What Do Readers Really Want? Some personal musings...

I am writing this off the top of my head and from the depths of my heart. The truth is I'm not sure where I'm going with this post, but I know I have some worthwhile nugget for you.

Yesterday when I wrote the post about blog ideas, it's true, I'd been struggling with finding good topics for this blog, and for keeping my focus on how to write good content on the Web that informs and markets for you.

This morning, I was still struggling. My blockage is coming from an interview we did last week with Yvonne DiVita of Lip-Sticking Blog. I wrote about her ideas for writing quality posts over on BuildaBetterBlog.com, Blog Content Ideas, What's the best source? Yvonne has had tremendous success with her blog, and it's established her as an expert and thought leader when it comes to marketing to women online.

She says her success is due to always writing what readers want.

And that's my problem. I'm never sure what readers want. Oh, I'm very grateful for the lovely comments and feedback, especially since most readers seem to agree with me (;-0)...

But let's face it: there aren't a whole bunch of comments or emails flooding in. And people aren't in dire pain, begging me to please - oh please, tell me how to write a blog post, or an email promo...!

Do you struggle with this problem as well? Is your niche a topic that doesn't generate a lot of comments or emails because it just isn't sexy, controversial, or something that keeps people up at night?

About the most controversy a writing blog can stir up is about grammar and typos...that's a real sparkler!

My solution? I'm more ego-centric than most. I don't always write what readers want. I write what I want. I most often turn inwards and write about what interests me the most.

And it's usually whatever writing task I'm struggling with or learning about. (This week it's about sales writing, more on that later...)

If you followed this blog from the early days, it was all about writing newsletters and ezines for coaches (personal development and executive coaches, that is). The reason for that was it was the niche I was in at the time. I needed a place to write about the things I was doing. "To heck with readers, this is for me," was my thinking at the time.

Which, in retrospect, was logical since there weren't too many readers at the time!

Which brings me back to my initial dilemma. Today, thanks to the power of the Web and search engines and Feedblitz subscriptions, I have a steady readership that's growing. This blog is no longer for me, it's for you the readers.

I want to write about what you need. I can only guess based on this little game I play in my head which goes like this:

"If I were a reader of this blog, what am I trying to learn about writing all the marketing pieces, including my blog posts, my web pages, my email promos, my press releases, articles and sales pages. What do I need to know about writing for the web?"

Last week I bought a relatively expensive copywriting course to learn more about writing sales copy. Well, after listening to the first CD, I'm going to have to return it for a refund. It's too much about direct marketing sales and not at all about the web. Even though there are similarities, there are also big differences.

Today, it's up to the customer to let the vendor (or blog author) know what they want and demand that.

Dear readers, I don't know if this makes any sense to you or not. I'm not even sure what I want from you, other than input from time to time. Unless you tell me otherwise, I'll continue to write what I want, what I am learning, and share my tips and and struggles with you as I trudge this happy road of Internet success.

All the best, and thanks for reading!

Comments

[Rosalind Joffe aka cicoach.com]

Thisis the first time in a while that I"ve responded and that says something about what it takes to get peopel to comment. I"ve learned that it's completely unpredictable. I'll post something that I think isn't controversial but I'll get 3 unsubscribe (although never a negative comment). I get the most posts on completely random topics. Since I haven't monetized my blog, I'm just hoping to get readers that will turn into paying clients at some point -- or to get traffic to my website which sells me more directly. But I think that it's impossible to guess or know what readers want because it changes daily- as to who is reading that day and what they want. So, I"m with you - keep posting what you find interesting and it will hit different people at different moments. Who said, "You can't please all the people all the time."

[Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad]

Thanks for stopping by, Rosalind. Your blog is beautiful and I am sure it provides untold help to others. Keep up the good work, you are needed. You just may not hear often enough from people, but I'm sure they are there and need your words. Blog on!

[Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad]

I got an emailed response to this post from John Fentress, who gave me permission to post it here as a comment. Thanks, John!

Dear Patsi,

I just opened up this note from you, and am glad I got back in touch with the Blog Squad in time to receive it. The short knee jerk response is that it is both good and important....for all of us.

As you, I have a background in psychology (and related behavioral / brain sciences), and recognize that a key issue is how we mesh our own desires to communicate with the needs and wishes of others.

Different people live in different worlds for sure (just look at the current situation in US politics). How do we cross these boundaries? Not easy. The one time I had the opportunity to talk with the Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, this is a topic that we batted back and forth (he was a cool cat).

What I like especially about this post from you is that it is candid. For me that hits a bulls eye. One thing that sets you and Denise off from so many others in the business world is that you each come across as speaking from your hearts. My dear friend Kathleen Gage is another of these rare ones.

My thought is that it's best to speak (write) about what is foremost in your mind (heart) and then simply to reach out as well as you can to an audience that is guaranteed to be diverse. As the old saying goes: you can't please everyone all the time. So its not worth trying. Just be YOU. Heck, you are a psychologist and know that.

My personal feedback is that communications from the Blog Squad have always struck me as genuine and sincere. What a relief that is! I personally don't like being hammered with noisy sales stuff. I turn them off. But when folks offer something that means something deeply to them, I listen. I do not always respond, of course, but others will when I do not. Etc.

My "advice": Keep doing what you are doing. It's great.

(Maybe I should tell you about my wolves sometime - beautiful creatures :-).

Thanks Patsi,

John Fentress, PhD
{etholife.com}
Eugene, Oregon

ps.....I am sending a copy of this to my friend Kathleen, for she, like you and Denise, always comes across as CARING. What more can one ask?

[Cheryl Clausen the Increase Sales Coach]

Hmmm...your header leads visitors to think this is a blog where I'll learn "How to...". A place to go for answers to questions about online content marketing.

This post is more of a running diary. When blogs first started there were a lot of diary type blogs where visitors kind of followed a blogger almost like voyers peeking in to see what the blogger was doing now.

It may depend on who your market is, but I would think based on your header that your visitors want to read relevant and succinct posts that answer a specific question.

You're the expert...but personally I don't want to read through a lot of what feels like extraneous stuff to get to something relevant.

[Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad]

Cheryl, once in a while I allow myself the pleasure of writing anything on my little mind, hence the 'running diary' of this post. Thanks for your input. There are mostly posts here about 'how to' do content marketing, and it's good to hear from readers that's what they actually want. Feel free to click on any category to learn more about the different kinds of writing for content marketing.