November 30, 2009

I visited 8,000 websites in the month of October—primarily in pursuit of interesting posts and articles for Holy Kaw. To survive looking at so many sites, one must develop ways to decide in a blink if a post is any good. What works best for me is to see if a post has an ordered (1, 2, 3) or bulleted (*) list; if it does, it's probably worth reading.

On the other hand if it has long paragraphs of unbroken text or a multitude of short paragraphs, the post is probably one of those “woe is me, I am fascinating, these are my deepest feelings that I want to share with you” bull-shiitake posts written by a guy who changed the pronunciation of his name from “Kevin” to “Keevin.”

By contrast, a post that contains an ordered or bulleted list is probably much better conceived and organized. Here are some examples, good and bad, to consider:

• Could have been so much more powerful as a list. Do you see how you have to dig the tidbits out of this posting? If the author had done it, thousands of people wouldn't have had to do it themselves—assuming they had the fortitude to try.

• A list, but a disguised list. This one makes me sad. He tried to make it into a list with headlines, but there so many graphic elements going on that you can't figure out where a new item begins. It could have been an even greater post. The same thing is true for this post by my buddy John Jantsch.

• A lovely idea: combining a list with graphics. If only I could draw, I would do my “top ten” lists this way. Each item would also make a great Powerpoint slide for a speech. Not for everyone, but it is a lofty goal to try to achieve.

• So close—if only the person had used a little bit of HTML. The tips just don't pop out of the posting—if only they were in boldface or offset somehow. A touch more HTML would have made all the difference in the world.

• A good example of a well-done list. Honestly, the five paragraph preamble to the list is a bit long for me, but the list makes up for the slow launch. He also uses links to outside sources very well. As seen in the previous example, a bit of HTML would have gone a long way.

• Just about perfect in my humble opinion. Rohit does a perfect job with this: interesting introduction, an ordered list that stands out, and a nice number of interesting points.

If you buy this theory, then you should write posts in list format so that your readers will make the same positive snap judgment. To speed you along the way, here are my tips for the art of the list, a.k.a. convincing people in a blink that your post has substance.

1. Provide four to twelve items. Any less than four, and the reader feels cheated. Any more than twelve, and the reader feels like you haven't put in the effort to filter out the detritus. If you have to go more than twelve, go way more than twelve, such as “99 ways to change the world.”

2. Make them parallel in structure. Every list item should be roughly the same style and length. Two to four sentences is the proper length: just enough to explain your point but not enough to bore your readers.

3. Start with a verb for maximum impact. If you're trying to catalyze action, you should use verbs as the first word of each item. And I mean active verbs like “reach,” “serve,” “engage,” “provide” and “deliver.” Passive verbs (“Be interesting”) and negative verbs (“Don't disappoint your customer”) are weak.

4. Begin with boldface text. Start off each item with a word or phrase that's in boldface, then use the next two to three sentences to further explain your point. You want your main point to suck in the readers. Boldface helps make this happen.

5. Write it in HTML yourself. Don't be a wimp: learn enough HTML to do this yourself. You don't want to use numbers or asterisks in regular paragraphs like “1.” or “*” because they make you look like a Luddite. Here's all the HTML you need for an ordered and unordered list, respectively.

   <​ol>
   <​li><​p>Your first point here.<​/p><​/li>
   <​li><​p>Your second point here.<​/p><​/li>
   <​li><​p>Your third point here.<​/p><​/li>
   <​li><​p>Your fourth point here.<​/p><​/li>
   <​/ol>
   <​ul>
   <​li><​p>Your first point here.<​/p><​/li>
   <​li><​p>Your second point here.<​/p><​/li>
   <​li><​p>Your third point here.<​/p><​/li>
   <​li><​p>Your fourth point here.<​/p><​/li>
   <​/ul>
   

Give it a try the next time you write a blog post. Even better, the next time you're scanning a bunch of websites, see if the most useful and interesting posts aren't in list form.

Join the conversation ( 9 )

• Brandon Cox 1 year 9 months and 12 days ago

  

  Lists are controversial and becoming more so every day it seems. Personally, I still like them. When I'm done with a list, I know what to do next, especially if it's well-ordered. I like simple.

• Dave Keys 2 years 1 months and 8 days ago

  

  I never realized how much I prefer to read lists until I reviewed your examples. Excellent!

• STEVEN SUE 2 years 1 months and 12 days ago

  

  Yeah! Brilliant as always Guy! You are the man.

• Clark Benson 2 years 1 months and 12 days ago

  

  Didn't see this post until just now Guy, but I have recently launched a startup, Ranker, which at least in a broad way is about this very concept: http://www.ranker.com.
  
  Currently we are pretty beta (tho we've had 1000s of user lists uploaded already, of quite impressive quality), but within the next month or so we'll be rolling out a more intuitive design and the core reason for the site which is to aggregate individual users lists in a "wisdom of crowds" manner.
  
  Love the lists - and there is indeed an art to it

• Jamie Flinchbaugh 2 years 1 months and 14 days ago

  

  All of your advice is useful and valid here, however...
  
  Saying that for a post to be useful or valuable it must be in list form is very shortsighted. I understand if you're are trying to view 1,000s of posts and want a quick scan. But not everyone is using blogs that say. Some of use search words and go find stuff deliberately. Others read the same few bloggers everyday.
  
  Lists are great. But if all writing is boiled down to a list, I think we will lose something.

• DONNA JOHNSON 2 years 1 months and 23 days ago

  

  This is a fantastic and very useful post. Almost all of my posts include the elements mentioned here. Making lists in advance helps me organize my thoughts so when it's time to publish, all I have to do is format!
  
  I'm curious as to what people think of posts that have Google ads plopped in the middle of them. I think they are distracting and I seldom read past them. If you want me to read your article, why would you interrupt it with text-based Google ads that are designed to drive me away? An example is the post mentioned above from Duct Tape: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/articles/successful-blogging.htm.
  
  Would love others' thoughts.
  
  Thanks!

• ZORINA GALIS 2 years 1 months and 27 days ago

  

  Interesting and helpful advice, as always, Guy! I just wanted to add my opinion (see http://bit.ly/8DBAdA Constructive Interference at Wordpress) and encouragement for bloggers: we still want to read plenty of thought provoking posts which had not been completely processed to look like lists of practical advice or action plans, i.e., creativity and innovation required a lot of “food for thought” our brains could chew on…

• Jill Fehrenbacher 2 years 2 months and 2 days ago

  

  This is great advice, and it's the reason top-ten and top-five lists are so popular. While it's always important to be concise and focused in your approach to writing for the web, lists definitely make things easier.
  
  And as the previous commenter said, this article is itself a great example of a successful list approach.

• JAN KASAL 2 years 2 months and 5 days ago

  

  I am reading, I am learning. I like the list approach.