Reading List: 20 Clever Words from Nextiva

What makes people read your blog posts? We’ve all asked this question. Especially amid the rush of recent years to create user content in a bid to become benevolent SERP champions. 

SERP, you say? Search Engine Results Pages. Do keep up.

Anyway, we stumbled across a Nextiva post in the blogosphere this week that made us smile and pause for thought. Blog posts with boring titles never get read, they say. Nothing new there. What is interesting, however, is the list - by Barry Moltz - of 20 words that apparently ensure “prospects and customers read what your company posts”.

Numbers are noted as clear winners and the viral success of anything posted on BuzzFeed surely backs this up. People will seemingly read anything if you list 27 reasons why they should. 

Limited Time gets a look in to, which, only strengthens our support for using scarcity as a method of influence.

While the post lacks any clear evidence, it certainly has character. As you’re reading through the list, consider the last couple of links that you clicked. What was the title? Did it include one of these words? We found ourselves sussed out by the list on several occasions. Maybe your customers would, too. 

Of course, this logic can stretch far beyond the title of your blog posts. Your sales presentations, for instance, could take a thing or two from the list. Moulding your offer to be quick, easy and of some guarantee to your customer may just help you close the business. Definitely worth a read.

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Standout quote: “Every customer wants to learn the secret formula that not everyone else knows so they can benefit from it.”

Reading List is a new kind of post for the Effective Business Communication blog. Each week, we’ll point to an article, video or graphic that has taken our interest. The posts that made us stop scrolling and pay attention. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.