How You Get Attention On The Web

Once upon a time there was a new information technology.
It was called the printing press.

When print press media took over the world around 1440, information suddenly became available to all. Previously, type had to be laboriously hand set and then inked and copied sheet by sheet. This process was long and arduous and distribution was confined to a select few, but once the printing press came along all that changed.

Suddenly there were pamphleteers everywhere handing out pages of information on a multitude of topics from revolution to religion to new health cures and so on, and with this new technology the world changed. Everyone could now participate in the spread of new ideas, and in order to take advantage of this new medium education was soon offered to a much wider group.

Everyone needed to read.

Imagine the time when there were spruikers on every corner shouting their messages and handing out pamphlets to anyone who cared to take them.

Sound familiar?

There are now many millions of active websites or blogs and it’s reported that in June of this year there were 5,000,000,000 downloads of YouTube videos. So if you feel as if you’re standing on a corner shouting into the biggest information storm ever — you would be right.

So how do you make yourself heard?

Nothing’s really changed. What you needed to do after 1440 was find a way to grab people’s attention. What they did then is much the same as what you need to do now. Here’s a summary:

Shout your ideas through great, arresting headlines

• Go to copyblogger and read the series of articles on creating great headlines.

Write sensational copy that gets attention

• Learn to write posts that are interesting and original, or reflect on someone else’s great ideas.

Find a good position in the crowd

• Do some SEO study and put it into practice.

Include graphics

• Get free images from sites like Flickr. There are many wonderful amatuer and professional photographers happy to share their images.

Let everyone know you have something to say

• Post to Twitter and Facebook or any of the other social networking sites on a regular basis.

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Tagged as: blogging, get attention, history of printing, printing, weblogs, YouTube