Blog Micromanagement: Cliffhangers
Welcome to blog micromanagement. It’s time to get into the details of blogging and optimize our performance. Today, we’re going to talk about cliffhangers.
A cliffhanger is an abrupt ending that leaves your reader wanting more. TV shows often use them to make sure you’ll be back after the commercials. “And the winner is… to be announced after this short break.” Just as effective as it is annoying. The next question is, how do you use them in the world of blogging?
Cliffhangers in content
You can use cliffhangers in actual posts very effectively. Take a look at the preceding paragraph and you’ll notice how I ended it with a question. A well-crafted paragraph ending is a great copywriting tool. Our natural curiosity makes it almost impossible to stop reading, even if we’re not really interested.
Questions are not the only cliffhangers you can use in your content, though. The famous three dots can also be effective. By ending a paragraph with “then again…”, “but that’s not all…”, “next up is…”, you are likely to keep your visitors reading for a while longer. Your imagination sets the limits.
If you run a public blog, your traffic will never be entirely targeted. Once in a while, or maybe even most of the time if you’re just starting out, you’ll get visitors that just happened to stumble upon your website. By using the power of cliffhangers, you can keep them reading until they eventually get addicted and subscribe to your feed.
Cliffhangers in social bookmarking
Many social bookmarking sites let you type in a short description of the site or post you’re submitting. This is an excellent opportunity to use a cliffhanger. Let’s say I want to submit an article from my Apple blog to Digg. Digg often uses the posts first paragraph as a description, e.g.:
“They said October and it looks like they’re going to make it. All mighty AppleInsider reports that sources say Apple will release their new version of Mac OS X later this month. More specifically, the date is October 26th and by judging from the way they write about it, it looks like AppleInsider has got some solid sources.”
Now, if someone reads this description, they might find that there’s no reason to visit the site. The post itself may offer more information but the big news is right there. What if I changed the description then? Take a look at my new and improved version:
“They said October and it looks like they’re going to make it. All mighty AppleInsider reports that sources say Apple will release their new version of Mac OS X later this month. More specifically, the date is [...]“
What Apple fan wouldn’t click that link?
Conclusion
If you can make your readers keep reading, they might just bookmark your site or subscribe to your feed. I’m not promising you any big increase in subscribers or traffic. But if you’re serious about blogging, then even a slight increase is worth the cost of paying attention to details.
This was the second post in a series about blog micromanagement. If you like it, feel free to subscribe to my feed, tell your friends or blog about it.
Blog Micromanagement: What Is It?
Blog Micromanagement: Cliffhangers
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