Jump Breaks

Have you ever pulled up somebody's blog and seen snippets or teasers of their posts, followed by Read more?

I understand it can be aggravating. You have to click on Read more... and go to a different page, which takes time. Why would the author do that? Why not just leave the whole post up there? There are a couple of reasons.


Faster Home Page Loading

When you pull up somebody's home page, every visible image must be loaded and that takes time. Think about my posts. I have a lot of screen shots because this is an instructional site. Let's say I average 6 images with every post, and I have 10 posts on my home page. That's 60 images that would have to load every time you pull up my home page.

BUT, what if I had a teaser that included ONE image for each post? Now I only have 10 images to load, which takes a heck of a lot less time to load than 60!

Better Post Statistics

One day you'll want to use statistical analysis so you can see how many hits you're getting and what are your popular posts. If you use jump breaks, you can get a more accurate number because people have to pull up that page. If you have full posts on your home page, you can't tell what they're reading.

Feedburner is a decent statistical analysis program and it's part of the Google family of products. Check back soon for a quick tutorial.

Things To Consider With Jump Breaks

If you use jump breaks, you need to have a strong opening (tease). Your subscribers will get the tease in their email, so make it something that sparks their interest and makes them want to visit your site.

It's also helpful to have a good image in the block with your tease. It might not show up to your email subscribers, but it will appear on your home page. A strong graphic along with a well-written tease will encourage your reader to click [Read more...]

How To Add a Jump Break

It's simple and you can go back and add them anytime, even after they've posted. (Remember the issue with page loading time)

On the Editor Toolbar, the Jump Break icon is right next to the video icon. It looks like a piece of paper ripped in half.

Wherever the Jump Break is inserted, your Read More link will appear. If you'd like to personalize your link, check out my Posting Options info from last week and change the "Post page link text" to whatever clever thing you choose!

Susan

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