Information Overload: Get it or not

Information overload plagues almost everyone, but especially online marketers specifically.

Now, this post isn’t about curing yourself from information overload, that’s for a different topic.

This post is about preventing your readers from having information overload.

“How do I prevent my readers from having information overload?”

There’s the “easy” way and there’s the “hard” way to prevent information overload in your readers.

And neither are particularly easy or hard to do, they are merely difficult to choose between!

“Easy” way to preventing information overload: Create less content, but more in-depth

As you may have seen in my pretty awesome guide to awesome headlines, it was packed with several things: key points (for a general idea of what to do), pictures (for clarity and some humor), descriptions (for an in-depth analysis of the why), and action steps (leaving the reader with practical steps they can start using right now).

In a future post I’ll go into the anatomy of an awesome blog post, but for right now, we’re sticking to information overload.

It took me around 2 days to write that blog post. Why? Because I needed to carefully plan: if I want to give true value to people, I need to write something that is easy to follow and not just write what comes from my head. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with writing from the head/heart, because those have their own places in the blogosphere, but when writing to inform people on a step-by-step process, planning is needed.

FYI: I’m writing this blog post from the heart

Now, the reason this method is the “easy” method is that… it’s easy to do! “You mean I don’t have to create content daily??” No! You don’t!

Not only that, but churning out content like that on a daily basis is… well, you’ll get burnt out easily.

And that’s where the hard method comes in:

“Hard” way to prevent information overload: “High” value content 3 times a week, “low” value content 4 times a week

This is the method I’m personally trying to adapt to. Why’s this method “hard?” Because it requires both working on a “high” value post every day, yet still writing “low” value posts on the “off” days. As of right now I’m working on a “high” value post that deals with meta data, though I’m still pushing this “low” value post today.

On that note, what’s the difference between “high” value content and “low” value content?

“High” value content is the kind of stuff dreams are made of.

…okay, maybe not, but I’ve always wanted to say that in a blog post.

But seriously, “high” value content is the kind of blog posts where the reader goes, “The hell? I got this for free? I paid $30 for this kind of content a few weeks ago! Where’ve you been all my life, Sheed??”

(So you could still say that they are the kind of stuff dreams are made of )

“High” value content is the sort of content that usually gets bookmarked because they give the reader clear-cut steps to achieve X.

“Low” value content, on the other hand, is the stuff nightmares are made of.

…okay, I’ll stop it with that metaphor

Really though, “low” value content is the kind of content where people say, “oh, that was cool.” And then they might retweet it or something, but it’s not something that will really “wow” people.

Now don’t get me wrong–there’s nothing wrong with “low” value content. It may be called “low” value content, but content is content–I’ve seen empires built off of low-value content.

Not only that, but “low” value content won’t make people go, “Dang, he says do this one day, then do this the next day… I dunno what to do! brain explodes”

Some people might think this is a “high” value post. I don’t think so. It’s long and in-depth, but… but…

Actually, I’ve no argument.

Action Steps: How to eliminate information overload

1. Create a blogging schedule. I’ll go a bit more in depth in a future post, but a blogging schedule is a must!
2. Figure out which days you’ll be creating “high” value content and which days you’ll be creating “low” value content
3. Try to create “low” value content every day. A good length for low value content is 300-500 words.
4. Pick 2-3 days per week and create “high” value content, where you put your heart and soul into creating these monstrosities. Good lengths for high-value content is 1000-1500 words, or a friggin eBook

Moving onto you

Any other tips on how to eliminate information overload?

Comments on irony are also welcome

In peace, love, and prosperity,

Rasheed

All-expense paid trip to Cancun??

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