It’s common knowledge that sex sells and there’s proof right here on this blog. If you look on the sidebar on the right side of the page and find the “Popular Posts” heading, you’ll see that the most popular post on this blog is Sex, Money, KISS.
I watched as that post entered the top 10 and then gradually rose to #1. It took a few weeks to rise to the top but it’s been #1 for several weeks if not a month. This blog has nothing to do with sex and that post was made during the first few weeks of this blog’s existence when traffic was at it’s lowest point. With all that working against it, that post is still the most popular. I would hardly say it’s the best post but I can’t argue that it’s the most popular.
The post is a review of Gene Simmons’ book and I used the book title as the blog post title. The book has very little to do with sex and not much to do with the band KISS either. But it does include a little about sex and a little about the band KISS so the headline is not untruthful and that’s important. The book is mostly about Gene Simmons’ interesting and unconventional perspectives on business and a few other things. It’s full of real examples of how he shunned conventional wisdom and made a boatload of money. It’s really a good book.
This is also a good example of the power of a great headline which is really what the title of a book is. It’s short and to the point. Who doesn’t want more sex? Who doesn’t want more money? Those are almost universal wants. Then throw in a KISS in capital letters at the end. It’s a brilliant 3 word headline that obviously compels people to click and read. The book was a best-seller too.
It will be interesting to see if this post now takes a spot among the most popular posts just because I used the word sex in the headline. Let’s watch and see what happens. Do you think this post will break into the top 10 most popular posts?
Popularity: 35% [?]
3 Comments
You would want to check your log files regarding where that page traffic is coming from. Is it from regular readers or people specifically searching for that book title. My point being that “Harry Potter” may do as well for a blog post title for traffic.
[Chas,
That's a good point but more work than I want to do right now. Other things have higher priority. Maybe I'll check that out later.
Robert]
Prediction: the post will do well at first, then slide(relatively), but in the long run will rise to a decent position higher than its immediate neighbors.
How about another proactively titled post to give the book away to a blog reader?
[Dave,
Thanks for your comment and the idea. There are two issues. The main one is that I don't own the book. I read that one at the library last summer. Even if I had it, I doubt I would give it way though. I like to keep my books. I actually refer to them later. Some of them I'll even read again a year later if they were really good. Just like listening to a CD again, you'll pick up something you missed the first time.
Robert]
Then consider Google analytics for good traffic information.
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