Comments on: Blog Hooks – Elements that Draw Readers Back

By: Michele Corey

Michele Corey — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 19:35:19 +0000

I love when the obvious shows up in front of me with a little bit of a twist to get me to stand up and notice. The twist you used was the word “hook” and not specifically stating, building your brand or developing your USP (unique selling proposition). For a lot of people in business this may create a place of safety.

When I think of hooks, I see them as the obvious, yet something we often forget to be consistent about.

I also think of the bigger picture…hooks aren’t just for my/our blogs, but are part of the foundation of our businesses.

So thanks for the twist on perspective which allowed me to do some of my own thinking and inspired my own post.

By: rich sense

rich sense — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 01:01:35 +0000

I am very new to blogging culture. But you know what, one of the reason i want to blog is because i have seen this website (http://lampusuluh.blogspot.com).

I dont know about hook, but i really like his idea writing a journal episode (about 14 episode there) and, i follow it starting from his first episode, everyday until his very last journal episode (its like a drama you know :P).

Everyday, i will go to his blog to check if he have posted the next episod of his journal. And, now, after making a little research, i beginning writing my own journal series. Today, i have posted my second episode of journal. Do come and see, if you can be hooked by my journal seris method :P

p.s. Because i just started to blog, i have no knowledge to design my blog to be fancy. And i will learn from you guys, the pro blogger :D

By: Hottest Blogger

Hottest Blogger — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 14:34:13 +0000

I think the hook for my blog at http://www.hottestblogger.com is very obvious hehe.

By: markku

markku — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 20:46:47 +0000

A good number of my readers look for wordpress plugins and other open source applications I’ve written.

By: MLMForums.net » Blog Archive » Blog Hooks

MLMForums.net » Blog Archive » Blog Hooks — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:37:51 +0000

[...] Read the complete post at problogger.net [...]

By: jesse

jesse — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:03:05 +0000

original content, well-written, updated at least 5 times a week, and a good design. There have been blogs I have opened, and then not even bothered to read because the design hurt my eyes.

On the flip side I’ve been spending about a week on a design trying to get it right, and it’s waisting my time

By: Tom Hanna - Financial Options

Tom Hanna - Financial Options — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 09:09:24 +0000

“practical tips that enhance my life so much that I don’t know how I ever lived my life without them.”

On topic or not, I think any blogs that important ought to be shared. How about a list?

By: MadeForAdSense

MadeForAdSense — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 02:57:01 +0000

“readership levels”

Exactly. I don’t want to compare myself to a sheep, but readership levels are a good indicator. One of the first things I look for in a blog are the comments (number and quality).

By: Martin (HomeOfficeVoice)

Martin (HomeOfficeVoice) — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 23:08:46 +0000

For me it’s personality with a touch of humor that brings me back to a blog. That, and as pcunix (#2) said: I’d rather read about how someone struggled with a problem and fixed it than just read *how* to fix it.

By: Dennis Pallett

Dennis Pallett — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:02:07 +0000

Humour is one of the most important things for me, and I agree with Tim Houghton. I absolutely love The Register, even though some of their articles are pretty bad. It’s just that their humour is great. Same goes with Engadget in most cases.

I also love reading certain blogs just because of the person who is writing it. A good example of this is Ensight. If it wasn’t Jeremy who was writing it, I probably would’ve stopped reading it a while ago. But I still closely follow his blog, because I like his personality, and style of writing.

I follow your blog (ProBlogger), because it provides so much excellent advice. Just take this post for a good example.

By: ME Strauss

ME Strauss — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:42:33 +0000

Hi Darren,
That post was a 10 out of 10. I’ve already said that when I linked it. I just think trackback are so cold. (brrrrr. :) ) So I’ll just tell you the other part I said:

Some[of your points] appeal to readers who are thinkers. Some appeal to readrs who are feelers. All tell readers that their time is well invested. Every one in some way tells readers this is a quality experience.

Imagine a blog that has 3 or more of Darren’s “hooks.” How could a reader leave without planning to return?

Sometimes you have to say, “I wish I wrote that.” :)

By: Kent

Kent — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:16:18 +0000

My blog is about how to make money online and I have found that if you give readers something that they can take away and apply to their own situation they will generally want to read more. There is a lot of information out there that is flashy and has great personality but offers no real substance. I agree that personality is a big factor but I believe that if you give somebody an idea or advice that helps them make money that they can’t really find anywhere you will have succeded in becoming a credible source for good information.

It also depends on what your blog is about. If you have a blog about gadgets, then the you would just have to go from one of the other angles but it all comes down to giving the reader something they can’t get anywhere else without too much fluff.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:08:16 +0000

As mentioned previously on this site, Top 10 lists work great as well. They are easy to read and fun to distribute.

By: Guide To Build Computer

Guide To Build Computer — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 19:30:27 +0000

Darren,
You are already doing that. There are lot of hooks in your blog. It is basically simple language, useful tips / advice ( ex. Chitika, How to blog, Google Adsense tips etc.) and latest information and interesting topics related to blog.

Regards

Krishna

By: Tim Houghton

Tim Houghton — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:49:56 +0000

Definitely humour! I’m convinced places like Engadget and The Register became huge because of their wacky commentary. Another great example is that Manolo guy you interviewed here a while back. I couldn’t care less about women’s shoes, but his blog is still worth reading :-)

By: DWB

DWB — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:06:29 +0000

Hey there,
I cant really comment about what keeps my visitors coming back because I’ve only got a few returning visitors and blog has only been running a few weeks.
I’ve got no real plans to become a pro blogger anytime soon but find this site an invaluable place to start for blogging advice- keep up the good work!!

Generally I will return to a site or blog if it has been intelligently written (without deliberate misspellings from the hip-hop fraternity such as wid’, wot, ‘bin, coz, nuff etc…), and makes me laugh/smile and has reasonable sized posts (not 2 lines but not 10,000 words).

chow for now
DWB

By: Chris @ Deliberate Chaos

Chris @ Deliberate Chaos — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:06:10 +0000

I’ve found that personality is one of the things that brings me back to blogs over and over. Information can be obtained quickly using a search engine and much information contained in blogs is usually created using the same primary sources as other blogs use, i.e. news wires, corporate websites, etc.

It’s the personality and style of the author that makes the raw information or news stand out. A blog author whose blog I often read has a criterion for judging blogs: passion. A blog will stand out if the author is passionate about what ever topic she or he is writing about.

If personality and passion weren’t involved in blogging, people would just go straight to the primary sources to obtain their information. Blogs add value by allowing personality to shine through.

By: pcunix

pcunix — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 17:42:21 +0000

I’ve had a web page since 1997 – actually a few years earlier, but it was very small and mostly private until then. Anyway, over the years, I’ve had many comments, almost all positive. I collected a few at http://aplawrence.com/comments.html and I read them when I need cheering up :-) The common theme is “clear”, “informative”, “helpful”.

What *I* look for is information and personality. I’d rather read about how someone struggled with a problem and fixed it than just read *how* to fix it.

It’s personality that keeps me coming back to here – there are plenty of other sites that have similar content, but I like Darren’s style.

By: Dee

Dee — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 17:33:32 +0000

‘what is hooking readers into your blog?’

christian fiction blog doesn’t just host author interviews or book reviews, but also provides latest news in christian fiction(movies, plays, books, gaming). thanks to you, Darren, this month we are holding a 30 day writing tip project parallelling with this month’s Nanowrimo project. We also have a discussion board and a free short story review session to help writers improve their craft.

What is it about your blog that draws people back?
we want them to believe that if they don’t come back, they may miss out on new publishing submission guidelines, literary agents asking for submissions, what’s selling in the market. we want them to use the blog as a tool to help them become successful, so we’re working hard at trying to build a reputation that we know it first. hopefully, this goal will be met in the near future, particularly once we upload our new website at year’s end(thank you darren for the tip that will lead to our move from blogger.com)

Also What hooks draw you into other blogs?

great information

i like pretty pictures on pages

i like to know what’s the latest hot thing in online media, so i’m always searching