I’m going to show you a simple trick:
Ready? Here goes…
I bet I can—
—and bear with me now,
keep you moving, down the page…
until you reach the last sentence. And what will you do when you get there?
You’ll click on my link and head to my website.
This, folks, is called the “bucket brigade” technique. It’s an English teacher’s worst nightmare, and a copywriter’s best friend. Here’s why:
Content needs to move a reader down the page. And fast.
If your content is hard to get through—meaning it’s comprised of large blocks of text—the reader is going to get stuck. And when this happens, the reader will get bored. Then, the reader will exit out of your website.
The metric used to measure this type of behavior is called an exit rate, and if it’s too high it can negatively impact your SEO on Google.
By using the bucket brigade technique, and strategically placing phrases that can keep a reader interested (like “wait, there’s more”, “this is why you need to” and “listen up”)—along with carefully placed punctuation you will be able to…
- Keep readers glued to your copy, and thus your website
- Increase your chances of driving a sale
- Boost your likelihood of generating social likes or shares
So, should you use the bucket brigade in all of your articles? The answer is no, as not all collateral will require it. First, look at your website’s metrics and try to identify the types of articles where readers are bouncing away quickly, and without clicking the call to action at the end.
If a customer downloads an eBook, for instance, that person will have already demonstrated a desire to read a longer asset. So while you’ll want to keep movement in mind throughout the text, you probably don’t have to worry about the dreaded “eight seconds and out” problem.
And remember: Even a strong bucket brigade can’t save poorly written or uninteresting content.
That being said…
…you should click here to learn more about how a custom publisher can help improve your website’s content.
With an extensive background in journalism having worked at AOL’s Patch.com and New Haven’s “Groove Magazine,” Content Boost’s Digital Content Editor Gerald Baldino certainly has a way with the written word. His right-brain mentality and creative thinking has helped him launch numerous successful content marketing campaigns for his clients. Dubbed “Saint Baldino” for his willingness to help other team members in need, Gerald is an independent author and publisher, and enjoys creating short fiction, poetry and visual art in his spare time. Gerald received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.