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katfrench
I still say the best training for writing compelling titles is to join a very active topical forum. If you can go from nobody to "must read" poster in six months, you will have learned how to write magnetic titles.
From a human user standpoint, all the headline needs to do is create curiosity.
Story: Twittering Naked in the Bath
At worst, it's textual "white noise" (which I actually find a little soothing) and at best, it's helped me make some less formal, more personal connections to folks in my industry. But then again, I access it almost exclusively through TwitterFox, so my experience may be different than those using a mobile device.
I love the coining of the term "freemium" in the "About" sidebar, BTW.
Sphunn. Also submitted to Mixx and Sk*rt, if you happen to frequent there as well.
As God is my witness, the VERY next time I have some content that is of interest to Zambians, I am SO all over that list! :)
Seriously, though, post a list of two thousand social bookmarking sites, and Sphinners will get a headache at the thought of all the time it would take to register.
Now, if some bright egg would code an app that would allow you to register for all 2,162 with one submit, THAT would get people excited...
Very good stuff, particularly the details from the Pew study on how women aggregate information.
Sphinning just to watch the sparks fly. LOL... Now where'd I leave that giant bowl of popcorn?
One thing to note about optimizing a Drupal site is that if you're on Windows hosting, the clean URLs module doesn't work without some modifications. It can work, it just takes a little extra effort.
That's why I use a modded version of the Antisocial / Sociable plugin. It makes it possible to Sphinn from the page without a big honking badge of dishonor for unSphunn (or unHot) articles.
I bet with a little finessing, there's a way to drop the "big honkin button" code into specific posts, AFTER they get Hot...
Story: SEO: An SEO Red Flag?
Can I wave a white flag and surrender to trying to keep up with what's considered a red flag? Because otherwise, in a minute I'm liable to find myself having a backwards conversation with the Red Queen...
Very good article, but it's more persuasive copywriting than hypnotic copywriting. I keep meaning to pick up Joe Vitale's Hypnotic Writing, which I hear is very good and actually does talk about writing that induces a mild trance state.
Don't look so shocked. Most people spend all day going in and out of trance states of various sorts.
Sphunn, if for no other reason, than for the excellent snowclone in the description. Way to work that Yakov Smirnov catchphrase, Wingnut!
Yay!!! I've been waiting for some classic Brian Clark brilliance for a while. The Medicis, Ralph Macchio, and the Delta Blues, all rolled into one great post. :)
Good article, but just as a heads up, you've misspelled "copywrite" in one of your bold subheadings. ;)
I've debated for a bit on whether or not to comment on this.
I've seen the patterns that cre8pc and thejenn describe before, albeit on a completely different set of forums in an entirely different interest group. Online communities forge an odd kind of intimacy among their members. And most of us carry personal baggage that can very easily get mixed into our passionate opinions about our work and our jealously-guarded professional reputations (not to mention those of people we really respect and admire).
To paraphrase a quote from Star Wars, "Our mentors sometimes see the worst of us, that's how we grow," but another truth is that we sometimes see the worst of our mentors, and that, too is another way we grow.
Edited to Add: Oh, and to cre8pc, as another person who "straddles two industries" (I found it a little shocking how far the divide is between ad agencies, even interactive agencies, and SEOs), I definitely feel for you. It was an excellent article, and probably the most thoughtful one I've read on the whole affair.
Very good article, Stoney, and a perfect metaphor.
Sometimes I see really aggressive marketing folks on SM sites, and they're not exactly spamming, per se. And their content might be quite good. But I feel like saying the equivalent of "Hey, you wanna buy a girl dinner before you start trying to go for second base?"
Story: Sk*rt Enables Down Voting
About. Flippin. Time.
I have been trying desperately to use and like sk*rt, because I think it fills a clear need for a social bookmarking and news community that's focused on women.
As I commented on Brent's sphunn article, I think that Mixx, as a social media user tool, has a lot to offer and a lot of potential to grow.
Dang, I'm going to have to bump up launching my new blog to this week, b/c I have a lot to say about this... But it also relates to some of the stuff y'all have included in your post, Tad, and Brent's post, and Collective-Thoughts, and Social Media Mom's post on the fact that sk*rt is now allowing downvotes.
Egads. I'm so fired up a "y'all" popped out.
@SlightlyShadySEO - if you're still interested in an invite to Streamy, let me know. I'm in the beta group and have 11 invites I haven't used yet. It's pretty sweet, for a beta.
@onreact - It's now live, at www.internet-bard.com. The last two posts relate back to this topic. It's my personal/professional site, not an "official" work blog. It's going to focus on corporate blogging, copywriting, community moderation, content strategy, and social media.
Bonus points for the use of the word "kumquats." I need the virtual vitamin C.
I like mixx. The UI is outstanding and intuitive, and the community is, for the most part, smart and friendly.
Obviously, it needs time to mature as a general-use tool and build up a bigger community before it can have much heft in terms of traffic generation, but then again, I'm not convinced that raw bulk traffic is that valuable an ROI, either.
In other words, I like it as a social media consumer; and I think it's too early to tell what the marketing value, if any, will be. I could forsee that if it takes off in popularity, the groups and topics might be more valuable, targeted channels than hitting the "popular" page.
But no, it's not there yet.
@Brent: That last sentence of yours taps a vein that's been throbbing in my head for the last six months. Figuring out relevant metrics for Social Media.
Okay. It's probably more accurate to say "Figuring out a less time-consuming, simpler way to track the relevant metrics for SM."
Either way, headaches and spreadsheets galore.
Story: The Social Art of Creating Titles