What do the most popular blog posts have that the other posts don’t? I always believe that the most successful posts, the one that have most views and highly commented, have things in common. Now, I just have to find some evidence that supports my theory. I started by visiting my favorite blogs, checking their most popular lists. I also click on posts that have a lot of comments and write down some possible explanations of why the readers feel compelled to comment. After days of exploration though almost twenty blogs, I finally found all of the proofs I need and compiled them into this one post. So here goes the 6 secrets of the most popular blog posts.
1. Make a List
You saw me use this over and over again in this blog because, whether you like it or not, it works. The first time I read about making a list post is from Brian Clark of Copy Blogger. If you visit his site, you’ll notice that at least half of his most popular posts, located on the right sidebar, are list posts. But, Copy Blogger is not the only one who use this strategy frequently. Blogussion, one of my most favorite blogging blog, have their most popular posts dominated by posts containing lists as well. This list tactic not only works in the internet marketing/blogging niche but also others. Check out Smashing Magazine (design blog) or Trying Fitness (they don’t have that many list posts, but 2 out of 6 of their most popular posts are lists post).
2. Do an Interview
Doing an interview will get more readers to read your posts. Especially if the interviewee is famous and highly relevant to your blog (meaning: you don’t interview a blogger when your blog is about forex trading). One out of three most popular posts in Entrepreneur’s Journey blog is an interview with a highly successful blogger. If you visit Affilorama, the affiliate marketing site founded by Mark Ling, you could see that the posts that have the most comments are usually webinar(web seminar) with famous internet marketers posts. Finally, one of Shoe Money’s most popular post, the one at the top of his most popular posts list, is his interview with John Reese.
3. Reveal Yourself
Telling your readers your deepest darkest secrets could earn you lots of page views and comments. This has been proven again and again. Look at Shoe Money’s most popular post where he revealed that at the age of 28, he found himself overweight (about 420 lbs.), $50k in debt, smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, and sleeping on his friend’s couch. Both Frank Kern (Mass Control) and Eben Pagan use their life stories to infuse personality into their internet marketing business. People love stories, especially heroic stories. The most popular stories in mythologies are mostly about how a man overcoming all odds to achieve their goals, see Hercules, Jason and The Argonauts, and many others. So use your life stories creatively in your posts to get your readers closer to you.
4. Catchy Titles
You could have the best article in the world, but if your headline sucks, nobody will read it. Headlines play a major role in determining how successful your post will be. I learned a lot of headline writing principles from Copy Blogger. Some of the best headlines ask provocative questions (Do You Make These 6 Mistakes When Writing Product Review?), tell the readers how-to (How I Write SEO Optimize Article in 45 Minutes or Less), or simply reveal a secret (10 Worst Kept Secrets to Get Cheap Web Site Traffic).
5. Publish Your Testing Results
John Chow, Shoe Money, and Darren Rowse are famous for doing this. But the only two that I could track is John Chow’s and Shoe Money’s blog. John Chow have this page called Top Posts where he list all of his most popular and commented posts. And a lot of them are based on his testing results. Some examples are My Most Profitable Page, $10,000 A Day from Google AdSense, etc. Shoe Money’s most popular posts include his 10k PPC experiment, Google Adwords Arrow Trick to Increase CTR (Click Through Rate), and many more.
6. Strong and Persuasive Opening
This is especially true if your blog is using <More> tag, like this blog. <More> tag allows you to break up your posts so that only parts of your post will appear on your blog’s home page. This could be for design purpose (so that your home page doesn’t look messy) or usability purpose (user doesn’t need to scroll down for long). You usually put the <More> tag after the first or second paragraph. So, in order to have your readers read the rest of your posts, you need a very strong and enticing opening paragraphs. The paragraphs should trigger curiosity by revealing interesting facts or fascinating quotes so they feel compelled to continue reading.
These are the secrets of the most popular blog posts. Use it appropriately and you will see an increase in your page views and comments. Feel free to leave comments or tweet it if you like it.
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Hey Andi, I did really like this article! I tweeted and digged it. I have nothing to add to what you wrote above, except that I do really like the great work you are doing on your blog. I can see your determination to write good and interesting articles. You are on your way to be one of the top blogger in the following year. Keep the great work, Andi!
Benjamin Cip´s last blog ..How To Use A Thesaurus To Find Keywords
Great tips! I will for sure try them out, especially that the top bloggers you mention do that
Money-Era´s last blog ..How much does 1 million e-mail addresses cost?
@ Benjamin Cip
Thanks a lot for the compliment, Ben. And also the tweet and digg. Really appreciate it.
@ Money-Era
Thanks, and good luck trying it out.
Andi | Web Marketer Depot´s last blog ..The Secret of the Most Popular Blog Posts
For me “Publishing your Testing Results” has worked really well. Readers are eager to hear my experience and test/verify my experiments. These type of articles has brought me good response from fellow blogger too.
I have tried list making and interviews too but not much to success as the Publishing Testing Results. It may be my fault though. I have done them rarely and I think I should do them more and more.
Agent 001´s last blog ..Why I unfollowed John Chow on Twitter?
Andi, great tips. One thing I’d like to share is:
John Chow which is my Number ONE and Shoe Money all of them are using as I called Pattern (which I start to explain in my blog).
If you read John Chow e-book you’ll find what it is. He didn’t tell you exactly what it is, but if you reread it you’ll got an idea. I think it is his secret, but he didn’t hide it though.
They use it over and over again. People who like this Pattern subconsciously return to their blogs over and over. Such kind of chemistry if you like.
Bora Paris dot Com´s last blog ..Make Money Online: Time Management and Power of Focus