The Odds Are Ever in Your Favor: The Numbers Game of Earning Clicks

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With the average attention span of readers’ down to eight seconds (shorter than that of a goldfish), it’s no wonder the listicle’s easily digestible morsels of information have taken over as the preferred news format for many. You know the ilk: “7 Ways You’ll Know He’s The One,” or “21 Reasons to Try Poke Now.”

The argument on both sides of the listicle issue is fierce. The New York Times, for example, came to the listicle’s defense, after noticing the format achieved more organic traffic and clicks on one of its articles.

Here’s an excerpt: “Aaron Carroll’s ‘simple rules for healthy eating.’ It attracted a big audience, and it did so largely organically, through social media. It was smart and, yes, nuanced. People read it, found it useful and shared it with others. To put it bluntly, it was a better, more useful piece than it would have been as a 1,000-word essay or news article. Human beings often think in terms of lists, and there is nothing wrong with that.” [Read more…]

5 Headline Types You Underestimate When Writing a Blog Post

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Editor’s note: This post was written by Cari Bennette, a passionate blogger and writing consultant at jetwriters.com. Cari loves surfing websites for writers and sharing her advice on various forums and blogs.

Can you guess what’s the most important part of your blog post? I know, you probably think it’s quality content, right? Quality content builds your site’s credibility and keeps your readers coming back for more. What about visuals? A pretty picture draws the reader in, right? While both are important, neither of them are as important as a good headline.

headline types

Want some stats that quantify just how important the headline is? There’s the 50/50 rule which states that half of the time you spend writing a blog post should be spent composing the headline. And those who practice the 50/50 rule do so because of the 80/20 rule – 8 out of 10 people read a headline, but only 2 out of 10 read the post. [Read more…]

Need Inspiration? See How These 5 Blog Post Ideas can Rocket Launch Your Traffic In a Hurry!

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Need Inspiration? See How These 5 Blog Post Ideas can Rocket Launch Your Traffic In a Hurry!

A rocket launch is a sight to behold, but it won’t be possible without the many parts that seamlessly function together to push the entire weight of the rocket up in the air, past the earth’s atmosphere, leaving a cloud of smoke in its path. However, this event that only lasts seconds from start to finish takes months of intense preparation to ensure that the parts are working properly for a successful launch.

The same thing can be said of blog traffic. The concepts behind getting more visitors to your blog sound simple in principle, which is to use different online marketing tactics on top of writing great blog posts. Nonetheless, the rewards of increased readership is a thing of beauty, which is why you have to plow through the complicated and time-consuming process to get it right.

There are lots of parts involved in increasing blog traffic, all of which start with the writing of a blog post. Writing well-produced content is the foundation on which accumulating lots of visitors to your blog is based on.

To help you find inspiration for blog posts ideas, here are five to get you started.

[Read more…]

4 Reasons You Don’t Get Organic Clicks

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Many people are under the impression that having a website, writing high quality content and boosting social shares will increase organic traffic to their website. With this mentality, you’re setting yourself up for disaster since you’re forgetting the fundamentals of SEO and how they relate to search engines.

get organic clicks

Many bloggers will agree that on-page and off-page SEO will dramatically improve your traffic while building your brand. If you’re not getting the results you feel you should, then you should implement these simple but effective strategies within your content. [Read more…]

You’ll Never Believe the Difference a Great Headline Makes

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Be honest: You clicked on this story because of the headline, didn’t you?

Headlines are the single most important piece of a blog post right now. Just as you wouldn’t dream of going fishing without baiting your hook, you shouldn’t post a blog entry without a great headline. Think of it as the bait that encourages people to click. A hook baited with something unappealing, like crickets when the fish wants a worm, won’t get any bites. A hook baited with a big juicy worm is exactly what the fish desires and it will score plenty of action.

Great headlines are what people want. The proof is in the huge success that sites like Upworthy have had in using headlines like this. Upworthy has seen stunning traffic increases and other sites are now trying to adopt the same method.

upworthy-traffic

Read on for more on the case for great headlines, how they can help your blog and what constitutes an outstanding headline. [Read more…]

Using Numbers in Headlines: Is the Game Changing?

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I spent a couple of years working at FOX News where I had the opportunity to hone my headline copywriting skills.

My boss at the time would plead with us to read Reader’s Digest, claiming they had mastered the art of “catchy” headlines.

The way we digest our media has changed, but the tried and true methods of creating a powerful headline have not. Effective elements include… [Read more…]

Sunday Morning SEO: Optimizing Title Tags, Post Titles, and URLs

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As you write a post, it only takes a couple minutes to optimize the title tag, post title, and URL. The benefits are well worth it because you’ll rank for more keywords,  get more search traffic, and improve your click through rate on the search engine results pages (SERPs) and the RSS readers.

Here are some things to consider. [Read more…]