4 ms·

I explained SEO to an 80 year old client with this metaphor

39 points by Stronico 15y ago

pmjordan 15y ago
That's a simile, not a metaphor!
- krmmalik 15y ago
  Oh yes, sorry. I always get the two mixed up.
- hugh3 15y ago
  A distinction I've always thought pretty pointless. There is, after all, no difference in meaning between "my love is like a red red rose" and "my love is a red red rose" (assuming that you're love isn't actually a red red rose in which case you need to get out more). This, however, isn't really a simile, it's more of an analogy. Similes are used for rhetorical or poetic purposes, whereas analogies are used for explaining things.
krmmalik 15y ago
I'm increasingly finding that using everyday metaphors is the best way to explain technical concepts to the technically challenged. Only this morning the VPS platform at our host suffered problems, and the best way that i could find to describe the cause of the downtime was to explain to my client that it was like having a washing machine that was malfunctioning due to problems with the power grid i.e. an engineer had no hope of fixing it even though its the machine in itself that is malfunctioning. His response was as follows (Edited for confidentiality)... "...Ok thanks. So I guess we wait for them to diagnose and fix…? Just out of interest, in the meantime (given your analogy), does the Host expect us to continue wearing our dirty panties (etc) because we couldn’t wash them or do they pay for us to get them washed elsewhere ie do they compensate us (financially or otherwise) for this disruption / additional time being spent? ..."
- hkmurakami 15y ago
  I have found that this is the case not only for technical matters, but for anything that is out of the audience's comfort zone. Putting things in terms of something that he can relate to in his every day personal life will immediately make things clearer.
mmuro 15y ago
The acronym itself explains it just fine. Quit trying to muddy the waters. Much clearer: "We are trying to make it easier for Google to find your website."
- pingswept 15y ago
  Sometimes a metaphor can use a familiar context to make an issue clearer. For example, "muddy the waters" is a great way of expressing briefly a more complex idea. You don't have to explain that water is clear, that mud is opaque. and that when you mix the two, you get something that's hard to see through.
- aasarava 15y ago
  Really? "Search Engine Optimization" explains it just fine? Sounds like you're trying to make Google's internal software work more efficiently. Not sure how a lay person would start with that and reach the conclusion that SEO is about trying to earn a higher score relative to every other website like yours.
NathanKP 15y ago
I too find that using real life similes is very efficient for explaining computers to older people. For example my favorite simile to use is to explain how a computer works, typically so an older person can understand why they need more memory for their computer, not a faster processor or bigger hard drive. The illustration goes like this: A computer is like a person studying at a library. The CPU is a person reading books. The RAM is a table at which they are sitting with their books spread out. The library shelves are the hard drive. The books in the library are their programs and documents. Using this illustration I then explain swapping to them. Imagine if a person is doing some serious studying and needs to have 20 books open at once to read but their table is only big enough to hold 10 books. As a result they have to get up and put books back on the library shelf, move other books off the shelf onto the table, then put those books back on the shelf to get the first books back off the shelf and onto the table. This slows down the person's studying a lot. I use this illustration to explain why you need more memory (table space) if your computer is swapping, and why you don't need a new hard drive (shelf space). This same illustration works for other things as well: A dual core processor is two people reading at the same table. You need a bigger table if you want both people to be able to use the table affectively. If the computer is running out of hard drive space it is like the library shelves are full. This basic illustration explains a lot about computers in a brief period of time, and I've had numerous people who don't understand how their computer works praise me for it, and say that now they really feel like they understand what is going on. I like finding simple explanations for complicated things.
- mauriciob 15y ago
  Wow. I explained the memory usage/needs in a very similar way to my uncle, only I said that the books were 'carried' by the person (memory), not put on a table. Yours is better, though. I'll be stealing that :)
- onemoreact 15y ago
  I like it. I used a similar idea for latency, but your example works well for why you need more ram vs a faster CPU etc. Word you are reading = registers; Page your reading = L1 cache; Book open on your desk = L2 cache; Book from library in your house = RAM with more letting you borrow more from the library.; Book in the Library = Disk Space; Books in other Library's you can get with inter library loans = Internet
klbarry 15y ago
I've always found people get it very well when I explain it like this: Me: "You know when you search on Google for stuff?" Them: "Yeah" Me: "And there's a list of things to click on? You usually look at the top ones first, right?" Them: "Yeah" Me: "I put your website on the top so people looking for what you sell will see your website first" Them: "Wow, that sounds great"
- pbhjpbhj 15y ago
  Them: "So, I'm going to sell Viagra and Cialis, I'll give you $100 and you put those pages at the top, thanks." [Later] Them: "Why aren't my pages at the top yet, I sent you the money yesterday."
scottkrager 15y ago
I've always used real estate to explain my web business. Americans are (still, somehow) obsessed with real estate, so it goes over well. Domain Names are land. Websites/Apps that site on top of a domain name are houses. A great house on a good piece of land in the nice part of town is what I try to own. Sometimes I just buy the land and build my own house. Sometimes I buy a really crappy house in a nice part of town and fix it up.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

39 points by Stronico 15y ago

pmjordan 15y ago

That's a simile, not a metaphor!

krmmalik 15y ago
Oh yes, sorry. I always get the two mixed up.
hugh3 15y ago
A distinction I've always thought pretty pointless. There is, after all, no difference in meaning between "my love is like a red red rose" and "my love is a red red rose" (assuming that you're love isn't actually a red red rose in which case you need to get out more). This, however, isn't really a simile, it's more of an analogy. Similes are used for rhetorical or poetic purposes, whereas analogies are used for explaining things.

krmmalik 15y ago

I'm increasingly finding that using everyday metaphors is the best way to explain technical concepts to the technically challenged. Only this morning the VPS platform at our host suffered problems, and the best way that i could find to describe the cause of the downtime was to explain to my client that it was like having a washing machine that was malfunctioning due to problems with the power grid i.e. an engineer had no hope of fixing it even though its the machine in itself that is malfunctioning. His response was as follows (Edited for confidentiality)... "...Ok thanks. So I guess we wait for them to diagnose and fix…? Just out of interest, in the meantime (given your analogy), does the Host expect us to continue wearing our dirty panties (etc) because we couldn’t wash them or do they pay for us to get them washed elsewhere ie do they compensate us (financially or otherwise) for this disruption / additional time being spent? ..."

hkmurakami 15y ago
I have found that this is the case not only for technical matters, but for anything that is out of the audience's comfort zone. Putting things in terms of something that he can relate to in his every day personal life will immediately make things clearer.

mmuro 15y ago

The acronym itself explains it just fine. Quit trying to muddy the waters. Much clearer: "We are trying to make it easier for Google to find your website."

pingswept 15y ago
Sometimes a metaphor can use a familiar context to make an issue clearer. For example, "muddy the waters" is a great way of expressing briefly a more complex idea. You don't have to explain that water is clear, that mud is opaque. and that when you mix the two, you get something that's hard to see through.
aasarava 15y ago
Really? "Search Engine Optimization" explains it just fine? Sounds like you're trying to make Google's internal software work more efficiently. Not sure how a lay person would start with that and reach the conclusion that SEO is about trying to earn a higher score relative to every other website like yours.

NathanKP 15y ago

I too find that using real life similes is very efficient for explaining computers to older people. For example my favorite simile to use is to explain how a computer works, typically so an older person can understand why they need more memory for their computer, not a faster processor or bigger hard drive. The illustration goes like this: A computer is like a person studying at a library. The CPU is a person reading books. The RAM is a table at which they are sitting with their books spread out. The library shelves are the hard drive. The books in the library are their programs and documents. Using this illustration I then explain swapping to them. Imagine if a person is doing some serious studying and needs to have 20 books open at once to read but their table is only big enough to hold 10 books. As a result they have to get up and put books back on the library shelf, move other books off the shelf onto the table, then put those books back on the shelf to get the first books back off the shelf and onto the table. This slows down the person's studying a lot. I use this illustration to explain why you need more memory (table space) if your computer is swapping, and why you don't need a new hard drive (shelf space). This same illustration works for other things as well: A dual core processor is two people reading at the same table. You need a bigger table if you want both people to be able to use the table affectively. If the computer is running out of hard drive space it is like the library shelves are full. This basic illustration explains a lot about computers in a brief period of time, and I've had numerous people who don't understand how their computer works praise me for it, and say that now they really feel like they understand what is going on. I like finding simple explanations for complicated things.

mauriciob 15y ago
Wow. I explained the memory usage/needs in a very similar way to my uncle, only I said that the books were 'carried' by the person (memory), not put on a table. Yours is better, though. I'll be stealing that :)
onemoreact 15y ago
I like it. I used a similar idea for latency, but your example works well for why you need more ram vs a faster CPU etc. Word you are reading = registers; Page your reading = L1 cache; Book open on your desk = L2 cache; Book from library in your house = RAM with more letting you borrow more from the library.; Book in the Library = Disk Space; Books in other Library's you can get with inter library loans = Internet

klbarry 15y ago

I've always found people get it very well when I explain it like this: Me: "You know when you search on Google for stuff?" Them: "Yeah" Me: "And there's a list of things to click on? You usually look at the top ones first, right?" Them: "Yeah" Me: "I put your website on the top so people looking for what you sell will see your website first" Them: "Wow, that sounds great"

pbhjpbhj 15y ago
Them: "So, I'm going to sell Viagra and Cialis, I'll give you $100 and you put those pages at the top, thanks." [Later] Them: "Why aren't my pages at the top yet, I sent you the money yesterday."

scottkrager 15y ago

I've always used real estate to explain my web business. Americans are (still, somehow) obsessed with real estate, so it goes over well. Domain Names are land. Websites/Apps that site on top of a domain name are houses. A great house on a good piece of land in the nice part of town is what I try to own. Sometimes I just buy the land and build my own house. Sometimes I buy a really crappy house in a nice part of town and fix it up.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]