Give Them A Good Reason To Click And Read (And Subscribe)
Add to : Del.Icio.Us / Reddit / Digg / Stumble Upon
When using services like Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing, a surefire way to get people to click is to write an interesting and catchy title, then on the second line write the benefits, and on the 3rd line the features. That’s pure Perry Marshall-esque.
You can do the same with your blog posts. People click on sponsored links because they see benefits, they assume, from what they read, that by clicking this ad they will be taken to a relevant page and find information or buy a product they “need” or “want“. Same with your post titles!
Chris Pearson wrote on his blog:
A click is a vote of confidence in your site, and I’ll take all of those I can get! - Improve Your Blog’s Metrics in One Easy Step
Same here!
Ok, But Even If They Click, Do They Read?
How can you make people click and read, and potentially subscribe to your feed then? Using the “read more” feature is already a really nice start, since I use it my page views increase 300%. But this is definitely not why people read. Why not start by writing appealing, catchy, irresistible headlines, and let people know they will benefit from reading your blog post, and maybe reading a second one, and a third one? :)
Always make sure the title is relevant to the post, that may seem obvious, but many people kinda forget that. When people click on the title of your post, it means they are interested in what they read so far, so if you use the “read more” thing, make sure the first, or first two paragraphs give enough reasons to click and read the rest of the post. Introduce the topic, tell people what the post is about, tell a short story, ask questions. Grab attention!
Benefits first and then comes the features. And creativity never hurt anyone! (not that I know)
Your Turn To Talk
So how do you do it? What are your “secrets”? How do you get people to read and click (or click and read)? If you’re writing tutorials and how-to’s it goes without saying that people reading your post are interested and wanna read more. But if you’re more of a opinion or conversational blogger writer, how do you get people to click?
So, with all that said, why don’t you grab my RSS Feed? If you like my stuff of course! Or you can also read this other post on how to write an outstanding blog post, not that I consider my post to be “outstanding“, but still you might find the information useful. :)
Add to : Del.Icio.Us / Reddit / Digg / Stumble Upon
If you enjoyed this post you might want to consider subscribing to my RSS Feed, and you can also receive updates in your e-mail, so you'll always be up to date. Thanks! ;)
16 Responses to “Give Them A Good Reason To Click And Read (And Subscribe)”
Discussion Area - Share Your Thoughts
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Sharp and narrow niche will guide only targeted visitors to the site. Geo targeted keywords by language will also improve the readership. People with limited capability in English (me too:() will search only article on their easy understood language. Population on my country is about 300.000.000 citizens and 5% of them are active internet user. It’s a potential market. Let’s imagine that our article is our product. We have to make a goal on every article we wrote. I have a simple guidance:
1. First impression
First impression is the most important thing to make your visitor interested to read the content. Make them curious, by adding catchy relevant image on the top of the post. Article’s title is the best part to be tailored. Title with question mark is a good choice.
2. Attention
The first paragraph is the key to open the second paragraph, etc. The first paragraph usually explained the fact, current issues, main keyword of your article, and the reason why you write this article.
3. Action
This is your goal! Your article must have a power to make them believe in everything you wrote. Success story, actual evidence, testimony, sample of product, trial version product will be a good reason to make your reader trust in you. There are many kind of Sample of Action:
Click on your ads, Subscribe on a reader, Bookmark your useful article, Buy your product, etc. CMIIW. Does anybody want to be my English teacher? Sorry for my poor English :(
Hi Aris, great points you bring!
Asking a question in the post title works really good for me.
I saw many blogs with posts titlles completely irrelevant tothe content of the post, so I totally agree with you buddy, title is the most important pat, that’s what makes people click, then comes the first 2 paragraphs. If you can’t get the reader’s attention with the first couple of lines, chances are they won’t read, unless they really love your blog hehe :)
Your english is fine my friend, no worries! Lisa has a blog about learning english though, never know :)
Thank you for your nice response Jonathan… I will come to your blog more often to learn About blogging, and writing in English. I learned English since I was 13 years old. I’m good in reading but poor in writing and speaking. You wanna learn Indonesia language? just come to http://indosmart.blogspot.com.
Have a nice weekend…
Hey Aris, by the way, my primary language is french (I’m from Montreal, Canada), so I completely understand what you mean :)
[…] Give Them A Good Reason To Click And Read (And Subscribe) […]
Something that caught my eye yesterday was that a smart blogger went like this: “… it’s not worth it. Here’s why: …” then users had to click, or else they would most likely pay extra money for something not worth it.
Hi Grace, I’m not sure I understand, “users had to click, or else they’d pay extra money“?
Thanx for clarifying :)
Hmm, I never give much thought to my titles if they’re “Google magnets”… I guess I get so focused on making them funny or personal that I didn’t think about making them “normal words” that people would find. Silly me, I know.
Hi fruityoaty! welcome to SWR :)
Well, I think it’s fine to write funny or personal titles, for as long as the readers have a clear idea of what the post is about in the first 2 paragraphs.
If you search for “No Thanx” I’m on the first page on Google’s search results. at least people clicking on that in Google, when they start to read they know what the post is about :)
You bring out a very good point.
Just as in copywriting, a good headline is extremely important.
It grabs people attention and lure them to click.
Some of the best headlines alway contain these two components:
–> Benefits + Curiosity Statement
Very true. I’m a firm believer in the power of strong attractive headlines. And in the value of copywriting too.
Cheers mate,
Jag
Hey Jag, I like how you put it, “benefits+curiosity statement”, if you can keep it up till the end of the post and end it either with a question or a fact or some “punchy” line, chances are that post will get a goood response :)
Well, I learn a lot of new writing tips from all of you. Thanks Jonathan for starting this discussion. Sometimes small things have a great value added on our post. Please let me know your opinion about my curious question:
Which one do you like best?
1. writing your original idea, or
2. based on reference (book, newspaper, TV shows, etc)
The point is “most of internet lover using search engine to search details of hot news or current issues shows on TV”. Sorry to say that information about terrorism and security on my country is always hot on the last 3 month. Too bad…
Have a nice weekend!
ps: It’s a strange weather in my country. We got a rainy summer season. What about Canada?
Hi Aris, I’m really happy you like the conversation and that you’re getting good infos out of it, I love when that happens!
About your question, I’d say “original idea”, and sometimes books. I don’t watch TV or read the newspaper really. It’s true a lot of people are searching for infos about that, if I find something good on the net that talks about TV, I’ll go see if I can find it on youtube or something :)
Weather is nice here! not to hot, not too cold, just great! :)
Jonathan-C. Phillips- The text was “… it’s not worth it. Here’s why: …” People had to click to know why it’s not worth it or else they’d possibly loose money for that particular topic. (Microsoft’s I’M program)
Hi Grace, thanx for clarifying. I saw that kinda of headline on many occasions. Honestly that is the kind that makes me want to not click. Maybe it’s just me. There’s this quote I really really like: “if it cannot be said clearly, it must be passed away in silence” If I find a title funny or somewhat interesting I will most lekely click and at least read the first paragraphs, but if the title is like “begging” for a click, chances are I won’t :)
[…] won’t help making the blog owner want to comment on your post(s). If you want people to click and read, help them, let them know where the link they’re about to click will take them. I rarely […]