Twitter has been my #1 traffic source here on Blogging Bookshelf. That little gray and green TweetMeme rectangle (the one directly to the left of these words) and I are BFFs (or best friends forever, if you’re not down with the kids’ jive these days).
Blogging Bookshelf is almost a month old now (it will be tomorrow), and I decided to go back and see which posts here have gotten the most retweets and why I think that is.
But wait, there’s more! I’m also going to examine one of the biggest blogs around that get tons of retweets and see if I can figure out why that is.
Let’s do it!
[Note that the answers to the question "What gets retweeted and what doesn't?" are bold in this post.]
Blogging Bookshelf
As of my writing this, these are the top 4 most retweeted posts on the blog (with the number of retweets being the first number, and the number in brackets being the number of comments the post received):
- 30 – The Many Hats a Successful Blogger Needs to Wear [INFOGRAPHIC] [59]
- 21 – These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking For: Using the Force to Influence Other Bloggers [46]
- 21 – 101 Ways to Battle Blogger’s Block FREE ebook! (No opt-in! Please RT) [22]
- 17 – How to Create Killer Analogies by Relating Anything to Anything Else (FREE ebook!) [44]
To be honest, I’m kind of surprised that the hats infographic got that many retweets. I thought it was fun and kinda cool (and I definitely enjoyed making it!), but let’s be honest, it wasn’t the most useful, life-changing content ever, right? Note that it’s also the post with the most comments, so it backs up the high RT count by stating that people really did enjoy it.
So with that, I think we can make the first of our yet-to-be-determined number of assumptions on what gets retweeted and what doesn’t: infographics get retweeted. And this makes sense, right? I think that infographics are still novel and unique enough that people really do react well to them. I know I love seeing infographics on other blogs I visit.
There are two posts tied for second place, both having 21 retweets. This is surprising, as the droids post has more than twice the number of comments as the Blogger’s Block post. But I think a lot of the reason it (the droids post) got so many retweets was that it was the most recent post on my blog when I had an influx of visitors. Even so, I think I could have gotten more retweets on it if I had shortened the title of the post. When retweeted, here’s what it looked like:
As you can see, the title was too long and the word “Bloggers” was omitted. I knew this when I published the post, but I didn’t care. I liked the title too much :) But I think I could have gotten more retweets (and therefore more visits and comments) had I shortened the headline enough to make it all fit into a retweet. Then it would have appealed to more bloggers. Instead, it probably just appealed to Star Wars fans. Not that that’s a bad thing…
I published that Blogger’s Block post while I was getting significantly less traffic than I am now (hence the lower number of comments, only 22), yet it still got a relatively high number of RTs. I really do think part of it has to do with the fact that I said “Please RT” on the end. So here’s my next assumption, and it’s one that I’ve seen backed up by other bloggers before: If you say “Please RT,” it will indeed get retweeted more. But use this sparingly. You don’t want to be the boy who cried wolf, right? That is, you don’t want people to start ignore you because you scream out for help so much.
Ok, so let’s look at the last of my 4 posts in the list, the one about creating killer analogies. First off, I think one of the reasons it got more retweets (and it’s backed up by the Blogger’s Block post) is that it’s a free ebook. Everyone loves free ebooks, right? So, free ebooks get retweeted.
But with the analogy post, I think there’s a bit more to it than that. I think that post was just plain awesome, and it’s one of my favorites so far! Sure, it was long, but I think the information there was truly valuable and unique. So I’m going to go ahead and say that truly valuable/helpful information gets retweeted.
Here’s one more interesting note about a post on this blog before I move on to other blogs. You know the Newton’s 3 Laws of Blogging post? I got some overwhelmingly positive feedback about that post, probably the strongest I’ve yet gotten. As of now, it has 54 comments but only 13 retweets. Why the large discrepancy between comments and retweets? I don’t think the headline was something that a lot of people reacted positively to.
“Newton’s 3 Laws of Blogging?” Kinda BO-RING, right? I think that the ratio of readers to retweeters was average, but I don’t think the headline is one that screams “READ ME” when seen on Twitter. Alright! We’ve got another Twitter truism!: While a great post might get tweeted, it won’t get REtweeted very much if it has an uninteresting headline.
Ok, that’s it for examining the Blogging Bookshelf posts. If you’ve got any further insight, I’d love to hear from you!
Famous Bloggers
Wait, actually, let me talk about one more thing that’s related to Blogging Bookshelf. I just did a guest post over on Famous Bloggers called 7 Reasons Your Blog Sucks, and it’s gotten a massive amount of retweets. As of the time of writing this, it’s gotten 141 retweets, that’s by far the highest number of retweets for a post on the current front page of the blog (there are 15 posts on the front page). Most posts are in the 50 to 60 retweets range. Here’s a screenshot:
So why did that post get so many retweets? It wasn’t because I’m a well-known blogger (I’m not) or even that I’m well-known on Famous Bloggers (this was my first guest post for the site). It was retweeted because it is simple, it catches your attention, and is a little bit funny. It also piques your curiosity. Also, you see that headline and you think, “Oh man, I need to check that out! I need to know if my blog sucks!” So I also think it was retweeted so much because it plays on people’s fears (in this case, the “I need to know if my blog sucks!” fear).
Another example of a similar post right off the top of my head would be something like “3 Things You Need to Change on Your Blog Right Now or You’re Screwed.” Ok, that one’s a little long, but you get the idea.
Note that I also take advantage of peoples’ fears (wow, that sounds so sinister!) with my 101 Ways You’re Killing Your Blog ebook.
Retweet case study: Copyblogger
Ok, I’m already at about 1100 words here, so I’m going to go through this next bit as quickly as possible. If you don’t know Copyblogger, you should. In my opinion, it’s one of the great blogs. The writing is fantastic and the information is truly helpful (and they just redesigned the site, by the way, so check it out if you haven’t been recently). And the Copyblogger posts get retweeted a lot. The average post gets RT’d about 200-300 times. 400 retweets is more than average. I went through the first 10 pages or so of the Copyblogger archives to see which posts got significantly more retweets than that, and here are the results (again, with the number of retweets being the first number):
- 1824 – 8 Bad Habits that Crush Your Creativity and Stifle Your Success
- 1157 – Five Ways to Write Magnificent Copy
- 941 – 50 Can’t-Fail Techniques for Finding Great Blog Topics
- 793 – The Mad Men Guide to Changing the World with Words
- 791 – Madonna’s 6 Secrets to Personal Branding Mastery
So what else can we learn from these highly-retweeted posts? Let’s look at the first one. It looks to me like another great case of very useful/applicable content mixed with playing on fears. And I think solving a need or problem is part of it, too. Can you believe nearly two thousand retweets?! Absolutely insane.
The second example from the above list is simple yet very useful. And the reader’s interest is piqued by the word magnificent.
Let’s talk about the third one for a bit: “50 Can’t-Fail Techniques for Finding Great Blog Topics.” Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? Makes you want to read it, doesn’t it? Massive list posts are often retweeted. This one got extra retweets because the subject matter is nearly universally applicable to bloggers.
The fourth and fifth ones in the list above have one thing in common: analogies! More specifically, pop culture analogies. Mad Men is a TV show and Madonna is, of course, a singer, or pop artist as they call them these days (now who’s not down with the kids’ jive…). Pop culture analogies are great because they are simultaneously something you’re familiar with (the analogy part) but also something you’re probably hearing a lot about already (the pop culture part). Combine those two things and you have a very powerful recipe for a viral retweet outbreak.
Of course, audience plays a key role in all of this. I don’t think an analogy about Madonna would go over super well on a blog about Bible study.
What gets retweeted over on YOUR blog?
I was going to do another case study of another blog, but I think I’ve made my points and covered most of the territory I wanted to cover.
But now I want to hear about the retweet experiences you’ve had on YOUR blog. What posts of yours have gotten tons of retweets? And why? Leave a comment and let us all know!
Stay tuned for another great post on Friday (I’ve decided to update this blog every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and then a truly awesome “What I’ve Learned from Blogging for a Month Here at Blogging Bookshelf” post and another FREE ebook next week! Yeeee hawww!
Oh, and PLEASE RETWEET THIS POST :)
{ 96 comments… read them below or add one }
From my experience I notice the headline has a lot of importance over what’s Retweeted or not, even the same post has got significant differences in Retweet ratio if I just change the headline with which it’s Retweeted. Running some of these pseudo split a/b tests can really make you fine-tune the title you give to your post.
I’ve found the same thing, too, Gabriele. The proper headline is probably the single most important component of the whole getting-your-stuff-retweeted equation. I’ve never run a/b tests on headlines, but it sounds like something I need to get on. As always, thanks for an awesome comment!
Most definitely agree on this end because you have to remember – if the headline doesn’t get clicks than you won’t get read. That’s why I think it’s important to really take some time to go over your headline and just keep working on it until it smacks ya in the face – or if you want to pass it around to a few friends and get their own opinion on the matter that always works too.
^ Word. Thanks, Murray!
To be honest , i really dont have any knowledge about Twiter and even how to drive traffic from Twiter. Now when i read this post i knew how important is it and i will try to find it out. It is really awesome post Tristan. Thanks mate.
Thanks, Ryan! Twitter is such a powerful traffic- and relationship-building tool. If you’re a blogger and you’re not on Twitter, you’re making a mistake. That’s how I see it, anyway. If you’ve got any specific Twitter questions, let me know and I’ll try to answer them in a future post.
Great post, I love that you provide example/stats and personal comments to why things are the way they are. I must say although you are a “newlywed” to the blogging sphere your writing, engaging and transparency is wonderful. I found this to be extremely helpful, my Blog is in dire need of TLC and this has provide some great actions steps. Thanks (Oh and yes I will definitely retweet) Have a good one.
Thanks for stopping by, Manon! I’ve been happily married for a long time in the blogosphere, it’s just that this particular blog and I are still newlyweds :) If you want a second opinion on your blog to know what could be improved, let me know and I’d be glad to give you my 2 cents.
Hi Tristan, interesting post. I brings up seveeral questions:
1) I keep reading that (for SEO) we need to create titles that use keywords and describe the content, but it seems that we human beings react better to clever titles. You have said before that it’s more important to get “butts in the seats” now than to please Google. Will that change? Will you retitle past articles when/if it does?
2) I have a Twitter account and cutomarily tweet thing I find interesting. I have not run across the TweetMeMe thing before – just discovered that when I tried to comply with your request. What is that?
3) I probably don’t use Twitter properly. Would you consider doing a post on how to get the most out of Twitter?
And finally *I* thought Newton’s 3 Laws of Blogging was one of your better titles – but then I recognized Newton’s 3 Laws and that piqued my curiosity. Maybe I’m just a nerd.
Great questions, Allan.
1) My #1 goal will always be to have butts in the seats, and SEO will be secondary to that. How I go about doing the SEO, however, THAT is what I will change. I will always try to keep my headlines as interesting as possible for people, but I could definitely do better with my permalinks (the URL of each blog post). For this post, actually, I did an OK job. If you look up at the URL, you’ll see that it’s not the same as the title of this post. I felt “What gets retweeted” would be a better SEO’d URL than “How to get 1000 retweets.” Does that make sense?
What WILL change in the future is that I will probably make the blog NoFollow. But I dunno, I’m still on the fence about that one. I’ll also try to throw in my target keywords into every article and more often into the post headlines. I also need to work a ton more on my off-site SEO. That’s something I haven’t done much of yet.
No, I will never retitle any of my articles. It’s not worth the time, IMO, and it also messes with your RT count. If you change the URL, the RT count goes back to 0, and I don’t want that.
2) TweetMeme is the rectangular button you see below and to the left of each of my posts here. It’s the button that says “16 Tweets” and “Retweet.” It’s a plugin. Just search for “TweetMeme wordpress plugin” and you’ll find it.
3) Yeah, a couple people have asked the one, too, so I’ll definitely do one in the future.
And thanks for liking the Newton’s 3 Laws of Blogging title :)
I snagged TweetMeme and hung it on my blog. Hope that will help. Looks good anyway. Thanks for the tip! :-)
What do yuo use for the top Commenters? I grabbed one this morningthat looks sililar to yours but the CSS is wrong and the gravatars stair step across the column because they don’t (Yeah, I know that’s HTML; Wolly Mammoth stuff) I did not see any formatting switches other than size of Gravatars. Suggestions?
Hmmm… Yeah Allan, I don’t have any suggestions other than try the plugin I use. It’s called Top Commentators, and here’s the link: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/top-commentators-widget/
If that doesn’t work, let me know. (But I’m actually really hoping that does work because I don’t know what to tell you if it doesn’t!)
Nice job on the TweetMeme button!
(LOL) Well then, Tristan I won’t tell you that Top Commentators *is* the one I tried earlier. All I can think of is that it does not play nice with the CSS of the theme I’m using — this theme does do some strange things with spacing and line feeds to achieve it’s own “look”.
Here… (hum de dum dee dum) OK, I turned it back on and placed it *below* the comment stats widget (right column) when you get a moment, take a peek to see what I mean. I am NOT expecting you to pull a solution out your hat, just would like your view of if I’m on the right track. When ever it’s convenient… thanks.
I remember reading that Tim Ferris split-tests his blog headlines to see which one gets the most interest, and the most retweets. This only helps to strengthen the idea that headlines really do matter.
I think the reason people will retweet if they are asked is because its easy, free, and takes a short amount of time. There is nothing wrong with asking, and also alerts people to the fact that the option is there :)
Your most retweeted post were all very well written, and informative so no surprise there Tristan ;)
Split testing is something I have done zero of, but it’s something I’d like to look into more for sure. There’s only so much time in the day!
And yeah, I think you’re spot on as far as asking people to retweet goes. You might as well, right? It coudn’t hurt, and in all likelihood it will definitely help.
And thanks for the complements on my posts, Jay :)
Tristan I can’t believe you’ve only been on this blog a month. Already guest posting, already writing amazing articles and definitely getting yourself known in the blogosphere. I was intrigued by this post as I am thinking of writing something similar as a guest post! You’ve answered a lot of the questions I would put to my readers. Great post Tristan and well done with your progress. Your RT and comments will continue to go up as you post quality and get to me even more well known. I know I look out for your posts now.
Patricia Perth Australia
Yeah, it’s been a whirlwind month, Patricia! I’m glad you’re finding these posts useful. I always appreciate your comments, so thanks for stopping by!
I see you are not a newbie. This is just a new blog. So that’s why you could confdently do heaps of guest posts with this blog so young. I am still newbie as you can tell with all my quesitons etc lol
Whatever you are doing sure is working and all the best to your success Tristan. I am following you with interest :-)
Patricia Perth Australia
I vote for compelling headlines first, and then seeing friends ask for a RT in Twitter second. People want to be intrigued…and people want to be nice. Generally speaking, of course.
Some year I have to measure how many RTs I get! I’m still earlobe deep in my site-relaunch, however, so that won’t be happening anytime soon…
I’m pretty excited about your site relaunch, Barbara! When do you think it’ll happen?
And I agree with you about compelling headlines. That’s the #1 way to get stuff retweeted.
Thanks for commenting!
Man I wish I had the retweet counts that you have. I’ve had a few solid one’s but I’m not really sure I’ve ever had one with 114…. Hmm I wonder where I could see that little piece of info.
Great post as always Tristan, I like the way you write.
The key to getting high retweets is threefold (and I believe this is the order of importance, too): 1) Having a dedicated fan base/community, and 2) Having a headline that draws people in, and 3) Writing a great post.
The Famous Bloggers article got so many retweets because 1) there is indeed a large community there on that blog, 2) the headline made people want to click it, and 3) it was an entertaining and useful post.
I just took a quick look-see at your blog, John, and I’ve got a couple suggestions. I think that having the retweet button 1) larger, and 2) appearing on your front page (it only appears on your posts) would help. Also, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make the headlines a bit more catchy. Like for your latest post, it could be something like “Clash of the Titans: Facebook Ads vs. Google AdWords.”
I’d also recommend following more people. There’s really no downside to it, and it shows people you’re interested in them (hence fostering a community). Also, I’m less inclined to follow someone who is only following 100 people because the chances of him following me back are smaller. As long as you use lists in Twitter to sort the people you’re following (having an “Inner Circle” list, or a “Business Contacts” list, for example), you won’t see any drop in how effectively you use Twitter.
Hope that helped! Email me (use the form on the contact page or the email address that I comment on your blog with) if you’d like to talk more about it.
AH-HA! So that’s how that’s done! (using a list to focus on a core group) I’ve been keeping the number of people I follow pared down to just the ones I’m really interested in because I figure if I was following 68 zillion people there’d be no hope of seeing tweets from the people I want to see tweets from. Thanks! I’ll go set that up now.
My posts and tweets that have SEO or WordPress in the title get tweeted the most.
My post named “A Simple Explanation Of How Search Engine Spiders Work” had some of the most tweets. It was a hit.
I try and use clever titles for Twitter purposes… but when I do… I make sure my permalink title is a keyworded seo friendly title. I also make sure my All In One SEO title is keyword friendly also.
Huh, interesting, Kathryn. I’m guessing it’s because SEO and WordPress tips are things that apply to very wide chunks of your audience, if not your entire audience.
And I’m the same way with my titles. Keep the headlines catchy, but make sure the permalinks are SEO-friendly.
Thanks for the great comment!
First, this was a wonderful post, and I thank Barb for highlighting your blog so I could learn about it.
Second, people seem to love lists, and when you throw a number in front of it, that really grabs people’s attention, even when the topic is off the beaten path.
And third, creativity should never be overrated; for instance, after this comment I’m heading to your post about the Droids; any Star Wars fan just has to go take a look. And that’s what it’s all about. :-)
I also thank Barbara for sending you on over :)
I agree, Mitch, lists are pure gold. Especially if it’s a big number, then it’s pretty much impossible for people NOT to share it!
I’m glad the droids post intrigued you, and I hoped you enjoyed it :) Thanks so much for commenting, and leaving such a great comment at that!
Hey, it’s what I do. And you know I loved that Droids post! And I see you also liked my brief list post, although that wasn’t my list. When my list comes, that’s when the fun starts. :-)
Awesome! I’m looking forward to it!
Damn it Tristan – I can’t keep up with you lol ;).
Awesome topic for a post. You just made me wish I had written this. And I soooo want to copy you and write a similar one of my own regarding my posts and tweets – but…
Plus I already have one in drafts (and 42 others) that I’m working on about….(something close, but different)!
As for me, the most retweets I’ve gotten were on the 2 guest posts I wrote for Famous Bloggers.
The first is called “10 (but in Reality 13) Kinds of Peeps I Don’t Follow on Twitter” – it’s gotten about 185 tweets, 106 comments and a bunch of other sharing goodies :).
The second is “66 Awesome Social Media Quotes” and to this day has gotten around 145 tweets, 69 comments and over 300 Stumbles.
They were both written a few weeks ago and got a ton of comments and attention. I was super pleased and spent days replying lol. I have to admit, it’s a wonderful feeling when people show you they appreciate your work. It makes this whole blogging thing that I love so much all the more worthwhile.
As for posts on my personal nittyGriddy blog the most I’ve gotten is 118 tweets for “9 Free eBooks on Social Media”. I have several that have 40 to 60 tweets but in general the number is less.
I think people like posts with numbers in them. 10 this, 5 best that, 8 steps to do this, and so forth. I also think infographics are extremely popular – people like pictures/images – and infographics are just the epitome of creativity. That’s why I strongly recommend everyone to have an image in each post.
Another winner is the How To posts. Those get a lot of attention as well. And of course the personal post. Kind of like the one I wrote “17 Things About Me…” Oddly enough people want to know more about you. And they like the personal touch – but not too personal of course – within reason and appropriateness.
I can never seem to just stop by here and leave a lame ass drive by comment. I always have to write a frickin’ book for ya. Okay, next time round, I’ll be aiming for 5 no 6 no 8 lines max lol. Baby steps Ingrid ;)!
Great post – super interesting to read – good points!
Cheers Mr. Higbee
Don’t worry, Ingrid, I don’t own a monopoly on this topic (I’m sure someone else has done it before me), and I wouldn’t mind in the least if you did something similar on your blog :)
I’ve read (and RT’d!) those two Famous Bloggers posts that you mention, and I thought they were great. It’s definitely easy to see why they got retweeted so much (they suck you in, they’re big lists, they’re very shareable, they’re well written, etc.). They definitely deserved all of the shares that they got!
And your “9 Free eBooks on Social Media” is great because you’re providing some serious value and useful information there. I’m especially pleased that that post got so much attention because you mentioned my ebooks in it :)
The personal post is something I haven’t really done on this blog yet. I’ll go ahead and add it to the queue!
And hey, you’re not getting (and you never will get!) any complaints from me about the length of your comments. I love em! Thanks for commenting, Ingrid. I always do very much look forward to your comments :)
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Tristan! For everything that you said! So very kind of you :).
I’ll be looking forward to reading your personal post! But please, do bump it to the top of your queue – cause you know I’m waiting to leave my 2 cents now :).
Ciao
I’m gonna try my few lines thing here and now actually!
I think someone should organize a contest for longest comments (and good ones lol). I think I have a pretty good shot at taking 1st place. Just a thought ;).
Yay, I did it. Including this line, I managed to leave you with 4. Woohoo! Cheers is going here.
Yeah, you’re definitely #1 in the running for longest comments! And congrats on the 4-line comment! I know it must have been very difficult :)
You have no idea Tristan hahaha :) Ooops I did it again…
This usually happen when two awesome writers meet each other in the blog comments section!
I keep visiting this post over and over to make sure I won’t miss any update, tip or a bloody technique of yours :)
Tristan , Ingrid .. Both of are incredible!
Hey, Hesham! It’s great to see you here! Thanks for the praise. Coming from you, it really does mean a lot and I appreciate it.
And yeah, some people do feel very comfortable writing, and I think Ingrid and I are definitely two of those people :)
Hesham my friend, how are you?
Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words. Means a lot coming from you :).
Tristan is indeed incredible – both as a person (from what I can see) and as a writer/blogger. His passion for writing is clearly obvious in every one of his awesome posts.
But my dear Hesham, you forgot to add yourself to that “incredible” compliment. If I were to list the reasons, Tristan would kill me for writing another book in his comments haha ;). So I’ll just say this: “You are incredible all-round!”
You have been and continue to be a wonderful support to me and the fabulous blogging community. Not only that, but your hard work and efforts on Famous Bloggers are well deserving of all the merits and rankings it gets. Thank you for giving us the chance to share our work on your top notch community site :).
Cheers and continued success to you both.
PS – Tristan – how many lines is that? lol
Hey Ingrid I’m all for that contest too cos sometimes I feel I’m leaving a comment as long as the post lol Haven’t had any complaints from blog owners yet!!! It’s hard isn’t it if you see a good post. Have to have our 2 cents or maybe you and I our 2 dollars worth ;-)
Patricia Perth Australia
Tristan,
You certainly hit on some very important topics. The biggest I think (as you said) are what is perceived in the title. IE Lists or pop culture references 50, 10, 101 (anything) tends to do well. Even if it is 101 ways to screw in a lightbulb, once someone who is interesting to lightbulb screing RT’s it to their peers, a tweet can be golden. Pop culture references are obvious. These days pop culture is everything to many people. think of these two (fake) items
Cure for aids found
Lady Gaga and the new cure for aids.
unfortunately it is likely obvious which one of these two (again fake) titles would do better.
Steve, I desperately want you to write a post on Lady Gaga and the new cure for AIDS! But you do make a great point there. People just love that kind of stuff!
Great lightbulb analogy, too. In fact, I’d probably even read that post!
Thanks for commenting, buddy.
Getting traffic with the help of retweets has done wonders to my traffic figures as well. When it comes to the retweet button and getting people to click on it, there are several factors to consider in my opinion. The first thing is the title of the article – that one is especially important and if it isn’t compelling enough, you won’t be getting much retweets. The second factor is of course content, which is not that important, since people who retweets often haven’t read the whole article. For example some times when I’m too lazy to read everything, I just scan through a post to see the basic idea. I’m taking into consideration the headlines on the paragraphs as well. If it’s worthy, I’ll retweet (something I’ll do on that post too lol).
That is a 100% quality comment right there, Daniel. Thanks a ton for sharing!
I agree that the title is the #1 most important element. I know I’ve even retweeted tweets in Twitter without even reading the posts, just because the title is so intriguing. Now THAT is the power of a great headline.
Thanks again!
Wow. Another incredible post, Tristan. Way to go! Garnering retweets is one of the things I currently suck at back at my blog, and reading through your post has helped me realize a lot of the trouble I’m having.
For one thing, I realize now that my original strategy, which involved some long and involved post series may not have been the best option for starting the blog out and building an audience because I’ve written very few stand-alone-on-its-own-awesomeness posts. For the same reason, my headlines suck because they’re more like section headings within a book as part of the ongoing series.
I’m trying to figure out if I should see the strategy through (which would take me through the end of February at the latest) or start breaking it up now and risk disrupting any continuity my current readers might prefer. But I know if I keep going as it is, I’m unlikely to get the retweet action I’m hoping for.
Thanks, Justin!!
Just after a quick look at the posts on the first page of your blog, “series” doesn’t scream out to me. If you hadn’t told me that you were doing series posts, I wouldn’t even have noticed. So if you’re wanting to break from doing a series, do it! It’s your blog, after all; do whatever the crap you want! I doubt your readers will care whether you continue a series or not, I think the main thing to ask yourself is whether or not your posts are continuing to provide useful information.
I think each and every post you write should be self contained. Even posts in a series should be able to stand on their own two feet and make great reading in their own right, regardless of whether someone else has read the other posts in the series.
Each post should have a killer headline that draws you in, and each post should prompt readers to say “Wow,” like you did with this post :) I would definitely suggest quality of posts over quantity. Who cares if you (you in general, not specifically you, Justin) write every day if the content isn’t incredible? No one, that’s who! Sure, people might come by and say, “Hey, cool blog, I like this post” and never return, but what good does that do you?
I just took another look at your blog, and I think you need a big ol’ retweet button at the top of every post. I use the TweetMeme plugin for this. One of the keys to getting retweets is simply just reminding people that retweeting is an option, and you do that with a big button.
Also, I’d consider tweaking your post titles a little bit. For example, if I saw “Killing the Beast” show up in my Twitter feed, I probably wouldn’t click on it because I have no idea what to expect and so I assume it’s just something not super relevant to me. I’m having trouble coming up with a good substitute for it right now, though. Maybe something like “What You Don’t Know about Your Industry WILL Kill You” (because you’re lacking the high caloric info intake, etc.). Ok, that wasn’t the best example, but it’s something that attracts me more.
Hope that helped, if you’ve got more or more specific questions, feel free to email me!
Hey man,
Thanks a ton. Great feedback, and I’m going to follow up on it too. Tune in again, and we’ll see how things go!
Thanks again!
Justin
Gee, thanks Tristan – now I’m going to be spending the rest of my evening trying to come up with a good Madonna / bible study analogy. Such is life with my brain…
I am new to all of this, I just singed up for a twitter account a few days ago – and yes I do live in a cave.
Anyway I find your post very interesting and helpful.
LOL! Please let me know when you come up with a Madonna/Bible analogy. I’m positive you could find one if you took some time to think about it!
Its ok, Sunday, I was late to the Twitter party, too! But better late than never, right? Thanks for the comment!
I wish I had as much luck with Twitter as you have. I have not really been using it long, but I have noticed it does bring traffic. Great post, Thanks for sharing.
Believe me, Hunter, it’s not luck. A lot of work goes into each post, promoting each post, and building up the relationships needed to get retweets. Keep rocking it both on Twitter and on your blog and I’m sure you’ll keep rocking it. Thanks for commenting!
Interesting findings Tristan. I agree on that the most retweeted articles are usually the ones that have catchy and easy to understand title, are not too long or specific and provide something extra (in your case infographics).
Nice reading.
Adam
Yeah, I’ve found that that little something extra really does go a long way. I’m glad you liked the article and found it useful. I really appreciate all of your awesome comments!
I think it’s definitely awesome to see the number of retweets get so high. I think one of the main ways to get a lot of retweets is through a large reader base. Like you mentioned in the article, the reason your famousbloggers post got so many retweets is because of the large reader base.
Exactly, Mitchell. It’s definitely good to have a large readership on your blog plus a lot of followers on Twitter. The more messengers you have, the more people your message will reach. Thanks for the comment!
My most retweeted posts are guest posts. Traffic comes from my readers and theirs. Now that is taking into consideration only the Tweetmeme button.
I have a core group of people that understand the value of supporting each other. I can count on them to RT my posts and to stop by and comment. I do the same for them. This often triples the RTs of my posts.
Plus I always acknowledge every one that RTs me. I do this by thanking them and by making a special effort towards them on follow Friday.
Sheila, that’s really interesting about guest posts. That’s something that I’ve never thought of before, as I don’t normally have much in the way of others doing guest posts on my blog. But of course it makes perfect sense!
I also thing having a core group is a fantastic idea. I know that it’s something you and your sister do, and I think it’s something that everyone should have. Not only do you have more support in terms of comments and retweets, but it equates to a mastermind group allowing you to bounce ideas off of each other.
And I think that thanking people who RT your stuff is an awesome Twitter practice, one that everyone should be doing.
Great suggestions! Thanks for the awesome comment!
Real cool post. It really points out the fact that writing great content is something you must always try to do
Yep, it’s essential. Without great content, there’s no way your blog will ever amount to anything.
I did a post on 30 different bloggers and you can best believe that was the one most retweeted. Bloggers love themselves and publicity. :-)
That’s awesome, Kissie! It makes sense, for sure! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
NICE post Tristan, real quality information here. I like what Gabriele said in the first comment–I think the headline can make it or break it. If it’s a really good headline, it creates that sense of curiousity and makes people want to click through and also retweet it.
I’m not surprised your infographic one got retweeted a lot. It’s gotta be the visual learner thing and people who enjoy creative things. Of course, it all comes down to great content! :)
Thanks, Elise! I’m glad you liked the post and found it useful. I think I’ll have to do more infographics in the future for sure… Fun!
Hey Tristan,
Great post here. Not complaining about the length though but very useful pieces of information. Writing a post that piques your curiosity, catches attention, funny etc. Hmm I think if a post plays on your emotions there is a higher chance people are going to read and retweet it. Something to learn about here. Thx for this wonderful post. Gonnat RT it!
Good, I’m glad the length of the post didn’t put you off! You’re definitely right about playing on people’s emotions, too. That’s powerful stuff right there, Bryan. Thanks for commenting!
Hi Tristan!
Excellent post! Good resources for me as I just tapping into Twitter market. Thanks for sharing :)
You’re welcome Rammesh! I’m glad you found this post when you’re just starting to get into Twitter. Thanks for the comment, and be sure to come back again soon!
Wow-Wee, Tristan! I’m amazed.
It took me longer to read all the comments here than it did to read through your fantastic post. For someone who’s only been blogging for a month, the success and popularity of your blog isn’t taking the usual baby steps of someone who’s just entered the blogosphere — it’s SPRINTING into blog stardom! Good for you. Feel proud.
I never get massive amounts of Re-Tweets of my posts but I have a loyal readership that I truly value. These are folks I treasure! I have noticed, though, when I’m participating in a blogging challenge, my RT button gets a darn good warm up and workout. And I’ve come to realize people seem to really like the “audio” posts I create. Those seem to get Re-Tweeted more than the others.
All in all, I’ll go along with the general consensus here that blog “titles” are where the magic begins. :)
Yeah, there have been some great comments on this one, huh? :)
And it’s important to note that I’ve been blogging for years, but just for a month here on Blogging Bookshelf. I’ve figured out what really works in terms of building traffic and a readership. But I am still very proud and pleased.
That’s an interesting point about when you’re participating in a challenge. Huh. Makes sense, though, right? Very cool!
Thanks for the great comment, Melanie!
Yeeee Haaaaaw Tristan! I think things get retweeted when the individual perceives it to be useful. Looking at my own retweeting habits, I RT for 2 reasons:
1. If I like the Author and he/she supports me and my site (like you do by visiting, commenting, and giving me helpful suggestions).
2. If the material personally speaks to me (I learned something or it was content that I have never seen anywhere else).
Yup, I think you hit the nail on the head there with your reasons, Susan. I think when you combine those two reasons, you’ve got a super powerful combination for knowing how to get stuff retweeted.
And I very much appreciate all the comments and RTs you do! Thanks!
Tweets and Comments are the result, to a great extent, of demographics, niche, and subject matter.
Many who read my site don’t tweet and they don’t comment. They are a different demographic altogether than the “bloggers.” Some of my followers on Twitter and my blog readers are ‘old school’ business people with years of experience, and are just getting in to this ‘new thing’ because they have to. But they really know their stuff out there in the real world, so if I can impress them, then I’m going my job.
It’s all relative.
If I really wanted the comments, tweets, and traffic, I would change my site and dedicate it to the latest news about Lady GaGa.
Success must be measured in terms of your audience. If you deliver what they expect, than you must accept their preferred method of returning the favour.
Just some thoughts as I sit in envy of all of your traffic, tweets, and comments :lol:
Rick
Very true, Rick. I’m lucky enough to blog in a niche where people are very Twitter-centeric and comment-centric, but I know that not all niches are like that. My last blog was in a very non-tech niche and I got few comments and didn’t even bother with Twitter.
I agree that’s it’s all relative… to a point.
There are people in every niche who ARE into commenting and Twitter. And I think that saying, “Oh, the people in my niche just don’t do the whole blog thing” doesn’t entirely justify lack of reader interaction. Chances are, if they’re looking at your blog, they know what a comment is and how to leave one.
Twitter is another beast entirely and I know that being familiar with blogging and being familiar with Twitter are not the same.
I think a couple good questions to ask are, 1) Would more comments and retweets be beneficial to my online goals (whether they be business or personal)? If so, 2) Are there other blogs in my niche with much higher levels of reader interaction? And if so, 3) Why are the other blogs on my niche getting more comments or more retweets than me?
I never said, “Oh, the people in my niche just don’t do the whole blog thing”
What I said was, “_Many_ who read my site don’t tweet and they don’t comment.”
As you say, there are always those who do. My site has several demographics, as do most.
But in the circles I frequent, live and in person, the idea of commenting on a blog is ridiculous. They simply would never do it, regardless of how much they may enjoy the content. These people, and others like them, are part of my readership. They do the “blog thing” as you say, but they don’t participate.
Rick
Whoa, I missed this comment earlier. Sorry Rick!
Ok, yeah, I see what you’re saying. I guess I’ve just never experienced the whole, “But in the circles I frequent, live and in person, the idea of commenting on a blog is ridiculous” thing.
Thanks for the great comments, and sorry again that it took me so long to reply to this one.
I believe yours got RT’d so much because it had the in-your-face style of topic naming. Those always do well on my blog too. I think it would have done just as well if not better if you named the post “why your blog sucks and yo’ momma does too!”. It’s the slap in the face that most people get right away that makes them read it and make them want to share so others can feel the experience.
I would say Twitter is currently my #3 or #4 source of traffic under Google #1, Facebook, and direct traffic. Somehow, I guess I have a brand name and people are constantly Googling me or directly typing in my URL.
Hmmm, not a bad suggestion, Brandon! I think I just might have to write a yo’ momma post!
Great point about the in-your-face title. That better says what I was trying to get at than how I said it!
I haven’t focused on Facebook yet for getting traffic, but it’s on the to-do list. Thanks for the comment, Brandon!
Hi Tristan. The reason FB is big with me is it’s users are more engaging than Twitter. Think about it… I don’t completely read and engage on Twitter like I do on Facebook. Twitter is mainly great for a quick traffic boost to new blog posts. People want a short note that something was updated. But with Facebook, you are likely to get readers to engage you much more. I have Facebook importing my blog posts as “notes” which means fresh articles regularly on my wall. It gets likes and shares with the RT’s, and also comments. People would easily jump off of there and onto your blog after reading an entire article that caught their attention.
I think your article on a successful blogger with the infographics got so many retweets because many people really enjoy seeing a visual instead of a lot of texts. Telling your readers to retweet your blogger’s block post worked so well because it was a call to action. However, I agree with you that you should use this method to the minimum. This was a very detailed case study, really nice work. I will be referring to this when I want to get some more exposure to my posts. Thanks.
I think you’re right, John. The infographic was fun and takes about 2 seconds to look over. I’m glad you liked the post and found it useful! Be sure to keep checking back in the future for more awesome content!
Hey Tristan,
I think I’ve seriously overlooked Twitter mainly because I don’t understand it. Because I don’t understand it, I have a hard time believing that anyone actually uses it besides Paris Hilton..haha. I obviously need to learn more about Twitter!
Can you do a post on the basics of Twitter? Looking at yours, it just looks like a bunch of code! I’m not sure what all of it means.
Also, do you think it’s an advantage that you used your name instead of “BloggingBookshelf” for your Twitter account?
Thanks for a great post…I have much to learn
Gif, for a long time I didn’t understand Twitter, either. I’ve had multiple requests for a post on Twitter basics, so I’l try to churn one out in the near future.
There are a couple reasons I didn’t use “BloggingBookshelf” for my Twitter account. The first is that it’s simply too long (it only gets as far as “BloggingBookshe.” And second, I wanted to be more personal so that people felt like they were connecting with a real person. Third, I also wanted to literally “get my name out there” so that in the future, I could use the leverage that my name has to help me launch future endeavors.
Hope that makes sense! Thanks for commenting!
thank you so much for these tips :)
You’re welcome, Farouk :) Thanks for stopping by.
Hey Tristan, great job on this post and doing all of the research. Are you familiar with Dan Zarrella and his research on the Science of Retweets? He’s done some interesting studies about the time of day and specific words used in tweets that cause them to go viral.
For me, I used to pay more attention to my Retweet counts and back then it seemed like most of my posts about Twitter got the most attention.
I’m finding some awesome bloggers have added me to their Twitterfeed and that has gone a really long way to boost my numbers.
btw – as you know, I absolutely loved the hats infographic and here’s why – it was colorful, it was almost “tactile” because you could just imagine yourself grabbing one of those hats and throwing it on top of the pile, it was cute and the concept was down right funny. Every blogger needs to add a bit of whimsy to their blog, just like they would do if they were decorating their homes.
Thanks, for the great comment, Ileane! No, I’m not familiar with Dan Zarrella’s work. I’ll have to check it out! I’ve thought that surely someone must have done research like that, but it’s something I’ve never done before. Thanks for pointing me in that direction.
And I really am glad you liked that infographic so much :) I’m planning on another one here sometime in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned!
Sure. It’s due to the headline of the post. If the post headline is funny or something different it will be clicked and readers will re-tweet it.
Even i get re-tweet from my followers if i shared something funny or with different post.
Exactly, I think it pretty much comes down to that! Thanks for taking the time to comment, Goutham!
Hi Tristan, I’m enjoying your blog, lots of great ideas here! I have RT’d you! I like copyblogger too and I think we can all learn a lot from the established blogs but we must not become overawed – we are still in the early days of blogdom yet! There is much uncharted territory to be explored! And developed! Creatively.
If people say to me “What do you do?” and I say “I am a blogger” they think I said logger or look blank. The man in the street does not know what a blog is. I have 300 genuine personal friends on facebook, not one of whom actually blogs except me, and I doubt more than 5 will have heard the term “blog”!!! So we need to educate – not everyone is as clued up as we are – haha! Blogs for every topic, I say! ;)
I agree, Adwello! There’s still a lot of room for more big blogs out there.
I like your enthusiasm! We’ve got to educate all the folks out there! I think the blogosphere is still in a gold rush phase; there’s still plenty of gold in them hills :)
Thanks for commenting!
Great post. I had no idea a post can have almost 2,000 retweets. Now, I think I also have to start using tweeter. Thanks!
For me, it’s numbers. 10 Tips for Better Blogging gets more traction than Advice for Better Blogging. There’s something about numbers that quantifies value to the reader’s psychy.
Retweeted :-) Lots of good tips here, Tristan. Twitter is a beast I haven’t had the foggiest idea of how to train yet, so any help is much appreciated. To date, it seems to me that the posts that get retweeted on my blog are the ones I feel are most helpful in nature. I do feel I could up the number by adding a bit of humor, curious word selection and numbered lists. Thanks bud!
Best,
Scott
Hi Tristan,
Whew – lots of good stuff here, thanks.
It is timely we have read this. Headlines are as you say so important and yet we fear we have allowed some complacency to settle in. Copyblogger is also excellent.
cheers
Allan and Dawn
Nice Information
Nice To Read, very Interesting
Nice Design
Thanks
SEO
It is faster to just use retweettrader.com
Well, hopefully after reading this you can get more RTs :) Thanks as always for the comment, Praveen. I appreciate it!
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