There’s one big problem with knowing your topic well. Sometimes it’s really hard to teach others what you know, especially if they’re a little short on background information.

This is more true in some areas than others. If you use a lot of acronyms, you’re probably going to confuse people who don’t know what you’re talking about. Mentioning SEO or PPC may be obvious to an online marketer, but just try mentioning those to friends who don’t do so much online. Even the word “blog” is unfamiliar to many people.

While the people reading your website are at least tech savvy enough to find you, that doesn’t mean they’re advanced in any other ways.

I started a website design company as my first online effort as I was getting bored with medical transcription. My very first client taught me how difficult terminology can be. She was a dog breeder, and decidedly not into technology. But she knew she needed a website.

She was adamant. Her website must be compatible with “trains.” One of her friends had told her all about them, and it was vital that the site be compatible with “trains.”

She couldn’t believe I didn’t know what she was talking about. Didn’t I know my own business?

After a bit of back and forth, it hit me. She meant search engines.

Once I said that, she agreed that this was what she was after. She’d used the word “trains” to help her remember “search engine.” She just forgot the mnemonic.

You can see that in many people. They don’t go to a favorite search engine. They visit Google, Yahoo or Bing. They probably don’t even think of these sites as search engines. They’re more the brand name than the function.

It Happens in All Industries

It doesn’t matter which industry you’re talking about. There’s what outsiders know, what beginners know, what amateurs know and what professionals and experts know. These are all very different levels of knowledge.

Your site should be friendly to all the levels of knowledge you intend to serve. Have sections that are friendly to those who just don’t know so much about your topic.

Tutorials are one way to introduce information to various groups. Have the most basic information in tutorials that are clearly just the basics. Bring in more advanced information in more advanced tutorials.

You may want to have an email course set up to help beginners get comfortable. This encourages them to come back to your site to learn more information. You can offer more advanced courses as well, but be careful of having too many subscription links all over the place. You might confuse everyone that way.

Talk to Your Friends

If you aren’t sure if your site is friendly to people with different levels of knowledge on the topic, talk to your friends. Have them review it.

Try to have people with different levels of knowledge take a look. The one who says, “Oh, but I don’t know the first thing about (topic), I couldn’t possibly help,” is the exact person you want reviewing your site if you want to be useful to people without any basic knowledge.

Have them go over your site not only for content, but for ease of use. If you had much at all to do with the design of your site, you probably know too much about it to really be able to know where things don’t make sense. Watching other people use your site is very educational.

I’ve had a pretty frustrating time recently fighting a computer virus. Not, thank goodness, on my work computer. On my husband’s computer.

We’re pretty sure this was a real nasty! Hard to tell because not a single scanner of any sort that we tried could find so much as a trace of it. We used programs such as Malwarebyte’s AntiMalware, SuperAntiSpyware, Microsoft Security Essentials, Avast and more, uninstalling programs as needed to let other ones work, and not a single one found a trace of the problem. They all reported us clean, as did every online scanner I tried.

That’s hugely frustrating when you know for a fact there’s some sort of malware on there. The redirect on Google searches alone was a dead giveaway, and the sudden failure of the sound card driver turned out to be a potential symptom of some types of rootkits.

What to Do When Nothing Works

I debated trying ComboFix. That one is considered a bit risky, as it can do other things to your system if you get it wrong.

But the decision came down to wanting to be 100% certain that the damn virus was gone. With every other scanner coming up negative, I decided that I’d rather be certain.

So I reformatted his hard drive and reinstalled XP. Bye bye virus!

Good thing we have a backup of his stuff on my external hard drive, one that hasn’t been updated in months, but that’s a good thing when you’re talking mystery virus that you aren’t sure when it got on board. Good odds the backup is clean, and the data loss is minimal.

Finding the drivers for a computer the age of my husband’s computer… miserable, just miserable! I had to take my best guess for the ethernet card driver. Got it right so far as I can tell, though. There are a number of websites out there that can help you find drivers, although the best source is often the manufacturer of your computer. Safest, too.

Even before installing most drivers must come installing a good antivirus and antispyware. I put on Microsoft Security Essentials because it’s free and is supposed to be good. I know it didn’t find the virus when it was already on the computer, but neither did any other program, so there wasn’t much to do about that.

What to Do After Reinstalling the Operating System Due to a Virus

There’s a lot to be done after the operating system is back up. Lots of programs to reinstall. Data to put back on the computer.

But all that is much less important than a step I had my husband take, and took myself just because it’s a good thing to do once in a while.

Change passwords. And user IDs on important things like bank accounts where permitted.

The trouble is quite simply that there’s no knowing how much data was taken. It might have been a lot. It might have not been any. Without so much as a name for what he had, we just don’t know.

Thank goodness the accounts all look fine so far.

Changing your passwords and making them challenging is a good idea anyhow. I explained to my husband what is considered to be a more secure password these days, which he wasn’t aware of. His original choices weren’t dreadful, but not especially strong either. They should be better now.

I did the same on many of my accounts too. So many of the passwords I have are the same as they were years ago. It was time for a change. And now they’re much stronger.

Most systems now will let you use not only alphanumeric characters, but certain special characters as well. The greater the range you use and the longer the character string, the stronger your password is. That doesn’t mean it can’t be beaten by brute force, but it means that someone else’s password will be easier to crack.

We’re still feeling a bit paranoid about whether or not any information was stolen. It’s hard to not worry when there’s a reasonable chance of it. But at least now we’re aware of it and have taken steps to take care of the situation.

How well do you know your stuff? Pretty well, I hope. If nothing else, you should be able to research your topic well enough to write with authority about it.

Having confidence in what you write goes a long way toward making your site credible. If you don’t sound as though you know more than the person reading on your site, why should they buy from you?

I’ve struggled with this often myself. It’s not that I don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s that I’m not used to being assertive about it. In person I’m very quiet and not remotely assertive. I was the quiet kid in high school who always knew the answer when called upon, but never volunteered to answer. It’s a hard habit to change in my writing.

You Do Know More Than Most

If you’ve done your research on your niche or really dealt with the topic in your own life, you probably do know more about it than many of your readers. There’s a reason people look for information online. They aren’t looking for things they already know. They’re looking for things they want to know.

If you have a large informational site, you’re probably getting visitors with all kinds of backgrounds. Some are completely new to the topic and want to learn everything. Others know quite a bit, but are looking to learn more.

Write for all levels. Some topics will be of more general interest to your readers, while the basics won’t interest the more experienced readers. But leaving the beginners out means they’ll leave your site and find someone who can help them figure things out.

By the same token, the more knowledgeable readers will need content that meets their needs.

Be Honest About What You Know

Some people say fake it until you make it. I don’t like that theory.

I’d rather keep learning about the things I don’t know yet, and then teach them to others. It’s challenging, but then I’m less likely to be called out for being completely wrong.

I don’t mean don’t take risks. Just do your research and have some facts on your side, especially if you’re getting into things where there may be disagreement. Not everything is black and white, and a little controversy isn’t a bad thing at all. Sometimes even a lot of controversy is a good thing… handled professionally, of course.

You can’t be expected to know everything. Sometimes a good strategy is to ask your readers what they think. Many people love to share their knowledge but have no intention of running their own sites. Or they do, and have the perfect link for you.

It’s rather like how the sensei for my kids’ karate class puts it. He says “can’t” is a four letter word. “I’ll try” is much better.

By the same token, you don’t have to say “I don’t know.” You can say “Let me find out” instead.

Enjoy Yourself

It’s fun being the person who knows stuff, whatever kind of stuff it is you know. Have fun with it. Show your personality.  Don’t be a know-it-all, be a solid resource.

I don’t often post time sensitive things for Free Fun Fridays, but I just can’t resist posting that April 17-25, 2010 is National Park Week, and entry to all National Parks is free during that time. It sounds like a lot of fun for the family.

Activities of course vary by park, but there are things you can volunteer for and activities for the kids. Just take a look at the site and see if you’d like to head out to a National Park in your area.

Children Benefit From Mom’s Choice To Stay Home!

Some mothers may see the constant load of laundry coming from the dryer as just another everyday chore. A task that gets hard and harder, especially when balancing the needs of a screaming 10-month-old baby, a 7-year-old and a list of household chores beginning with a sink filled with dishes to wash, dinner to make and floors to clean. As if that were not enough, you have a husband who is ready to eat when he steps through the front door. But don’t let your mind play tricks on you. It is easy to feel overwhelmed unless tasks are broken down into manageable chucks and sometimes tasks are delegated. Try to fix child-friendly recipes and let the 7-seven-year-old help in the kitchen. Have your husband aid in clearing the dining room table.

Delegation Is Key To Success For Stay-At-Home Moms!

This will help you be able to accomplish tasks more quickly and let your child learn how to be responsible. Delegate some tasks. There is no reason why your husband cannot help change a diaper, help with your child’s homework assignment, take the baby awhile so you can have a few minutes of quiet or offer to help with the baby. Plus, delegation can have extra benefits. It can help strengthen a marriage. If your spouse comes home, eats dinner and plots down in the recliner to watch television and leaves you with dishes to wash, a son who needs help completing his homework assignment and a baby who needs feed every few hours, you are quickly going to succumb to exhaustion, be overwhelmed, depressed and constantly feel like a maid instead of a wife and stay-at-mother. Tasks must be split up so that one spouse isn’t doing 96 percent of the workload.

What Tasks Can Be Delegated?

Here are lists of tasks that may be delegated. Others can be added. Use imagination. This will help one discover what works for them, so they can restore order to their sometimes chaotic schedule.

• Washing the dishes
• Walking the dog (if you have a pet)
• Caring for the baby (even if it is for short intervals at a time a spouse can assist in this task or even a friend who doesn’t mind lending a helping hand)
• Making dinner
• Doing the grocery shopping
• Picking up around the house/dusting
• Vacuum the floors
• Sort and/or fold laundry
• Change the bed sheets
• Take out the garbage

You Can Make It Work!

Be realistic. There may be some items that you may not be able to afford on one salary. They may require your spouse to save up money longer. Are there still wrinkles in the freshly made bed? Does it matter? Be sure to delegate tasks. If delegating some tasks are not possible and you are feeling overwhelmed, ask for support. If your spouse isn’t willing to help in the tasks you need delegated, see if there are other friends or people around who can support you and help with certain tasks. If you are still feeling overwhelmed, confide in a friend you can trust or talk to a counselor. A counselor may be able to offer suggestions to help make everyday tasks less overwhelming, help deal with depression or loneliness and the task of staying home with children more enjoyable and rewarding.

Banish Those Regrets, Please!

Every few mothers would ever say “I wished I worked more when my children were little!” There may be days, yes, but very few mothers would trade getting to see their child’s smile every day, their first steps, or hearing their first word spoken - just to work outside the home. Don’t regret your decision to stay home. That time with your children cannot be replaced once it is gone. And, mothers with full-time jobs often see their children less than their daycare provider. In a 2003 study conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and another by the Institute of Child Development of the University of Minnesota, researchers found that children who spent all day in a daycare center were likely to be exposed to more stress and more aggression than children being cared for at home. This is because stay-at-home moms have the opportunity to supervise their child’s care in a nurturing relaxed environment.

Don’t Apologize, Mother!

Being a mother is a job. Don’t apologize for not having a business title, such as Customer Service Manager or Product Development System Researcher or Industrial Engineer. Being a mother is a job title and it is yours! Moms can benefit from avoiding the stress of having an unsatisfactory job. Plus, they get to spend time with their children and help shape their development and see the “firsts” that happen in their child’s life.

Make Time for Fun!

Sometimes mothers who spend hours each day with children can miss out on having adult interaction. In order to not feel overwhelmed or swamped by responsibilities at home, take time and make time for fun. Plan a night out once a month with your spouse. This will give you something fun to look forward to each month. If this keeps both partners from feeling like they have nothing in common, do it. This is to keep both spouses from feeling as though they hardly talk. It will also give stay-at-home moms an opportunity to have some adult interaction. This will ensure tasks keep running smoothly in a stay-at-home mom’s household and both spouses can enjoy a healthy balance between “mommy needs” and wifely wishes. If this requires a babysitter for a night, hire one. Don’t apologize for wanting to spend an evening alone and out with your sweetheart!

Your Family Will Benefit!

Children benefit from Mom’s decision to stay at home. Delegating tasks is crucial for stay-at-home moms to be successful. Make a list of what tasks can be delegated and be sure to delegate those tasks to others. Don’t ever regret your decision to become a stay-at-home mom and don’t apologize to others because you are “just” a stay-at-home mom and not a manager or CEO in the “real” world. Schedule some time in your day to do fun activities for yourself, your children and your spouse so that no one in the family is overwhelmed or stressed by all the tasks that simply need to be completed. Make time for fun! Realize the whole family can take advantage of Mom staying home!

About the Author:  Angela Lytle is a self-employed mother of four and publisher of Swim Team Mom, a website for swim parents that features swim team gear with competitive swimsuits and quality brands like the speedo speedo fastskin swimsuit and much more for your swimmer’s needs.