7 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hate List Posts
An article I found online:
7 Things I Hate About List Posts!
Lists posts are becoming all to common in the blogging circuit. Here are 7 reasons I hate them!
1. They Insult The Intelligence Of My Readers
I mean seriously, are your readers 6 years old? I know people say that list posts are popular because people don’t have enough time to read a full post, but maybe if your posts were unique and entertaining, while being informative your readers wouldn’t get distracted. What list posts say to me, is that you think your readers can only read in 1-2 sentence blogs - please don’t insult their intelligence!
No they don’t. You have to keep in mind that your readers will vary in reading comprehension skill, intelligence, education, cultural background, and a host of other factors that affect their reading ability. Plus, people read lists as time savers. They are busy. If you write long, drawn out posts that take up a lot of time to read then people will pass up your blog and go somewhere else. You may not be insulting their intelligence, but you’ll sure be wasting their time and that’s disrespectful.
2. My Writing Skills Have Little Impact On The Posts Popularity
Ok. I have an ego problem - who doesn’t? I want to think that the reason my blog and it’s individual posts are popular and successful are a direct result of how entertaining I am or because I wowed my readers with my out of this world wisdom. But I can’t do that with lists.
People don’t care about your writing skills. They care about one thing and one thing only: What’s in it for me? Don’t give them what they want and they’ll go somewhere else to find it.
3. It’s Just Compiling - Only Skill I Need Is Googling!
Following on about my ego. This point really bugs me. Lists are just a compilation of things that a blogger has found by searching on the internet while thinking ‘Reckon people would Digg this?’ or ‘I wonder whether this will get people stumbling me?’ The only skill you need is to be able to google.
Wrong. Coming up with a list that is helpful requires creativity and critical thinking. Sure, you might use Google to help you in your research, but if all you do is type a keyword into the search box and re-use someone else’s list then you deserve to lose readers. Come up with something useful and make a list that is a good source or reference and you’ll get a lot of link bait. The skills you need to make a truly useful list are creativity and critical thinking - those are rare skills.
4. Everyone Is Doing Them
I like to think I’m on the forefront with my blogging, doing the things that no one else has thought of. Hitting the thoughts that no one has dreamed of. But I can’t do that by writing lists. Everyone is doing them. They are the norm. Not me, I’m different. I don’t have to follow the crowd!
Perhaps there is a reason everyone is doing them. They work! Why re-invent the wheel when the wheel is perfect for doing what it does? It’s good to be different, but if being different drives your readers away and instead of drawing them to you then you might as well be doing what everyone else is doing.
5. Everyone Was Doing Them Before MeI didn’t think of doing them, so it mustn’t be a good idea. Right? I mean everyone is just followers, they see one or two big name bloggers doing them and suddenly it’s all the rave. I think the fact that everyone started doing them before me is a sure sign that there is no value in them, so why is everyone still doing them? It’s got nothing to do with me being stubborn.
So what? Everyone will likely be doing them even when you stop. All professional football players wear helmets and shoulder pads. There’s a reason for them. You don’t see Brett Favre running out onto the field without his helmet and shoulder pads, do you? Then why shun convention just because other people are doing it? Don’t be contrarian just because. Be contrarian with a purpose. You’ll get a lot more respect and business that way.
6. Everyone Loves Them
And whats the go? It seems like whenever everyone talks about the best way to write a blog post, that the first answer is alway, ‘Do list posts! Everyone loves them!’ I mean seriously, does everyone really love them or is it just an easy way out of putting actual effort into your posts?
Umm, read the response to No. 5. Honestly, the worst list posts in the world are the ones that repeat themselves. That means you have nothing worth saying. In that case, why say it?
7. The Fact That Even Though I Hate Them I Can’t Help Being Drawn To Them!
And when all is said and done the thing I hate most about list posts is the fact that even though I have listed 6 reason why I hate them, I can’t help but be drawn to them. I see how successful they are - if done right. And if I look back at my complaints I can see if I look at the thoughts they could also be taken as positives.
Tom Sinfield is a blogger that is committed to teaching and inspiring other bloggers to step up and become standout bloggers. Visit his blog at: http://www.standoutblogger.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Sinfield
This article had so much potential to be a good one. The writer failed to set me up properly for the conclusion. By the time I got to his seventh point, I was ready to tear him a new one. A little humor and making fun of blogging and lists in the previous six points would have set me up. Instead of getting my ire up, he could have made me laugh and I wouldn’t have been ready to shoot him down. So by the time I got to his last point, the irony was ineffective. Don’t make the same mistake. Even if you don’t use lists.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Great response! The ending was a surprise and should ot have been. You’ve made a strong point about giving an indication of where the post is headed that will stay with me as I write our posts.
Thanks again.