How to Write Quotable Blog Posts

With your blog you are part of an ongoing larger discussion. And -- depending on your content -- you will be quoted, and linked to. Now there are several approaches to make it easier and more likely for others to quote you.

1. Plain Text

On your blog you have the choice between using only simple non-accentuated letters, or using an advanced set including accentuated letters (like the Umlaut "ö"). Many publications simply get rid of accentuated letters even though that's not really necessary, because almost every application can display them.

However, there are some advanced characters which need one to have an advanced character set; like typographical correct double or single quotes, which are best displayed using UTF-8. Even when you manage to display those correctly however, people may not be able to copy and paste the text into their blog software, or into an intermediate software. Of course it's not your fault (the other one's blog software or related tool is buggy), but that can happen, and you should be aware of it. The characters may end up garbled or cause RSS errors for the one who copied them, and she may decide to remove them. (Typographically correct double and single quotes are still my characters of choice.)

2. Interesting Article Structure

Articles which have an interesting, fitting structure are often more likely to spread. For example, a blog post containing a top-10 list. Or (for exceptional cases) every word has been linked by you.

In articles, I often try to write in a circle. That is, the beginning and the end are located at the same point, but they show a 180 degree turn in perspective. Also, the last sentence should contain a punch; it will be the sentence lingering with the reader for the longest time, so make sure it's worthwhile. Repetition is another instrument to create a good article flow and rhythm.

3. Images

Sometimes, great original images included in your blog post are more likely to make your article content spread. People might copy the image right-away, or ask you for permission to copy it to their blog.

In most cases that doesn't mean you should put the actual content in the image and the image only. Because then, those people who'd rather copy text only into their blog will not get a chance to do so.

Funny images often work best (of course this depends on your type of blog). Like a parody of a company logo. Mock screenshots also often spread like wildfire. However, note the company in question might contact you one other day and ask you to remove the image. When that happens, the best thing to do is just to comply. Unless you want to fight for your rights, of course (maybe it was only a parody).

4. Creative Commons

If you use a copyright license which permits rather than blocks free copying of all of your content, it will also be quoted and linked more. This, however, is a tough choice because it also gives a free ticket to spammers looking for content to grab (and stick AdSense on). Not that spammers ask for tickets in the first place, but when you find quotes of your content online it's nice to know if this is a legal or illegal use. There are several CC licenses to choose from, and some of them disallow commercial work, which might cover the work of spammers. I didn't see a non-commercial CC license stopping anyone from sticking their AdSense on your CC'ed content, though -- not only spammers. The "non-commercial" part of the Creative Commons licenses, in my opinion, is a gray zone.

Naturally, with a Creative Commons button, your content also has the chance to be found by searchers who use Yahoo's or Google's Creative Commons searches. This may make your articles even more popular.

5. Using Metaphors

Metaphors, proverb-like phrasing, colorful and direct speech, or any other means to spice up your content will help others have fun reading it -- and make it more likely sentences will stick with them (and get quoted, too). Even though you are talking about, say, technology, you can use a whole lot of real world analogies to make the discussion more interesting. As an example, when you'd be talking about "blogging for money" in your post, you could say "milk the blogosphere cash cow." (Not that I'm advocating this specific wording or anything, but you know what I mean.)

Oh, and don't use the words "like" and "because". Instead of saying, "Steve Jobs is like a Jedi knight, because he returns at just the right time", you'd say, "Steve Jobs is a Jedi knight returning at just the right time." This has much more direct impact because it invokes the reader's imagination, and it's also a provocative sentence; instead of an image of Steve Jobs next to a Jedi knight, getting rid of the word "like" will make Steve Jobs be the Jedi knight... and that's much funnier. (I'm not sure though if the usage of "like" or "is similar to" and so on helps to shield against Cease & Desists. Anyone?)

There's one place where metaphors often do not work: titles. That's because the title is displayed in RSS readers, search engine results, bookmarks and so on. The title must work as microcontent -- it must be easily understood without context. If you think your metaphor is strong and easy to understand, go ahead, but in your title avoid metaphors which can't be understood without reading your article.

6. Using Oxymorons

An Oxymoron is a contradiction in itself. Or at least, it's a contradiction on first glance; actually, it can contain an important message you want to convey, and one you strongly believe it. For example, "stop reading to read more" is an oxymoron. It could mean "stop reading everything so you can actually read more of what's important." But the second variant of the message is just not as interesting to read, not only because it's longer, but because the message may be disregarded; the reader may think "that's obvious, I don't need to continue to read this, let alone think about it." An oxymoron helps you escape the stereotype trap that hides your content.

Eric Burdon once sang: "When I think of all the good times that's been wasted/ having good times." What a great song -- when your first hear this, you might be wondering what Eric means... but afterwards the message becomes even more clear and strong.

When you use oxymorons in your blog posts, readers may be more likely to pick up your ideas and spread them. Oxymorons are quotable because they are interesting.

7. Surprise

The more you surprise your readers, the more likely your articles will spread and be quoted. And I don't just mean original content (which is a part of the surprise, for sure -- in a way, "news" must be surprising because they're new to the recipient). You can surprise by the specific usage of a word. Or by revolutionary post structure. You can surprise by creating an information delta between what your readers know and expect, and by what you have to offer. Whenever someone reads a post of yours, they expect to end up with different knowledge afterwards.

The worst you could do is to repeat what everyone else is saying -- the opposite of a good surprise is a boring post.

8. Tell the "Truth"

I'm putting the word "truth" in parentheses here. It's a tough word to define, and easy to challenge -- we're all caught up in our subjective worlds. But what I actually mean is: write what you believe in no matter if you think others may agree. If this sounds easy and obvious, it's not. It's by far the hardest thing to do.

Some truths, of course, are easy. You could say, "I'm against torture". Or you could say, "Bill Gates is evil." But those are clichees. The point it gets tough -- and even more interesting, and quotable! -- is when you tell a truth that goes against public opinion or conception. Also, it gets tough when your truth doesn't put you in a good light.

For an example of a highly truthful, and therefore incredibly memorable and funny article, take a look at A.J. Jacob's "My Outsourced Life", which appeared in Esquire magazine. This article was highly quoted in blogspace, too. You will notice the author put forth quite a few "uncomfortable" truths about him and his life. But that makes you trust him, and that makes the article interesting.

9. Expert Opinion

When you are an expert in any niche, and you choose to blog about this niche, you will automatically "talk about what you know" in your blog. And of course that's good because your readers will notice the difference. You are an expert, and therefore you add a helpful voice to the discussion. And when you do that, you will be quoted, too.

Naturally the hard part of this is not to know the fact that expert voices will be heard, but to become an expert -- or then again, it's not that hard once you start blogging about a specific topic everyday. If you are no expert on the niche when you start out, you will be one six months later.

10. If You Want to be Quoted, Don't Want to be Quoted

OK yeah, that's another oxymoron right here. I'll explain what I mean: if you try too hard to be linked and quoted, people will not like it, and don't link and quote you. You shouldn't do that, even if you like to be a professional (and full-time) blogger, and you understand making your voice heard is part of it. You shouldn't do that because people show allergic reactions.

When all you want is be quoted, then you would be the infamous "troll" of online discussion. The troll uses oxymorons, metaphors, surprises, plain contradictions and more -- but the troll has the single goal of getting quoted. The troll doesn't have an interest to get his message across to advance the discussion (because his position changes depending on the other players in a discussion, as he will always oppose them), but instead only wants other to react. Needless to say that's the worst to happen. You should believe in your message first and foremost before you even start wondering how to get it across to many others. Trolling works to get quoted if you are a celebrity or you write a cover story for Forbes, but it will hurt your credibility even then.

Remember when you received one of those reciprocal link requests and deleted it? Why, if that same Mr. Spammer would have send you an interesting article, maybe you would have linked to it! But as soon as Mr. Spammer begs you for a link, you won't take a second look, and neither link to nor quote from the article. Our basic assumption is that if someone's trying too hard to market their content, then the content probably doesn't hold up on its own. At times, rely on word-of-mouth instead, relax and tell what you have to tell, and put trust in your content to find its way to be quoted and seen.