You may not have considered this consciously but if you have written content then you have in some form made a call on whether to write a deep dive on a topic or to write beginner content.
So what’s the difference, what are the benefits of each and which is the better option for you?
What is deep dive content?
Exactly what it sounds like, a deep dive blog post takes an in-depth look at a topic and gives a high level of valuable information and insight about the subject. The reader will feel like they have had a full lesson and achieve a high level of understanding on reading (or listening/watching!).
This type of content takes time to research and develop and will not appeal to every part of your audience.
What is beginner content?
Beginner content is, funnily enough, aimed at a beginner. It is a surface-level look at the subject aimed at people who have little or no previous knowledge to give them an introduction. Beginner content is a great way to let people who don’t have knowledge of your area know that you know what you are talking about, as explaining something in a clear way indicates a good level of understanding.
This type of content is quicker to write and will have broader appeal as anyone who has an interest in your area will be able to quickly and easily read and understand it.
What are the benefits of each type of content?
Assuming that your content is of high quality, let’s look at the benefits you might expect from producing each type of content.
Beginner content appeals to a wider segment of your audience, it gives people a quick hit of information that they will find useful and does not require them to spend a lot of time or energy consuming it.
That means that this type of content tends to provide you with shares and increased traffic as your audience can quickly consume it, see the value and will pass it on to their own audience as they know that a large section of people will find value in it.
Deep dive content, on the other hand, appeals to a narrower segment of your audience but will have a higher value for the people that it appeals to. They have taken the time to consume something that requires more of them, on reading your post they have gained a thorough understanding of the topic and as a result, will feel connected to your post.
The bottom line of all this is that deep dive content tends to provide you with backlinks, as people who have found value in your content want to share but are willing to do that in a more committed way.
Which is better?
The answer is, naturally, it depends!
Sometimes you want to fire out quick hits of information with wide appeal to increase traffic to your site and raise your profile with a larger audience of people who may not have a lot of knowledge of what you do.
Other times you want to put more effort into a deeper explanation on a specific topic, providing extremely useful content that a smaller section of your audience will connect with and link to, giving you a permanent source of traffic.
So the best approach is generally a mix of the two. Some pillar posts with a deep dive into specific topics with a scattering of beginner content in between. Done well this shows all of your audience that you understand your area extremely well, generates search traffic as well as referral traffic from sharing and introduces you to new people as an expert in your field.
What are your next steps?
I do like a plan!
Plan out your potential topics, pick a few that you can do a deeper dive into and a lot of topics where you can write some killer beginner content. Keep a list of ideas as inspiration strikes.
And then start writing! As you think of info on each topic, populate each of your ideas with text, imagery and even video that will explain the subject.
The main aim with a blog post is to connect with your audience in some form, it is helpful when writing to keep in mind the kind of connection you are aiming for as well as who you hope will read your post, as it will colour the tone of your writing and directly affect how successful your blog is.
Once you feel that you have all of the info that a post requires and that your tone is correct, fine-tune your text and publish.
Make sure to share your posts to social media channels as well as promote them on your website to maximise visibility and traffic.
