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The blogging world is generally considered technical, but in reality is not that complex – but then I would say that, wouldn’t I? But to anyone who hasn’t come across it before, or has tried it and found it confusing, not knowing what is going on would cause apprehension.
Over a quarter of a century ago I was in the same position. I was faced with all this jargon, coding, strange symbols and the American language. I still remember when I first starting using Apple Macs back in the 1980s it took me some time to realise that ‘quit’ meant ‘stop’! It was a word I just didn’t use. Blogging is full of American words, so not only do you have to learn how to do it, you need to have it translated as well!
It is also extremely male. I know I have to be careful when I make this statement, but the blog creator was an American called David Winer who “was fiddling with a project and organised a series of entries in a new way”.¹ This resulted in a new form of website that displayed its content in reverse chronological order, so obviously blogging terms reflect his nature at the time.
Many blog webmasters are likely to inform you that blogging is easy and what is the problem? Of course it’s easy for them, they live and breathe websites, coding, HTML and all that sort of thing. But to the more mature, British, female entrepreneur (like myself), suddenly faced with this concept that is totally alien to her, with words she has never seen or heard of before, it seems like it has come from another planet!
Having been there before, done it, seen the film and got the T-shirt, I totally understand my clients’ predicament. That was why the Fairy Blog Mother was formed, to explain all about blogging in a language that ordinary people could understand.
But now I’ve gone a bit further. Blogs have been around for a while now, and lots of extremely clever people have been working hard to improve how they work and to make the process of creating and maintaining them easier. Being the sort of person I am, I have researched into and used these new applications, because I want blogging to be easy. I don’t want to waste my time trying to fathom out how to do certain processes using coding, passwords and the like. All I want to do is to click on a button and have it all done for me!
And this is now possible. This is exactly what I do when I create a new blogsite. I have found the right tools to do this, not only because it makes it easier for me, but also for my clients. I want all my blog users to be able to continue looking after and improving their blogs without having to continuously ask ‘How do you do this?’ With just one click everything happens correctly and immediately with no fuss, bother or confusion.
Unfortunately there are some hosting providers that don’t use this option. This may be OK for the technical types, who know how to wade in, create the appropriate databases and upload WordPress onto their FTP systems, but unless you know what you are doing, the average blogger is still left in the dark staring at a c-panel and scratching their heads in bewilderment.
So if your business comprises of a lot of special know-how and facilities, spare a thought for your clients. If you don’t want to share your expertise to make life easier for them, at least explain it in a way that everyone can understand. Your clients should feel they can come to you and ask any question they like, and the explanation will be jargon-free, simple and relevant. This will ensure they more likely to use you again in the future, and even recommend you to a friend or colleague. What an excellent way to allow your reputation to go before you!
¹ Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel