ah, the Perrenial favorite..;) Here's what seems to work

1. the Thumb - the first thing you see. What seems to help is cropping. Find the most interesting area of the pic, and crop that out. But don't include all of it, but lead the viewer to wonder what the rest of it looks like. My talent certainly hasn't improved any, but by cropping, my hit counts have been climbing.
2. Bright colors- well-lit scense, or areas of brightness in a pic, seem to get more interest than murky, mysterious-looking pics (a shame). Primary colors, high contrast (without being too garish)
3. Girls, girls, girls (well sometimes boys as well..;) The less well-clad, the better. Though not quite nkd, or you have to flag the 'n*dity' thread, and you lose some there.
4. Cryptic (or double entendre`) title. Sometimes just punctuation marks ~_____~, etc seem to help
5. Artistic quality (another shame that it comes in at number 5..;) A well-planned and executed portrait, etc., with lots of quality and detail helps an awful lot.
6. Postwork, or the Dark Side- sometimes you can smudge, crop (what, again?), mask, or multilayer something into a good pic. It's like makeup, tho..enough to make a woman look better, without quite knowing just why, is enough..;)
   Note- I've never had a pic go over 350 hits, so don't take this as Gospel..;)

I wish I'd said that.. The Staircase Wit

anahl nathrak uth vas betude doth yel dyenvey..;)