At some point in the not to distant past, after the Pharaohs but before Hosni Mubarak’s current difficulties, someone suggested that it was a good strategy for bloggers to post lists of stuff.
The idea being that people like lists.  They like to-do lists, grocery lists, lists of the worst movies ever, and they like lists of things you can do to improve your blog.  So, gradually and under cover of darkness, blogs became increasingly populated by lists.  “Five Reasons To…”, “Six Best…” and “Top Ten…” became the most over-used words in the blogosphere.  Well, the time has come for someone to speak up.
Stop it.  Seriously.






Can I Interest You In A List?



Top Three Reasons To Stop Making Lists 1. It’s been done. I know that what I said above is true – people like lists.  But do you now what people like more than lists?  Originality.  If you don’t have anything more original to say that “Engage with your readers”, then your list is really just the same boring list I read last week, and three times the week before that. There are only so many blog strategies that you can condense into a list like this, and I think most of them were originally chiseled on the Great Pyramid.  Anyone who wants to find these strategies need only say a brief incantation to the Great Google, and their prayers will be answered.
2. It’s Predictable As a format, it’s become tiresome and predictable.  Yay, here comes another list.  I bet it includes “Using Twitter to Promote Your Blog”.  It isn’t the format per se that is the problem – it’s the fact that it is overused.  If you must do it, try to mix it up – for god’s sake, don’t post only lists.  It’s kind of lazy (hence why I’m doing it today).
3. They Aren’t Very Helpful By definition, if you can condense your thoughts into a list of bullet points, you aren’t really delivering a lot of information.  One of the benefits of a blog, as compared to a power point slide, is you can actually take the time to discuss ideas in depth, there isn’t a space limitation or a format gestapo insisting that you keep it under a hundred words.  Lists barely scratch the surface of their topics.
So, let’s take a break from the lists.  Instead, why not write an entire post about just one of your  points?  Hey, suddenly you’ve got a whole week of content and you can actually say something in sufficient depth to be helpful!
I can’t be the only one who is tired of these posts, can I?