Today I spent a little time looking at the popular page on delicious. Here’s a few of my scribbled notes looking at the headings (click to enlarge a little).
I find doing this type of analysis quite inspiring as I think about the type of posts and construction of titles that I might do in coming days.
I try to find a use for every seemingly wasted moment. Lately its been in the checkout line of the grocery. I’ve been reading all the cover stories and coming up with post titles. It’s better than staring off into space. And the added bonus, I know Britney Spears life story. I guess you could do this at a lot of sites like Stumbleupon, Reddit, and Propeller and depending upon your niche, come back much more knowledgeable about what your readers want. Thanks for the info.
Reminds me of my printing compulsion. I print out alot of blog articles and work them with a pencil.
hmm I went to that page but didn’t see the same links as you?
Looks like my notes from college (LOL), but you make a good point here! Another clever post.
Interesting. I find del.icio.us has way more valuable content than something like Digg. I’d like to see one of these Skitched images of the Digg homepage ;)
Interesting post. It would be interesting to note how big the blogs which get on home page are. If you have a large subscriber base it can only increase your chances at delicious. But, will try a few of those headline tricks. – Don’t be modest is one thing to learn!
LifeHacker.com rules Delicious.
It seems like things that really get your attention are 90% of the time in the same few categories i.e. controversial, list of something like 37 ways to…, things that are way geeky, how to (do something cool), etc.
Getting your site on this page will send an avalanche of traffic to your site.
I’ve never gotten to the front page of del.icio.us without some kind of kickstart (Lifehacker link, FP of Digg). So if you have any insights on how to conquer del.icio.us on its own, I’d be your new best friend. :)
I second Wendy. I too seem to need a kick start from elsewhere (Sphinn, StumbleUpon FP). So a post on how to hit front page del.icio.us without that would be really useful…another new BFF for you too ;)
Wendy – I find that delicious is often something that comes as a result of being triggered somewhere else first too – SU, Digg, big blog etc.
Having said that – articles on ProBlogger do sometimes get on the popular page too. I did write a post on the topic a while back here.
SE7EN – it changes all the time depending upon what’s popular. I wrote this post last night.
People love judging books by their covers. Same goes with blog posts.
That is an interesting way of dissecting most popular pages
Great analysis, Darren! I think you pretty much nailed it.
On a sidenote: I just realized I’ve been using del.icio.us for almost three years now. Really a great service IMO.
I completely believe in your analysis. It’s much the same technique we kept in mind at the publishing company.
But.
One can be technically proficient, do it all right, have high quality and still not make the popular page.
There’s a magic It Factor.
Using your analysis – What if you were forced to pick “one” subject matter element as the “one” which in your estimation would draw the eye nearly every time and then actually invoke action by the audience?
Would you be willing to use this analysis process to then commit a budget to your findings?
Just wondering…if there’s more to be done with this idea.
It definitely is a great way to brainstorm, I find myself browsing Delicious for the same reason on occasion
Great analysis, i’m finding more and more the title can make or break a post with regards to the search engine rank.
Well, if it’s different that you want, different is what you will get. :). Getting ready to blog something controversial.
Great idea for the post.
“Free” and “10” have worked for me very well.
@Wendy,
Some of my posts made it to the popular page of Delicious months after I posted them. I had one post make it three months after I posted and then again three months after that.
@Steve Olson (so good to ‘see’ you!) – I’ve had the same thing happen – and that hasn’t happened on any other social media site. It’s interesting and only make me love del.icio.us traffic more. :)
This is really a good post with simple/meaningful analysis and with good way of explaining (with an image) in it,Brilliant . This gives me some stuff as well to ponder upon :)
That looks like a rugby match analysis.
http://necrofiles.blogspot.com
I have been visiting del.icio.us for quite some time and it has been quite helpful to be. But I hadn’t done any such research like this before.
This is pretty cool stuff.
This one of the cool ways of thinking about what to write. I always use stumbleupon though. Del.icio doesn’t really work for me.
After looking at that you make me realise just how much you actually think about blogging. Great tip. Logical and well thought out. Thanks Darren.
Oh, my post is in the picture. :) Great tip by the way.
Oh, my post is in the picture. :) Interesting analyze by the way.
I dont doubt that this analysis is incorrect, but, although I use del.icio.us, Stumble has given me better results.
Excellent! I saw the same popular page you’ve captured, so I can verify that the parts you’ve highlighted had drawn my attention too.
I personally curious about the software you used to illustrate your scribbles in this post.
Perhaps, you can enlighten me as to how you achieved this?
I have previously posted on delicious and have failed. The most people that bookmarked my article was 6.. I might just give it another go. Thanks for the great eye opener.
I found your image while i was searching something to put in my post about Delicious. I am a beginner and i choose to put your image because it describes perfectly the process of thinking and linking things in my mind, also with the colours and the ideas associations. The post describes in a clumsy manner, my attempts to understand how to use delicious and the image is like the cherry over the ice cream: it’s delicious! :)