This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.
If you’ve spent more than ten seconds on any of the modern gaming blogs – Joystiq, Kotaku, Destructoid, and yes, even Bitmob – you’re familiar with the phrase “hit the jump.”
In order to show more content per page, these blogs only show a snippet of each post on the main page, while the rest of it is hidden behind another link – the “jump” itself. Sometimes it’s there to prevent visitors to the main page from loading all the pictures and videos embedded in the article, and sometimes it’s there to keep long articles from breaking up the main page’s flow.
Why on earth am I bringing this up, you ask? Hit the jump to find out!
Here’s the thing – writers on those blogs plan for the jump. They know it’s going to be there, so they write their articles with it in mind, the first few paragraphs specifically written as a tease to get their readers to follow along past the jump.
My point here is that if the pros do it, why shouldn’t we?
Because I’ve gotta tell you guys, when we don’t do it, it’s not pretty. I haven’t quite been able to figure out how the MyBlog application determines where the jump is when one hasn’t been deliberately placed – but when scrolling down the Mobfeed, it’s a mischmasch of one-sentence/one-paragraph/one-picture openings, sprinkled here and there with the occasional entire article.
I can only speak for myself here, but a title and one sentence/paragraph/picture isn’t usually enough to pique my interest. Since I don’t have a lot of time to surf these days, that means fewer hits for your articles. And, if your entire article somehow makes it into the Mobfeed, not only does it mean that readers have to scroll past the whole thing to get to the next article, it also means that they can read the whole thing without generating any hits at all!
It’s an absolute mess, but we have the power to fix it, and here’s how. On the far right side of the MyBlog toolbar is a button called “Add Readmore.” Put your cursor at the end of the line just before where you want the jump to be, click the button, and voila – a dashed red line appears, and you’ve got yourself a jump!
Also, start writing your articles with the jump in mind. A few paragraphs is best – just enough to give your reader a good sense of the article’s premise, as well as give your article the space it deserves on the Mobfeed – but not so much that it takes a disproportionate share of the real estate.
If you’re including a picture at the beginning of your article, either make it small enough to wrap your opening paragraphs around it or, if you want to keep it big, put it after the jump.
If everyone in the Bitmob community starts incorporating the jump, it’ll make the Mobfeed look that much more professional – and the better the Mobfeed looks, the better we all look.
Happy writing!