Want to attract thousands of visitors? If you are a blogger struggling to succeed on the social sites, this post is a must read.
Up until three days ago I hadn’t been able to get much traffic from any of the social sites (Digg, Reddit, StumbleUp, etc.). I’d been frequently submitting to all of them but nothing stuck. I wasn’t sure why. I knew my content was good, but for some reason people weren’t going for it. I finally made a break through, and I’ll tell you exactly how it happened.
The Stats
On Friday, January 26, I wrote a post titled “The Two Types of Cognition”. I posted it to Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Del.icio.us and attracted a grand total of 100 visitors in the next two days.
The average time spend on the post (6:11) was great, so I knew the people who read it liked it. The problem was people weren’t seeing it.
On Saturday, my friend Greg came by and told me he liked the post and that I should try to promote it. This planted the seed of curiosity. On Sunday I decided to make an effort to promote the article.
I realized that my original headline sucked. I’m new to copywriting, so I normally want to use headlines as labels. ‘The Two Types of Cognition’ is a perfect description of the post and it includes the main keyword, but it doesn’t give the reader any incentive.
My breakthrough was galvanized by the discovery of Steve Olson’s post, “How This Blog Attracted 100,000 Visitors in the First 30 Days“. Through Steve’s post I discovered “5 of Your Headlines Remixed” by Brian Clark. If you want traffic READ THIS POST.
After reading Brian’s article and some of the other links from Steve’s post I resolved to concoct a new headline and resubmit to the social sites.
I came up with “Learn to Understand Your Own Intelligence“. A bit more provocative isn’t it? I submitted to all the same sites, made it up to the second page of Reddit and got a few del.icio.us tags and stumbles. Reddit brought in some good traffic, but it really took off with StumbleUpon.
As of this moment that article has attracted 4,930 unique views. Not bad for a site that normally averages a couple hundred visitors a day. As a bonus, people started stumbling one of my other pages, leading to even more traffic.
Here is a chart depicting how rewriting a single headline has affected this site’s traffic.
I didn’t write this post to brag. Many other people attract many more visitors over the social sites everyday. I wanted to point out that content is not always the biggest issue. The EXACT SAME ARTICLE had drastically different results all because of a headline. And it isn’t even that tough. Read the posts I linked to earlier, take the lessons to heart, and start putting a lot more effort into your headlines and opening paragraphs.
Don’t let your great content go to waste.
John,
You are correct my freind.
Great content may go unread because of the title and the first paragraph. Those elements are critical. I’m happy to hear of your successes.
A friend of mine who owns a bicycle shop had a similar brick-and-mortar problem.
No one came into the show room to even look at his bikes. He invited a few local pros to come down and give a 1 hour talk about how to be a better bike handler. Now he advertises the same ads in newspapers and phone book but with the tagline “home for racing pros.”
he can’t keep up with the bike builds anymore.
You’re absolutely right Ken. Good marketing applies to any business endeavor.
Thanks for the perfect model of the power of presentation, John.
Your point is one I certainly need to develop. I appreciate it!
A great post John and I have experienced the stumble effect as well. It’s definitiely in the packaging and the title sucks the reader in.
[...] The new version of the article has brought him almost 5000 visitors. [...]
[...] the Social Thumbs Up Posted in Uncategorized by Stephan Miller on the February 1st, 2007 Trackback Case Study: How a Headline Made the Difference Between 100 and 5000 Visits – Pick the Brain -Getting Smarter Every Day [...]
Excellent John.
There is an interesting free headline analyser tool available that measures the “emotional marketing value” of your headlines here: http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/
Sadly, when I tried your headlines it said the opposite. However I think Brian Clark over at copyblogger still wins the day.
Chris
That makes sense. My headline isn’t really very emotional at all. I think it worked because it’s intellectually compelling.
Interesting tool though, I’ll have to check it out.
Great post and fantastic blog! For a real newbie in the world of blogging I totally appreciate the info! Thanks a bunch! Jennifer
Good work John, and I’m glad the article helped. I don’t even think that’s one of the most instructive ones I’ve done on headlines, but it is helpful via “live” demonstration I suppose. I should do more of those.
Thanks for stopping by Brian. I agree, that certainly wasn’t the only article that helped me. I think I read the entire ‘Magnetic Headlines’ series. But that was the one that really prompted me to get serious about writing great headlines. Keep up the great work. I can’t wait to put more of your copywriting ideas into action.
I’m just happy you’re submitting your own content yourself and not getting flamed for it. The Internet needs more people like you — people who have their own opinions and thoughts and want to share them.
Congrats.
“Your Own Intelligence” is indeed compelling – you were talking about me!
Now that’s a way to get people reading what was great to begin with… tell us what we might not know about ourselves.
It gave me a wonder how the topic suddenly changed, but I can see now what you did. Experimenting and testing out different methods is the key to finding optimal solutions. I know.
This is great advice.
Interesting element to these comments and the people leaving them. lemme guess…
digg ain’t the goldmine it once was. Steve Pavlina rode it to immense success, but I don’t think any others can depend on it.
It’s good thinking to look for alternatives – and reddit and stumbleupon are certainly two options.
In a way, I think reddit has that exciting vibe that digg had 12 months ago.
you’ve made immense strides in a month John. Congrats.
ggw
This is a good post. Now its time to learn how to write better headlines.
Thanks for the tip John.
[...] In order to grab attention, your post titles need to be carefully selected. Are you going with wit, clarity, controversy or guidance? Do you aim for people’s emotional or rational attention? Do you want to entertain or provide help? John Wesley provided a great case study over the choice of headlines. Copyblogger presents alternative options of how to rephrase your headlines. And while you’re at it, check the wording of Steve Olson’s headlines in the Most popular posts section in the sidebar. Always experiment and try different methods and analyze the results. [...]
[...] If you don’t have a lot of time, just look on the sidebar: Best of Pick The Brain section contains the best informational and motivating articles, such as Learn to understand your own intelligence, Overcoming a loss of motivation, or Case study: How a headline made the difference between 100 and 5000 visits. Although John is a bit sceptical about his blog being remarkable, there are lots of things to learn from the big white bear, so I invite you to read John Wesley’s blog and comment here what was your favourite post and why. Good luck John, and keep on picking the brain. It sure works! You can take your badge and display it on your site. if (typeof window.Delicious == “undefined”) window.Delicious = {}; Delicious.BLOGBADGE_DEFAULT_CLASS = ‘delicious-blogbadge-line’; [...]
Hey John, a very inspiring post! I pick up new tips just about every day; this one sounds like one of the best yet. Can’t wait to try it out.
[...] John Wesley had faithfully submitted his posts on social bookmarking websites, but had not seen the results he’d like to see… until he figured out that a provocative headline can make the difference between 100 and 5000 Visits. Which one would you be more likely to click on, “Two Types of Cognition” or “Learn to Understand Your Own Intelligence?” They’re both the same articles, but shows what a difference effective article titles can make for your readership. [...]
You make some great points here John. Your hard work has paid off in great dividends. I’m thankful to you for sharing some of your worldly wisdom. What goes around comes back.
I recently read a site became the featured blog site because of the headline Why Do Women Show Their Breasts. Spot on with your headlines article here and there is proof that it does work. Now all I have to do is think of a headline. Great article.
[...] And a fellow blogger, John Wesley was kind enough to share his finding about the result of what a different header can do to influence your blog traffic. Even if you didn’t change any single word from the content of your landing page, that doesn’t matter. As long as you have great content of course. For me, I think the sales letter for the gold coins riches is great. But, I will have to do split testing for the header from time to time to ensure I can get better conversion rate. [...]
[...] Write catchy headlines and list posts that will be popular with the social sites. It’s the best way for thousands of readers to discover you. [...]
[...] Learn to craft catchy, linkable headlines for individual posts [...]
Hi John,
Great case study! Food for thought… Thanks for sharing.
All the best,
Francois du Toit
http://www.money-maker-advice.com
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]
[...] ‘The Ultimate AdSense Income Tutorial’ posted at Adsense Advice John Wesley presents Case Study: How a Headline Made the Difference Between 100 and 5000 Visits posted at Pick the Brain – Wit and Wisdom for Your Inspiration, saying, “The importance of [...]
THanks for sharing your discovery. Guess I will have to relook at my headlines…
Having a cachy title is always important. But the content is the king. If your content will fresh and unique, it will automatically attract visitors to your site. So, build more and more relevant content to your site. Content always wins.
[...] Wesley of pickthebrain.com wrote an article, “The Two Types Of Cognition”, and he submitted it to the social [...]
yo !
Great job, this discovery will make posting even easier for others if they crack this code
Arshad .S
Seo Analyst
im on a yearbook staff at my high school and honestly my assignment was to come up with headlines. and its 11 pm and thats what im doing …using the advice from others to juice my brain. =D
[...] Before you get the link, you’ve got to capture attention with a headline. Pick the Brain offers a wonderful case study about how a headline made the difference between 100 and 5000 visits. [...]
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]
[...] anything in your purse instantly! Modified Headline : How to Instantly Find Anything in Your Purse Here is a good blog post that should help you with your [...]
Great content ,thanks for your share~~
[...] The most important part of your article is your headline. A bad or boring headline will not entice a whole lot of people to click and start reading. A good one will. Copyblogger have written some useful articles on how to create better headlines. Have a look at 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work and How to Write Magnetic Headlines. John at Pick the Brain did a case-study about the importance of a good headline here. [...]
Great case study. I knew that a good headline is very important but never thought it could mean getting 5000 visits instead of only 100. Many thanks for sharing. Time to review my headlines…
I got to your sites through a headline, which shows that it is indeed important. Thanks for the info!
Very good article, thanks a lot!
[...] The title is the offcourse the most important thing when it comes to social bookmarking websites. Here is a excellent article which should help you to frame better [...]
Another top post.
Really enjoying what you do here.
Thanks
wmwebtr ödüllü seo yarışması
thanks you.
[...] How a Headline Made the Difference Between 100 and 5000 Visits [...]
[...] catchy headlines and list posts that will be popular with the social sites. Its the best way for thousands of [...]
thanks
Great job, this discovery will make posting even easier for others if they crack this code
umut very good
Seo Analyst
very good thanks
This info is really very helpful….I am a newbie,I think after reading this I will definitely be able to achieve the traffic which I thought was not possible for me.
Thanks
Nikhil
Great comment guidelines. I think you’re on the right track here. Some of those comments should go somewhere else.
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]
[...] [...]
[...] The title is the offcourse the most important thing when it comes to social bookmarking websites. Here is a excellent article which should help you to frame better [...]
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]
[...] The title is the offcourse the most important thing when it comes to social bookmarking websites. Here is a excellent article which should help you to frame better [...]
[...] [...]
Great tip to having success on social media sites,
THINKING OUT OF THE BOX!
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]
Hey John, what a terrific post, every time I come here I pick up something good, keep up the good work.
[...] The most important part of your article is your headline. A bad or boring headline will not entice a whole lot of people to click and start reading. A good one will. Copyblogger have written some useful articles on how to create better headlines. Have a look at 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work and How to Write Magnetic Headlines. John at Pick the Brain did a case-study about the importance of a good headline here. [...]
[...] Wesley did a case study over on Pick the Brain where he tested a new headline on an existing article to find out if he could increase the traffic to the post. His original headline, “The Two [...]
great great
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]
Thanks for providing the required push with your post!
Hello,
Thanks for writing such a great post. I was looking for this from a long time. where i can find the proper way to promote my blog on social book marking sites.
Regards,
Jenni
Thanx for your extra-ordinary writing. I was wondering how to get traffic since last 2/3 months, but didn’t get any way. Tried social bookmarking sites, but failed. But I had some good contents to share.
You relieved me from this pain.
Thanks for a well-written article. It is a challenge, however, to make the titles of software and hardware tutorials catchy without looking schmaltzy!
[...] Here is a good blog post that should help you with your headlines. [...]