Page views are like applause for musicians: you don’t do it for the applause, you have to get it.
“Sometimes an author says: I just write good articles, period, how often it is read does not matter. But page views are like applause effective video marketing strategies to succeed on social media for musicians: you do not do it for the applause, but you have to get it. Otherwise you know that you are not doing what your audience finds interesting. In the end, those page views are important for the business. As a writer, you have to realize that.”
Readers don’t want news, they want explanation
News and current events also play an important role on thenextweb.com , but not in the usual form. “What is ‘news’ anymore? In the past, news publishers mainly provided the facts. Nowadays, people can get news facts anywhere. By the time something has been discussed in the editorial meeting of a traditional publisher and journalists have arrived at the scene of the disaster, the facts have long been on Facebook. What readers want is clarification.”
A good example is one of Boris’ favorite blogs: Daring fireball by John Gruber . His articles often consist of nothing more than quotes from other articles with a two-sentence comment. The value for readers is in the interpretation. Still, advertisers pay him $9,500 a week to be named as ‘sponsor of the week’. And they are very happy .
Variety and an international mindset
In addition to the form of the content, variety is important. “joke about Playboy (‘I read it because of the articles’). The mix of heavy and light is important. A journalist would prefer to write an in-depth article and work on it for three days, and that’s fine, but after that I also want 10 that are ‘light’. The attention span of readers is short. It is not very respectful towards your reader if you do not facilitate that. It should be a mix of longer articles and fresh snacks.”
Another content criterion for Boris and the editors is whether the subject is suitable for the international reader of the blog. With visitors india number list from all countries of the world (literally), that international mindset is a must. “The funding of a Dutch start-up can be very interesting for Dutch readers, but what does the online speed of distribution and virality marketing manager from Egypt get out of it?”
The picture you get, talking to Boris, is that the blog largely reflects his personal interests. Is that true? What are the rules further in terms of content?
