I’ve been reading a ton of comic books lately. Okay, scratch that, I’ve been reading a lot of comic books my whole life but now I am reading a ton of them on my iPad (apps like Graphic.ly, Comixology, Marvel and DC). As I read through them I see that there are some great themes that you should be using for your blog posts. And I’m going to attempt to go and break it down for you.
Establish Your Story
When you pick up a comic book often on the inside cover the comic book story thus far is defined to help newcomers catch up on continuity. So for you as a blogger you should have a great about page that allows someone new to “catch up” on who you are and what you are all about.
Continuity is Key
Comic book geeks are so all about continuity. When a character suddenly does something so outside of their own character or has a power that they never had before it incenses the fans. When you switch up what your blog is about suddenly you will lose fans. If you want to introduce new aspects to your blog do it in a meaningful way and explain it to your readers. If you blog about cars don’t just suddenly blog about makeup. Your readers will come out confused and angry.
Reference Prior Issues
In almost every comic book there is at least one call back to prior issues that lets readers know that something happened. So when you have a blog you should make sure that you deep link to prior posts whenever you can to direct readers back to your older content. Let’s suppose that I pick up issue #4 of a comic book and on each page there is a call back to issue #1. I’m going to want to get issue #1 and read it. The same goes for your posts. When you can, reference back to those great older posts in a deliberate way.
Always End on a Cliffhanger
Each Comic Book issue gives you just enough to suck you in and make you want more. I’ve been reading free copies of comics on my iPad. Many of them are the first issue in a series. I’ve ended up buying the next couple of issues of the comic just because I got sucked in and wanted more. Do that with your blog posts. Each post should leave your reader wanting more content from you.
Until next time True Believers….
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