Just like a killer headline, there are other influences that contribute to the likelihood of whether or not your post will get read. Today, I am going to talk a little about the more tag in WordPress.

I have actually decided to split this into a two part series. In this post, I will talk about using the more tag to cut down a post, and in the next post I will talk about writing without the more tag. I will go over the advantages and disadvantages of using the more tag in this post now.

But what does this “more” tag do?

To those of you who don’t know what the more tag does, basically all it is is a function you can use to trim down a post and display only an excerpt of it, then have a link automatically inserted to continue off to read the whole article.

Chances are, if you are reading this article then you have interacted with the more tag before, as it is used on Blogussion to display posts. It’s a very convenient way to display a post, and is very widely used throughout the blogosphere.

Using the more tag is very simple. In WordPress, there is a button on your toolbar right in the post screen. It is labeled “more” and all it takes is a click to use. It will automatically insert this line where your cursor is, and it signifies where your post will cut off: <!-- more -->

Advantages of the More Tag

These are the reasons below why I use the more tag on my blogs, all come with an explanation as to why I think that reason is best for my blog. If you use the more tag and you can think of an advantage I missed, let me know in the comments section. I would be glad to add on to this list!

• Allows you to fit more posts on a page

A very obvious statement, but a great advantage nonetheless. If you can fit more post excerpts on a single page, your content will be even more visible to your readers, which will benefit you in many different ways. Plus, if you decide to combine the more tag and the Thesis theme with teasers enabled, even more posts will be viewable to your readers at a single time!

• Increase pageviews

This is a very exciting benefit to the more tag. Say for instance someone found your blog through Google and was sitting on your homepage reading the excerpt to your latest post. That’s one view. They are interested, and they visit the next page to read the full post. There’s one more. So by using the more tag, you will likely get two pageviews per person when they visit your blog and get interested. Add that up over time when more people do it, and you can get thousands of hits with less people.

• Increases visibility of your most important paragraph

When you use the more tag, you sever the first paragraph from the rest of the post. That will obviously make your first paragraph, your most important paragraph stand out. Since your first paragraph is (hopefully) the part of your posts where a readers interest is peaked, they will be more inclined to visit the full article and read on.

• Slightly increases chance of being shared

If you use the more tag after, say your first paragraph, then not much space will have been used up. Since the more tag is designed to save space, why not fill up some extra space by throwing in some share icons, or advertising? The reader may not be so inclined to share a post on Twitter without reading it first, but just by having that option there always increases the chance of them doing it from your homepage.

Disadvantages of the More Tag

The reasons below are ways using the more tag does not help you, and may not be best for your blog. Surprisingly enough, the more tag may not be best for your blog as the disadvantages equal out to the advantages in some cases. If you think I missed something, feel free to add it below in the comments.

• Requires an extra click

Attention spans are shorter these days are getting shorter, and doing extra work is out of the question. The “read more” link just makes getting to information a hassle, and as ridiculous as it sounds – may make people not want to read your post.

• May break focus and concentration

As I said, attention spans are getting shorter. If someone does read your opening text and then decides to read the full post, they will have to wait. During that time, they can lose complete focus of what they just read and may not feel like reading anymore. I know, it’s sad, but there are people who can’t remember things and have short term memory loss like that (probably due to excessive internet usage!)

• Hides the most interesting stuff

Maybe your opening text is weak, and unpersuasive. The first few paragraphs are always the hardest to write as a certain level of persuasion is necessary to write effective openers. Usually as I go on to writing my posts, I get less tensed and just let the words fall right out of me and onto the screen, which in some cases makes my writing more appealing than it is when I am thinking too hard. So by using the more tag, you may be shunning out the more important stuff that goes unseen.

Convincing enough, or is more necessary?

Oh, how I love puns. So that just about sums up my opinion on using the more tag. In the next part of this mini series, I am going to go into the advantages of disadvantages of excluding the more tag from your posts. It should be a pretty good post as I get my feet wet a little and talk about SEO! Stay tuned.

Angela and Andrew

Related posts:

1. Pros and cons of long and short posts – The age old debate

2. 5 Ways you are Unknowingly Harming Your Posts

3. Twitter – The Double-Edged Social Sword!