There are posts all over the place about how using lists is one of the best ways to craft a popular blog post. Even at Podcamp Boston 3 this past weekend, Chris Brogan, made an entire point of using lists to make popular posts. In fact, while writing this I just Stumbled on a blog post called “7 Unmissable Tips For Writing Great Content For The Web.” Look at point number 1: “Lists Work Like a Charm.” Lists are everywhere!

Before I go on in my rant about why I don’t like list-based blog posts, let me be crystal clear in saying that I do recognize that lists work. I am in no way claiming that they are not a great way to get popular posts. If they didn’t work then their wouldn’t be a list featured on the front of just about every Cosmopolitan cover. (note that there are two lists featured on this cover)

My dislike for them, therefore, does not lay in the results they achieve. My issue is more ideological, or philosophical, or some other sort of -ical.

So why don’t I like lists? The answer can be found within the reason why so many other people do like them. As Abhijeet Mukherjee, author of the post I mention above, says:

The primary reason behind the success of list posts is that most people like to scan, and if it’s interesting enough, read it in full and maybe leave a comment. So, a list post that is carefully crafted with bold headings does a good job as far as grabbing the attention goes.“

Lists are great for scanning. But that’s it. Mukherjee indicates that lists allow a reader to scan and read deeper into what he’s interested in. I disagree. 99% of the time, there is nothing deeper to read in a list post. Therein lies the core of my dislike for them: they are educationally shallow.

Hopefully right now there are half of you booing and half of you cheering. If this is happening then we can have a list/no-list slugfest in the comments of this post and all get riled up. Before that happens, though, I will go into a little more detail about my viewpoint.

Personally, I like reading posts that delve deeply into the subject. I very rarely get any benefit from list post because they do not go deeply enough into the subject matter. If you write a blog post on the “10 best social networks for marketers,” I will learn which ones you like, but I will not know the details of how you formed your opinion. That means that more often than not, I will then look for a deep post on one or two networks that I gleaned from your list. That is just more work for me.

The second reason I do not like lists is really an offshoot of the first. Because lists do not delve deeply into the subject matter about which they are concerned, the writer doesn’t need to know anything about the subject matter. I do not know a thing about Linux, but I could go to Google, pull a random ten Linux-focused sites I find and craft I great looking post called “The Top Ten Sites About Linux.” Think of all the people I would mislead. Conversely, I could not write a post about why one specific site is the best Linux site on the web. That depth of analysis requires knowledge of the subject matter and therefore is much more difficult to fake.

My solution to this lists-work-but-I-don’t-like-them problem is to create a “Deep List”. I have not yet done one of these, but the idea is:

1. Make your list (e.g. “5 best social media marketing campaigns”)
2. Before you post your list, write a blog post for each of your five points going into detail about each one.
3. Publish each of your Deep Posts first.
4. Then post the list with each element of the list linking to it’s respective deeper analysis.

That way, you go deep, provide real value and expertise, but still get a list-based post with which you can rocket to the top of all your favorite social media sites. You get to use the list as a tool, but still provide value to those of us that want more than a surface-level understanding of things.

This is the first post of an upcoming series inspired by Barry Schwartz’s book, The Paradox of Choice. Return in the next days for more.

Several sources discuss various ways of increasing not only the traffic, but also return visitors to your blog. Active participation in social networks, quality content, and increasing friend count are just a few.

Most bloggers have tried out these strategies, but not all of them are satisfied by the results. Indeed these tactics are not a guarantee of returning readers.

In blogging, it is the small details that make the difference.

A blog post should not only concentrate on its main body to provide quality information, but also on the final impression it leaves. This can increase the returning visitors to your blog in ways that you didn’t expect.

Leaving a good impression

Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist showed, that what we remember about the pleasurable quality of our past experiences

is almost entirely determined by two things:

1. how the experiences felt when they were at their peak (best or worst)
2. how they felt when they ended.

This “peak-end” rule of Kahneman’s is what we use to summarize the experience, and then when we rely on that summary later to remind ourselves of how the experience felt.

Peak Moments of Your Blog Post

Of course the major peak moment when reading a blog is the content of the main body of the post.
Depending on the quality of the content, the text leaves a negative or positive impression to the reader. This trace will play a fundamental role on persuading the reader to return to the blog or even subscribe. It is a logical conclusion that quality content means returning visitors.

The second peak moment is located at the end of the post. This is where you summarize your thoughts, pose your questions and invite the reader to participate in the discussion.

A very common mistake when writing an article, is that we mostly concentrate on the main content (the first peak moment of the blog) and we disregard the final impression it leaves (the second peak moment).

Conclusion

The belief that the impression your blog post leaves is also based on your final remarks, is not just a result of Daniel Kahneman’s psychological hypothesis.

Notice how you scan other blog posts:

Do you read the whole post word by word?

Do you comment on the questions posed by the author?

Spending more time on the final part of the blog post is much more important than we actually think.

• it leaves a final good impression to the reader,
• it shows that you followed a structured argumentation concluding to your remarks,
• it shows that you value the time of your readers

Not only your regular readers will appreciate this little extra effort, but also casual readers will recognize the value of your work.

One of the most known ways of getting regular traffic to your blog is writing daily posts. It is written in bold letters in the blogging bible that daily posts increase:

• the traffic to your blog
• your presence in the blogosphere
• your presence in search engines
• your readers
• your reputation

Check some of the popular blogs out there and you will see that daily posting is a very common, successful practice. Robert Scoble writes a couple of posts each day, Seth Godin too. But daily posts also have some negative effects on your blog which you should take into consideration.

1. Daily posts mean hasty readers. Writing a new article every day can give the impression that you don’t invest much time writing it. Why should others then spend much time reading it?
2. Daily posts mean low quality. This is a logical result of daily posts. Do you really have something interesting to say everyday? Most bloggers who write daily usually reiterate information and news that are already out there.
3. Daily posts mean fewer subscribers. Direct result of the above points is that your blog gets less subscribers. People don’t want to have a cluttered mail or RSS readers…especially when posts repeat themselves and don’t have much to say.Although I like Mashable, I unsubscribed from their feed. They post 10+ posts each day and that’s just discouraging for me.
4. Daily posts mean fewer comments. Let your readers think about what you write. Sending an avalanche of thoughts and information doesn’t give the user time to think things over. Blogging is a communication medium, it’s not an one-way monologue.
5. Daily posts mean pressure. It is a great time hog to write an article each day – even if it is just a short text. Why do you think most blogs are abandoned after a couple of months?
6. Daily posts don’t guarantee success. Success comes with quality, interaction and innovation. Say something new once a week and you will build a steady readership in no time.

The other side of daily posts

Don’t fully disregard the power of daily posts though. If you are a new blogger, daily posts can very quickly boost your presence online. During your first blogging steps the community doesn’t know who you are and what you’re writing about.So start with daily posts, let readers get to know you better and then relax and concentrate on quality. Readers will just keep on coming.

There are two major factors that define the success and popularity of a blog post: traffic and comments. The more traffic an article receives, the more comments are submitted – and the other way around. Articles with 50+ comments certainly imply that the content is of high quality. But, these highly commented articles are also carrying a heavy burden: They sacrifice productive communication on the altar of pageviews and traffic.Indeed, an increasing number of comments can act as an obstacle to the interaction of the community and the development of the whole discussion. Let’s first see why this happens and then get into how to improve your blog so that readers are encouraged to read and comment on the article.

Users’ Reading Habits

Jakob Nielsen, the usability specialist, has conducted a series of studies on the way users read online. His conclusion: they don’t.

People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In research on how people read websites we found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word.”

Blog visitors, don’t scan only the actual content of the site, but also the comments. When the reader notices a great amount of comments, she will certainly not read them one by one, she will scan them. The amount and length of comments also defines how fast the reader will actually scan the comments.

Users’ Commenting Habits

Take a step back and notice how you comment on other blogs. Where would you be more likely to leave a comment?

• in a great article with just 5 comments?or
• in a great article with 67 comments?

Leaving a comment on an article with just 5 comments gives the commentator the feeling that his contribution will be noticed and taken into consideration – not only from the administrator but from other readers too. A comment among 67 others seems like one more grain of sand at the beach. That’s why blog promotional strategies suggest being the first to comment on a popular blog. Because readers usually scan only the first comments.

How to Attract More (Productive) Blog Comments

There are several ways to assist your community in reading the content of the comments and contributing more productive ideas:

• Separate your comments in categories. Trackbacks and pingbacks to an article are by default counted as comments. Instead of having a big block of mixed comments and trackbacks, customize your blog to separate trackbacks from comments.
• Advise your community to be more productive. Very often a large amount of the article’s comments are thank you comments, where readers just say how much they enjoyed the post. This is of course welcome, but certainly doesn’t promote the discussion. So, why don’t you install a small rating plugin and write a small note before the comment block saying something like: If you liked this post give it a rating or submit it to your favorite social site. Use the comments below to start a productive discussion about the topic.
• Don’t answer each comment separately. Wait a day or two and then reply to all the comments submitted so far. This will significantly decrease the total number of comments.
• Highlight your own comments. Highlighting your own comments is a very good way to increase the “scannability” of your comment block. Readers will be able to scan the post easier and it will also be less tiresome for the eye. Either use this simple hack or download this plugin.

Blogging is about creating interactions; it is about developing a discussion and not having passive readers. So give your readers the tools and possibility to react to your posts and promote interesting discussions. How do you promote interaction in your blog?