The Notes You Don’t Play
June 8, 2011 
Author 
In 
2005 called. They want their “internet marketing expert” posts back. The social web as a whole is clearly as susceptible to linkbait as it always was. We know this. But the reason this specific discussion spread so far is simple: there are more people here now who weren’t the first time and have no idea the thread is a repost.
But this post isn’t about so-called experts. I wouldn’t spend more than a paragraph of your time on that discussion. Why am I leading with it then? Interestingly enough a few of you wrote in asking if I had seen the topic. Well, yeah. But I’m not going to cover it. Because readers here are smarter than needing a post about not being taken in by charlatans.
Instead I’ll use it as the impetus to discuss why you should consider staying out of the obvious discussions of your category. Or at the very least take a unique response.
It’s simple and is something I discovered as an editor years ago. It is what you don’t publish that defines your site. I believe in this philosophy as a writer and editor of both words and music.
With my early audio productions I tried to throw as much as I could into the mix. It was only with maturity I realized that the absence of specific notes allowed what you do play to have the highest impact. No clutter standing in the way between your best ideas and the listener.
Similar with writing words. Edit yourself. Ruthlessly. Make your sentences lean and tough and the ideas within them will stick.
And no different with the concepts you choose to use in your editorial calendar. Linkbait as part of your mix is fine. It absolutely makes sense as a certain percentage of posts (as long as you are the leader). But it should still be something that is of clear differentiation from others in your category.
It is the deliberate absence of specific content that lets your brand develop a personality when held against the rest of a category. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be consistent, but you should do so in a way that does not sacrifice having a voice.
Do you have the executive perspective on content?
If you have really embraced the notion that every company is a media company and are interested in developing a trusted and meaningful voice, you need the executive perspective on content. What that means is not running off and publishing everything and anything because you can. It means having a grasp on your narrative and playing within that space. An experienced editor won’t publish to fill the page. They understand a positive signal to noise ratio is far too important to protect.
Readers will return to sites with a reputation
If your site didn’t publish for a day, would people return? If it has the right reputation the answer is yes. This type of reputation is acquired by applying a filter to the infinite spectrum of potential ideas.
If you cover everything, you’ll never be trusted for anything
Think carefully about your favorite, niche sites. Now think about the broader sites in that category. It probably breaks down like this: the popular sites cover the obvious stories. The stories you read the headline, skim through and go to the next thing. It’s not that the content isn’t fine, but in all likelihood you aren’t really so concerned about connecting with the author or carefully analyzing each word. Why would you? That site covers everything and so can’t really be trusted for anything.
Now consider again the must-read sites. They don’t appeal to everyone. But those they do appeal to are really interested. They’ll read the whole story, feed back to the author and want to connect with that community, subscribe and return. And, despite uneven levels of popularity, the ideas from the niche site end up penetrating the category much deeper. They achieve this through focusing only on what matters to their community who has a specific worldview or set of interests. Their content is designed to fit this.
As with anything creative that involves an ongoing narrative, it is the notes you don’t play that matter most.
image credit: ricardomiguel.pt from Shutterstock
Melissa {momcomm} replied | Jun 8, 2011 (1 comment)
This is truly brilliant. We live in a world of social media where thoughts go straight from brain to computer without a filter. I love how you say that readers will return to a site with a reputation. Just because we CAN say it, doesn’t mean we should.
Adam Singer replied | Jun 8, 2011 (597 comments)
Thanks Melissa :)
Geoffrey Talbot replied | Jun 8, 2011 (6 comments)
Great article, it is definitely what is not said that defines us. Being specific is as much about leaving things out as it is about including something…
Both restraint and openness build trust yes?
I write a seven sentence daily blog so it is really important for me to learn to be succinct?
Thanks for your blog
Geoff
Jana Quinn replied | Jun 8, 2011 (3 comments)
This post is brimming with so many things I want to comment on, that I don’t know where to start.
The overall theme – the notes you don’t play – is fantastic. It reminds me of visual art and the concept of negative space. Although it seems like there’s nothing “there,” it’s all part of the design.
I also liked your comments on broad sites vs. niche sites. I have general sites I go to for exactly that – general information. But the ones I’m really passionate about and have more participation on are those that are more detailed and finely focused on a particular aspect of a larger idea.
Thanks for the awesome post!
Sarah Jones replied | Jun 8, 2011 (1 comment)
Hi Adam,
This is sound advice! Would you recommend publishing a posts outside your niche once in a while?
Peter Bystrom replied | Jun 9, 2011 (2 comments)
Many years ago I was involved as an editor for a Swedish publisher in a joint educational venture with a British publisher. Their designer had filled every spread with text chunks and pictures. You hardly knew where to start reading and which pictures to look at. I told my British colleagues that we needed some blank space on the pages to rest our eyes and reflect on what we had read/seen.
When I got the next proof there was a minor blank space at the bottom to the right on one of the spreads with an arrow followed by: “Here’s an eye rest for you, Peter!”
I often wondered why we didn’t see eye to eye on book design. Perhaps Britain being a densely populated nation where everything had to be squeezed in, whereas there’s plenty of room for us Swedes, And we’re being used to having a lot of “blank spaces and eye rest” (especially in the winter time).
iCheap Marketing & Design replied | Jun 9, 2011 (3 comments)
I’m agreed with your point of view and one important think you’ve wasted first 3 paragraphs in just telling us “Reader don’t have time to read irrelevant content”. Anyhow the most important point is in your post that tell to the world about your expertise and skills.
Adam Singer replied | Jun 9, 2011 (597 comments)
Appreciate the comment …but just FYI, we will all take you more seriously if you comment as a human :)
Peter Bystrom replied | Jun 9, 2011 (2 comments)
Many years ago I was involved as an editor for a Swedish publisher in a joint educational venture with a British publisher. Their designer had filled every spread with text chunks and pictures. You hardly knew where to start reading and what pictures to look at. I told my British colleagues that we needed som blank space on the pages to rest our eyes and reflect on what we had read/seen. When I got the next proof there was a minor blank space at the bottom to the right on one of the spreads with an arrow followed by: “Here’s an eyrest for you, Peter!”
John McMahon replied | Jun 10, 2011 (1 comment)
Great post, Adam. To your point regarding whether people come back if you don’t post for a day or two – another great test is whether people will come back to read your post from a day or two ago or if they just “mark as read” and move on (congrats on passing that litmus test w/me!). Basically, are you posting can’t miss information?
I’ll definitely be keeping this in mind before posting to any of my accounts in the future.
Vaspers the Grate aka Steven E Streight replied | Jun 11, 2011 (3 comments)
LIke you, I am an audio editor, as I operate a podcast show and I also make techno music with a DAW (digital audio workstation), the Sony ACID studio.
When I was first mixing loops, samples, and live music, I tended to load a lot into each song. Eventually I discovered that less is more, and although I still like to have a lot of things going on, I also let a song have sections that are spare, sparse, uncluttered. Some songs are rich and full, but others are severely minimalistic.
But even in fully loaded, complex, richly ornamented songs, it usually provides relief to the ear to have a section suddenly be more open, less ornate, more emphasis on a simple beat or melodic line.
Blogs are similar. Yours strikes a good balance. I’ve just started reading it, thanks to Dave Land tweeting a link to a post here, but so far, you have greatly impressed me with your style and your substance…and your writing skills.