How to write a good blog headline (Digg v Google v Microsoft)

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11 days to goInspiration for this article from Richard MacManus and his How to game Digg and the blogosphere rant, hence the spurious geekness of the article headline :-)

I notice that as I click like a madman through my desktop feeds each morning catching up on the Northern Hemisphere and then through the day as the Kiwi's post that I am extremely judgmental in what I click on.

I rarely read articles that indicate a "diary" entry - give aways include:
  • has lower case all the way through - "i've just got a new tv"
  • assume I know the person - "One more move and then we're done"
  • talk about places I don't know about - "Great meal at the Toowoomba cafe last night"
  • talk in a completely different language; not just -"Wedi bron i flwyddyn mae'r blog yma wedi dod i ben, am y tro"* but also, "He continues: "I was totally cute....and I had a really big D. Too bad the big D didn't really stick with me.""
I don't actually mind about bad speling ... probably because I make so many myself.

Of course, I'm probably not the target audience for "personal diary" entries ... or am I? Who are these blogs/journals aimed at? Isn't it for the "world" to come across and discover glorious things about the person, find out new views etc etc. Well, the majority of bloggers don't do it for me.

I also steer clear of "political rants" - give aways include:
  • excessive use of the exclamation marks - "I can see this country going to the dogs!!!!!"
  • assumption that they must be right - "Locking away people with socks has to be done"
  • stating that there can be only one way - "Surely no right minded people can care that much for whales"
  • cliche ridden - "Political correctness gone mad once again in the red tape of Wellington"
  • rants - "Helen Clark a lesbian and wants us all to be one!!!!"
  • having a go at a whole nation - "Americans are so dumb because ..."
If I'd ever actually been to one I'd probably include overtly religious blogs within this list.

Once again, who are these posts actually aimed at? Those that agree will not need to read it (apart from for gaining some degree of self acknowledgement and becoming part of the crowd - for those that are a tad insecure). Those that don't agree will merely rant right back at ya. Those that don't care will, well, won't care and not visit.

I'm also put off by extremely specialised topics (and that's probably how it should be) and there's really only one giveaway required, I don't understand it in any way whatsoever - "Great news: Version 5.2(beta) of .DUG released for OS 4 - how to configure and ensure .Net compliance" - yeah, um, OK.

These include blogs about quilting (!?! a whole TV channel dedicated to it, wow), matchstick building (darn, I couldn't find one), weird collections or any other facets of the human experience that I'm not involved in. Not to say I shouldn't, I just don't ... yet.


So what do blog articles do I read:
I rarely, if ever, discover blog entries via searching. I rarely have the time or energy to follow the links on other people's blogrolls. I rarely (ALERT: over use of the word "rarely" has occurred). This means that to get my attention (and you know you want it) demands that your blog article is either recommended by someone on my list (common) or appears in blog aggregators AND catches my eye (unusual).

This could lead to quite a closed "Blog" world. How do I know what I'm missing out on? Anyone got any other good (UK, humour, KM, Web 2.0) blog aggregation sites that I can hook into - Planet Journals is a great one for Kiwi bloggers (use it) as is Newslookup for all the NZ news - anymore?

Oh - and how to write the perfect blog headline:

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