IMHO how to write on Habr

Acronis last week asked me to tell you about the experience on Habré. After the seminar, I promised to lay out the main points. You may find something useful below.



So, Habr, in my opinion, it is now the largest site of the Runet for educated people. By themselves, the posts are very well read, and this is one of the main parties. You can reach about six million different people in a couple of years.

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At the same time, there are about 3 thousand active (voting) users. The level of knowledge of the audience at the entrance to the post - in about 95% of cases is low, in 5% - expert (the division is estimated). Simply put, there are people who do not understand at all what you want to say (and most of them), and there are those who understand the topic head and shoulders better than you. Therefore, the best post is the one that runs from education to hardcore. There is a fairly high level of aggression at the site (more precisely, the desire to test the material for strength). Previously was extremely high. Medium or low reader attentiveness (previously high).



Of course, this is all my personal opinion, and you can argue. Now I will try to explain why I think so, and how it affects the posts. I build on the experience of about 1500 posts in 6 years, which I wrote myself or helped to prepare.



But let's start with the numbers. These companies somehow caused my interest because agencies or dedicated in-house PR work for them:





^{Data here for the end of August, I prepared them for another seminar (in Habré for blog owners).}

As the post rises

Suppose you have already written a post (this is a real feat, some gather for two years). After that, the first thing you need is to get through the selection filter, that is, to get through to the main one. That is, get a rating of +5 minimum. This is one of the most difficult parts for a new author, because you don't have any subscribers yet.



But you go to RSS and other subscriptions of those people who read the hubs, where you put your post. They vote and take you home, where the post is already much better seen by all readers. The first voices are quite aggressive: two factors play here. First, early readers are usually quite experienced Habr users, and therefore actively minus what weakens their position (your competitors), do not like personally, does not correspond to the level of the site (remembered at the time of registration) and so on. The second factor is a banal childish desire to see the effect. The minus immediately after the publication of the material clearly gives a good noticeable effect, and a minus a post with a rating of +200 does nothing at all. Therefore, the ratio of positive and negative votes after going to the main will be different, and a little more in your favor - a wide audience is more peaceful.



The next source of readings is the best rating per day. The higher the post rises, the more people will see it. Better to be in the top ten. Social proof works here - even if the reader does not like the headline, then being on the top of the top says that there is something interesting inside and you should not miss it.



Today, even if you work with a completely “zero” corporate blog without subscribers, you still send it to a few hubs, where there are a lot of people. If the post is interesting - it will raise. If not - well, do not try to ride a dead horse.



The coverage of the post is also increased by adding to favorites - the fact is that they, unlike the votes, are visible in the tracker from the “friends” of the one who clicked on the star. Useful posts - more coverage among active users.



The latest source - repost in social networks. When both resources like VP or ADME are able to use these things for traffic (and evaluate the rating of the material on them), Habr has been nodding repost buttons for several years. As a result, dialing a hundred placements in the FB is already somewhere around the median. My best posts for 500 thousand people of coverage took 1000-3000 reposts from Habr (they diverged more from outside). The main distribution of links - by mail, they say, "look, we may be interested." This is a huge plus, and about him - just below.



The tone of the first comments, your adequacy in the answer and the speed of the answer influence the rating very much. It is better to raise posts where the first comments are either positive (social proof) or negative, but you give an accurate answer. Comments below the fifth do not so strongly influence the general tone of the discussion - they can be answered not as promptly as the first. If you do not know something, and went to find out - it makes sense to say this, so that people can see that you are still responding and alive.



It is important to leave readers able to communicate with each other. If the comment is not directly addressed to you, it makes sense to wait until someone else answers it. In corporate blogs of companies that cannot afford to speak directly about a competitor, this is the best strategy of behavior - for example, you can answer the question “What's wrong with them” (softly and streamlined), and you can wait for those who come I have already tried out someone else's software, service, or hardware — and will tell you without equivocation.



The average term of the “natural” output of the topic to the main page is about an hour during working hours. The optimal schedule when publishing on a weekday at 10 am Moscow time is to get +6 for 500 readers, 1000-1200 readers for the first hour.

What attracts attention

First of all - the title. My recipe is a topic plus a paradox, a contradiction or “one mystery solved” plus accuracy. Without yellowness. Or, if this is a story, a couple of facts are enough.



It’s good if the headline announces the topic (“What do cicadas have in common with CSS?” Or “China: how to order production and supply”), doesn't look official (“Why customers consider the first technical support line to be idiots”), plus - expert facts, questions (“Do you know why atmospheric communication lasers do not work in the fall?”), Useful things (“How to mount 6 modems in one block”), warnings against errors (“To paranoids about free Wi-Fi”).



Examples:







<sup>+110 rating, 109 thousand views.







+101, 54 thousand views







+434, 236 thousand views</sup>



In the second place in importance is the picture before kata. I’ll say right away that any “glossy” image, especially on a white background, especially with American people or iron without a connection, is at once a cross on the material. From -20% to -80% reads.



The best picture possible is how you, with the installer, kick a box with a server in a darkened basement. Or like a rat stuck in a fan. Or shooting a specific chip (connector, cable or other parts related to the post) with the signature that it is. In general, the picture must be either beautiful technically and visually, or as vigorous as possible. Because vyrviglaznost shows that all this is real.







<sup>+157, 65 thousand views







+50, 37 thousand views</sup>



By the way, sometimes it makes sense to make two pictures at once. Only better when they are both horizontal - otherwise you will be minus for too dofig place on the main. The picture should not be too many details, "tearing" attention. Well, make sure that the picture is less than 300 Kb - many do not like the "heavy" things on the main one.



Then, for reading by priorities, it is important that you write to kata. This part is the main part of the post, and there it is necessary to immediately clarify what will be lower. The most popular mistake is an attempt to arrange an introduction to kata. Introduction is not necessary, start immediately with the essence. If you need to explain what it was - do it later, after the kata.



Bad example:



“We are a leading international company whose goal is to provide uninterrupted energy service to all consumers. Even with qualified engineers, sometimes difficult situations occur during assembly work, and in the article below we will consider them. ”



The first sentence immediately starts the filter "this is a post-trash from a marketer, it is better not to read." The second is solid water. It would be more correct to:



“If the janitor grabs the bare wire with his hands, the discharge can penetrate the wall of the turbine hall, as in the photo below. We are repairing supply lines around the world, and seen enough for the practice of all. I'll show you more photos now. ”



Please note that there is still the same “leading international company whose goal is to provide uninterrupted energy service to all consumers,” but already below. And in clear words.



So, everything to kata leads to one thing - the reader must understand whether your post is an advertisement and whether there is something interesting or useful for it. And to understand myself by the style of presentation and other features, and not by your digest, why you need to go to the post.



Well, if the phrase "read more" follows logically from the previous text. Or it cuts him off in an interesting place, where it is simply impossible to not click on “next”.



Finally, adding to favorites and the number of comments work - if this is a lot of business, and the topic is not “virgin” - they are more likely to read.

Structure

The text of the topic should be well structured. Not in terms of consistent presentation (this is just harmful), but in terms of splitting into separate parts. This is not necessary, but, according to my feelings, very well helps in the discussion. Many members of the community “scan” headlines and lists to decide if the topic is interesting for them - so the subtitles should contain valuable information. In general, they have the same requirements as for the topic header. The optimal structure is a large number of short paragraphs with the same short sentences, subheadings and lists. "Sheets" may be interesting because of the content, but in some form lose. Auxiliary attempts to mark the topic with colored headings, pictures or other markings of "landings" are practically useless. The audience can read.



If you change something in a post, keep in mind that it makes sense to mark the “UPD” in order not to put some commentators at a disadvantage. The post, unlike comments, is edited even after 5 years.



Tags tags are important to search. Habraposts are almost as high in search as wikipedic materials, so if you are aiming at the expert position in a question, it makes sense to start with this right away. More tags are still read, so writing them is short and meaningful.







^{Cool system material will naturally be high.}

The main principle is not to crush. Any action leads to opposition.

Everything is very simple. Smart people read you, and smart people hate it when they make at least some decisions for them. Phrases like "It will definitely suit you" and the like - like plastic foam over glass. Therefore, the only possible correct tactic is to lay out the facts in a row in the most understandable and convenient form and wait for the audience to make the decision.

Habr is a smoking-room

This is not the media, not the place of the quarterly report, but the community. You are interested in not only and not so much the facts (one FIG, if you need something on a specific issue, it is searched on forums and other resources), but a personal opinion. Remember that people read Habr for fun, mostly. Therefore, if your post turns out to be useful for them after it turns out to be interesting, you win. And without a personal assessment, such an outcome is rather unlikely. Even the same news, instead of giving in the spirit of a press release, is sometimes worth analyzing.

Lecture hall

Imagine that you are writing a topic for a person:

• Which has no time. Every extra second reading offtopic for him is critical.
• Which came on Habr a little to have a good time in a working break.
• Congratulations: your reader is always right. And surprisingly, this is most often true.
• Loving and appreciating requests to help in the framework of qualifications.
• Evaluating criticism as an aid, that is, a positive action.

The language of communication is simple. Even easier. And further.

Any sign of officialdom (even if any) instantly kills readability by 30-80%. That's all you need to know about the language. And about B2B posts, I always show this picture here:







^{+191, 133 thousand readings}

How to "punch" to the main

The main distribution of links for B2B-people - by mail, they say, "look, we may be interested." Managers often perceive Habr as a place where they can get an independent point of view on technology - specifically, its pitfalls and implementation features. Therefore, if you want to talk about something really cool and accessible to all hundreds of companies in Russia, you need to write very simply (major leaders in life will not translate marketing language into a human - they will ask someone), very honestly and with specific the facts.

Invites

At first, Habr was open for registration. Then registration became possible only by invitations-invites, and immediately after receiving the invitation it was impossible to publish - you had to dial 5 units of karma in the comments. To date, invites are almost useless because they do not represent high value for the community. However, they work fine as a deterrent mechanism inadequate.



The first publication on the IT topic is better to do directly from the sandbox. But there is an ambush: sandbox moderators do not always feel the audience well - for example, one of my friends twice rejected the post, which then, after an invite from me and publishing “directly,” dialed +86. This example is not unique.



Posts are commented on by everyone. Registered users write directly, unregistered or read only through the moderation system. The comment that came to moderation is visible to you as the author of the post and also to the moderator. If you do not decide what to do with it, within 3-7 hours, then, as a rule, the decision will be taken by the moderator. It is logical and correct to accept all comments (even critical ones) that comply with the rules of the resource. The reason for rejecting a comment, if it matters, can be explained via PM - for R / O it also works.



Beating comments that comply with the rules of the resource, but you personally don’t like it, of course, is possible, but it immediately leads to the fact that a person is offended and begins to criticize you already in his social network. If you work for a brand image (and all those who lead corporate blogs here, they work for it) - it is better to reveal the negative in public and correctly resolve it. The only moment is perhaps not immediately, but in an hour or two, when there will be a little more opinions. And anyway, they will come to you with this negative, if that, having received an invite. No problem.



Invites appear for +50 karma (first time), for +50 post rating (once per post), for purchasing a corporate package (for employees), for getting out of the sandbox, and when the administration wanted to give someone an invite. The one who invited you the last time - your “habrapapa” - he and you will have such a mark in the profile. This does not affect your relationship on the resource. Although, for example, when I invited V. Bashurov and he scored +400 karmas for his post about how he was doing “The Field of Miracles”, I received about +5 karmas from those who were not too lazy to go in and check out where he came from. took it.

Karma and rating

Today, karma and rating have almost no practical significance. More precisely, these indicators are extremely insignificant. Karma more than 25 is enough to solve all the tasks on the resource. The rating quickly becomes outdated and reset, so it makes no sense to bother with it. Previously, karma was the accumulator of the rating (the rating could not fall below the value of karma), but now it accumulates only 10% of the nominal value. The rating was needed for top users (a link to it was from each page of the site), in the new design it was just returned.



Being the first on Habré (or resource administrator), you can use the “voice” - write a special kind of post like tweet, which is shown on the main one. "Voice" is not commented and not rated. He is also anonymous, so you can afford something like April Fools. “Okay, it's time to admit, this whole epic with ReactOS was a joke. Do you really think that we have been developing an analogue of Win95 for so many years? No, really, wilt? ”.



Negative karma imposes restrictions on commenting and posting. However, once you can do a reset - and reset the karma to zero 24 hours after the activation of the function.



Corporate rating also has no practical sense, but it is often put in the KPI heads of PR-departments of IT-companies. For example, when I learned that premiums in Mail.ru depend on the first place on a resource, I could not resist and forced them out for a week. Hi, amigos.



With the latest redesign, the rating has again begun to acquire meaning: now the tops of companies and users are again in the top menu.

Readability of old posts

Older posts are growing very strongly and fun because of the search and the fact that those who read your blog for the first time often go down the material.



Here are the data on a pair of Beeline posts numerically, so that it is clear how the number of views changes from the freshness of the post. The old ones are also read, and actively: “ 137 thousand kilometers of the network with a total bandwidth of 8 Tb / s ” - on June 25, 2013 it was at 63,048 views, at the beginning of August 2016 - 92,500 views. This is a typical example of an "entertaining" post. The purely technical material “ Numbers on the screen of the phone: caller ID, CLIP, CLIR, CLOP, CLOR and other ” on January 17, 2014 was 16.197 views, at the beginning of August '16 - 45.300. There are a couple of examples of 70% growth in one year.



But the quarterly statistics Mosigra:







^{Do you see? From 1.5 to 4 thousand views every day, even if you do not write anything.}



Like that. Hope it was helpful.



UPD: My thesis about the entertainment direction was not very true. deniskin showed closed statistics, three quarters of people returning within a month, more than half of the incoming traffic use Habr according to the Wikipedia model. It is logical to assume that the model of consumption of entertainment refers to those who sit here regularly, and the model of obtaining knowledge a la Vicky is still for the most part of the audience. The idea is that the entertainment has now moved to GT, Denis purposefully makes Habr a professional community.