top-10I guess I have David Letterman to thank for a good portion of my income, because I write at least one or two of these a week for clients.

  • The Top Ten Reasons You Should Choose This Company
  • The Top Ten Reasons You Need to Come to Our Conference
  • The Top Ten Tips for Making Your Life Better with Our Process
  • The Top Ten Questions You Need to Ask Before You Start a Project

I would love to come up with a better way to attract attention, but I know they’re here to stay.

  1. People actually read them.
    The open rates of emails with subject lines that begin “The Top Five …” is significantly higher than generic subject lines.
  2. They are easy to write.
    Most of my clients can help me come up with the lists in a matter of minutes because they are the subject matter experts. Thus we can crank out the Top Ten lists quickly and effectively.
  3. They are short.
    Clients like the fact that I can finish a Top Ten list within a couple of hours, versus an article or white paper that may take 5-8 hours.
  4. They make points very quickly.
    People like being able to get their information at a glance.
  5. They are ubiquitous.
    If I were to encourage my clients to stop doing these lists, they would not be able to keep up with the competitors that are doing the lists.

The Top Ten numbered lists here at Life on Avenue Z:

  1. Five little things that make my life easier
  2. Four things that improve my open rate
  3. Five ways to put off procrastination
  4. Five tips for writing surveys
  5. Top ways to fix your plug load
  6. Ten tech tools I love
  7. Travel tips from the road
  8. Top 7 rules for working at home
  9. Top tools for a new freelance writer
  10. Top 8 reasons I’ll never make a living as a blogger
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