What Makes Content Valuable or Interesting?
What Adds Value to Content?
I have been thinking about this a lot lately for numerous reasons. I hope some people out there have noticed that I am working very hard to turn Pseudorant into a resource that will provide value for my readers. I have also been working on revamping the website where I work and studying ways to employ SEO to help our business do better.
All this work has had me questioning what types of content do users consider valuable? You can read a million guides online about how to promote a business, or advertise a website but once you get people there what will you show them?
I am currently experimenting with a lot of different types of content to see what people react best to as a sign that these topics are of interest to them. I am happy to see the “The BEST Looking “FREE to Play” 3D MMORPG List” is doing good, of the topics I have posted on the site thus far. I worked very hard on putting that list together and I plan to continue to update it so it will remain a useful resource for players in years to come.
I have been thinking of putting together something that is similar to the MMORPG list because it seems like users are getting a lot out of it. People seem to like having many resources laid out before them in one place. I think this has to do with a “convenience” factor for people.
When thinking about the types of things that add value to content I try and put myself in the position of the reader and ask myself what I would like to see on a site.
This is a hard question to answer because my interests are so varied. I really enjoy computers and games but it is hard to find an aspect of these hobbies to share with people that has not been discussed already.
I plan on doing a guide this summer on how to build the ultimate arcade machine. I know this has also been done, but I am going to structure mine so that anyone can follow it and build their own arcade machine with very little technical know how.
I am considering writing some technical guides for the site to walk users through how to troubleshoot common computer problems. I have done this in the past for the place I work at but unfortunately I don’t have the time to maintain the resource.
I guess the point of this rant is that I feel everyone is trying to figure out what makes content interesting to people? There doesn’t seem to be any set rule or otherwise there would probably be books about “How to create interesting content”.
Looking back on the article I wrote yesterday “What is Web 2.0? Web 2.0 is coming!” it really got me thinking about the content people are producing and how it is really hit or miss. There are a couple things I have noticed that I will be trying to study further.
01. People tend to like “resources” whether they are compilations of games or services that they can see as a whole, without needing to search multiple sites for the information they are after.
02. People like knowing the inside scoop, if you have a story that no one else knows and it is appropriate to post it, do so. People will come to your site since you are the only one with the information. Just make sure that your news is accurate so people do not think you are liar. (A good example of an accurate news scoop is my article on “Google to Open Midwest Office in Madison, Wisconsin“)
03. Buzzwords do not necessarily make an article interesting. Just because people are searching for information on something does not ensure it will be a highly viewed topic. My experiment with this was writing the article about Web 2.0. Some people where interested in this but the overall response was lukewarm.
04. Inflammatory statements get more attention than buzzwords. This is a given, we have seen this occurring for years in forums. I attempted to test this theory by writing an article called “Grand Theft Auto IV is the Root of All Evil!” The driving force behind the traffic to this article was not the buzzword “Grand Theft Auto IV”, it was the fact that it was being portrayed in a negative light in some peoples eyes.
These are just general observations I have made from tracking stats on my blog, and playing around with different article formats.
Am I doing this just to mess with people? Of course not… Pseudorant is an experiment for me to learn many things about myself, other people, computers and technology.
I have always had a deep rooted interest in the way people’s minds work. Maybe this is because both of my parents are social workers, or maybe it’s just because everyone enjoys knowing what makes people tick.
From the standpoint of a site designer, author or anyone producing content these are very valuable things to know. While writing a point by point guide on how to do things is meaningful, there is a lacking sense of accomplishment if no one ever reads your work.
I think that is one of the hardest things to get past when a person is starting a blog. I have really had to kick myself in the butt some days to come up with something to write. Not because I don’t enjoy doing it, but because I have other things on my mind and some days when no one reads a post it is hard to maintain that level of motivation.
I originally started writing this intending it would be a short blurb since I am actually pretty busy tonight, building a computer for a friend. This seems to have turned out to be more a guide that I figured it would be.
As I keep working on my blog I will continue to document any observations I make about people, my articles, trends, content and topics, as this may be useful to other people out there that are new to this, or have been doing it for years or are just having a little writers block.
I would be VERY interested to hear other people’s ideas about what makes content valuable to readers, the different things they have written, and the response those posts have received. This is something that I tend to obsess about lately.
It might have something to do with the fact that I have OCD, or it may be because it is something that actually requires a good deal of thought.
Either way I hope those who are checking out my blog are finding something interesting here and there, that makes this blog useful to you. Creating a resource that is valuable to you, creates value for me when I sit down and write an hour long article. I hope others feel the same way and continue to share their thoughts and ideas on how we can continue to improve on what we do.
Thanks for visiting Pseudorant.
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