Three-minute read. Or less.
Welcome to week thirteen of Three Wins in this format, where I walk you through my process of launching an online course in 2024.
Even if you are not launching an online course, this will help you think about whatever you will launch.How one comment this week changed how I do things.
This week I am in France.
Time for family, friends and a little snowboarding.
Our travel day got a little delayed so this is going out on a Monday.
La la la.
- How one comment this week changed how I do things?
This week, while I was doing Lesson 4 Beta, one person didn’t get put in a breakout room. So I started chatting to him. I asked him for feedback. It was heartening, but then he said this one thing.
He was going to put it all on ‘One pager’, so when he sat down to write, he had a cheat sheet right there in front of him. Boom.
If he was doing that because it would help him, we should do that for him. At the next Beta test, it will include a ‘One Pager’ cheat sheet.
I wonder where I got that idea?
A win.
2. How one question this week changed how I do things.
During the same Beta test last week, one of the questions I got asked made me understand I need to make something much clearer. The structure of a Micro Blog rests on a 4 step structure.
- Problem.
- Story.
- Transformation.
- Ask.
Think beginning, middle, end. Commercial break.
All clear, but.
In another lesson, I introduced the 1/3/1 layout structure. This is how you design your Micro Blog in terms of its layout so it is easy to read. It makes the eye see your Micro Blog without going to overwhelm. This is called Eye Relief.
The question asked was which one should I use for when I write a Micro Blog. The person thought there were two writing systems. PURE GOLD.
I need to make clear that one is for writing structure. (Problem. Story. Transformation.)
And the other for how we lay our words on the page. (1/3/1)
That is an important distinction. That question told me I needed to make that clearer.
A win.
- The silent community.
To play the long game, we have to understand the game.
The Micro Blog course is focused on LinkedIn. It is a platform where we can still win when we write. But you have to understand how the algorithm thinks.
Let’s say you have 100,000 followers on LinkedIn. Around 60% of those never post a blog, never make a comment, and never like anything you do. But they consume your content.
Know this: Around 90% of your future business will come from the silent community.
Hmmm.
LinkedIn noticed this silent community and why they had to change their algorithm.
That is why the algorithm rewards DWELL TIME. It’s unique to LinkedIn. It knows people are reading your content and don’t make a comment. But algorithm values their dwell time.
The insight here is some of your most useful content may not get many likes and reposts, and you may begin to think that this information is not helpful. And no one is reading it. But the silent community are.
They are active, but you don’t see it.
The temptation is to write to those who engage. You may get more engagement from ‘Look at me running a marathon’ than ‘This is how I see the future of my industry.’
The silent community may well be more professional so are giving you their dwell time to learn something. But most people are writing for the 40%, which may, in the long term make your content less valuable as you could be tempted to dumb it down.
Understanding dwell time will help you play the long game.
A win.
As always, hope this was useful
Talk next weekend.
Have a good week.
David.
