Attracting visitors to your blog is, let’s face it, the only real goal of all writers.
Why? Because if you are blogging for a cause it means you are getting your message across to more people, and if you are simply trying to make money with Adsense then more visitors equates to more clicks which means a bigger payday for you.
There is one thing that not only attracts readers, but also keeps them coming back for more – controversy.
Controversy draws people in; it keeps them coming back time and time again to fight in your comments section. It will get certain individuals posting a link back to your on their own blogs, even if it’s to the tune of “What the hell is this guy smoking?”
Those who disagree with you, even hate you, are your biggest promoters.
You could discuss conspiracy theories; “Swine Flu is a hoax!”, “Michael Jackon is alive and living with Elvis!” or go with a post in the form of a list, which many people favor reading over longer articles, such as “10 ways the government is spying on you”.
If you aren’t one for coming up with bizarre alternative scenarios to explain things like the moon landing, then give playing devil’s advocate a try.
This is when you find a popular and common view point, ie, energy drinks should be banned from schools, and then you present a completely counter argument.
This is a sure fire way to get people linking back to you, commenting, then returning to monitor whether or not their comment has been responded to.
You’ll get called crazy. You might even get called a moron if you present some truly whacked out theories – but you’ll be a crazy moron with thousands of hits and some extra money in his pocket.