Photography: Se busca cantante metal by believekevin

Lists are great at making the popular pages of social bookmarking sites. They’ve also become hallmark content for many popular blogs and websites and have ruled magazine covers for years.

5 Powerful Reasons to… 80 Tricks to… 19 Ideas for… They’re everywhere - even this post! Here are 5 reasons why writers use them and readers love them.

1. They’re an effective preview of content

I believe the most powerful reason numbered headlines work is that they advertise what the article has to offer. When scanning a page of content the reader’s eyes are magnetized to headlines in order to determine whether the content below them is worth reading. Often the decision whether to continue reading is made in a split second - even before the reader has finished with the headline.

Web users are saturated with potential reading material and have become very good at filtering content which does not have clear benefit.

Numbered headlines advertise what the article has to offer in very few words and allow the reader to have an immediate snapshot of the content’s value.

When an article promises 10 Weight Loss Tips, you can reasonably expect the article to contain a list of ten ways to lose weight. That is quite a lot of information about the content contained in the most important first few words of the headline.

2. They indicate content packed with value

While readers will probably read one good tip on a particular topic, they will jump at the chance to have a number of good tips or points assembled in one place.

3. They indicate content with enduring use

An article containing 25 points on a particular topic suggests it is something which may have to be saved for reference.

While we can reasonably expect a reader to retain one point and move on, only the most gifted of readers will be able to retain 25 points of information. This increases the likelihood the article will need to be bookmarked. Content which the reader will want to consume more than once is content with great value.

4. They’re eye-catching

Most of us view web content containing plenty of words and images but few numbers. Numbers in headlines are usually not what our eye expects to see, and our eyes are drawn to the unexpected.

As more web writers catch on to the power of numbered headlines the visual impact diminishes. Content pages stacked with numbered headlines also decrease the visual impact.

5. Large numbers indicate remarkable content

As a site owner, I would be attracted to content which carried the headline ‘100 Ways to Make Your Site Better’. There are a number of reasons why.

• The author must have put a lot of work and research into the content to assemble so many points of information.
• Any article with one-hundred points of information is likely to contain some content I’ve not come across before.
• It’s hard to imagine ever needing more than 100 methods to better a website. The content promises to be a complete source, meaning I may not have to spend time elsewhere looking for the same information.
• The author is establishing expertise by offering one-hundred points of knowledge on a topic I’m interested in. I’m more inclined to read content created by someone who is an expert on what they’re writing about.

While I’ve yet to see a thorough examination of why numbered headlines are effective elsewhere, I have noticed that their popularity on social bookmarking sites is affecting the way bloggers and site owners are producing content.

Zen Habits, a blog which has achieved immense popularity in a short period of time, contains a huge number of list posts with numbered headlines. This practice is often spoken of as creating ‘digg bait’ but in truth it’s one of the oldest headline tricks in the book.

Next time you are at the news stands have a look at magazine covers, particularly magazines aimed at women. Chances are each cover will contain at least one numbered headline. I think they’re more prominent on the covers of women’s magazines because list content is generally concerned with self-improvement (how to do something, or do it better) and so are women’s magazines.

Magazines have been making use of numbered headlines for years and I don’t expect web content writers to turn back now that the effectiveness of numbered headlines has been discovered.