Comments on: When Sex Refuses to Sell

By: Sam@fusiondiary

Sam@fusiondiary — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:26:25 +0000

It is good once in a while to add some spice and have fun, your readers might actually like you for being human. However, overdoing this might do more harm than good.

By: Malas Palabras » Lo que la gente quiere

Malas Palabras » Lo que la gente quiere — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:17:49 +0000

[...] un costado periodístico defendible, el balance sería negativo, y es la mejor demostración de que el sexo no vende, no gana nuevos lectores y repele a los [...]

By: Simon

Simon — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:41:45 +0000

Hi Mitch,

I think agree with you.

If you’re writing your post to shake up your existing market, then I think that’s a good thing. Opinions and controversy are useful – they engage readers. All blogs should have them, even if they’re not 100% on topic.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:51:51 +0000

I’ve kept this link for a long time because I’d wanted to respond to it; I guess I’m really late to the discussion.

I’d like to take a slightly different point of view on this general topic; not the breasts part. Whereas I do believe it’s best to write about your topic most of the time, I also believe that every once in awhile, if your niche is really finitely defined, that you have to branch out and say something new.

The reason I say that is because I’m now writing the content for this guy’s blog. His niche is staffing company issues. He had no comments on his blog; not a single one. I took over, writing on the same topic, and still not getting any visits.

I decided to shake things up, and I wrote one article on a topic that wasn’t within staffing, but had something to do with one of the industries he supplies people to. Finally some people started showing us and making some comments.

True, if you’re targeting to a specific market, you want to keep that market happy. But you have to first develop a market, and that might mean changing up from time to time.

By: Bill Bennett

Bill Bennett — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:08:47 +0000

Yes Simon, I think that’s spot on. Mind you, I get at least half my traffic from Google and thought a few stray smut seekers might stumble on my post… even by accident. I’ve previously worked on tech news web sites where the staff sometimes goes through the roof if risque word appears — even out of context.

By: Simon Payn

Simon Payn — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:23:21 +0000

To Bill Bennett: I think it illustrates that when you do build a following among targeted readers that any headline that is inconsistent with the brand will be a turn-off – and a source of lost readers.

(And anyway, everyone knows that a netbook isn’t good for the purpose you describe – you need at least a 12 inch screen.)

By: Bill Bennett

Bill Bennett — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:55:23 +0000

As an experiment I wrote a blog post “What would be the best netbook for viewing pornography?” to test the sex headline waters.

It got considerably less traffic than the average post. IN fact, there wasn’t a single reply or comment. My conclusion is that, at least from my Knowledge Workers blog, sex is a turnoff.

By: Simon Payn

Simon Payn — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:58:58 +0000

To Paul Hassing – for what it’s worth, I think it should be possible to find “groovy clients” Maybe not so easy in the Fortune 500, but there surely must be lots of businesses doing interesting stuff – cool, groovy stuff – who are aching for a good copywriter.

By: James Bridges

James Bridges — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:27:30 +0000

Simon,
Great rules at the end of the post. I am glad that you pointed out that the focus needs to be on targeted traffic. Seeing the traffic spikes on the major sites like Digg makes it tempting to cater to the masses at times, but sticking with the focus really brings in visitors who will take action.
I mean traffic is nice, but sales are better

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:34:13 +0000

I really enjoyed reading this. I have a niche site that is definitely growing. Because it covers community and charity efforts in sports, I’m conscious about doing things above board. Adding a sexy side to it may not always work.