Dumbing down

Photo by Nick Fewings / Unsplash

So, I am getting a lot of feedback on my blog (which I am very grateful for guys!), but one type of advice appears again and again - the advice of dumbing down the structure and content. Here's what I think about it.

The problem with a very complicated content and structure is not that people are stupid (they are not), but that they are distracted: by kids playing in the same room or by new Instagram notifications, or by pressing issues at the job. So the attention span they can give to you is very limited. Like no-sentences-over-20-words-long limited or no-more-than-2-links-by-post. If people don't understand where to click instantly, they will click on the next tab. So to maximize the number of clicks you should dumb down, right?

Not exactly:) Because the metrics you should look at are not the number of clicks, but the number of meaningful connections you make. This includes people who wrote to me with a question or comment (aliona.kuz@gmail.com), who wants portfolio review or advice, or just want to keep in contact for the future. My thinking is, that if I can't get enough attention for the person to read a long sentence, I for sure won't get enough attention for him/her to comment on my opinion piece or to dig into my tutorial.

At the same time by dumbing down my content I will make my blog un-useful for the people who actually do have time and motivation to grow and are looking for the content to help them. So what's the point of pretty, flashy, simple to the point of becoming trivial advice - for me or for others?