Does adding humour to a post get more readers? No it definitely does not and we will tell you why and then how to fix the laughs.
We all love a laugh but we search a problem
Internet searches are generally focused around a problem or something you want fixed. How to problems, why problems, when or if problems.
We don't search make me laugh my way to a bank loan. If we want humor there is a ton of it on YouTube and blogs are there to answer a question.
That is not to say you should not use humour in a blog, I would love to write more funny lines and have my readers chuckling along to my every word.
It is not an easy task to add a whole bundle of belly wobbles to a dry post unless they directly relate to the subject.
When writing a blog it is advised to stay on the subject and not wander off into uncharted territory and talk about something entirely irrelevant.
I just had a funny moment when my wife and I painted our toe nails pink. This was in support of our granddaughter who has been involved in a very serious motoring accident and is in ICU at a major hospital. The theme was pink nails for Georgia.
We wanted to frame the picture with something different and chose our cat a much loved animal of hers.
So we complete the painting and call the cat who looks entirely suspicious of the whole exercise, My wife grabs a few treats and again calls her however she bolts away at the speed of lightening. Katie cat thinks we are taking her to the vet whom she hates with a vengeance. She has not been seen for several hours now. We needed another prop.
Does adding humour to a post get more readers by staying on the subject?
Stay on subject throughout your blog
If you are still reading I can take that a bit further. I am an old bloke having suffered many long years. Not being able to use the Cat as my prop I then chose a red Rose instead
Next I decided to go and get my morning fix of coffee, Threw on a pair of sandals to my bare feet and headed off to the local shops.
Now imagine me in tracksuit pants and sandals wandering around the shopping center with bright pink toe nails. Fortunately I woke up before leaving the house and covered up with shoes to save my acute embarrassment.
Weaving stories into a blog can be a diversion but it can also have an adverse effect.
Readers need entertaining
Readers are a fickle lot and they are soon divert away from your post if they are not getting an answer, we use good sub headings and pictures to keep them reading but maybe they want more.
If humor entertains them it is a great ingredient to your post.
In the depths of horror beside the bedside of an injured young lady we were talking to her but she could only answer by hand signals as she has breathing tubes in her throat.
Her mother and her often work together so they understand each other very well. My daughter asked if she could take a photo to save for later times. Her daughter has life saving equipment wired everywhere so it is quite a frightening vision and a very somber time. So mother G says can I take a photo of you lying under a single sheet wired to the world.
Patient GM waggles her finger in a no expression taking us by surprise.
She then points to her father and gives a thumbs up as we all know the mother takes lousy photos. A very funny moment in a serious situation.
Does adding humor to a post get more readers and do you need to focus?
Keep it real but still focused on the end result
I am taking you to an understanding that the subject is not the content so humour does not attract visitors but it can keep them engaged and willing to stay the distance.
This can, however, change.
I just read a review on a current TV series that aired the first two episodes of a celebrity challenge. Here the c grade celebs competed a grueling elite army training exercise to see if they could go the distance of a beret soldier.
The heading was interesting because it simply read “Schapelle pulls out over a jog”
Then the Meta description was even better;
SAS AUSTRALIA RECAP: Not even Schapelle Corby, who survived ten years in a Balinese prison, can handle it
In this case readers want to know more and they expect to be entertained. The writer Belle Taylor is a funny lady and she writes;
One of the other AEM, not Ant, is talking about fear. All the recruits are running around with a tyre.
Actor Firass Dirani gives us a lecture about how he has the “blood of resistance” and is from “freedom fighter stock”. In case you’re wondering, his most recent role was on *checks notes* House Husbands.
He later gets told off for using his drinking water to wash his face.
“You can’t go through this course being the course clown!” Ant yells at him. Which is giving me serious flashbacks of the time my high school phys ed teacher Mrs Whipp (seriously) yelled: “Belle Taylor! Stop playing the fool and start playing some SPORT!”
Didn’t work on me, doesn’t seem to be working on Dirani either.
Nick Cummins runs into one of the girls and she is winded but seems fine, later she worries she has a broken rib and goes to the medic. She is told she doesn’t have a broken rib she was just winded by the Honey Badger and hey, she’s not the first woman on a reality TV show that has happened to.
A bit of clarification
Just for clarification the AEM is an Angry English Man and the course trainer, Corby a drug smuggler, Dirani a small time actor and the Honey Badger an international Rugby player who also starred in The Bachelor series and picked no one.
These are just a few among the 15 or so players that participate.
This is entertaining writing with a quirky headline however aimed at a specific target, those that watched the show or wished they had.
It does however follow all the rules of writing and entertaining with tongue in cheek humor.
Is it a serious post or a humorous newsletter I believe it sits in the middle.
My point on humour in a blog
If the heading attracts and the description is apt to the subject go for a laugh but remember why you are writing in the first place. Most of us a writing for a reason the above was a paid article that's only job was to entertain and build a following.
Therefor I stick to my original point that adding humor to a post is possible depending on your market and what you want to achieve.
Your heading and description however must be focused to draw in readers.
Learning to write a blog
There are many rules to blog writing and most of my learning came from the Wealthy Affiliate university which has many articles on this and all the steps necessary to be read to have an effective blog.
I love a good laugh but find it hard to script write a comedy and wonder about you and your efforts,
Does adding humour to a post get more readers by Peter Hanley
To make some one laugh is a joy.
