Let’s try something different here.
On average the posts here are around 1,000 words and come in once a week or so. But what if the posts weren’t quite as involved?
John Carmack explores this idea when he talks about blogging about the little things.
It doesn’t need to be big, significant, detailed, mind-blowing to come out but just of a little value. It is helpful to think just of one person who had the exact same problem as yours and was helped by your post. Maybe the post won’t get thousands of shares as we see in our reading list but hey, it saved someone’s time :).
Goals & Ground Rules
There are reasons for both blog types.
A longer piece is nicer to read with a cup of coffee, helps open your mind to new ideas and ways of looking at something, and builds a cohesive library of content for a growing audience.
Shorter pieces go for the long tail of the internet, helping someone out there with an answer for something you’ve already solved. As a result I’d expect to see the page views from organic search increase with these shorter blogs filled with tips & how-tos.
Here are the simple rules
- Posts are < 500 words
- Posts are written in < 30 minutes
- Increase frequency to at least 2 posts/wk
And I’ll try this for at least 2 weeks to see how it goes. That’s all there is to it.
2 Little Things to Get Started
Less of a tips & tricks or how-to post, here are two new products I saw that you should try.
DuckDuckGo !Bang
I’m a big fan of site specific search. Internet search first solved the problem of helping us find everything from the deep corners of the internet. Now that those corners have gotten so wide and dispersed, you’ll see another phase of search where we focus within particular verticals.
Why do a generic search for tech help when you already trust StackOverflow and trust they have the answer? Why search for a new restaurant when you know the answer already lies on Yelp?
Sure you can do this on Google by typing “site:yelp.com <your search>”, but that’s not going to get mass adoption the way !Bang will.
Gallery Doctor 2.0
I’ve blogged before about the problem with too many photos. Gallery Doctor tries to solve this problem and I think they’re on to something.
Let me know if Gallery Doctor helps you free up hard drive or iCloud space on your phone.
(Aside, I looked up my own post with a site-specific search…I’m looking forward to trying !Bang for this same task)
3 minutes and 50 words to spare! I’ll be back soon with another post with more little things…