4:19 AM
indigo
Sticky Content = online writing that stays in readers minds, quickly offering information/value to them, and rises to the top!
What is sticky content?
It’s really all about focusing on writing posts and pages for your blog that make sense, deliver the information quickly, and add value to the web space. When a visitor firsts lands on your blog are they bombarded by advertisements and affiliate offers? Or do they quickly see the headlines, titles, and factual points you are trying to deliver and are hooked into staying by finishing reading the post.
Obviously we can see the benefits of writing viral content and media, getting a thousand extra views per day or even per hour would be nice eh? I’m sure you can figure out how to use the thousands upon thousands of possible visitors resulting from top quality link bait.
What message are you sending?
- What is your hook? – tap into emotions and feelings like new, original, exciting, scary, true, crazy, etc
- Does the title reach out and grab your audience?
- What message do you convey through your title?
Example: “MARINES TO OAKLAND POLICE: “You did this to my brother!” (One of the most viral stories online this week)
One of top stories on Digg this month
This was one of the top stories whirling around the social media bookmarking sites this week and it’s obvious to see why.
People immediately make an emotional connection of respect, admiration, and friendship with the subject, “MARINES”. Then, you see a surprising “subject and accusation/blame” combination following this, “OAKLAND POLICE and YOU DID THIS” which instantly triggers thoughts about guns, life changing experiences, and controversy. Lastly the statement places the event at home, in the U.S. and up at Oakland, California. The full title offers a 3 step series of trust/connection, then shock of the shooting, and finally its in our community.
People read this title and have strong emotions, it’ll be shared and talked about, discussed and argued by people who are emotionally invested and connected with the HEADLINE.
That is why you really need to think about how you are addressing your audience and what kind of message you are sending. Most online users will only BROWSE headlines and titles, they won’t even read descriptions unless they are “hooked” and interested. So plan ahead and think of how your potential reader will be scanning and browsing Reddit, Digg, Youtube, or any other social media site.
Where’s the hook?
- Sharp headlines and titles – get their interest and attention immediately
- Think of the message you are conveying
- Crisp imagery and video – online browsers LOVE pictures and videos
What about the actual heart of your content, the writing itself. One of the first mistakes I see bloggers make is to write college style, research essays that are 8-12 sentence paragraphs. Large paragraphs are massive walls of text to online readers. It’s hard as hell to read! So stop writing huge blocks of text and be a bit more creative with how you deliver you ideas, thoughts and concepts to potential visitors in the future.
What works a lot better is to write in bullet points, lists, add images, quotes, and keep your sentences short.
Sure, search engine spiders love to see lots of keyword rich text and images, but don’t forget how the readers, and potential customers are seeing your website. It’ll be just fine for spiders to go through more paragraph breaks and spaces, lists and forms, or bullet points. Take the time to plan ahead for the distribution of articles, press releases, social bookmarks and make sure you’ve got the following tips in line.
Sticky Content SEO Review:
- Have a hook – readers browse titles/headlines, make sure yours will grab their attention
- Web writing is king! Don’t write massive walls of text, use bullets, lists, creativity
- Add images and video for maximum success on social sharing sites
