Increase Your Pageviews
As editor of Gizmodo, the gadget blog, Brian Lam knows a thing or two about maximizing hits. Here’s his formula for crafting better eyeball bait.
Encapsulate your story in the headline.
Don’t get clever. Don’t let headlines be setups for jokes in the body of the article. Readers using RSS are scanning hundreds of blogs a day; they don’t have time for that.
Use emotionally charged words.
Sweet fancy Moses! Holy freaking crap! All good. Other highly potent words on the Web: discount, Lego, Linux, Nascar, Tarantino, DRM, and Apple.
Enumerate.
People love numbers and lists. Example: 17 Ways That Ron Paul Could Still Become President.
Hyperbole is your friend.
Your bestest, most awesomest friend in the entire galaxy.
Sex sells.
Millard Fillmore’s Foreplay Tips. See? You were ready to click on that, weren’t you?
Go off-Topic occasionally.
Blog about your cats or last night’s Project Runway. If you stay strictly on message in every post, you’ll sound like an infomercial.