I love proving theories without even trying. I think it happened by accident with my two previous newsletters.
My most recent one had the vague title of, “Reconstruction.” It was only opened 76 times.
The one before that was called, “Nobody Praises a Newsletter,” and it was opened a whopping 658 times!
WTF?
I felt bad about the Reconstruction one because it contained a purposeful message related to current events. Sadly, the topic of newsletters seems to trump black lives. It’s hard to have a positive impact if no one sees it.
Since we’re talking about headlines, it’s the perfect segue into my next thing….headlines.
Ironically, I wrote about killing your story by using a specific type of headline. The type that could make potential readers never click it.
Titles are not to be messed with.
Are You Instantly Killing Your Story This Way?
Related to non-performing stories we write, I’ve had a shit ton of poor performers in the last year. In fact, some were so bad that I nearly choked when I found a story with 12 seconds of read time. Ever.
Have you ever scrolled to the bottom of your MPP stats to see what’s hanging out down there? I did and this is what happened:
I Just Unlisted 50 Medium Articles
On the lighter more entertaining side, in 2010 I discovered my mother put the word ‘hood’ into motherhood. Ever since then, I’ve had my reservations about going on vacation with her. But at the same time, I experienced things I never would have tried without her.
This is the type of story that someone who’s met your mom will read and then text you to say they laughed all the way through.
Arguments For and Against Traveling With Your Mother
Finally, since I like helping people by sharing little epiphanies, here’s one for you. I had it recently while laboriously trying to decide which social channels to use for one of my websites.
I hate starting from ground zero and being the dork who has to go out there and shout, “Hey! Notice me and my new thing!” If this is also you, here’s a hack you may be able to use to get an instant following.
Hijack Your Own Twitter Account to Get Instant Followers
That’s it for this episode.
I hope all you Americans are staying safe and SPEAKING OUT in whatever ways you deem useful. If you had read the Reconstruction newsletter you may have found some of those useful ways. But I trust you’re doing your part.
See you in a week or so!
Kristi