Review: Made To Stick

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Question: How to write crackling blog posts so that your readers will pass it on to their friends and link to it from their blogs?

Years ago, I had read “Psychology of Rumor.” It was written in textbook style: dry and boring to read. But the lessons were very interesting. The book analyzed rumours and came up with a few common factors that most rumours shared. It allowed anyone to reverse engineer their messages to make it as viral as rumours.

But not many people could get past the first 20 pages of the book - let alone finish reading it. zzzzzz… It was an extremely boring book written solely for researchers on redbull.

Yesterday, I finished reading “Made To Stick.” The purpose of this book is quite similar to “Psychology of Rumor.” Two brothers - Chip and Dan Heath - researched what makes ideas stickier. What makes some ideas famous? They came up with 6 common themes that super hit ideas share. These 6 themes allow anyone to reverse engineer their ideas and make them more sticky. More pass-able.

But unlike Psychology or Rumor, Made to Stick won’t put people to sleep. Infact, its one of the most un-boring books I’ve ever read. Its choke full with stories and anecdotes. Very well researched. And lays down the ideas in a supremely systematic manner.

Why Should Bloggers Read Made To Stick?

I would recommend each and every blogger to read Made To Stick. Why? Because the book gives you a checklist that you can use to make your blog posts stickier. Make your readers pass on your posts. Link to it. Bookmark it. Blog about it.

How to Make Your Blog Posts Sticky

The book lays down the SUCCESs formula for making your ideas sticky:

1. Simple
2. Unexpected
3. Concrete
4. Credible
5. Emotional
6. Stories

Here is a brief review of the chapters of the book - with blogging applications.

1. Simple. Make your blog posts simple. Just focus on one topic per blog post. And make sure that each of the sentence you write relates back to your core topic.

2. Unexpected. Start off with something very unexpected. Something that

b-r-e-a-k-s
people’s
reading
patterns.

Something that makes people pay attention to your blog post and read it. Some ideas: Post an unusual picture. Start off with an experiment. Involve people with a quiz. Start with a question that your blog post answers.

3. Concrete. Make it easy for people to visualize your ideas and posts. (The exact reason behind calling the PayPal donation plugin - Buy me a beer plugin instead of Donate money plugin.) Use analogies. Parallels. Metaphors. Pictures. Tangible ideas makes it easy for people to understand remember your blog posts.

4. Credible. Make your blog as well as all your posts credible. Give specific details and quote experts to make your post credible. Add testimonials and show the number of people who comment on your blog to make your blog seem credible. Improve your crediblity and people will believe in you - and agree with you more often.

5. Emotional. One of the hardest thing to do is to raise a reaction out of people. One easy trick to touch people’s hearts is writing for one single person. Use a lot of “You” in your blog posts. Use powerful words and phrases instead of weaker overused cliches.

6. Stories. Tell stories and anecdotes to make your point. People will forget theory. But they won’t forget stories that convey the same message as those theories. Stories are a powerful means to make people take action.

Book Score:
Ease of Reading: 9/10
Ideation: 8/10*
Practical Knowledge: 10/10
Worth the Price: 10/10
Overall Score: 9.5/10

* This book doesn’t provide a lot of new ideas.A  But it puts forth the old ideas in a novel and systematic fashion.A 

Usually, I tell people to borrow their books. But this is one book you shouldn’t borrow. But buy. Because you’ll be referring to it again and again. Its one book all writers and blog authors should have in their library.

You can buy the book Made To Stick from Amazon.com

If you have already read the book, do let me know how you liked it.

If you liked this post, buy me a beer. (Suggested: $3 a beer or $7.5 for a pitcher)

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Posted by Ankesh Kothari under Writing on 11 Jun 2007

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