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Yesterday I watched this mini disaster unfold before me between a couple exchanging Christmas gifts.

As I watched the repercussions of the exchange of gifts (I’ll tell you what happened below) I found myself thinking about unmet expectations.

Elliot Larson once said – “Anger always comes from frustrated expectations” – as a blogger interacting with readers for 7 years I’d have to say that I agree.

As I think back over the times where I’ve had readers most frustrated and angry with me (and when I’ve been most frustrated with others) – it almost always comes down to there being a difference in expectations between blogger and reader.

Most bloggers who’ve been at this game for a while have had at least a handful of complaint emails/comments from readers:

“You post too often!”
“You don’t post enough!”
“Your posts are too advanced!”
“Your posts are too basic!”
“You do too many promotions!”
“You promised XXX but you never delivered on it!”
“You never replied to my email!”

Sometimes the complaints are legitimate and other times as bloggers we write them off as the reader just not getting us or asking too much.

Whether justifiable or not – in each of the cases above the person making the complaint had some kind of unmet expectation. They signed up for an RSS feed, newsletter, Twitter account or bought a product expecting one thing but getting another.

As bloggers – how do we manage expectations better and minimise these kinds of complaints?

A few thoughts come to mind:

1. Know what your own Goals and Expectations are

As I look back on some of the instances that I’ve had with readers having unmet expectations of me I can honestly say that in some instances the reason was simply that I didn’t have a very clear understanding of what I was trying to do or achieve.

I’m sure many bloggers are similar – we can be an impulsive lot – experimenting, tweaking, changing directions and starting new things at the drop of the hat. While this often leads to great discoveries and creative new directions – it can also leave readers reeling a little and feeling disappointed.

I’m still quite impulsive – but over the years I’ve learned a little more to take my time with new ideas, to test them with small groups of people before launching them publicly and to force myself to plan and think about over arching goals and objectives in order to make the road a little less bumpy for readers.

2. Communicate Your Expectations Clearly

Once you know what your readers will get from you and your blog – communicate it clearly to your readers.

For example – if you have a newsletter and intend to publish it weekly – state that in your subscriber page. If the newsletter is simply an update of what’s happening on your blog – let them know that so they don’t expect completely new content.

If there are strings attached with any aspect of your blog – it can be well worthwhile letting your readers know about them up front.

This particularly applies when you change any aspect of your own expectations or goals.

For example if you’ve been happily posting at a frequency of 4 posts a week but suddenly decide to start publishing at a rate of 10 posts a day – you’ll want to communicate your decision and reasoning to readers. Changes in your own approach might make sense to you but if you have readers who signed up for something completely different you’re setting yourself up for a clash of expectations.

I’ve seen this problem on numerous occasions including about post frequency, changes in topic/niche of a blog and even changes in the way that a blog is monetized (suddenly adding lots of ads, or paid posts, or affiliate promotions).

3. Identify Common Unmet Expectations and Preempt Them

Over time you might find that you constantly get the same complaint from readers. This could be an indication that you need to consider changing your approach – OR it could simply mean you need to work harder to get the reader’s expectations right earlier.

For example I worked with one blogger a few months back who kept getting nasty emails from readers complaining that the blogger didn’t respond to emails quickly enough. The blogger was inundated with emails and found it hard to answer everyone (and it could take a week or more to do so when he did get to it). He was frustrated that readers expected too much and readers were frustrated because they expected more of him.

We added a simple sentence or two to his contact page explaining that the blogger received 100+ emails a day and was not able to respond to everyone. We also added alternative places that people could interact with him (on Twitter) and also added a FAQ section to his blog and linked to it from the contact form to help readers find answers to some of the more common emails requests that he received.

The complaints he received by readers dropped dramatically.

4. Don’t Hype

Many unmet expectations are just simple and understandable misunderstandings between blogger and reader – however at times bloggers could be a little more at fault by falling into the trap of hyping themselves, their blogs and their products up to a point where they’re setting themselves and their readers up for a clash of expectations.

I know this temptation – you slave over what you do, you want it to succeed and you stretch the truth just a little in some of your claims or promise things you probably can’t deliver on in order to convince potential readers that you’re worthy of their readership.

The problem is obvious though – you simply can’t do what you say you’ll do and as a result you end up with a disappointed (at best) or an angry and aggressive (at worst) reader. At the more aggressive end of the spectrum you might also have the reader tell others about how you’ve let them down.

5. Under Promise and Over Deliver

There’s nothing wrong with big promises and claims – IF you deliver on them. However if you’re not sure if you’ll be able to deliver on an element of what you’re tempted to promise – leave it out and add it later.

For example when we launched ProBlogger.com I always wanted to add a featured content area where I would produce extra and exclusive content for paid members. However at the time of launch I didn’t yet have the time allocated in my weekly schedule to be able to commit to delivering regular extra content.

It wasn’t until recently that I was able to do this and I’ve since added the area to the community. The reaction of adding it later was that readers are thanking me for the bonus – something extra to what they signed up for expecting. Perhaps we could have signed up more people earlier by promising this area earlier – but I’d rather a smaller number of happy members than a larger number of angry ones!

What Would You Add?

By no means am I perfect in this area. I still get readers telling me that I’ve not delivered upon what they were expecting from me – I’ve still got work to do. As a result I’d love to hear from you on how you manage reader expectations in comments below?

PS: I promised that I’d tell you how the gift exchange that I witnessed above turned out. Here’s what happened about half an hour later!

It’s not quite an ‘under promise and over deliver’ situation – but both went away happy with a story to tell!

PS: just been told by people on Twitter that ‘pearl necklace’ might have a double meaning. It was not my intention to be funny or offensive with this, it’s really what the gift was!

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

How to Manage Expectations with Your Blog Readers

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How to Manage Expectations with Your Blog Readers

Happy Friday! This has been one of the longest, craziest weeks I’ve had in some time, and I know I’m not alone.

Not that I’m complaining. Being busy is better than being bored any day, especially when the busyness is due to a preponderance of fun! In just a few days, we decorated the office in festive fashion, laughed and played at the office holiday party, and experienced the spiritual awakening known as the bacon explosion. Join in on our holiday fun!

Earlier this week the BCI team headed out to the nearby go kart racetrack for this year’s holiday party! These pics tell the story…

Maryann, me, Dawn, Nasim, Steffani, Paula and Pam wait for the flag to start our heat:

And we’re off! Paula and I were monsters on the track! Who’m I kidding? Paula was a perfect gentlewoman. However, if you catch me in your rearview…

Sure, it looks like fun and games, but the competition was fierce!

In the end, it was a numbers game, and only a select few could claim the top spots. Congrats to the BCI winners’ circle!

Christopher Hart is in town this week from our office in New York and he treated the group to a homemade Bacon Explosion 2.0. The original Bacon Explosion™ from BBQ Addicts is one of the most beloved meat treats among the SEM community and Chris showed us why. BCI programmer Michael Terry summed it up nicely:

[12/17/2009 5:08:27 PM] BCI-Michael Terry: let me put it this way
[12/17/2009 5:08:36 PM] BCI-Michael Terry: ususally when you play something up
[12/17/2009 5:08:42 PM] BCI-Michael Terry: people are disappointed
[12/17/2009 5:08:44 PM] BCI-Virginia Nussey: right
[12/17/2009 5:08:52 PM] BCI-Michael Terry: because you set expectations high
[12/17/2009 5:08:58 PM] BCI-Michael Terry: but bacon explosion is like michael jordan
[12/17/2009 5:09:05 PM] BCI-Michael Terry: no matter high the expectations are set
[12/17/2009 5:09:09 PM] BCI-Michael Terry: they still exceed them

Here’s something that exceeded my expectations this week. A video of a cat saying “nom nom nom” as it slurps up some tasty sour cream. Truly adorable! Like nuns in a snowball fight and puppies dipped in cupcake batter.

Those last two links were found through the social media power network Twitter. (Thanks @phillian and @LisaBarone!) The Huffington Post announced that it would start using Twitter as a monetization stream by allowing advertisers to place paid tweets among the live Twitter feeds on the site.

Google has added some advanced results to the Suggest feature of its search. The new Suggest includes weather, flight status, local time, definitions, currency and unit conversions and more. On the other side of the fence, online marketer Michael Gray pointed out some problems with Google Suggest.

Know what I have a problem with? Cheaters. Now, I always knew that food commercials weren’t that up front — after all, the cake is a lie — but it was rather fun and surprising to see the make-up artist routine food goes through before being camera ready. Plus the fact that this video is straight out of the 80s gives it an extra special sparkle.

If you’re looking for a laugh, I’ll tell ya, I was rolling on the floor throughout this podcast from SES Chicago. I know this isn’t a story from the last week, but if you’re a search marketer and you missed it, well, miss it no more. Behold the SEO Old Timers Roundtable, starring Bruce Clay, Rae Hoffman, Dave Naylor, Todd Friesen, Disa Johnson and host Daron Babin.

On a more somber note, the Cincinnati Bengal’s wide receiver Chris Henry passed away this week after an accident. However, rumors of his death were spreading through the interwebz before he had passed away. In the aftermath we’re left wondering how an irresponsible use of social media may have contributed to an irreverent frenzy.

I want to send a congratulatory shout out to WordStream for two new free keyword suggestion tools debuting this week. Check out the keyword niche finder and the keyword grouper and simplify your keyword research process.

Having powerful tools at your disposal is always a good thing, as is having powerful insights. Trendwatching.com’s monthly briefing is about 10 crucial consumer trends for 2010. Are you ready for urbany, fluxury and profile myning? [I think my trend for 2010 will be refusing to use the "word" myning. --Susan]

Puzzle loving movie buffs will get a kick out of the Name That Movie series. In it, illustration sequences tell the story of films, and you’ve got to figure out what the flick is. Is your film fanaticism is up to snuff? Thanks to our tipster, Mrs. Esparza! [See, Mom? I do so pass the links you send me on. --Susan]

Half of the fun of the holidays is dressing everything up in tinsel and lights. Everything’s just happier when it twinkles. Making paper snowflakes is fun part of the decorating tradition here at Bruce Clay, Inc., so we drew incredible inspiration from these amazingly intricate paper snowflakes.

Then we tried our own hand at them. With adrenaline and bacon fat coursing through our veins, we reveled in decking the office halls. And then we squished all that love into a little video to share with you!

Friday Recap: Special Snowflake Edition was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.

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Friday Recap: Special Snowflake Edition

Since the very first blog, written around an ancient campfire somewhere in the moist foothills of Seattle, content has been crowned the undisputed king.

The king ruled over all that was written, be they blogs, articles, ads, fiction, or a killer love letter. All that was copy sat at the feet of the king.

Nothing succeeded without content. Writing without it was cast from the kingdom, banished as self-serving junk mail and the much-loathed “interruption marketing.”

But the king is dead.

Okay, not exactly dead, just appointed Prime Minister. Content still rules, but it’s from a more evolved perspective.

Long live the new king: context.

Because nothing sells, nothing works, without it.

The inherent power that is context

At the center of every effective piece of content is an agenda, an implied pitch residing at the heart of the content.

Content is the license, if you will, to move forward with the pitch. Valuable content gives you the right to go on to sell or promote something. It’s the embodiment of a noble premise — to receive you must first give.

You give with the hope that the prospect will stick around and finally buy something. And that is the context behind content marketing.

A commercial context doesn’t diminish the value of strong content. In fact, acknowledging your agenda can be a very smart strategy. It’s like saying, Here, I have a gift for you. Stick around. Because there’s even more where that came from.

Content creates value, and value builds trust. From trust springs the willingness to part with dollars in return for even more value.

The universal nature of context

Of course, context isn’t something we only find in commercial transactions. It’s the empowering juice of fiction, as well.

In the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s current flick, Inglorious Basterds, we see what would otherwise be an overly long, annoyingly irrelevant conversation between a Nazi officer and a terrified farmer.

Why is the farmer terrified? Why is the viewer hooked? Because of the context of the scene. Beneath every seemingly innocent line is a foreboding sense of dread.

Idle chit-chat about milk and neighbors form the content. Fear and unthinkable consequences form the context. Without the context, all you have is a rather dull conversation.

We know something really dramatic and truly horrifying is about to happen. Right after Tarantino teases and torments us into a frenzy of anticipation.

How does he do that? He has mastered the art of context in his scenes.

We copywriters should take note.

Context as strategy

Effective context doesn’t happen by accident. We need to consciously create it.

Context comes from the writer’s clarity about her goals, juxtaposed against the expectations and tolerances of the audience.

In the context of content marketing, first we deliver valuable content, free and clear. As a gift. As a solution. As narrative bricks and mortar. And in doing so we earn the reader’s trust.

Once we’re trusted, we are now able to expand on our own agenda. We get to talk more about the intended outcome of the piece. That outcome might be a sale, a subscription, or even conversion to a new idea.

In a blog, we set out to deliver value. In an ad, we pitch solutions and overcome objections. In fiction, we infuse scenes with anticipation and emotion.

And in each case, when we understand the context we’re working in, we achieve our goal.

And so, too, does the reader. Because their context isn’t what you’re selling, but what they’re seeking to take away from what you’ve written.

Long live the new king.

About the Author: Larry Brooks is a bestselling novelist and the creator of Storyfix.com, an instructional site for fiction writers and those who love them.

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Why Content is No Longer King (And Who’s Taking His Place)

This week’s episode of SEM Synergy focuses on Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing. Bing director Stefan Weitz was today’s guest. He shared some great insider info on how Bing intends to draw more users and how Bing’s a boon to search marketers. It was great to have a real, live Bing rep on the show and I hope you’ll check out the interview, which starts around the 10 minute mark of the show. There’s a new engine in town, after all. Are my IM peeps ready?

According to a comScore report of Bing’s week two results, Bing is showing steady growth in search activity. The now-retired Live Search saw a 9.1 percent search share during its final week. A nascent Bing saw an 11.3 percent sure in its first week and 12.1 percent the following week. Microsoft’s search penetration saw a similar incline over the last three week’s, while the number of queries per user trended downward for Bing.

Speculation is circulating over the cause of the latter, with two opposing theories taking shape. Some suggest that a low number of queries per user could be the result of users finding what they’re looking for in fewer searches. Others think the low number of queries per user reflects user abandonment. This fact is leading those analysts to the conclusion that searchers are giving Bing a try, but loyalties have not yet been swayed. Support for this hypothesis comes in the form of Compete data that shows an uptick in Bing searches has not been paired with a decline in Yahoo and Google’s search share.

As for paid search, it looks like Bing saw an 8 percent jump in the number of search ads clicked. A peek at an eye tracking study by User Centric shows where user attention is focused on a Bing SERP. And would you look at that? Forty-two percent of Bing users are checking out right-rail ads, compared to 25 percent on Google. It may still be too early to know how success in the search advertising game could affect Microsoft’s pursuit of an ad deal with Yahoo, but some have already reduced their expectations that such a deal will take place.

So, we know that users and advertisers are showing interest in Bing, but how has the SEO community responded? Bing has shown encouraging support for webmasters and the SEO community, recently publishing a white paper, Bing: New Features Relevant to Webmasters. In it, readers will learn about non-standard results, changes to the categorization and presentation of results in SERPs, as well as info on MSNBot, Webmaster Center and what SEOs need to do to optimize for Bing.

Some say Google’s got cause for concern and others think Bing’s popularity’s a blip, but does anyone else smell a new engine to get excited about?

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SEM Synergy Extras - Bing-o!