How Much Research Do You Do?
I tend to overthink and overdo at times. If I do a review, I'm sure I put more time and effort than is necessary. If I write about my opinion or just something in general, I still do too much thinking. I've even done it on this post by backspacing way too much. I was just wondering how much research you all put into a post or content you put on your site. I realize we are all different, but just wonder if I'm spending too much time when I should be moving on and doing something else.
Have a great day!
Recent Comments
17
Your not the only one that does these things, I'm guilty too. Sometimes it takes me forever just to write a comment just like this since when I start reading it, I don't like it so I just gotta fix it. I also do that when researching something I'm writing about and then realize a long while later that I already found the info I was looking for and I'm just procrastinating.
I've found it helpful, at least for me, to write down what main question I'm trying to answer with my post or what I'd be looking for if I were needing help on a certain topic. It also seems to help to write down an outline on paper with your main points of the post written as the headings and then go from there.
Some days it goes really smoothly and I get done rather quickly, while other days I just can't seem to focus on what I'm doing and have a hard time getting anything done.
I figure that there's always another day, so don't beat yourself up about it if you take more time than you planned on something. Every little step no matter how small is a step towards success, so keep up the good work!
Thank you for your input and advice. My problem is that I do too much of the outlining and writing things down on paper, once I start on paper, it seems I can't stop. LOL!
I use Google Drive and Notepad to write, but I think I write down way too much on paper, my recycle bin is way too full! :)
My motto is short and to the point because you can loose people if you rattle on with lots of technical stuff. Short and sweet.
Hi Janrenee. I am forever over thinking too so you are not alone. I write a page of content on my website which takes me ages,but then I change it all around. The content that I have read of yours is "great." You probably over think and overdo it because you want it just perfect! And hey, it pretty much is from my perspective any way! You go...girl!
Depends on what you're writing. Short,sharp,sweet is my motto. Publish it then, go and look at it from another device- you see it in a whole new way. If you're at a stalemate in what you want to say go on with the next paragraph and go back. It wills link up. Everyone has the days where there words don't gel. Think a news article you reason your phone. Will you read 1000 words or will scroll through or find something else to read? Like I said I don't know what you're writing about but research is good, backing your story withy evidence gives it credibility.
I find it a good idea to determine what message I want to get across in the article and then that dictates how much research you should do. After you come up with the idea, create an outline of the topics. Will those topics satisfy the overall message that I want to get across? If the answer is yes, do only enough research to write about those topics.
Another consideration is to make your article centered around only one focal point or in some cases keyword but don't keyword spam your article. Too many ideas will lose your readers. Remember - most readers skim web pages. Another idea is to bullet point a main page and if they want to read more, have another page with more detail that they can click to.
Thanks for your advice! Do you use something like a static page? If you do, how much work do you put into the sites that you have static like pages? I want to do this to promote, but I don't want to jump in over my head before getting a good handle on what I'm doing now.
What matters is the message you are trying to come across with. The medium really is not important.
Hey Jan, I can totally relate to this. I'm still guilty of it. The best thing to do is dive in and then adjust accordingly. You get real world feedback which will help you stop over thinking because now it's based on what you actually see vs what you may think.
You just don't want to be at a point where you're over thinking so much it leads to paralysis. It's always better to take action. I tend to do a lot of research with my reviews and articles because I want to make sure I provide a lot of value. So I tend to write a lot longer than most of my counterparts. Some people will appreciate this and others won't. The key here is to focus on the people that do appreciate this about you because they're more inclined to take action on your recommendations because they appreciate that you've taken the time to write a detailed review.
Hope this makes sense and makes you feel better.
It makes total sense. I know the more I work, the better and faster it will get. Thanks so much for your advice! It's great to have you all to help.
See more comments
I think the research is important so that you have a good review. However the challenge is to condense the research into a well written review. The quality of the research will show in the end result.