Boredom hit when I was working on a post that took the form of a list of ways to do something. There are so many of those posts out there right now! I may go back and do the post later, but for today here are a few thoughts from listmind.
Here is a list of Internet marketing related list topics that we have all seen, and seen, and seen. Some have been done very well, or at least that is always my impression if I take the time to read and bookmark them. Preface each with “10 ways to,” or the grammatically correct like, if that rings your bell.
- Increase Traffic
- Get Links
- More Subscribers
- More Blog Comments
- Social Media – Digg Slapping, Traffic Baiting, Strategy & Begging…
- Somebody Done Somebody Wrong
- Make Money Blogging
- SEO Sucks & or SEO Tweaks and Tips
- “Boost” Anything – Clickthroughs, for the sake of pinning this down
- Lists of Other Lists
Are there a few list-style blog posts in this list of list themes that stick out in your mind as something to write home about, weeks or months after reading? Are the hours of skimming, bookmarking and exchanging comments worthwhile if the information was not either absorbed or remembered? No judgment call here. I’m just wondering.
Once you read them, where do they go?
One big change over the last few years has been that more bookmarks get tucked into some category or other of social media systems. There they are labeled with short comments, and there is often some sort of tally of how many have done the same. Without the in-depth threaded conversations of forums, cross fertilization of ideas suffers… but that’s another topic. What I meant to be getting around to saying is that social media systems are in themselves lists of lists, or lists of lists of lists, if you get my drift.
Personal Lists
After I made my list of search marketing type lists, I made a few personal lists. Here are the first ten things that bubbled to the surface the first time:
- Lose weight
- Get bifocals (Moan!)
- Get a new dentist
- De-clutter my home
- Make garden goodness
- Write
- Make Art
- Play with WordPress tweaks
- Connect with the local Quaker community
- Make money from sites about a few of my favorite things
My critical reaction:
- Non-specific items are not actionable
- Why haven’t I already done this?
- Some of these could or should go on the rest of my life
- Crum. How many lists can a list-maker hold in her head at once?
- There is no recreation on that list that has to do with other people.
- I thought I was writing about the Internet. Why didn’t web stuff come up until #8?
- #10 could make me very happy or eat me alive. LOL.
- How many of these can I use for web projects?
- I hate going to the dentist.
- I am satisfied with my progress on the weight loss thing.
Next, I made some lists that were meant to be an answer to each critical reaction. After about five I thought, “hot damn, there’s a lot of potential list-style blog posts in there.”
ROFLOL
Oh, the humanity.
One More List
I’m closing with a list of ten things I am looking forward to, in no particular order other than this is how they hit the page. This is not meant to be actionable or impressive. It’s just me, fulfilling today’s worth of a New Year’s Resolution to do something purposefully good for myself every day. I don’t even need to remember what’s here – “looking forward to” is a state of mind, not a to-do list. This is a set it and forget it smile.
- The writing class at Search Engine College
- Seeing my tulips bloom – they’re almost there
- Playing ever so industriously on Stumble
- Oranges. Mmmmm. Just bought a big bag of really good ones
- Moving forward on some of the interviews I have lined up
- WordPress tweaks
- Re-theming this site
- Weighing myself tomorrow morning – got a good feeling.
- Taking a walk tomorrow morning
- Making a nice, reachable to-do list for the next few days’ goals.
Listseek
Do you have favorite ways to make lists? Favorite posts from that first list of list topics? I’d love to hear about it.