Lewis Dvorkin, the chief product officer at Forbes, writes about the stories on its website that get the most reads.
Here are some of his conclusions:
1) Reporting Matters: Staff reporter Parmy Olson’s exclusive rags-to-riches story of WhatsApp founder Jan Koum hit the Top 15 four times — a full week after it was first published. It generated 10% of its total page views in the 7-day period and drove significant next-page traffic. In a digital-to-magazine triumph, her Inside Facebook’s $19 Billion Megadeal cover for the Billionaire’s issue was also a Top 15 post.
2) The Pile On: Former New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines was famous for “flooding the zone” — sending as many reporters as possible to cover a major story. On the Web, writers can flock to niche stories — and audiences respond. Right now, Tesla and Bitcoin posts are golden.
3) Text Over Galleries: In a smartphone world, news audiences gravitate to headlines and stories (photos of red carpet dresses excluded). A post about Michael Jordan earning $90 million last year generated the only non-Billionaires gallery to hit the list all week.
4) Search Still Rules:The Top 100 Inspirational Quotes was published in May 2013. It was on the Top 15 list six times. The upside: 8 million page views so far. The downside: little retention value.
5) Go-To Companies: Apple, Samsung, Walmart. They are audience favorites all the time. Facebook and Twitter? Nope. There’s something about things you can hold and retail.
Read more here.
