Comparison posts serve a number of different purposes.  They can be used to review products, to lead off a poll or survey, as link bait, or even simply to communicate your personal opinion.

Here are 6 steps you can follow when writing comparison posts to ensure a great outcome for your readers.

Start With a Level Playing Field

You’ve probably heard the phrases “comparing apples with apples” and “comparing apples with oranges” before.  One means comparing two similar things, the other means comparing two different things.  They might also be used to describe fair and unfair comparisons.

Three point shooting of the Orlando Magic vs the Denver Nuggets, which is better?

This comparison is apples with apples – two basketball teams in the same league being compared on the same performance metric.

John had steak for dinner while Steve had coffee and cake for dessert, which meal would you prefer?

This comparison is apples with oranges.  Although the comparison seems relevant as they are both parts of the meal, deciding a preference based on the given information is impossible.  What if Steve also had steak for his main meal but John had fruit for dessert?  This potentially changes the decision from being about steak vs cake to fruit vs cake.

Present Equal Information

When comparing two things to each other make sure you present both in an equal light.  Returning to the sports exampe from earlier:

The Orlando Magic have shot 36% from the 3-point line this season while the Denver Nuggets have lost 14 games so far this season.

Does this information help make a comparison of the 3 point shooting performance of both teams?  No it does not.

Check Your Facts

Comparisons that claim to be fact-based need accurate information to back them up.

The site makes $30,000 a year in advertising.

If the facts are not available then try to avoid speculation, however if you wish to speculate or make a guess based on the limited information at hand be sure to state that in your post so that it is clear to readers.

Although exact figures are not disclosed we can estimate the site’s earnings by the price of an ad banner and the frequency with which all ad slots are sold out.

Beware of Implied Statements

In a comparison post the reader has an expectation that one thing will have better qualities than the other.  This expectation can mean that statements you make about one thing imply the opposite about the other, especially if you do not make a direct comparitive statement.

Restaurant A had very clean bathroom facilities.

If no further statement is made about bathrooms you have implied to the reader that Restaurant B did not have clean facilities.

Be Clear When Declaring the Better of the Two

When stating one is better than the other, support it with a summary or clear detail as to why.

Plugin A has more options and gives bloggers greater flexibility over how the output is displayed.

It is okay to simply state your personal preference, but make it clear and use it as a chance to educate the reader further.

Both plugins took about the same effort to implement but I prefer Plugin B because it lets me apply styling in the plugin settings, making it easier for non-coders like myself to change the style without having to edit any template files.

Watch out again for implied statements in your personal preference.

I prefer Plugin A because the code is very clean and easy to understand.

Are you telling the reader that Plugin B has messy code?

Turn it Into a Discussion

Not all comparisons need to lead to a definitive answer.  By leave some comparison points unaddressed, or leaving a few “tie breakers” for readers to answer in the comments, you invite your readers to participate and offer their own personal reasons for prefering one thing over another.

Do you have any tips to share on how to write effective comparisons? Leave a comment below.

Image Credit: Flickr

Tagged as: Blogging, Writing