13 Ways to Grab Attention
Want to grab some attention? Here’s 13 basic tricks to grab the attention of your visitors.
1. Use Images
There’s nothing like a catchy image to suck visitors in and make them interested in what the image has to do with the text.
2. Create Lists
Short and to the point captures more attention than long and drawn out.
3. Post Series
Keep ‘em coming back for more by starting a series that is worthwhile and makes good use of your visitor’s time.
4. Keep It Clean
You’ve only got your visitor for so long. Keep your site clean and uncluttered of junk no one needs. Some widgets are great, too many is overkill.
5. Navigation
Highlight your best with something eye catching. Don’t be afraid to use images to feature a post or two.
6. Keep It Simple
Get to the point and get on with it. No one needs 1,000+ words to make something simple understood. The faster you give the information the more you’ll be appreciated.
7. Be Active
No one likes to talk to a brick wall. So be active in all aspects of your blog, especially with comments.
8. Provide Help
Answer questions people have by knowing how and why visitors arrive at your blog.
9. Be Humble
If you’re wrong, admit it. Don’t act like a know-it-all because no one likes this kind of personality.
10. Motivate
Encourage and motivate your readers. Give praise for commenting, offer guest posting opportunities, and motivate visitors to become part of your blog community.
11. Write Headlines
Keywords are for search engines, not visitors. Learn the perfect combination of fabulous headlines and keywords to grab attention from both parties.
12. Formatting
Highlight words and statements using blockquotes, bold, and italic.
13. Timing Is Everything
Your pages should load quickly, so limit what is required on each page and go easy on the multiple Java scripts.
| 2.8 (1 person) |
June 13th, 2008 at 9:36 am
time is everything .. it’s actually the most important thing in website building ,.
if anyone’t site loads pretty slow then i Won’t be there again . it’s just as simple as it can get
i hate blogspots blog coz of all the widegets that it’s owners put on it , also some selft hosted blogs do the same
June 13th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Good post i am a big believer in lists and blogging series especially as they can bring you subscribers.
June 13th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Great list.
June 13th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
that is indeed a great solid list.
June 13th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Okay, you got my attention with that image, LOL! I am going to do more series posts this Summer - the two I have already done have the highest subscribe rate. I will also try to avoid those lengthy paragraphs.
June 13th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Great list. I try to put an image in every post, except for the blog carnival posts (which I should really make some sort of logo for…). I have a hard time with finding images I like, and I’ve lost my creative graphical vision for these things… Where do you find good images?
June 14th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Ameo:Timing and website building should go hand in hand. One the best things my business partner does is jump on dial-up after she completes a site. It gives her a realistic idea of what someone on dial-up would have to deal with to see the site. No one likes to wait…
Problogineer: I completely agree and thank you.
Karen and Sir Jorge: Thank you.
Michelle: LOL Yeah, that one is attention grabbing. Can’t wait to see your summer series… sounds like good timing for your niche. Keep ‘em coming back for more.
Stefanie: Images are huge for me to use. I enjoy finding them and using something creative to go along with each post.
To answer your question I’ll finally write that post that I’ve been meaning to write. Expect it by Monday! :D
June 14th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I try to do series or follow up on post I have made in the past I find that people tend to come back and check out what I have done.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I’ve lost count of how many blogs I’ve commented on that have never reciprocated. Some bloggers receive hundreds of comments, true, but they could at least acknowledge my participation occasionally. If I’m spending my time reading and commenting on their writing, they could send me the occasional response.
June 14th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
This advice is spot on. I appreciate the simple yet accurate summation of what a good post should do.
June 15th, 2008 at 7:59 am
@ katy : that is so true , checking dial-up users is a MUST .. i tried so many CMS one dsl and dial-up and i’ve finally found out that CMS that depend on databases need more time to load than others that use only text files to save data .
i think from time to time we should clean up our db .
June 15th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Hmm, jumping on dial up is a really nifty idea! Unfortunately right now I can’t really afford a second line with the cable setup I have.
I love lists as well, reading and writing them…so do my readers, so #2 is aces :-)
Great list Katy, I believe I do it all except post series so far…I haven’t had the opportunity yet.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Holly: I have had the same results with series and follow-up posts.
feefifoto: Too many bloggers often don’t reply, even when there’s a question there for them. I, like you, am turned off when my presence isn’t acknowledged in some way though I do give exceptions to big blogs.
Bamboo Forest: Thank you! Hope my post was helpful for you.
Ameo: With the spread of broadband Internet a lot of designers have forgotten about dial-up but there’s still a large part of Internet users on dial-up.
Dennis: Some cable providers provide dial-up access if you just call and ask. Wouldn’t be a need for a second phone line as checking wouldn’t take anymore than 10 minutes or so.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:19 am
This I did not know, I’ll have to check into that. Thanks for the tip!
Your response to Ameo is SPOT ON. I have multiple friends who live very rural…some are lucky if they even get dial up!
Broadband is non-existent unless you want to build your own tower in the cow fields :-)
June 17th, 2008 at 3:00 am
[...] 13 Ways to Grab Attention [...]
June 20th, 2008 at 6:27 am
[...] you that need the quick and dirty, Katy over at I’m Blogging That! summed it up for us with 13 ways to Grab Attention from Visitors . And the order of 1- 13 is just about spot on in our [...]
June 21st, 2008 at 7:21 am
[...] Castro (a great and informative blog that I’ve just discovered), has written a tres helpful article on how to grab attention on your blog. Many of these are common sense items but often overlooked [...]
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
[...] Throughout the blogosphere we’ve all noted several times that images are used in a lot of blog posts and there are equally as many posts mentioning that we should use images within posts. Including my own post, 13 Ways to Grab Attention. [...]
June 30th, 2008 at 12:32 am
[...] Pack punch with your lists. Whatever is your list item should be grabbing and provide information. A good example of this within my own work is my post 13 Ways to Grab Attention. [...]