Top Ten Reasons You Should Write Top Ten Lists
Here’s an interesting post by Tom Davenport over at Harvard Business Publishing about the Top Ten Reasons for Top Ten Lists.
Whether you are writing email messages, posting to a blog, or preparing a free report for opt-ins, a Top Ten List is a great place to start. Tom’s article illustrates a quick, to-the-point Top Ten List with bullet points. A few sentences each and you’re done.
Your Top Ten Lists can serve as the foundation for more detailed information as well. I’m currently working on a list of opt-in tips, which began as a simple list. Rather than bullet points, each item on the list has become its own report, several pages in length. This same information could be woven with a common thread and become an e-book you can give away.
Obviously, if your subject matter lends itself better to a Top 5 or Top 12 List, go for it! But this is a great style to use when writer’s block is kicking in!
Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse
July 1st, 2008 at 7:24 pm
A great idea for getting a quick article out and using it as the springboard for ten or so more!
I have a question though… How many articles is “too many”? Is there a point at which people opt out en masse because they are receiving too many messages? Is there an optimum rate of communication?
David Hurley
http://grasp-the-nettle.com
July 1st, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Hi David,
Thanks for your question.
There’s no perfect number for the number of articles. You should write enough to say what you want to say!
For instance, I’m currently writing a 30 part series for my blog on things people need to know if they are considering starting a home business. Though too long for autoresponder messages, I could certainly take some salient points and repurpose them for email.
However, while I can safely post to my blog daily, I wouldn’t sent an email out daily. If you’re writing a series, probably once a week (twice a week at the most). On the outside, I wouldn’t go past a month, or people will forget who you are and mark your message as spam.
A friend told me that Jim Edwards recently polled his membership site members and they said they wanted new information no more than twice a week because of information overload. This is probably a good rule of thumb.
Obviously, if you see a surge in unsubscribes at a particular point, you’ll want to study everything about it, including frequency and content of that particular email. What may work in one niche may not work in another. So, whatever you decide, be sure to test!
Debbi Bressler
July 9th, 2008 at 2:53 am
Debbie,
I am just getting into internet marketing and doing my best to learn as much as a can in as short of period as possible.
I want to thank you for your informative short messages on “Get Response”, which I will be using to further my marketing efforts.
You make a tremendous difference in the slope of my learning curve as I work to obtain the professional knowledge needed to succeed in this ever changing and challenging field of endeavour.
Thank you for your input.
Regards,
J. Austin Sackett
July 19th, 2008 at 3:20 am
Hi Austin,
Wow! I am SO touched by your comments. Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and let me know what you think!
It wasn’t so long ago that I was just getting started and I still remember the panic of information overload.
If you have any questions about anything you read, please stop by and ask.
Debbi