Here is a phrase that the blogosphere in general should learn the meaning of: Enough is Enough!
Now I am not one to “rant” as that is far too negative of an activity for me to spend my time on. However, when I consistently see people doing things that would bring improvement to their lives if they stopped doing those things, then I can safely step in to put in my 2 cents on the issue.
In a twist of fate that I find very ironic, I have the opportunity to share this post with you by taking part in a group writing project about top 5 lists!The project was started by Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger.net. Darren has been kind enough to use his huge influence in the blogosphere in order to help people who blog about many different topics to find each other, and his vehicle for doing so is the Top 5 Group Writing Project which I encourage you to check out.
What does any of that have to do with Self Improvement?
In order to answer that question, let’s get right down to my Top 5 Reasons to put a STOP to Top 5 Lists!
1. We have become too dependent – You can’t turn left or right or look up or down without seeing literally hundreds of articles and blog posts that are dedicated to the ‘Top “X” Ways to Do Something’.
Now, although I firmly believe in the value of living your life by habits or personality traits that will lead you to success, in no way, shape, or form do I believe that I cannot make it through a day without consulting my “list” to see what I am supposed to be doing or not doing.
I believe that by staying focused in a rock-solid manner on our goals, and that by remaining 100% true to our our own Integrity, our short-term and long-term paths in life can be navigated without consulting a checklist.
2. It stifles creativity – Any regular readers of this blog will have to admit that some of the titles that I come up with are at least unique, if not downright remarkable.
I do not say that to toot my own horn, because you need look no further than CopyBlogger to see where I learned how to do it, and to find headlines that put mine to shame.
However, the point I am making is that truly successful bloggers and article marketers are writers. How many successful New York Times best-selling authors do you think stole the format for their books or the titles of their books from some other author?
Forcing the creative part of your mind to come up with interesting topics to write about and interesting headlines that grab attention is the same way that you guarantee your own success as a writer.
Be original – don’t be a copycat.
3. The same information keeps getting repeated – There is a rather unflattering phrase in the blogosphere called “the echo chamber”. Basically what that means is that a lot of the same information is being re-purposed and redistributed over and over and over again.
Many of these ‘Top “X” Lists’ fall clearly into that category. Now, I am not saying that there isn’t a lot of great, 100% original content that is being generated on a regular basis. However, to use one of my own favorite topics as an example – personal development – which of the following concepts has more value for you?
1. A top 10 list that promises personal development “success secrets,” yet fails to show you how to integrate them into your life, or
2. A post that discusses one or two concepts in detail, including real-life examples that you can begin applying immediately to your own life.
Enough said.
4. It has become too much about “Marketing” – For those of you who haven’t lost as much sleep as I have learning how to market on the Internet, let me give you the one-sentence synopsis:
Attention grabbing headlines = Success
In a state of nothing less than information overload, there is no shortage of resources on the Internet about any imaginable subject, and some subjects that are not imaginable! I was surfing Blog Explosion yesterday and came across a few websites that literally made me shake my head and wonder why anyone would even write about that!
So, given this state of information overload, the only way to grab someone’s attention long enough to get them to read your blog post, your article, or the sales copy for your product, is to come up with a “sticky” headline that makes them stop what they are doing long enough to read what you wrote.
However, if your only goal is to grab your readers by the hair and force them to read your writing, you are already sunk. People should want to read what you write because they enjoy your writing, not just because you can come up with a smarmy headline.
I don’t ever remember putting down a Stephen King or a Dean R. Koontz book because the title didn’t turn me on…
5. It is not “Unique” – Referring once again to the information overload that people are subjected to on a daily basis; you can’t cure that problem by just adding more of the same information into the mix.
This blog is primarily about self improvement, personal development, and the Law of Attraction, but I pride myself on coming up with unique and/or thought-provoking ways to discuss those concepts, rather than just resorting to ‘Top “X” Ways to {BLANK}’ type of headlines.
Yes, I do use that tactic from time to time, as can be evidenced with this post, and again with this one, since there is nothing wrong with the general concept. The crime here is not that these headlines and list-based articles and blog posts have no value, but rather that the entire concept has just been taken too much to the extreme.
In more than 6 months of almost daily updates to this blog, I had to search through my entire archives just to come up with the 2 posts that I just referenced!
Top “X” lists are fine. Basing your entire writing style and business model on them is not. In my personal, unsolicited opinion, that is… 🙂
So, all of that being said, will you ever see another headline on this blog that includes a number? Very likely.
Will you see cheesy, attention grabbing tactics used to peak your curiosity so that you will read these blog posts? I wouldn’t rule it out.
Am I still going to frequent sites like The Ririan Project and Lifehack.org in order to see if there are some lists that can help me accomplish my goals in life. Most definitely.
However, checking o
ut lists for my own benefit, and writing lists for your benefit will be things that I do in moderation, when appropriate, and when there is true value in it.
In the meantime, I’ll stick to writing headlines that are at the very least unique, if not downright funny!
It really bothers me when I come across sites/blogs that are obviously just trying to do well in the search engines. I feel like people should focus on what they’re actually trying to say, rather than just trying to get their page to pop up in the SERP. On the other hand, how are people going to find it, if it doesn’t rank well? It’s sort of a catch-22, I guess. Still, I agree that writing lists just because other sites recommend writing lists is pretty cheesy.
And so I don’t end up sounding overly negative, I’ll say that some of the lists are downright interesting and useful. I use bullet points and lists a lot as a means to categorize information in my posts so that it’s as usable as possible for the reader. As with pretty much everything else in life, it comes down to a matter of balance!
Lorna,
You could not be more right! It is exactly about balance!
In fact, two of the primary success tools for powerful writing are lists and bullet points, so there is definitely something to be said for using them.
It is all about using them to add value, though, which should always be the goal anyway. A headline could be AWFUL, but if enough people read the content, word of mouth will spread, and that article or blog post will gain popularity.
On the other hand, you have some social network users (Digg, Stumbleupon, etc.) who are literally recommending web pages by the headline alone! They aren’t even reading the content!
The mentality is that if the headline will draw in attention, and everyone else thinks it is cool, then it must be cool. Ack – NOT cool!
True value will play itself out over time. Thanks a bunch for your thoughts, Lorna, and for joining in the conversation! 🙂
great,
no worry about seo, page rank etc
u are u
i’ll write things i like
glad to know you
Alamster,
Thanks for stopping by, and I appreciate you picking me as one of the top submissions for Darren’s Top 5 group writing project.
There are a lot of submissions, so I’m grateful to you for taking the time to read through mine. 🙂
I totally concur, but I left you a link to a list 😉
Write for your readers; not for search engines, or for Digg. Success will still come, it just might not be the most glamorous way of getting there.
Armen,
Thanks for stopping by and dropping off your comments and that link. It’s a good list of what NOT to do if you want to keep your visitors. Thanks for sharing and for the visit! 🙂
I am not a great fan of ‘lists’ mainly because I find their content is usually thin, consisting often of short snappy lines and very little by way of explanation or evidence for their effectiveness.
Of the list you present here, the one that probably galls me the most is the one about ‘marketing’. It can be very annoying when to find that a list has been drawn up just for the sake of a marketing ploy.
Thanks for a useful, insightful and thought provoking article.
Douglas,
I’m glad you got so much out of this post, and I really appreciate the positive feedback.
Let’s keep those lists to a minimum, and when they’re done, make it about providing value, not marketing!