Bloggers want to increase blog traffic and many are frustrated that people land on their home page but seldom seem to click on their posts. Other bloggers are frustrated that they don’t get more clicks.
The good news is that one simple change can solve both of those problems. I’m no TycoonBlogger, but it amazes me that more bloggers don’t know this simple secret. Every blogger that I’ve revealed this secret to has followed this simple advice and loved it. Want to know what it is?
The secret is the MORE tag (that’s what WordPress call it anyway). Basically, when you write a post, you insert the MORE tag (or whatever your blogging software calls it) after the first two or three paragraphs so that the reader has to click the Keep Reading link to read the rest. (For an example, look at the posts on my home page.)
How does this solve those two problems?
- When readers land on your home page and don’t click anything else, they may read all the posts on the home page or none of them. You don’t know. That’s not good.
- For those readers that do read one or more of the posts on your home page, you only get one click (your home page). Once you start using the tag, those readers will click the Keep Reading link, and all of a sudden, your click rate goes up like magic.
I dare you to start using the tag and then come back and complain about it. You won’t be able to do it. But do come back and comment on your experience.
More on the MORE tag
For additional information on the MORE tag, where to find the MORE button, and other benefits of using it, read my earlier post, Blogging: Use the MORE tag.
I keep scratching my head everyday as I see bloggers who don’t take advantage of this gem. If there’s something that you scratch YOUR head over regarding MY blog, please let me know.
ITauditSecurity 
I’ve been aware of this feature and its ability to boost “clicks” since the beginning, but I choose not to use it.
I blog mostly for myself and a select group of friends. I don’t blog to increase my page view count. For me, this isn’t a competition to see how many clicks I can generate with each post. This isn’t a popularity contest. I don’t blog for a living. It’s merely a recreational pastime. Heck, I don’t even care how many comments I get.
I like to give my readers the quickest and easiest way to access my posts. Some of them use Google Reader, so if I were to turn on this “more” feature, they would have to go to the url instead of just reading it in their RSS panel.
Sure, this magic button might increase your page count, but it makes the lives of your readers a tad more difficult. At the end of the day, I prefer to use my writing skills to attract more readers than some button.
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aimzy waimzy,
Thanks for your comments. I agree that using the MORE tag or similar features can impact an RSS feed and your readers.
My main aim in using the MORE tag is to determine what IS read and how many people read it. That helps me know what my readers are most interested in, and helps me target future material. When you don’t use the MORE tag, you have little idea of how many people you’re reaching–as I’ve noted above, when someone hits your home page, you have no idea whether they read all of your posts or none of them. To me, that’s the main benefit of using a MORE tag.
I don’t think use of this tag means you’re in “competition to see how many clicks” you can generate. The tag just provides a lot more information for the blogger.
Your final point is definitely true: nothing attracts more readers than well-written content. Thanks for stopping by and providing a totally different perspective. Please return and disagree any time!
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So that’s what that editing icon is for! LOL
I went back and inserted the more tag in all of my archived articles. It certainly looks much cleaner and is easier to scroll through, but I wish it would position the article one line higher after the jump. I guess I’ll have to live with that one. :/
There are pros and cons to using the more icon of course and in my case, given some of my posts, using the more tag isn’t so great because of how I use certain graphics. But what the heck! I’ll give it a try.
Thanks for the tip.
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MR,
Thanks for stopping by and letting me know what you think. Just watch it, because I occasionally forget to put the tag in until after a post is published and I see the page the next day. Oops! Not the end of the world, but like I said, it’s hard to tell if anyone read the post.
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Thank you so much for this valuable information.
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Hi Geri,
I appreciate comments, but in the future please note what you found valuable…
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I’ve read several posts on your internet site since last night, and I like your blog.
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