Comments on: More on How to Build Anticipation on Your Blog

By: Weight Lifting Complete

Weight Lifting Complete — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:41:56 +0000

I’ve got to start incorporating anticipation into my website and blog. Never really thought about it before now. Maybe I’ll start doing series or parts as recommended. Not sure how to incorporate into a website that isn’t a blog, though. I guess you can incorporate to get visitors to click through to the next series.

By: Irma

Irma — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:12:57 +0000

I enjoy your blog and I am glad
I found this today.
thanks

By: JK Swopes

JK Swopes — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:54:53 +0000

Darren, you hooking me in man…I feel like I’m falling in a black hole, every post leads me to other top notch info that I feel I can’t do without…..crap, I’ve been on here for a while…..how dare you! :)

I will be looking at a lot of your info and seeing how I can implement it into my own blog. Thanks.

By: Kemi

Kemi — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:37:30 +0000

I like all your suggestions, but especially the first “write a series”. I have one on my blog titled “our love affair with wordpress” a sort of why we love wordpress and how to get the best out of wordpress, and so forth. I suppose I find writing the series useful for the same reason I love blogging, I have a lot (and perhaps too much!!) to say…and I don’t want to say it all in one ridiculously long post!

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 22:20:24 +0000

Great stuff here; I’m already plotting how I could turn various ideas I have for posts into a series, Thank ya. :)

By: DJInBoise

DJInBoise — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:20:34 +0000

Thanks for the tips and tricks. I really like Crazy Egg and will start using it on several of my sites.

With regards to building anticipation, I did that recently on my Blog combining video with text. I’ve been playing around with video lately. So I created a video on “How To Place an Ad on Craigslist – Part I”. Placed the address of the blog in the video and ended it with Part II coming in January. I’ve released Part II http://webguyguru.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-to-place-ad-on-craigslist-part-ii.html along with writing some specific points in my blog. You just want to make sure if you make a promise that you deliver on time or else risk your reputation.

By: Leo

Leo — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:16:19 +0000

Hi Darren, just thought I would let you know that this post my made my top five posts over at: http://www.workconnexions.com/blog/Leo/LeosTopFive.aspx

Great stuff..

By: alanw

alanw — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:29:20 +0000

Thanks for a good set of posts.

I’d like to add some additional ideas:

You can take “Step 2: Plan Your Next Posts” a little further. Not only can a blogger plan posts in advance, but write them in their entirety and submit them to the blog with staggered release dates.

Imagine if you promise something tomorrow, but find that you don’t have the opportunity to write and release what you’d intended. You’ve still got the expectations of your readers to manage. Darren’s already compared writing styles in “10 Steps to Writing a Successful Series on Your Blog”, but in the case of promising a new article, I’d lean towards having written the articles before making any promises. Be interesting to hear whether Darren wrote these in advance.

Secondly, when building anticipation, I believe bloggers should take more time to read the comments resulting from the anticipation in case readers teach them that the following planned article is no longer appropriate.

Thanks again

By: Marty Weil

Marty Weil — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:33:16 +0000

Good news, Darren. The “Sneak Preview” post technique I tried as a result of reading your series on increasing feed rates resulted in a 14% increase in my feed subscriber base during the past few days…thought you’d like to know.

By: vutha

vutha — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:57:57 +0000

That is great idea. I never think that i have to write the series of post on my blog. Thanks !

By: Vintage Treasures

Vintage Treasures — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:28:14 +0000

Great, but I am still trying to figure out if my particular market niche, i.e., the High End consumer of Fine Art, ANtiques and Collectibles are yet to even use blogs.

Conway’s Vintage Treasures
http://www.cvtreasures.com

By: Chetan

Chetan — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:09:10 +0000

Thanks for the comment Darren, i think i have to learn to create good Buzz with my blog first before taking any actions about contests etc.

By: Andy MacDonald

Andy MacDonald — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:11:49 +0000

Well up until i read this series of posts, i didn’t really have any idea on how to build anticipation for my blog. Ive followed this series, and have created a series of my own where i have tried to build anticipation from each post. Whether i’ve done it successfully or not is another matter, but whilst i’m trying, i’m also learning .

Thanks for all the great advice Darren.

By: Katy

Katy — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:54:44 +0000

I like what you said about “permanent”. I’ve subscribed to blogs, and then a few weeks later, there updates stopped. It discouraged me from subscribing to others.

By: Video Blog

Video Blog — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:21:07 +0000

Great post, very informative. On a couple of my blogs ive began using the plan ahead approach, its taking a little getting used to

By: Dave Conrey

Dave Conrey — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:06:24 +0000

I’ve always wondered about the validity of asking people to come back again by using the “check back tomorrow for more info” tactic. It always seemed valid to me, but I wondered how the readers felt. I’ve never actually tested the theory, but I’d be interested to know if you had more or less folks read this post today than yesterday’s post.

By: Darren Rowse

Darren Rowse — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:50:49 +0000

Chetan – I think the key with getting sponsors is to be honest and transparent. If your blog is new and you don’t have heaps of readers – don’t pretend anything different and don’t expect massive prizes. Keep things relative and everyone’s expectations on the right page.

Domestic Divapalooza – that hasn’t been my experience. I actually find that a ‘good’ series (ie good…. one that helps people) actually increases traffic and engagement. Sure those who are not interested in the topic will skip over it but if you pick the right topic it can actually bring your blog to life.

For me it’s about knowing your audience and then knowing how many posts on a series is enough. I find it interesting that you say that people skip over a series – yet you obviously read this post to know what it was about…. and it’s the third post in a series :-)

By: Catherine L

Catherine L — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:55:43 +0000

Thank you Darren – I haven’t had as much time to read other blogs as usual lately but, I’ve been glued to this series.

For me it has been amazingly helpful. I was writing far too many long posts. Then I asked readers what they would like to read about, and panicked because I knew I wouldn’t fit some of the topics into just one post.

Lucky for me, you wrote this series at the exact right time, so I’m trying to learn it as I write my series!

By: Jim | UTurnAhead

Jim | UTurnAhead — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:22:11 +0000

Thanks Darren…it’s been tough waiting a few days for this second post on anticipation. I’ve been checking my feed hourly and even set the alarm to get up each hour at night to see if you had posted. This anticipation thing really works. : )

By: Domestic Divapalooza

Domestic Divapalooza — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:21:59 +0000

One thing that is a sure fire way to get people to skip to the next blog in their news reader is to write a series.

(Sorry Darren)