A reader noticed some changes to ToolGuyd content, let’s talk about it.
Weekends?
I typically put work in on the weekends anyway, and switch to a 7-day posting schedule over the holiday season. This year a lot of regulars are checking in on weekends, so why wait until Monday?
Post Count?
Post count also tends to go up over the holiday season. By this much? Not usually in October. I’ve been avoiding a backlog, and there are other reasons, discussed below.
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Post Titles?
I’m testing more pragmatic titles after observing industry trends, and it’s more of an experiment.
A reader purchased a 4-pack of penlight flashlights for $9. That’s super cheap. Are they any good? I’m not buying any tools right now, at least nothing that isn’t a high priority, until I can clear my backlog.
So the title becomes “Are these Ultra-Cheap Pocket Flashlights any Good?” It’s a genuine question I’m asking, and I don’t have to think too hard about it. I can always update titles later.
The main thought, question, or feature could go into the title. That way there’s no confusion about the point, and regulars know what they’re getting into before they click.
Search and news feed engines today tend to value “news,” timeliness, and freshness.
This is one of ToolGuyd’s highest performing posts of all time: A Completely Unexpected Ryobi Tool Deal at Home Depot. That post had 100X the pageviews of a typical medium-interest post.
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A lot of websites have moved to super-shady title tactics. Let’s say a mechanics tool price was discounted from $49 to $45. One group of sites will say stores are “selling it for pennies.”
Buy something get something for free cordless power tool promos? “Home Depot is giving away free tools, claim one now.”
With tool discovery posts, I’m experimenting with being more conversational without being clickbaity.
Have I seen a change in attention from regular readers, good or bad? Not that I can discern, so there’s no apparent gain or detriment there. So the experiment is more to see if that pulls in more new visitors.
If I order one for review later, the title can be more searchable, such as “[Brand] [Type of Tool] Review.”
There’s More
I’m experimenting with a more agile posting structure.
This is a unique finger ratchet set that’s available on Amazon. There was another listing, but it’s not available right now. It looks to be made by Infar, a hand tool company based in Taiwan.
I’ve never seen palm/finger ratchets like that before. It’s available in 10mm and 13mm sizes, and square drive adapters let you turn them into palm ratchets that can work with other socket sizes.
Seems pretty interesting if you ask me. So why haven’t I posted about it yet? Time. Priorities.
At one point I moved to a “just one post per tool or topic if possible” approach. Now, it seems more beneficial to not worry about that.
Last week I discovered an interesting Halloween-themed folding knife. Was it post-worthy? I was interested enough to read up on it, so yes – I proceeded with a quick post.
When researching that post I came across another of a very different style. I ordinarily would have added it to my queue, for posting another time. When? So I proceeded with a quick post rather than risk rediscovering it 4 months from now.
Greater agility, fewer obstacles – that’s the goal.
What About Recent Tool News Posts?
A tool brand sponsored and prioritized influencers and provided a dearth of media resources. We’ve had 2 years of conversations about this. It was still appreciated.
So, I published posts using whatever images, information, and details were made available.
Why not just one post? Smaller product-specific posts are easier to work on one at a time, and provide ToolGuyd with greater benefits.
And if they provided nothing as they did last time? I would have posted using whatever I could scrape together from public sources.
Whenever I do this – with any brand – almost like clockwork someone will then reach out with updated images and information, and it always wastes so much of my time rewriting posts.
Would you rather learn about a product today in any capacity, or wait 6 months? Something is better than nothing, and allows me to keep moving forward.
This Time of Year
Q4 is always a good time for experimentation, as I tend to do is keep a closer eye on post performance and indicators of reader and visitor interest. I typically try out new post formats.
What works or doesn’t work carries over into the new year. Or doesn’t.
This year, there’s just a lot going on at once. Plus, keep in mind what I said in this post: Cool Tools, Deals, and Gift Ideas . Some readers always say that a lot of the holiday deals don’t interest them. So, I’m working on some posts about tools that I think will, and the results will help determine what I prioritize in November and December.
Once I pick up the pace for the holiday season, it gets really hard to slow down until the first or second week of December. ToolGuyd has been like that for as long as I can remember.
bob
keep up the good work!
Rob H
Thank you for the effort you put into this site. It’s a daily stop-in for me.
Cory
This flashlight post also helps explain the Hilti Posts. You type up what you know, and then go back and update it later. Of course, the old hey Hilti, I did a post on all your new tools… well what you shared. And If I can paraphrase Rod Tidwell from the movie Jerry Maguire, “Show me the details.”
Enjoy all the posts… and all you commenters. A few commenters have moved me from pass to sold.
Stuart
Hilti makes some good tools, and my primary USA contact is fantastic.
I prefer comprehensive reporting, but can work with little and even no support.
My options were to i) completely exclude them, ii) nag for more details and answers, which might take months to trickle in and consume an exhaustive amount of everyone’s time, or iii) make do with what they were willing to provide. It seemed like the right choice, to make do with what’s available.
I thought I was then, but then I got questions.
fred
What you say makes sense. I spend most of my tool-buying dollars on gifts. I’ve become the “dad-grandfather-uncle- great uncle” that you get tools from at Christmas. If others are like me – it makes sense that they are paying more attention to finding new stuff and sales in Q4. So. Q4 is logically a time of opportunity for TG.
BTW – those thumbwheel ratchets do seem a bit unique. But I’m noting a trend for what some (like Vim) are calling dual-drive sockets – or others (like Astro Pneumatic) calling nano sockets – that have both external and internal drives.
ToolGuyDan
Not sure if I missed it, but where’s the signup page to be part of your extended family, Fred? 🤣
You have some lucky people in your life. I hope they recognize your effort, and don’t just dismiss you as the “uncle who gave us bit-ratchets when we asked for an espresso machine”. It’s the one downside of being an aficionado of something broadly useful: it’s hard to spot the line between “here’s [an upgraded version of] something they wanted” vs. “here’s an obscure specialty tool”.
Stuart
Speaking for myself, at some point I recognize what someone could use or might like. What would they buy with a gift card vs. what might they buy with cash? Combine that with strong familiarity of the product category, and gifting gets a little easier. Asking also helps. Sometimes random is good too.
fred
I like to buy gifts that the recipients may have expressed interest in (or not) – will make their jobs or life easier and are perhaps too pricey for them to purchase themselves. My descendants will soon enough get my money – but while I live, I’d like to think that they find use of and enjoy my gifts. For my children – at their stage of life – I’ve found that giving experiences (concerts, theater tickets, tours etc.) is now of more value to them than material goods. For the next generation down – earning a living in trades or pursuing hobbies – tools often make sense.
TomD
There’s a skill to finding “that tool” that they need to upgrade to a nice version but never feel it’s worth spending the money on.
S
I had this last year, where I gifted the men in my family all a Rovyvon A3 flashlight. I’m the families lighting addict, so as expected, it was a typical lukewarm reception.
Most of them have now approached me during events later on in the year to tell me how great/amazing/handy it unexpectedly is.
And that really is the point in some of this. To find a device/tool that the people we’re buying them for really need it, but don’t know they need it.
zchris87v
In the era of “we asked 5 mechanics what their favorite tool was, and they all agreed” articles (funny how not one single person ever disagrees), it’s refreshing to see honest titles. I don’t even bother finding these posts in the following/feed of my browser, I just keep this page’s tab open and refresh it.
Matt_T
“Would you rather learn about a product today in any capacity, or wait 6 months?”
For news publish with what have when the story breaks.
“Last time, they came to me afterwards with updated images and information, and it wasted so much of my time rewriting posts.”
Set a hard cut-off for updating news articles. I’m thinking a few hours at most. Nobody expects news articles to be updated beyond then and I doubt many go back to re-read them. You could also look at your post article update page views, and maybe affiliate revenue if it’s page specific, to see if the extra effort was worth it.
Joseph
It’s fascinating to understand the determining factors for your articles and how you prioritize them. Thank you for both the transparency and effort you put into all of this.
Stuart
The reason I’ve been stomping my feet about influencer marketing is because I don’t want “what do I get out of it?” to be a determining factor. That would mark a strategy shift I don’t want to have to make.
Content strategy is far more complex than I let on. But sometimes it’s simple.
Consider this post – https://toolguyd.com/epic-milwaukee-packout-workshop/
Where did that come from? Why did I post about when I did?
https://toolguyd.com/dewalt-multi-charger-dcb1404-power-controller-dcbpc1615/#comment-1631193
A reader commented about paying high prices for multi-chargers at home. I thought “the example might be a home garage setup, but looks can be deceiving.” And that prompted me to write about the cargo box workshop.
The post doesn’t have any product links. It might not have positive impact to my bottom line. But it’s interesting, or at least I thought so.
Greg H
I hate to say it but I’m not sure you can avoid titles sounding click-baity. While your logic is sound about a title like “is this flashlight any good,” there are far too many sites that do use it as clickbait. But in most cases, I’ll see what the site is first before judging too hard, and I’ll often read your articles regardless of how the title is phrased if it’s something I think I’ll be interested in.
I certainly appreciate your honesty about things; you don’t see that much. I do appreciate your approach to things and tend to read your posts ahead of other tool posts that appear in my news feed
Stuart
Clickbait vs conversational pragmatism, for lack of a better way of putting it (could be technically inaccurate) is like the difference between a gimmick and an innovation. Is it practical, or deceptively useless?
I don’t want to waste a reader’s time. If you’re on the front page, you get an image connected to the topic, and a title, with neither decided upon haphazardly. You should know what the post is about before you click, and you should know what you’re in for within seconds of reading the first paragraphs.
If the title is terrible, regular readers will usually let me know.
Roger
I too check in at least twice a day Love the new content and constant updates. I read every new post whether it’s something I’m interested in or not. I always learn something.
Thank you for what you do.
S
I do as well, in many cases because other products related to the original post are buried within that better relate to my needs
TomT
Stuart,
Just keep doing what you’re doing. No apologies necessary. I’ve been following this site daily for over a decade and you are one of the only ones still putting out content from a true perspective and not selling out, and we all appreciate that, truly. Keep your business model as you intended and you will never go wrong.
Stuart
Thank you, I appreciate it!
To be fair, I worked on and then abandoned a draft about similar before the question came in earlier today. There was bound to be a post, and the reader’s email helped me focus it.
For the first 5 years, I had a strict “I don’t work for you” attitude when dealing with tool brands. I then adopted an “I’ll cooperate better because it’s in readers’ and ToolGuyd’s best interest” mindset. It’s been 12 years, and that approach works very well with some brands but has led to a steep imbalance in benefits with others.
I’m an idealist. I can change my business model if need-be, but I don’t want to. It’s inevitable, I just kept hoping there’d be more time.
It’s like resisting the dark side of the Force. There is extreme appeal and pull, and you want to embrace it, but you know it’s not how things should be.
TomD
I was a bit surprised at the Hilti posts (as they sounded a bit sour grapes at times) but then I realized what you were doing and am fine with it, though so much red but not Red Army both confuses and intrigues me.
Stuart
Hilti tools are decent, and my primary contact there is excellent.
My options were to i) post coverage in a timely manner with whatever was available, ii) say “it’s not worth it” and simply exclude them from post consideration, or iii) wait months until they were ready and sink time into content that delivered less value for ToolGuyd and its readers.
Excluding helps no one. Waiting doesn’t help ToolGuyd. Posting with what’s available? Helps everyone a little, but not to maximum potential. Seemed like the right choice at the time, and a good option for more agile posting moving forward.
Eric Glass
Ever since I was late on the deep Lowe’s discounts of the Craftsman V series tools last year, I’ve been a frequent visitor here. No complaints about the post frequency!
Andrew Munczenski
I like the info i find here. I check the site daily.
IronWood
Stuart, first off thanks for what you do. You balance the influences and conflicts with transparency and idealism; and that’s why you have a readership that trusts you. I like the mix of tool profiles, reviews, deals, and industry news, some short some longer. I think you’ve been doing this long enough to have pretty good instincts about what this site should accomplish and feel like. You’ve even fostered an informative and respectful comment section, which is a big part of why I come here.
So, what I’m saying is this: you are doing a good job. And if you feel the need to make tweaks and changes that have real value, you’ve earned our trust to do it. And these kind of existential behind-the scenes posts are a big part of why. Keep it up, and do what you do!
Stuart
Thank you, I appreciate it!
There’s never been a user manual about how to operate this thing. I make it up as I go along, and if something works I stick with it until it doesn’t.