Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of relevance in writing, stressing that content should be tailored to the target audience's needs and interests, rather than just publishing frequently.

Abstract

The author reflects on the importance of crafting relevant content for a specific audience, acknowledging that even well-written articles can fail if they do not resonate with readers. After receiving feedback highlighting the lack of relevance in their own work, the author encourages writers to move beyond the quantity versus quality debate and focus on creating content that truly matters to their audience. The article suggests that writers should aim to address the concerns and interests of their readers in every piece they publish, even if it means deviating from personal diary-style entries. While acknowledging that achieving perfect relevance is challenging and subjective, the author asserts that combining writing skills with audience relevance is key to successful communication online.

Opinions

The author believes that talent and craftsmanship in writing are not enough if the content lacks relevance to the intended audience.
There is a recognition that many writers, including the author, have overlooked the importance of relevance in their eagerness to publish content regularly.
The article suggests that writers often miss the mark by not considering how their content applies to their readers' lives.
Personal diary-style blog posts are seen as having limited relevance to readers, although they can be acceptable if they occasionally address the audience's interests.
The author advocates for a conscious effort to make writing relevant, proposing that writers should target a specific reader and tailor their content accordingly.
Relevance is acknowledged as subjective, and it is accepted that not all content will resonate with every reader due to varying demographics and geographic locations.
Despite the difficulty in consistently achieving relevance, the author encourages persistent effort, believing that the combination of talent, skills, work ethic, and relevance leads to successful writing.

Yes, Publishing Frequently Is Great. But This Is Even Better

Seriously. I learned it the hard way

I’ve probably read about 1,000% more words than I’ve ever written. And OMW! I’m sometimes left speechless at the amount of talent on display when I read some articles: call it a talent overdose.

Lots of those precious words scream years of refined craftsmanship, and the learner in me is quick to pilfer some lines for my perusal.

But as high as some of those blog posts would have scored on many metrics, lots of them miss this key ingredient: relevance.

Of course, I knew nothing about that until a reader pointed it out to me in one of my articles. I then realized how most of my articles fell agonizingly short on the test of relevance. Hey, I didn’t know any better.

And I’m not surprised to learn many others fall foul of that too.

Target audience, off-target message

Finding your target audience is a solid piece of writing advice in the online writing space. Yes, that’s better, way smarter than throwing words out there and hoping the web crawlers deliver your message to who the cap fits.

Kudos to you if you’ve aced the audience challenge. Many people still haven’t found their ideal audience. Or some are just uninterested in all those fancy steps.

But the next level, arguably the more difficult stage, is crafting words relevant to that audience. Or at least making those words more relevant, but not because you just want to keep publishing.

Having a target audience doesn’t guarantee your message will be relevant to them. It’s possible to write something way off. We all do that once in a while. But do that too often, and they’ll bolt.

It’s a bigger purpose than simply publishing

I’m not about to reignite the quantity vs. quality debate. Not that I’m the most prolific, anyway. Nor are my words the best quality ones you’ve ever read.

But after I read that feedback questioning the relevance of my article to my readers, I realized the questioner was right. I had only shared a helpful suggestion I picked up from a course. And yes, it’s helped me tons.

But I didn’t bother to answer the question of how that applied to my readers. Again, I didn’t know any better.

You see, it’s never enough to publish for the sake of records. Sure, the routine helps keep you consistent and builds your muscles, muscles you shouldn’t hesitate to flex. But that’s only a modest first step you must go past, fast.

You can write a perfect article, but if the points in it are irrelevant to your readers, it will accomplish very little. You see where many of us miss it?

Make the diary entry blog posts more relevant

I have nothing against “diary entry posts” if that’s genuinely your style. (BTW, I find that term offensive). But you’ll agree those posts are only about us, for us; they’re only relevant to us, our struggles, our joys, our journeys.

I say us because I still publish articles with zero relevance to readers — sometimes deliberately, most times unknowingly.

Look, there comes a time when you have to say something that has nothing to do with helping your readers, per se. It may be a mild complaint or just some words off your chest.

And that’s as fine as a soothing sigh. The internet is big enough for all that and more.

But when you want to make it about your readers, you might as well make it relevant to them. Even if the article would be based on your diary entry style (last mention, I promise), pick the points most relevant to your readers.

How to make your words relevant to readers

Make it your goal in your next article

Like you’ll embark on word-count or publishing goals, you can make it a policy to make most of your writings relevant to readers. It’s doable.

For every article you write (start with the next one), target that one person you want to talk to. And with that, make your thoughts relevant to that one reader.

Sometimes, you have to be honest with yourself and ask crucial questions. Start by asking how relevant your words are to the average reader. If you can’t answer the question, your readers probably can’t, either.

But a little tweak here, another round of inputs — or cuts — there, could make things better.

There may be exceptions, but just as you’ll want to keep your points related to the main thrust of your essay, you also want to make those points relevant to your readers.

Relevance may well be subjective

And that’s perfectly okay. With the vast reach of the internet, it’s impossible to craft a message that fits every one of your readers to a tee.

For example, recently, I read an excellent blog post loaded with impeccable personal finance tips. And for those in the target demographic and geographic locations, it couldn’t be more relevant.

But not much for folks like me who check none of those boxes. Does it mean the article is irrelevant? Not at all. But if the author were writing it for me, they’d have missed the mark.

I blame them not, though. Especially if they have no idea how life works elsewhere. Just like me.

Writing online is a free-for-all in terms of topics and word counts. But you also have to make your words relevant to your readers. It’s easier said than done, though. Even with the privilege of that insightful feedback from that thoughtful reader, I still fall foul.

So don’t get discouraged. It’s a long journey, and it doesn’t happen overnight. But if you’ll start trying, more and more of your words will become more relevant to readers.

Can you imagine combining your talent, skills, and work ethic with relevance? Way to win with words!

Before you go…….

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