I find it amazing how some tactics just never stop working. It seems literally everyone is using them and everyone says they are sick and tired of them – but one day you still decide to also try them and find they work like a charm.
The three topics that are too over-used but are still effective are:
I once promised to myself to no more blog about Twitter. The thing is not that there’s nothing new any more (there are plenty of useful Twitter apps and new creative Twitter areas of usage – so you always have something new to say about it). The thing is the Internet seems to be awfully over-saturated by it now.
People seem to hate it by now or to soon start hating it; Twitter posts pop up daily by hundreds and no matter how promising the title might be, I for one often just ignore them. No wonder we often ask ourselves if blogs should shut up about Twitter.
But you know what? Once I decide to publish something on Twitter, it gets viral! People share it and promote it, link to it and discuss it!
Lists
I try to check my feed reader at least once per three days (I used to do that daily) and I find at least one new list-type post at each blog on my list. And you know what? I can’t help clicking it through.
Lists are easy to scan and consume – that’s the major reason of their popularity, I guess (well, that’s why I like them at least). But lists are so numerous throughout the Internet that each time I see “10-Best/ Awesome/ Hilarious-Something” type of post I wonder if it is going to work this time.
And you know what? It works! In any niche I tried them in. Even if you don’t take time to put too much effort in it, a list is going to do much better than a regular article on the same topic and with same content.
Quizzes
This tactic is so old that I don’t even remember the times when it wasn’t around. There are so many quizzes out there that when you start to think about it, you seem to be unable to come up with anything new.
But the great thing about that is that you even don’t have to! You can safely copy someone’s idea, republish it on your site, beautify it a bit by rich media and it will spread! Chances are your quiz will go viral – all you need is to put at least some effort into it.
The conclusion? Why play a skeptic and avoid using something that is going to generate links and attract people? No matter how over-used something may seem, I am going to use it until it stops working!
