
I explained SEO to an 80 year old client with this metaphor - Stronico
http://blog.profitawareness.com/2011/10/explain-seo-to-clients/
======
NathanKP
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
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 :)

------
krmmalik
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
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.

------
scottkrager
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.

------
pmjordan
That's a simile, not a metaphor!

~~~
hugh3
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.

------
mmuro
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."

~~~
aasarava
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.

------
klbarry
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
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."

