I continue to be amazed sometimes as to which of my posts do better than others. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason. Just as you check the other metrics on how you’re doing, I think it’s important as a part of your own self discipline to review the low performers and see if there are ways to improve. We are all guilty sometimes of not putting our best foot forward and our audience lets us know it. Darren Rowse, in a recent post titled, Why did your last blog post fail? 13 questions to ask, outlines a pretty good checklist for evaluating your posts. I’ve highlighted 5 of the most important ones that I make sure I use.
- Post title – Did it have enough zing to get people to stop? I’m in the ad business and no matter what medium you’re using, you only have a fraction of a second to get someone’s attention.
- Opening lines – Once you stop them with a great title, you’d better tell them quickly “WIIFM” (What’s In It For Me).
- Was the post to the point – Did you stay on point and make your point easily understood.
- Was there enough meat on the bones – Did your post have sufficient depth (both from content and links)
- Did it fulfill a need – Why would someone want to read it?
I’m sure you have other thoughts and I’d like to hear them.