skellie.
I’ll always favor a good “8 way to do this really cool thing” over “382 sites about the other coolest thing”.
Personally, I’d rather someone coming back to my site to recollect before execution, rather than using a post as a bookmarks page.
- udi
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I think you raise an incredible point in the end where all 3 blogs focus on enriching their lives, not their wallets (a nice side benefit of course). I read all 3 blogs frequently and their sincere desires to help their readers to be better at what they write about clearly comes through. It just goes to show that honesty and integrity is a large part of why these blogs are successful!
Cheers,
Cindy
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