How to Write Online Content for a Newbie and Non-Expert Audience—and Why You Should

By JC Serrano

Every business belongs to a niche. Within that niche are people who share the same interest. These people include CEOs, experts, professionals, clients, and enthusiasts.

But what about the newbies? What about the people who just found out about your niche?

While it's easier to sell to enthusiasts, you don't want to ignore the prospects who are just developing an interest in your products and services. In some cases, the first product a customer buys will be the only one they'll have for a long time. And since finding new customers is a vital part of your marketing strategy, you need to consider the first-time buyers, too.

Why write for general appeal?

Blogging is a great way to provide resources for the products you sell. Some people don't know your product is the solution to their problems, so you tell them what your product is, what it does, and how it will help them. Providing informative content and helpful instructions can sometimes attract an audience better than a promotional ad.

However, bloggers sometimes forget that not all of their readers are experts and enthusiasts. As a result, they use niche terms, acronyms, and slang that means nothing to newcomers. Newcomers who are unable to understand or find value in niche tips and tutorials, will either give up or find another blog that's easier to read.

The goal here isn't to dumb down your content. There's a way to cater to both newbies and long-time readers without making it difficult or annoying for either one.

5 tips on how to write online content for newbies and non-experts

Let's discuss a few tips on how to write online content for a non-expert audience so your blog can speak to more people:

Tip #1: Explain niche language

One of the hurdles newcomers have to overcome is to learn the language of a niche. For example, if someone's new to the smartphone game, they won't know how good a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Plus chip is. Likewise, they won't know how that compares to other versions and other brands.

Each time you introduce niche-specific terminology, you should briefly explain them or link sources for people who want to read more. Instead of people getting confused and leaving your site to find a more digestible blog post, they will stay on your domain and get all of their information from you.

Tip #2: Spell out acronyms

Speaking of niche language, you also need to spell out acronyms. Spell it out the first time you introduce it, then use the acronyms every time after.

There are a lot of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) blogs that talk about ROI and CTAs without spelling them out. For example, if people don't know ROI means “return of investment,” they won't know what “getting great ROI” means. Likewise, people who don't know that CTAs mean “Calls to Action” won't know what to do when you tell them “use CTAs for your blog.”

Not only is this a quick fix for older blog posts, but it also won't annoy the experts and enthusiasts who read your blog.

Tip #3: Link to other blog posts

No one wants to repeat themselves. This is especially true when writing blogs for a specific niche. It's also why bloggers don't explain concepts and spell out acronyms every time.

When you writing online content for non-experts but you feel like you can't fully contextualize a subtopic or concept in a few sentences, link a sub-post dedicated to a full explanation.

You can either:

• Link them in a keyword (organic links).
• Directly point people to the sub-post (“If you want to read more about CTAs, read our previous blog post.”).

Think of these links as citations. People who need more context can go to one of your citations and read them. Those who don't—like experts and enthusiasts—won't have to.

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Tip #4: Write posts for beginners

Instead of jumping right into expert-level topics, you can start with basic tips and beginner's guides. If you've been blogging for a while, you can occasionally post beginner-friendly content for the newcomers.

The key word here is “occasionally.” If you've already built an audience of experts, a sudden change in your content isn't going to work. You want to give your core audience (experts and enthusiasts) what they're looking for while occasionally catering to the newbies who stumble into your website.

These beginner-friendly posts can also work like the “citations” we talked about in Tip #3. You can link these guides in posts discussing more advanced topics.

Tip #5: Give examples

Sometimes, newbies still can't grasp a definition in one explanation.

For example, you can say that a high return of investment (ROI) means “you get more benefits for the work and money you put into something.” However, some newbies don't know what those benefits are, how that relates to a low ROI, and how that applies to their personal concerns.

Instead of just saying, “SEO marketing will get you high ROI,” follow that up with examples. What's the return? Is it site traffic? New customers? Brand building?

You can also give situational examples for how to use your product. For example, where do customers use your product? How does it help an average buyer? In what scenarios are they going to use it?

Tip #6: Use visuals

Another key to writing online content for non-experts is to make good use of visuals. Newbies sometimes struggle with context. Even after a brief explanation, spelling out the acronyms, linking resources, and giving great examples, some topics are still hard to grasp. This might be hard to imagine for an expert who writes about a niche full-time, but we're talking about beginners here. If someone's still learning, you have to make it as easy for them as possible.

For example, data and numbers are hard to grasp without comparison or context. If you say a processor has a benchmark score of 9331, people don't know what that means until it's compared to other numbers. So instead of listing off numbers and percentages, show them a graph or a diagram.

Infographics can also help newbies better grasp specific topics. And again, those who already know a thing or two won't find it unnecessary or annoying.

You can also use images to illustrate your point. Sometimes, newbies can't grasp what a headline is about or what an action means, so use stock images and footage to better show them the context.

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