How Do I Know If I Can Write Online and Build a Decent Audience?
Because content creation is hyped. It's actually simple.
Go to google and research writing online. Try to find out how to build an audience the honest way without producing content that humans ignore.
It’s difficult.
Your first thought is: I can’t do this.
These are some of the crappy bits of advice you’ll find attached to this question.
“Ask people to follow you”
We don’t need another gosh damn person to follow. We’re exhausted from all the “following.” I don’t come online to sniff your butt and see what you’re up to.
Asking people to follow you is assuming they’re stupid and can’t find the follow button themselves. Even if they find the follow button, like a one-night stand, they’ll have completely forgotten you in the morning.
“Post quotes with your name on them”
You’re not Einstein, man. Please don’t quote yourself. Quotes are done to death. Years ago you could build an enormous audience (like my good friend did) off quotes alone.
Now, we’re all quote-fatigued. Even boring businesses now have their own library of quotes. Doc, I need oxygen. Help me!
We can’t breathe from all the quotes.
“Record videos on your phone”
Compliment your writing with videos, they say.
Everybody has a phone and most of us use it poorly. Someone call Steve Jobs in hell and tell him the selfie camera has ruined humanity. Seriously.
Point the camera away from your head. Your head doesn’t turn on the inbuilt audience you can find on social media. It’s the opposite, actually.
Who has time to watch all these videos anyway? Is anybody asking that question? Look at the watch time of Youtube videos. We’re breaking world records with how little we watch a 10-minute video. The typical view time is like 60 seconds.
The problem is writing online has become a selfish endeavor. The first question I see people ask themselves is “what can I get out of this?”
This one question fucks everything.
Writing online isn’t about you.
Writing online isn’t about what you can get from it.
You can get plenty from writing online later on, but that’s not where to start. Starting at ME ME ME will get you nowhere.
Life-changing truth
People “follow” when you give a shit about them. Worrying about what you can get out of it and scheduling the day you’re going to quit your job and retire on a beach with an overpriced Macbook Pro poking out of your Crumpler bag won’t get you anywhere online.
The action of hitting follow is weird. When a person writes something that feels true to you, you instinctively want to hit the follow button. Why? You want to see the truth they're publishing more often. It works the other way round as well.
There is this guy I follow now called Lex Fridman. Everything he writes and says on his podcast interrupts my thinking. He literally drops verbal bombs and questions everything I know about the world, including how gravity works.
People want to improve their life through content. Following you is the convenience factor that leads a reader back to what you write next.
The truth cuts deep
Followers are useless.
Look at Tim Ferriss on Twitter. He has 1.7 million followers and most of his tweets get zero engagement. What is Tim doing wrong?
Asking too much.
Outsourcing the management of his Twitter profile to a third-party who doesn’t give a shit about the audience and just wants to get paid.
See the difference? Care.
The algorithm on any platform is your secret hidden nightmare. Readers discover content through apps like Twitter and Instagram. These apps use algorithms to decide what you do and don’t see. Even if you have lots of followers, the algorithm can stop showing your content. Why?
The content a platform shows has to be in their interests. They’re a business. They either want to show ad content, or they want to show content that benefits their business model. You talking about your recent break-up isn’t in their financial interests. They don’t need you. They want to abuse you, though, to extract any value they can from you before they spit you out to another platform like Tik Tok.
Andrew Lewis said this: “If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold.”
Many people think 100,000 followers is awesome. What’s better is 5000 email addresses. With an email address you have a 1-1 relationship with readers.
With followers you control nothing. Read that three times.
The test that destroys the bullshit
An audience is turned off by selfishness. Let’s do a test.
How many images of your head appear on your blog/social media channels?
I can predict your online future with this one technique. And I’m not a fortuneteller. At least not until I do the Udemy Fortunetelling Course.
Before you think I’m some perfect human who has life figured out, let’s do the test on my Instagram account. Here’s the result:
That’s a huge fail. My stupid big nose is in everything. I only just realized why my Instagram is dead.
Solution: take your face off of it.
How to build an honest audience online
Let’s get to it.
Choose a topic you care about and can write about all day. Don’t get romantic. What do you like writing about and could talk about in a Ted Talk?
Set the clock for several years. This stuff doesn’t happen in days.
Expect to write and publish a piece of content online every day. It doesn’t have to be a Romeo and Juliet book either. One freaking 10-word tweet is fine.
The more you publish the easier it gets.
Pick one platform. Twitter is a good place to start because it takes hardly any effort.
Do a course by someone who has achieved your goal. Make sure they have a decent audience and can articulate the techniques needed to a 5th grader.
Build an email list. Email the list.
Write about your story, yes. But relate it back to what an audience can take away from it. Content without takeaways is a journal entry. Nobody wants to read the journal of your #perfect life. It’s the same reason Instagram will die.
Give away value for free. An eBook is an excellent way to build trust. Take your best content and package it up. Give away the first book for free in return for an email address. Dare to charge $20 for your second eBook.
What we should be asking is “how to help readers” not “how to write online” or “get an audience”
Become an expert in writing simply by helping people.
Answer their questions. Talk to them like a friend. Tell them the hard truths when you need to. Genuinely “care” about them rather than trying to extract money from their wallet while they’re having a coffee break.
Real audiences take years to build. You know how to build an audience already because you already care about other people – friends/family. Write online like you’re trying to help friends and family. Stay in touch with friends and family often.
When you talk to an audience, dare to care.
The rest of the audience-building hacks are bullshit.
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Motivating Article for Readers like me...thanks