Know When to Stop Talking
For some niche bloggers, coming up with the perfect post means everything. The perfect post idea at the right time can generate traffic, links, comments, and bring in organic search traffic.
So when a post idea hits that can generate all of the above for a blogger, it would generally be safe to assume that most bloggers would want to provide all the details and information possible. As if having information packed posts will bring in the biggest bang for your buck.
Maybe it will, maybe a great researched post full of details will give you the most bang. But it’s not always the right approach and full detailed information can leave out wiggle room for further ideas.
In this post, let’s discuss why you should consider leaving some information out of your posts.
Commentators
We all blog at some point or another for feedback. By writing posts all of the time that provide every possible aspect, angle, and details possible, we’re not giving our commentators a place to insert their own opinion or add to the conversation. And really, while all comments are valuable we do want commentators to add to the conversation for their own benefit and ours.
By removing obvious details from a post, you allow commentators to bring up a discussion and become a community within the comments.
Discussions
Part of promotion for a lot of bloggers is to join the conversation elsewhere and add to it. If you’ve publish a post that has some good points missing from it, you can use your post as a conversation on a forum.
Asking others for their opinions on a forum makes you personable and could bring up an exciting topic. But if you have put all the information possible into a post, you may be missing out on a good networking and discussion opportunity.
Links
As I said, a great post will give people a reason to link back to you. The may especially be the case when you have provided all information within a post so that another blogger can pick up the conversation on their own blog, link to you, and provide you with some more traffic.
The Theory
Blogs are becoming more and more individual communities, by intentionally missing the boat on some information you’re allowing a larger community to form. Everyone likes to give their opinions on something, the right topic at the right time allows for a great deal of opinions.
Surely I’m not telling you to leave out important details. In fact, don’t! If you’ve got a big topic you want to provide all the information. In fact, in some cases it can be detrimental to you not to provide the information.
Here’s an example of a post:
5 Ways to Make Your Blog AWESOME
- Provide Easy Navigation
- Respond to Comments
- Make Searching Easy
- Link to Popular Posts
- Use Top Commentator Plugin
OK, there’s my list of 5 things and I’ve covered my points on an awesome blog. But don’t you have an opinion on what makes blogs awesome? Sure you do, every reader and blogger has a difference preference. By making this a list of 5 ways to make your blog awesome and not 20 ways, I’ve left room for you to give your opinion.
Here’s the thing – topics and posts like this are often called “link bait” meaning that the article was intentionally written this way so that you’d pick up the conversation on your own blog and link back to the blogger. Good plan isn’t it?
My Method
Understanding my own writing style has everything to do with how and when I write posts – especially when inspiration is running high. Sometimes, frankly, I run on and on giving a lot of information and packing a lot of punch into my posts. Usually this are my most trafficked posts and are heavily linked to.
In other cases, when I haven’t provided all the information, I get more links back expanding on the conversation. I love the opportunity to comment on my topic on another blog and the traffic I receive from the continued conversation.
For me, this is all a matter of knowing when to shut up. As in stop writing, stop talking, you’ve provided a good amount of points and left room for further ideas from commentators.
Questions for You
I’m sure you’ve read before about link bait articles, have you tried it? What methods are you using to get more links, more comments, and more traffic? Do you give yourself limits to stop talking and allow your commentators to pick up the conversation?
Manish Pandey Says:
Hey Katy,
A brilliant piece indeed.
With the industry that is so competitive, I have to cope up with some brilliant ideas about articles (or more precisely the link bait articles.) I’ve achieved a certain level of success with few creative articles, that were first unique and second was not to be found anywhere else, and that for some how became my best work. :)
Posted on May 7th, 2008
Tony - Nigerian Entrepreneur Says:
Quite a valid point you made there. I never saw it in that light before now. I tried as much as possible to pack the post full of anything I feel is vital to the discussion. But now I understand it is wrong. It is like holding others to ransom in a group discussion. The conversation won’t be interesting and it is most likely those that really want to express themselves will simply go away to look for someone more courteous. Thanks for sharing this tip. Cheers.
Posted on May 8th, 2008
Katy Says:
Tony » Thank you. Packing a post with everything works sometimes but other times it is nice to leave something to be desired so that readers can come along and add to the conversation.
Posted on May 12th, 2008
jamie Says:
Argh! You’re sucking me in! I was about to write a long comment about all of the other things you’re forgetting to talk about when it comes to creating linkbait when I realized your post achieved exactly what you intended it to do…pull me in to writing a comment. I would like to add something I think is useful advice: everything has been done before. It’s very rare that you can write an article whose topic hasn’t been covered by someone else. But, a slightly different spin adn a slightly different / better presentation can make a ton of difference.
Posted on June 2nd, 2008