Here is some new research on page layout and blurb impact on news pages that might be helpful to some of you:
News websites have been with us for about a decade, and editors and designers still struggle with many unanswered questions: Is homepage layout effective? … What effect do blurbs on the homepage have compared to headlines? … When is multimedia appropriate? … Are ads placed where they will be seen by the audience?Many blog entries are what the article describes as blurbs and there is some good stuff on catching the readers attention.
Via Dan Gillmor.