Walk Right In...Let's Talk

Walk Right In...Let's Talk
What you say on your website is part of a conversation. And, the conversation starts with the visitor. Whatever question they have they come to you for an answer. That's where you pick up the conversation.

Bruce Marko invites visitors to his house. This is a strong analogy for how to make visitors feel and engage. The more hospitable you are, the more likely a conversation will build.


H/T Jason Darrell 

#seofornow   #webpresence  

Originally shared by Bruce Marko

Welcome to my House

The first rule of writing content in the digital age is you have to own it. I don't mean you have to own the copywrite itself per se, I mean the ideas, the meanings and intentions the work conveys, the value people derive from it. That's more than just yours, it's is you.

For some people who consume that content, it's more you than you are, it's where they the consumers are going to derive the things they trust and know about the individual who wrote it more than any profile or bio now matter how well presented it is.

That content, that blog post, it's your house, and that's exactly how you have to treat it. Everyone is welcome in your house, but that involves a degree of reciprocity and respect. The exact attributes you would expect to display when you are in someone else's house.

In creating that content for what ever reason you are placing yourself out there, you are opening the doors to your house, but it's still your house. The conversations and challenges which arise from your content are yours to guide, shut down or throw the hell out as you deem necessary, you are not beholden to the flows of anything or anyone, it's your house, not theirs or anyone else's.

This is relevant in the context of how we form online identities which people can trust. Our identities as individuals are established proxies in our lives for how we interact with individuals, but to represent all of that three dimensional complexity in a two dimensional format can seem difficult at best and impossible at worst.

Yet it's not impossible when you look at how we form trust and identities in detail. All of the micro expression and subtle signals we read from physical interactions are still present when we create content and engage with individuals online, they are just harder to see. By treating your content like it's your house, because it is your house, you send a signal people can easily read and understand. This is your house, that's something anyone can understand.

That's where trolls get their perception of power, because they have come into your house with neither respect or expectations of reciprocity. In displaying disregard in your house they in some sense are trying to challenge your identity. Don't let them because you don't have to, this is your house.

That doesn't mean challenge should be ignored or censored, in fact it should be encouraged. In your house you have to be willing to stand by your word, but also willing to learn. That's the essense of reciprocity and the key to understanding human identity, it has to be adaptable yet still remain what it is.

Be willing to be wrong when you create content, because being wrong doesn't make it not your house. No one can take that from you, you must give it to them. All you have to do is not do that, don't give it up. Own it.

It's still your house, just like this one is mine.

Welcome to my house...

#markokoolaid #socialproof #content
#writing