If you’re in a particularly technical industry which has sophisticated technologies, it can be difficult for your audience to understand precisely what it is that you do. Let’s look at search engine optimisation for example. Digital marketing is an important practice, and whilst most people understand that they need it; they don’t fully understand that it involved.
This is where it can get tricky for developing content. You want to write about SEO, content development and the likes, but you want your audience to be able to digest it properly.
Of course, it’s all very well developing a blog post which is “seo-friendly”, however if it isn’t useful to the reader then it won’t be performing at its optimum.
So, in this post we’re going to explore how to explain a technical subject to your audience, easily.
1 – Imagine as though you’re explaining it to someone that you know
At one point or another you will have had to explain what you do to a family member of a friend who has a very basic level of technical understanding. How did you approach the conversation? If you’re sat in front of a grandparent for example and you’re trying to describe the fundamentals of SEO; throwing technical jargon at them is going to be a waste of time.
2 – Take full advantage of analogies and popular comparisons
More often than not, people can’t comprehend a complicated subject because they have nothing to relate to it. This is where you come in. When developing content, do so for your audience before anything else. Think about who your audience will be, what level of understanding they will have and how you can relate the subject to their every day lives.
Let’s look at link building as an example. Most people will have a very basic understanding of what link building entails. So, you might offer an accessible analogy for them to draw from like the following:
Think of link building as a popularity contest between two children, Dave and Frank.
Dave has only had 2 recommendations. The stories told about Dave were almost identical and weren’t particularly relevant as to why Dave should be considered the popular choice.
Frank on the other hand, has had 20 recommendations. Each story told about Frank was unique and exciting and painted a very clear picture as to why Frank is the more popular choice. We like Frank!
With some more information, you will be able to paint a pretty clear picture as to what is involved with link building; making it more accessible to the laymen.
3 – Be mindful of the language that you use
Unless you are writing a technical document for other professionals in your industry then you shouldn’t have to pump your blog or article full of technical words. The readability of a piece of content is important when it comes to the readers comprehension ability. If you bog them down with too many big words, then many people will switch off, lose interest and leave.
Yes, you should certainly get the big words in there where necessary but be sure to offer a simple and easy to digest description to go with it.
4 – Break your content up into sections which are easy to digest
When you have your cake, you want to eat it slice by slice, not all at once. When faced with a few delicious slices of cake, you’ll be able to work through it much easier. When faced with an entire cake, you’ll certainly feel the weight of the challenge ahead of you and likely be put off by the endeavour.
So, as you can see from this blog post we have divided each section with beautiful imagery. This gives the reader a moment of pause from what might be a technically exhausting post.
You should also try to use shorter sentence and paragraphs. Assume that your average reader will struggle. By doing this, you will increase the chances of your audience being able to digest a complicated subject, easier.