#4: If You Don’t Know…Research It!

To my horror, I started sprouting silly talk in a presentation:

“We can spearhead this initiative by creating a paradigm shift to holistically evaluate results.”

I got blank looks and the rest of the presentation went down in flames.

It wasn’t because I was jittery. I sprouted silly talk because I didn’t know my topic like the back of my hand. If I didn’t know, I can’t do and I definitely can’t talk about it using simple words (tip: authoritative = simple).

Beat Silly Talk with Research

Researching is laughably easy in this day where information wants to be free. Just be organised when you’re doing so.

These few steps work for me:

1. Write down a topic brief
2. List as many questions as you can about the topic
3. Find answers to those questions by searching…
   1. The web: Wikipedia, Digg, Google, related Forums
   2. Social webs: Ask your friends & followers on Twitter, MSN, or Facebook.
   3. Competitors: What are they doing, and how are they doing it.
   4. Offline sources: Reference Libraries and interviews with experts.
4. Check source credibility and if possible the content creator’s qualifications.
5. Review your answers, refine your questions, repeat.
6. You got it when you can write a two-liner that summarises your findings.

For additional reading, head over to Create Web Content for their most brilliant post on Researching Niches.

 

---

A day, a tip | 100 days, 100 useful content tips

Tip categories: Create, Source, The Truth, Spread & Be Nice.
Got an idea, opinion or critique?
Please share it with me @skybe077.

Credits: Featured image from Please Take Note