Blogging may be a fairly recent method of marketing to customers, but marketing itself is as old as the hills. Therefore, it’s wise to look at the strategies used by successful advertisers of the past and apply those strategies to blogging.
One of the best ways to hook your readers is to offer them specific promises that will help improve their lives. Everybody is looking for ways to improve their lives, and if you can offer succinct, simple ways to do that, they will love you, share your content, and promote your business for you–especially if you make it easy to share your blog posts via social media.
Numbered lists do just that: they offer succinct, simple ways to do something. Let’s take a look at a few sample blog post titles:
3 Delicious Ways to Increase Your Calcium Intake
Increasing Your Calcium Intake
4 Types of Investor–Which Type Are You?
Investing Styles
7 Early Warning Signs of Diabetes
How Do You Know If You Have Diabetes?
Which of these titles is most appealing to you? Most people prefer the titles that include numbers. The numbered titles seem to offer quick, usable information, and that’s what most blog readers are after. Let’s take a look at 5 reasons for using numbered lists in your blog from your local Brooklyn Inbound Marketing Agency.
The 5 Reasons to Use Numbered Lists in Your Blog Titles
1. “At least it won’t be long.”
We’re all looking for information on the Internet, but we don’t have much time. Numbered lists promise information but not length. Part of the appeal of numbered lists is that they are usually short, the end of the post is within easy reach, and readers feel that they’ll walk away with new information.
2. A Specific Promise, Right from the Start
Vague titles are a gamble for readers. You never know what you’re going to get. But with numbered lists you’re offered a couple of specific promises: you know what the blog post will be about and you know roughly how long it will be. These specifics are appealing. Make sure you create real value with your blog content.
3. All Else Being Equal, Headlines Containing Numbers Yield More Traffic
You can test this on your own blog. Check your analytics to see if your numbered list posts garner more hits than your titles without numbered lists. This alone is a great reason to include headlines with numbers in them.
4. Create Sub-Conscious Questions
Chances are good that when your blog readers got up this morning, they weren’t thinking about reasons to replace their old aluminum mini blinds with stylish, light-filtering window shades, but your numbered list could create sub-conscious questions in their minds. Before they click on your title, the seeds of questions will have been planted, and those seeds may grow into the motivation to eventually contact your business and make a purchase.
5. Easy Scanning
People don’t read blogs the way they read novels or journal articles. Maybe it’s because of the sheer volume of information online that we’ve trained ourselves to scan web content searching for key phrases or ideas. Numbered lists assist in this style of reading. Maybe you’ve caught yourself reading this way: you skip the introduction, read the bolded list items, and then circle back to read the supporting text under the headlines you found most interesting. Make it easy for your readers to scan since they’re probably already doing it anyway. Learn the anatomy of an effective landing page.
Help improve the blogging user experience on your site by including numbered lists on your blog. Learn how to convert website traffic into customers. For more information about improving UX for blogging, contact us at Park Slope Softworks, an inbound marketing company in Brooklyn.
