How to: Be an uber blogger, by Cory Doctorow
Sep 6, 2007
Cory Doctorow, uber blogger of Boing Boing, science fiction writer and part-time resident of the Magic Kingdom describes how to create a blog that people read.
Cory suggests focussing on headlines that grab the vast number of people who come to your site from search engines. To do this, he said headlines should ignore grammar, reason – and everything else – in order to emphasize what will bring newcomers to your blog.
In discussion after the video ended, Cory also suggested studying the work of Jakob Nielsen , who has done in-depth studies on web usability with eye-tracking equipment. (For someone who is an expert in design, graphics are intriguingly absent from Nielsen’s home page. Perhaps a lesson for us all?)
Having heard Cory’s tips, I’ve become self-conscious about all my blog post titles.
UPDATE: A great posting by Happie Katie has summarized what Cory spoke about in this video.
Cory suggests:
1- Make your headline un-exciting.
2- Don’t split your posts.
3- Don’t put important links and details ‘after the jump’.
(More explanatory detail by Happie Katie):
Katie adds three more suggestions:
4. Use images or visuals as much as humanly possible
5. LINKLINKLINK to your sources and other sites as if your life depended on it
6. Respond to your comments (I’m particularly bad on this one)
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Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the
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