1 year, 12 months ago
Mahalo Target Audience?
Hi all,
I've been writing How-To's in to this huge information database, almost consistently (okay, sometimes on-off). I have fun writing the pieces mainly because we get to choose our topic of interest--and voila!
Lately, I have been having a question though; I am not sure what is the exact break-up of Mahalo's target audience. Demographical, intellectual, geographical--anything. By that I mean:
Are they new to How To type of articles?
Are they somewhat naive or pretty smart?
Are they fully informed but looking for specific little nuggets for which they try Mahalo?
Are they native English speakers?
You get the point. I am looking for a general break-up if anyone can provide me with it. I believe if I know this, I'd be better equipped to pour my writing and convert them in to step-by-step procedural piece.
Now I know that someone seriously reading How to Convert to a Religion is a person interested in religions, and perhaps thinking to quit his own. Or, someone reading How to Understand Ontology is a person interested in the classification-based study, perhaps from the metaphysical angle, or from the A.I angle. And someone wanting to read How to Understand Grammar is probably an ESL student.
But that is all I know. Hence the question.
Thanks already for answering, you guys rock! ;)
-BrownEyed
I've been writing How-To's in to this huge information database, almost consistently (okay, sometimes on-off). I have fun writing the pieces mainly because we get to choose our topic of interest--and voila!
Lately, I have been having a question though; I am not sure what is the exact break-up of Mahalo's target audience. Demographical, intellectual, geographical--anything. By that I mean:
Are they new to How To type of articles?
Are they somewhat naive or pretty smart?
Are they fully informed but looking for specific little nuggets for which they try Mahalo?
Are they native English speakers?
You get the point. I am looking for a general break-up if anyone can provide me with it. I believe if I know this, I'd be better equipped to pour my writing and convert them in to step-by-step procedural piece.
Now I know that someone seriously reading How to Convert to a Religion is a person interested in religions, and perhaps thinking to quit his own. Or, someone reading How to Understand Ontology is a person interested in the classification-based study, perhaps from the metaphysical angle, or from the A.I angle. And someone wanting to read How to Understand Grammar is probably an ESL student.
But that is all I know. Hence the question.
Thanks already for answering, you guys rock! ;)
-BrownEyed
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$3 Answers
You've answered your own question!
There is no target audience for Mahalo how to pages as a collection any more than that there is a target audience for the public library as an entity. Different books within the library have a radically different audience, and the same will apply to Mahalo how to pages. What is relevant is the target audience for a particular article, not the site as a whole.
Your best bet for understanding the likely target audience for a given article is as you say to ask yourself what kind of a person is likely to have Googled "How to X".
Generally the answer is going to be... they have some idea what X is, and they have some interest in X. But their understanding is possibly quite basic, and may contain misconceptions, and their interest in doing X may only be mild curiosity. Also most likely if they are looking for "How to X", they are looking above all for simple and clear directions, not a deep conceptual discussion.
-- Quote
Are they new to How To type of articles?
Are they somewhat naive or pretty smart?
Are they fully informed but looking for specific little nuggets for which they try Mahalo?
Are they native English speakers?
-- /Quote
You can't generalize about such things. There is really no such thing as a "Mahalo audience". People who read your pages most likely arrived from a search engine, and quite likely never heard of Mahalo before, and may not ever visit it again.
However maybe it doesn't matter so much that you can't generalize...
> Are they new to How To type of articles?
You might as well assume that yes, they are new to such articles. There is no reason to write articles in such a way that they are only understandable to people that have read other articles in the same format.
> Are they somewhat naive or pretty smart?
Varies by topic, but they are smart enough to have heard of the subject, yet uninformed enough that they search for "how to" articles about it. If they Googled "How to write a business plan" they have at least heard of business plans. But they may not be sure what exactly they are, why they are useful, or when they are useful. And they almost certainly don't know how to even get started on writing one.
> Are they fully informed but looking for specific little nuggets for which they try Mahalo?
Firstly, they do not specifically "try Mahalo". They Google, and Mahalo is one of the search results.
They are not "fully informed" or they wouldn't be Googling that kind of a term. And yet if the question needs a certain level of expertise to even have been asked, they most likely have the level of expertise needed to be able to frame the question. Someone looking for "How to start a blog" has at least a vague idea of what a blog is. Whereas someone looking for "How to write a Wordpress plug-in" has a pretty good idea what Wordpress is, at least a vague idea of what a plug-in is, and knows that it is possible for them to write one... but most likely doesn't know how to even get started on doing that.
> Are they native English speakers?
According to stats I have seen. a fair proportion of Mahalo visitors are from outside the US, maybe 50%. Of course that also varies by topic. No-one outside the US is likely to be Googling "How to claim unemployment in Michigan" for example.
However, for a how to article it probably makes sense to write as simply as possible anyway. A person might be smart and well-informed and have a huge vocabulary, but when they are looking for a how to article they want clear and simple directions.
As someone that actually knows how to do something, one of your biggest pitfalls is in underestimating how confusing it is to someone that doesn't know, and how mystifying your instructions can sound to those not used to the jargon and the procedures that you know so well that you don't even notice them any more.
There is no target audience for Mahalo how to pages as a collection any more than that there is a target audience for the public library as an entity. Different books within the library have a radically different audience, and the same will apply to Mahalo how to pages. What is relevant is the target audience for a particular article, not the site as a whole.
Your best bet for understanding the likely target audience for a given article is as you say to ask yourself what kind of a person is likely to have Googled "How to X".
Generally the answer is going to be... they have some idea what X is, and they have some interest in X. But their understanding is possibly quite basic, and may contain misconceptions, and their interest in doing X may only be mild curiosity. Also most likely if they are looking for "How to X", they are looking above all for simple and clear directions, not a deep conceptual discussion.
-- Quote
Are they new to How To type of articles?
Are they somewhat naive or pretty smart?
Are they fully informed but looking for specific little nuggets for which they try Mahalo?
Are they native English speakers?
-- /Quote
You can't generalize about such things. There is really no such thing as a "Mahalo audience". People who read your pages most likely arrived from a search engine, and quite likely never heard of Mahalo before, and may not ever visit it again.
However maybe it doesn't matter so much that you can't generalize...
> Are they new to How To type of articles?
You might as well assume that yes, they are new to such articles. There is no reason to write articles in such a way that they are only understandable to people that have read other articles in the same format.
> Are they somewhat naive or pretty smart?
Varies by topic, but they are smart enough to have heard of the subject, yet uninformed enough that they search for "how to" articles about it. If they Googled "How to write a business plan" they have at least heard of business plans. But they may not be sure what exactly they are, why they are useful, or when they are useful. And they almost certainly don't know how to even get started on writing one.
> Are they fully informed but looking for specific little nuggets for which they try Mahalo?
Firstly, they do not specifically "try Mahalo". They Google, and Mahalo is one of the search results.
They are not "fully informed" or they wouldn't be Googling that kind of a term. And yet if the question needs a certain level of expertise to even have been asked, they most likely have the level of expertise needed to be able to frame the question. Someone looking for "How to start a blog" has at least a vague idea of what a blog is. Whereas someone looking for "How to write a Wordpress plug-in" has a pretty good idea what Wordpress is, at least a vague idea of what a plug-in is, and knows that it is possible for them to write one... but most likely doesn't know how to even get started on doing that.
> Are they native English speakers?
According to stats I have seen. a fair proportion of Mahalo visitors are from outside the US, maybe 50%. Of course that also varies by topic. No-one outside the US is likely to be Googling "How to claim unemployment in Michigan" for example.
However, for a how to article it probably makes sense to write as simply as possible anyway. A person might be smart and well-informed and have a huge vocabulary, but when they are looking for a how to article they want clear and simple directions.
As someone that actually knows how to do something, one of your biggest pitfalls is in underestimating how confusing it is to someone that doesn't know, and how mystifying your instructions can sound to those not used to the jargon and the procedures that you know so well that you don't even notice them any more.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$Report Abuse
I have to agree with @philipy. Unless you can get hard demographic data from a Mahalo admin regarding user information, you are not going to easily categorize your target audience.
Alexa.com provides some interesting demographic information on Mahalo's users. I'm not sure how it is calculated:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/mahalo.com#
However, there are a few somewhat helpful identifiers that is true for all Mahalo users/visitors:
* they are internet saavy
* they have minor technical skills (conduct online searches, follow How-To instructions, etc.)
* English may not be their native language, but they have decided to conduct their search in English, showing a preference.
* You can be smart and not know how to do something, that is why they are reading your instructions. Never assume they are naive about the subject. I may understand the bio-chemical processes of fermentation but have no idea how to brew my own beer.
Hope this helps!
Alexa.com provides some interesting demographic information on Mahalo's users. I'm not sure how it is calculated:
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/mahalo.com#
However, there are a few somewhat helpful identifiers that is true for all Mahalo users/visitors:
* they are internet saavy
* they have minor technical skills (conduct online searches, follow How-To instructions, etc.)
* English may not be their native language, but they have decided to conduct their search in English, showing a preference.
* You can be smart and not know how to do something, that is why they are reading your instructions. Never assume they are naive about the subject. I may understand the bio-chemical processes of fermentation but have no idea how to brew my own beer.
Hope this helps!
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
lets be honest, the target audience is nerds, and stoners.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
