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Two Seconds to Impact!
As you zoom down the highway, you spot a billboard, glance at it, and mentally absorb its message.
How long did you look at that billboard?
- One second?
- Two seconds?
- Ten seconds? (If you're stuck in rush hour traffic)
The average billboard-looker-atter gazes at the billboard for two seconds.
Guess how long it takes the average blog reader to decide whether to read your post?
You've got it - two seconds.
Not two minutes (wouldn't that be nice?). Two seconds.
"Two seconds to impact" is an unhappy revelation for bloggers who assume people are itching to read and ruminate over their latest missive.
Even your most devoted fans will likely give you only five seconds or so, during which they'll decide to read or not to read.
How do you make an impact in two seconds? Three ways:
1. Images
Use one image that illustrates your point in every post. Doesn't matter whether it's a photo, a screenshot, a video, or even tacky clipart; readers' eyes are irresistibly drawn to images.
In my e-book, Blogophobia Conquered, you'll find additional tips about where to place visuals, what resolution your images should be, and where to find free and low-cost stock images.
2. Body language
Videos and podcasts are gaining in popularity, but the majority of blog posts are written. It's challenging to convey voice inflections in writing, but you need to try.
Experiment with sentence openings, sentence length, and tone of voice.
Write posts using the following "body language":
- Enthusiastic and energetic
- Instructional
- Sarcastic
- Humorous
- Empathetic
If you have trouble translating tone of voice into writing, voice-record your post and then transcribe it.
3. Storytelling
A good story (and perhaps even a bad one) puts your reader into the scene with you. Your story doesn't have to be lengthy - a 1-2 sentence anecdote will do.
Your Assignment
Create a blog post that includes:
1) an image
2) a specific type of body language
3) a story
How to Put Your Facebook Updates Back to "Normal"
If you're a Facebooker, you probably noticed that Facebook recently stopped displaying status updates from all your friends; it now shows updates only from friends who generate the most comments and responses.
That's just not right! I want to know what all my Facebook friends are up to.
Fortunately, Joan Stewart, aka, The Publicity Hound, provided an easy fix in her November 3 e-newsletter:
1. Log into Facebook. At the top of the left column, you'll see "News Feed." Go to the bottom of the column and click "More."
2. Find "Status Updates." Click and drag it to the top of the column.
3. Click "Status Updates" to load that view. You're done!
You can re-arrange any of the items in the left sidebar whenever you want using the same three steps.
Here's another handy Facebook tutorial, from my blog:
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