For most of my blogging life, I’ve been a non-supporter of more. I never personally liked it because I don’t like extra work. That may sound lazy, but I read scads of blogs. When you click as much as I do, clicking one more time is too much work.
I also agree with something Lorelle said once. Something to the effect of, if you have something important enough to say, why not put it all above the fold? That’s not exact – I looked all over for her post, but can’t find it. If you want to hunt, it could be at Lorelle on WordPress or The Blog Herald. In any case, the point I got from what she wrote is that if your words matter, put them on the front page. I really like the idea of assuming you’re front page worthy – it can help you create more meaningful posts.
Times change though. Over the last year, I’ve been using that old more function a lot. It happened gradually and yesterday I was pondering my switch from a more hater to a more user. So today I decided to offer some reasons why you might want to hit more.
More $: With blog networks and blog clients scaling back pay, the more button is one thing that can help you make a decent wage. It’s tricky though. You still have to write something interesting enough to make your readers click that more button, plus it’s so self-serving. Believe it or not, I feel really guilty about it. If this is my only reason to hit more, I usually won’t do it. All that said, it’s a reason though. For many bloggers the extra page views equal extra pay.
An easy to scan front page: I read very few blogs on a daily basis anymore. I tend to hit lots of blogs on random days and it saves me time to scroll down a front page of short, more enhanced posts. I see quick snippets of posts, and can choose the ones I want to read faster than if someone had not hit more.
Faster loading: I love architect and design blogs, which tend to be image heavy. I’m on a kick ass laptop and super speed Internet, but once in a while, a page still takes too long to load. I can only imagine what people with dial up are dealing with. If you post lots of images, I suggest one or two at most above the fold, and the rest below.
You can hide sex: Or any other questionable topics. If you have a blog about sex or another taboo topic, this is a non-issue. However, if you rarely blog topics like this, more can help. For example, I recently wrote this post, Where to recycle your ‘personal massager’ at my green family blog. The logo for this new recycling program features a nice pink vibrator. Because I’m always telling folks to bring the kids along for a blog visit I put half the post and the image below the fold. Yes I believe in early sex ed but the last thing I need are 100 angry parents emailing, “We came for the eco-crafts and now my kid wants to know what that pink thing is!”
A natural break: Some posts, in my opinion, seem to naturally need that break. Product reviews for example. I tend to go with the product description above the fold, and what I think below. List posts really need that break because they go long. I don’t have a set list of rules for what a natural break is, I just sometimes feel like a post needs one. Since you can’t live in my brain, this is a reason you’ll have to work out on your own.
Of the reasons above, it’s hard to say which, if any serve readers better. I know what I like as a reader. While a year ago I would never click more, now I will often go that extra step. If you’re worried about using or not using more, or any blog function for that matter, you can always write a post that asks your readers what they like; what they’re willing to do; what they’d never think of doing. It can be useful to snag reader input if you’re on the fence.
Do you use more? Why or why not AND do you know if your readers are on board with your decision?
Interesting! I don’t use it but not because I don’t want to because I don’t know how LOL I had to look at my blog to see if it was used and the only time I see it used is when you click on one of the links under categories. Otherwise, the whole post shows up on the main page.
Not sure what would be best for me at this point since I’m still learning but I’m willing to give it a go if I knew how to do it ha ha
I do use it when the post is longer. If it’s not too long I won’t. However, I’ve noticed some posts that have two or three lines and then more – and truthfully, I probably won’t click. You haven’t gotten my attention enough at that point for me to keep going.
I only use it when I feel the post is getting long. Some blogs make you click more after the first sentence in each post. That’s too early for me and I don’t usually bother with it in that case.
Hmm, Perhaps I should change by WP photo? Do you enjoy seeing the tail of a red panda??
@Angie read this: http://support.wordpress.com/splitting-content/more-tag/
@Diana I agree, to a point. I don’t like 2-3 lines of text and then more. I will however click it if there’s an image also above the fold, with a few lines of text – mainly on product type blogs (or design). I get why someone would use more for that, but you’re right a post with JUST a few lines of text is too short for more IMO. Even if I have 2 paragraphs and no images I still don’t use the more tag.
@Peggy Haha. Just a panda butt huh. I’ll adore you no matter what image you have up, so I guess I’m leaving it up to you.
Excellent resource for the more tag. Thank you, Jennifer. I knew I heard about this before but it takes me a while to ‘get’ things like this. Ha ha.