Library Revolution

I bet she will.

I certainly read her post about the “Top three things that will make me read your blog.”

Her criteria in short:

 1. Give good head(line)

2. Name your blog well

3. Don’t update too often

Her advice is very practical: think about what you read if you’re going to write.

We all only have so many hours in a day, and only precious little of that time can be devoted to blog reading. Whether you’re writing on behalf of your organization, blogging a conference, talking about professional issues, or discussing your top American Idol picks, if you want people to take the time to read your posts, it’s worth thinking about why you read the blogs and posts that you do.

Of course, not everyone finds the same thing important. For me, the headline thing is really important. There is so much being written out there, that even among the blogs I really like and follow consistently, I usually only really read the items where the headline jumps out and grabs my attention. I’m  not as particular about the other criteria Jennifer lists… for me, I don’t really mind the “too many posts” thing so much, and while a good name might interest me at the beginning, it’s not necessarily going to make me a permanent reader.

For me, I guess my “What makes me reaad your blog” list goes something like this:

1. Grab me with the headlines! Like I said above, you could have the best content in the world, but if the headlines don’t draw me in, I may never know.

2. I love “scannable” posts.  If I can get the gist of what you’re saying with a quick scan, I’m more likely to read the whole thing. Bullet points rule!

3. Comments. An interesting discussion will always draw me in! So encourage comments and discussion as much as you can, even if it means being a bit of a troublemaker sometimes.

And, of course, one of my favorite resources for tips on how to blog effectively is Problogger. Check out their tips on effective blog writing and promotion as well as their excellent blogging blog. They definitely offer great tips and food for thought.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.