Sticky goodness – web content that inspires repeat readers

Sites that lure eyeballs back – and inspire readers to action – are known as "sticky" (finally: a fun and comprehensible bit of web jargon!). Pure talent helps, sure. But the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house rejected Jack Kerouac, George Orwell and Sylvia Plath, among others. Sometimes the mainstream media overlooks genius at first pass. Ditto online readers.

But you can woo them ... first and foremost by writing with their needs in mind. As tough-love web guru Vincent Flanders points out: "Nobody cares about you or your site. Really. What visitors care about is solving their problems. Now. Most people visit a web site to solve one or more of these four problems:

1. They want/need information
2. They want/need to make a purchase/donation.
3. They want/need to be entertained.
4. They want/need to be part of a community.

"Too many organizations believe that a web site is about opening a new marketing channel or getting donations or to promote a brand or to increase company sales by 15%. No. It’s about solving your customers’ problems. Have I said that phrase enough?"

(Read more in his snarky article Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015.)

For those of you promoting a business, take heed of the 80/20 rule. Experts agree that readers respond best when only one blog post in five is a plug. Some grey area exists, certainly, such as writing in your field of expertise without explicitly pushing your brand. The same formula applies to Twitter and social network sites like Facebook and Linked In. No one likes a relentless hustler – in person or in cyberspace.

But it's not enough to interact with the community, you have to join it, as Web Consultant Mack Collier points out on The Viral Garden. So this week, we'll explore how to create original material that attracts and maintains an audience, while reaching out to other content-producers. And next week, we'll delve into the mechanics of search engines and how to deploy social media tools to build readership.

Digging down: creating distinctive, original content

Chris Pirillo argues that bloggers should say something original at least once a day in this terrific advice post. "Create, don’t regurgitate," he urges. "Make yourself uncomfortable."

Developer Jeff Atwood makes some similar points on Coding Horror: “Switch things up. Seek out uncommon sites with unique information. Dig down to original sources and read the material everyone is commenting endlessly on.”

The key word there – the takeaway message – should be sources. You need 'em. Anchor your blog in the wider world of facts and reflections. Citing experts (or even Joe Public) lends scope and authority to your work: it's no longer the sound of one hand clapping, but part of a larger dialogue. And building a community is what the web's all about.

Musing about you're eyeglasses, for example? Dorothy Parker got there first. By alluding to her famous line, you're evoking information deep in the readers' memories, which helps them connect to your material and retain it better. WIN! Or dig even deeper and find a great spectacle quote that hasn't been hounded into the land of cliché. DOUBLE WIN! Or perhaps link to another blogger's exploration of the topic. BONUS OVERTIME GOODNESS!

Articles, blogs, books and quotation compilations are great tools. But you can take it further: talk to people.

Get your interview on

As Metascene explained in Ten Tips for Building a Bionic Weblog: "Play reporter once in a while. Research under-reported stories and do some leg work for your readers. Find an angle that no one, including mainstream press, has reported on."

Don't be shy about interviewing. Most folks love to discuss their passions – and will treat a citizen journalist with the same respect as a professional (so expect anything from fawning to projectiles ... but mostly gracious help).

Great places to harvest interviewees include Twitter, Facebook and Help A Reporter Out, as well as listserves and electronic bulletin boards.

Research beforehand to formulate intelligent questions. Jot down key queries, so they don't slip away during a good conversation. Avoid questions with a simple yes or no answer; Try to get subjects to elaborate. Remember to listen, not talk, advises Christopher (Chip) Scanlan, author of Reporting and Writing: Basics for the 21st Century.

Start with easy, confidence-building queries, then weave in tougher material – if any – towards the end. Always conclude with: “Is there anything you'd like to add that we haven't covered?” and “What elements would you emphasize in an article?” Often the best comments arise then.

In most countries, you must ask permission to capture the conversation on audio or video tape (record the subject's assent for maximum protection, though clip that off any broadcasts). I take notes too, because technology can easily fail. For example, Oxford Times Features Writer Reg Little once interviewed a haughty Noble Prize laureate, only to discover the recorder was on the wrong setting. The two-hour conversation was captured on high speed –  creating a super-soprano, chittering, Alvin and the Chipmunks effect. Poor Reg spent long, long hours interpreting the tinny squeal. Background noise, battery failure and tampering can also ruin recordings.

“Off the record” means the subject is imparting sensitive background information not for print. Strictly speaking, they must specify this before the statement, but use your discretion. “Not for attribution” means you cannot use that person's name, just a vague description like “a Johannesburg shopkeeper” or “a Syrian homemaker”. Avoid this whenever possible, as it weakens your credibility.

Reporting sounds like too much work...

Yeah, it can be, pushed to a pro limit. But happily, you have a great shortcut at your fingertips: email. It takes mere minutes to find an expert, then politely dash off a question or three. Should an answer arrive – and in time – you can just cut and paste the sucker right into your text. Ideally, publish the person's full name, credentials (if applicable) and, where appropriate, a link to his or her site.

Q&A sessions go one step further, making another person the focus of the post. Hey, presto: original material with little elbow grease involved! Best of all, this format encourages the link love, because most of us are vain creatures at heart. Case in point, when Traveling Mamas featured my friend Sascha Stokes, she linked to the post ... and so did I, because of a mention. Nowadays, I'd probably tweet and Facebook it too – driving traffic via three avenues. As we'll explore in depth next week, inbound links – especially ones from popular sites with strong keywords – boost blogosphere mojo hugely.

The Interview with a Traveling Mama is a frequent feature on that co-authored, award-winning blog, so CajunMamma didn't even need to formulate fresh questions. But think about the wealth of content that's slowly accumulating ... perfect should the team ever expand to books or a web portal.

Consider how your blog might benefit from regular elements, especially those with reader-generated content or a guest blogger, which build community and cut down on your keyboard time.

Play like a pro: be your own editor

Five elements tend to distinguish amateur writers from seasoned veterans, honed chops aside:

• Research – read on your topic before you start writing. Even 15 minutes surfing sites, articles and Wikipedia will give you a huge edge – and perhaps even some strong angles and link-worthy material.
• Source – ideally a post is a conversation, not a monologue, presenting pro and con viewpoints where appropriate (balance strengthens a piece, even one with a strong opinion, by bringing credibility. "I'm not just a whacko banging a drum", it telegraphs. "I've looked at both sides of the equation and back this one. Now you can do the same."). Connect to the larger world via links and quotes. Cite studies and statistics, tracked to their source of origin. Name interviewees and experts, and explain their relevance to the subject at hand.
• Fact-check – question what you read, especially online. If a source seems questionable, double-check it against two others. Don't wing dates, facts, foreign phrases, famous quotes or recaps of news events: be accurate and perhaps even link to authoritative sources, so readers can explore the topic further. Whenever you draw from others' content – whether that's a Flickr photo or a quote from an AP story – honor the creator's hard work with a citation and a link. Not only is this gracious, but it builds accountability, authority and community.
• Redraft – blogging can be a very immediate medium, but it doesn't have to be. Quick posts encourage sloppy reporting and careless writing, neither of which inspire readers. So, when possible, put aside your draft for a few hours or days. Return to it with fresh eyes. Be prepared to take a few swings at the thing. Remember that most professional authors – those not on breaking news deadlines – revise a piece anywhere from 5 to 50 times (or more, like the award-winning Edward Readicker-Henderson, who also teaches for Writers.com). As a blogger, you're paddling in their pool. Stay competitive with thoughtful, well-polished posts.
• Self-edit – Google names. Run spellcheck (Word has a grammar function. Click "options" in the Spellcheck dialogue, then tick "check grammar with spelling" and "show readability statistics". This helps your police overlong sentences and passive verbs). Read the piece aloud. Print it and read it in a new medium away from your usual workspace. Ask friends to look over a draft – or fellow bloggers. You have the start of a support network right here in class ... grow that further by contacting like-minded writers. As Kevin O'Keefe points out on Real Lawyers Have Blogs, a quick message – especially after a link or citation – can lead to fruitful relationships.

Topnotch publications still employ fact-checkers to verify stories (Julian Barnes wittily details the New Yorker's laborious process in Letters from London, an excellent read). These meticulous folks demand every URL, interview transcript, page number and contact detail, so authors keep airtight records – a wise habit for bloggers too.

Should a dispute ever arise over a quote, threatening a libel suit, you'll have ammunition. A handful of my blogger-journalist colleagues have taken out liability insurance, but they cover controversial themes: such tactics aren't common yet. Still, it's worth covering your butt. Hang on to your notebooks, source materials and original versions of any digital recordings (Sherry detailed some great tips for audio-archiving in this recent post. Take advantage of today's cheap e-storage now, on-site and off.)

Even the most conscientious writer – blogger, journalist or book author – misses a few tricks: we're only human. But honor your own work and the reader by running as tight a ship as possible.

Classic blog entry formulas

Self-editing applies to the "assignment desk" as well. Where a pro has a boss – or even a handful of 'em – suggesting and vetting story ideas, bloggers are in DIY territory.

And that can be a cold, cold, lonely place some days...

Since regular posting is so important, following are some tried-and-test ways to jump start your blog's entries.

1. The anecdote – a curious thing happened on the way to the Forum...
2. The flashback – revisit scenes from earlier times, perhaps triggered by a current event or news story
3. The sound-off – commentary on news, issues or some rant-worthy incident
4. The rave – saluting others and their achievements
5. The meme – a set of questions passed around by bloggers. Answer, then "tag" others to do the same (see below).
6. The pundit – drawing together several news stories or events to make an observation about modern culture.
7. The curator – cataloguing elements of your life, from purse contents to old ticket stubs. Ideally some conclusion or insight arises from this.
8. The cliffhanger – a series of post, generally short, which knit into a larger narrative arc. A kind of essay-on-installment, this breaks off on a suspenseful moment each chapter to bring readers back to the same bat-time, same bat-place...
9. The review – try something, from an experience to a product, and report back.
10. The debate – comment on another blogger's post, expanding the issue.
11. Q&A – conduct a short e-interview with a relevant party.
12. The newsflash – reaction to a breaking story, including links.
13. The competition – conduct a contest among readers. Offer a small prize, virtual or otherwise.
14. The photo break – Post nothing but visuals, perhaps with explanatory captions.
15. The video dodge – Embed a YouTube video, if you're too rushed for original content.

What to avoid: blogging about not blogging enough or the stress of posting routinely. Who wants to hear you whine? Not even your parents...

And especially not my parents. Who call and critique my blog unbidden.

O joy!

Fighting writer's block: Blog jump starts

Many writing programs employ an in-class drill. The teacher delivers the beginning of a sentence, then the students press pencil to paper and write continuously, without erasing, for a fixed period of time (two minutes is typical). Designed to free up writer's block and the quiet critical "inner editor," this exercise can evoke some interesting material. Following are a few suggestions, if you want to try this at home (having a friend or family member write some on an accordion-folded sheet of paper will duplicate the surprise element).

1. I've always wanted to visit ...
2. My parents and friends would worry if I ...
3. Something I always wanted to try, but didn't, is...
4. I've long regretted ...
5. My most bittersweet moment was...
6. The one item I'd rescue from a housefire...
7. The childhood memory that makes me blush most is...
8. The last time I felt giddy with happiness was...
9. I wish I could buy the world a Coke and tell everyone...
10. A person I admire, but find frustrating, is ...

The end result of these scribblings won't always be a post, of course: that degree of navel-gazing may not suit your style. But return to your responses a few days later and scan for universal themes. What common emotions surfaced, elements your readers might connect with? How can you tap the power of those shared experiences via your blog?

Tapping pro-writer tools like media kits

A tub of hummous or a trip to the zoo can spark an entry – anything, really... But sometimes ideas don't spin effortlessly out of the ether and bloggers need to go digging. Look to full-time journalists for cues on how to handle this. After all, most face down writer's block daily to earn their bread...

Companies and groups, like charities and tourism boards, often offer media or press kits. These might contain publicity material, recent articles, leaflets, fact sheets and sometimes royalty-free digital images. Many organizations happily provide information via email – or have extensive websites that include story ideas. Always identify yourself as blogger, then ask to receive updates. Citing your readership statistics will help, along with any other credentials.

Some press releases offer vital tips; others are just hyped-up junk mail. But these can be helpful, when casting a wide net for post ideas. Large companies keep lists of journalists and bloggers, who then receive press releases (and sometimes free samples, like herbal remedies for jet lag or moisturizer designed for convertible drivers). Many now host events for new-media authors from meet-and-greets to press trips (free or heavily subsidized junkets). For example, Bertolli Sauces flew our former student Mardi Michels to the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival 2009 in San Francisco, where she demonstrated her deconstructed-pesto pizza in the company's show-kitchen.

Getting onto press lists can be tedious and time-consuming. You need to track down the publicity office, then ring, write or email, supplying your contact information. Eventually experienced authors land on master lists sold or given to PRs, but the process can be slow at the start. Limit efforts to companies that especially intrigue you.

Harried bloggers and media staffers sometimes draft short items (“filler”) from press releases or media kits alone. That's dangerous, as only one side emerges: the shiny, happy face of officialdom. Louise Purwin Zobel, author of The Travel Writer's Handbook, advocates crossing out all the adjectives in brochure-like texts, then reading the last page for the facts . Don't let these superlatives infiltrate your text. Scan for generics like “beautiful” and “stunning”. Then explain why: stretch for more precise, evocative terminology. “Show, don't tell,” is the maxim to remember.

Apply the same skepticism to brochures, as well as information from company blogs, and in-flight and in-house hotel magazines. Glean the key information, then leave the jargon and hyperbole behind. And double-check all facts: a harried work-for-hire copywriter can easily make mistakes...

Strong reporters avoid unbalanced pieces that echo a corporate party line. At the very least, sleuth down comments (both pro and con, should the topic inspire any controversy). Wherever possible, seek concrete statistics or experts to verify claims of “increasing numbers” or “a hot new trend”. Search the Internet for more candid perspectives: reader-review sites and bulletin boards are especially helpful on this front. Even 15 minutes of research can save a post from becoming a slobbering, sell-out puff piece.

Memes: Oh those crazy kids with their fads...

On a more playful note, let's turn our attention to the real purpose of the internet: to showcase kittens, nudity and dancing babies.

The term "Internet meme" is a neologism describing a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the web. Basically, they're inside jokes ... just writ large. Memes can range from a questionnaire to an art project to video clips riffing off the same theme.

The term "viral" describes ideas that spread rapidly and organically like this (not, say, through mainstream media or an advertising campaign). As Novelist Neal Stephenson explained in 1992's Snow Crash: "We are all susceptible to the pull of viral ideas. Like mass hysteria. Or a tune that gets into your head that you keep on humming all day until you spread it to someone else. Jokes. Urban legends. Crackpot religions. No matter how smart we get, there is always this deep irrational part that makes us potential hosts for self-replicating information."

Some popular Internet memes:

• Bert Is Evil
• Bonsai Kitten
• The I Kiss You! guy from Turkey
• The Star Wars Kid
• The classic All Your Base Are Belong To Us
• Black People Love Us
• The infamous Dancing Baby
• my favorite PostSecret

These phenomena spread via email, blogs, social networking sites, instant messaging, etc. And yes, they can be deeply, deeply annoying. But they're here to stay and even spawned a whole field, memetics, that explores "transmission in terms of an evolutionary model" and just had its first convention at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 2008's ROFLCon.

Memers are very fond of citing Richard Dawkins as the term's originator. Mainly, I suspect, because they want to justify spending hours and hours animating a banana...

I'm sold. Meme me!

In the blogsphere, "meme" (rhymes with "theme") refers to a creative task, which then anchors a post. This could range from a set of personal questions to Photoshopping a raptor head on to a still or video. Here's a flashy twist on the "interview" format, using Flickr and mosaic maker, for example.

The best memes catch on and go viral. Authors tag each other, kind of like a chain letter. But there's no reason you can't borrow some classic formulas. In fact, sites like The Daily Meme suggest thousands of 'em, like listing your favorite bands from A-Z.

Following are a few more ideas from Margaret Mason's No One Cares What You Had for Lunch (an insubstantial book with a great title):

Ceremonies
Cheesy old memories
Confessions
Count your blessings
Critique consumer or pop culture
Curate the web
Dealbreakers
Examine your paperwork
Favorites
Food faves
Inventories
Nostalgia
Phrases
Place yourself (widget maps)
Play favorites
Podcast old voicemail
Scars
Scraps ripped from magazines
Share your expertise
Show some love
Timelines

Memes can be a terrific tool to get writing. They add original content – so key for the searchbots – and vary the texture of your blog, which helps maintain reader interest. But, as with all things, moderation is key. Too much "paint by numbers" material can alienate an audience.

DJ your blog: mixing expertise and entertainment

Samuel Johnson once said, “man must bring knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.” So try to anchor the blog around topics that exploit your expertise or experience.

The advantages are numerous. Background knowledge frees a writer to concentrate on structure and style, rather than suffering a steep learning curve. It allows more time for other chores, like multimedia management and blog-promotion. Also, insider-reports confer instant authority, increasing the odds of repeat readers. The audience has a reason to value your perspective on the topic and return for more.

That said, blogs have a long, fine tradition of, well, spouting off for kicks and sharing quirky tidbits scoured off the net. Play with the mix, varying the texture of your blog. Perhaps follow up a whistle-blowing post with a lighter one, commenting upon some trend like laser-portrait mashups.

Monitor the zeitgeist at sites like Technorati and Alexa, which note the most search-upon and blogged-upon terms. They also note the web's hottest pages. Forget The New York Times bestseller list ... these puppies update every few minutes.

That intel's powerful. But should you jump on the bandwagon? Does it benefit your blog's goal to be one small voice shouting about a popular topic? Or would your target audience prefer a more eclectic viewpoint?

Don’t parrot or “echo chamber,” as the blogosphere calls it. Coding Horror's Jeff Atwood makes a strong point: “we have the whole of human history to talk about, and most people can't get past what happened today. If I wanted news, I'd visit one of the hundreds of news sites that do nothing but news every day. Putting yourself in the news business is a thankless, unending grind. Don't do it.”

Instead, find the stories that are uniquely yours to tell. As Roy Peter Clark wrote on Poynter's website: “All good writers express a form of curiosity, a sense that something is going on out there, something in the air." The best, he explained, “are explorers, traveling through their communities with a special alertness, connecting seemingly unrelated details into story patterns.”

On the web, original content is king. So think about what you're bringing to the table – and how that's a resource for like-minded souls. Maybe it's unearthing tales neglected by the mainstream media. Maybe it's literary nonfiction or heartfelt essays: poetically crafted in a distinctive voice. Or maybe it's snarking about cats with poor spelling or cussing out cute animals for sheer yucks.

Keep the home court advantage

"Write what you know" is the oldest advice in the trade – for a reason. Your unique life experiences will always illuminate your prose: more so when you’re enjoying the home court advantage. Try to pick topics that exploit your expertise. For example, when I wrote a piece on driving a moped in Rome, where I lived for two years, I didn’t just bemoan the manic Mediterranean traffic: I introduced the Italian concept – menefreghismo, the "state of not caring" – that fuels some of their wild driving habits. Such wealth of detail is hard to come by without being there, saturating in your subject, living it.

Writers bring much of themselves to any text. An advertising executive in Taiwan has quite a different perspective from a Denver mountaineer or a French homemaker. Even if all three blogged the same topic, their responses would be diverse. And that's the beauty of the web, really. With great ease, we can explore others' experiences and reactions ... satisfying that primal human urge to rubberneck. Dangerous as that can be, we're hardwired to learn through observation. Happily the information highway is a safer place to looky-loo.

Don’t parrot or “echo chamber,” as the blogosphere calls it. Jeff Atwood sagely points out: “we have the whole of human history to talk about, and most people can't get past what happened today. If I wanted news, I'd visit one of the hundreds of news sites that do nothing but news every day. Putting yourself in the news business is a thankless, unending grind. Don't do it.”

Feature context and original content high

Design-wise, think about how to showcase your fresh, unique material in the main text area. When a reader lands on your blog, does original content draw their eye? Or is half the page taken up by a header (a static element), followed by a headline and someone else's Flickr photo? Do the first 25 words – which also appear in search indexes, inviting traffic – convey excitement and the gist of the post, including as many specific details as possible?

You'll often hear the dead-tree media term "above the fold" in regards to this space. Like any first impression, you want to dazzle quickly. Some elements that aid this:

1. A shallow header: the "masthead" box or image across the top. Most templates are between 660 pixels and 770 pixels wide, but the header will stretch in height to match the art you place there.
   
   We'll talk about how to prep and place images later in this lecture. For now, just ponder photos much wider than they are tall. Ones cropped to "landscape" proportions work best. (Tip: Go to Dashboard -> Layout -> Page Elements and click the "Edit" link in the header area. Check the bottom of the dialogue box for the width of your template, measured in pixels.)
2. An "about me" box, top right, giving context.
3. Horizontal images at the top of posts, not vertical (those work best dotted into the text, drawing the eye down the page and breaking up large "grey" chunks of text).
4. Body copy starting "above the fold".
5. Datelines, placing the story geographically if your prose wanders. Associated Press style is most often used: a city name, entirely in capital letters, followed in most cases by the name of the state, county or territory, and country (if not immediately clear). These also help cue the searchbots and ad-generators into your topic.
6. Specific headlines that highlight your original content.

We'll explore these concepts in more detail throughout the class, through feedback and lectures.