Blog Boost 10: Laura’s Winning Ideas

by DeAnna Troupe

6 comments

1 Everyday Economist { 05.17.06 at 4:22 pm }

I’ve been thinking over your main comments on other peoples blogs: That they should state clearly and quickly what the reader has to gain from the site.

It seems to me to be a lot like a resume. One should state at the top of a resume what the job sought for is, and it if matches, the candidate gets moved past the gatekeeper to the hiring manager.

Or like making an advertising spot, if the ad doesn’t tell you to do anything, well, why care?

It really is good advice… I think that one of the main problems is that this sort of idea isn’t incorprated in the templates. One has to know coding to be able to put a quick: What you will learn from my site
and maybe a commitment at the end of the site to do something (write a congressman, write in your own journal, click the RSS feed)

2 gorgeoux { 05.19.06 at 4:37 pm }

My first thought about DeAnna’a advice (lovely name, btw), as seen in my comment to the post about my blog, has honestly been: why should I offer the reader a digest or a mission? Tonight I add: why should I have a call for action, too?

Obviously, not to waste reader’s time. Yet how specific can you get?

I.e. DeAnna offers small business tips for entrepreneurs. Google finds 5,500,000 results to that phrase in 0.22 seconds, and DeAnna’s blog is the 30th link at this moment, which is great. How many users get that far, yet? I think DeAnna’s readership is more relevant when coming here from other referrals; thus, my theory is that endorsers make the difference, not descriptions.

According to your theory, I shouldn’t be interested into dooce, because it used to have a description like “I write about poop and boobs”, two matters irrelevant to me. I shouldn’t read, daily, a blog described by his author as “I’ve no idea”. And I certainly shouldn’t describe mine as “self @ large”. Basically, you say that a description should sell the content, instead of content selling the content, or relevant referrals in my view.

Blogs are logs. Somewhat like books and media. You don’t consume those unless they’ve a description? Consider this: your quest is one of a speedy life, while mine is one of a speedy (yet) with focus on slowing down. Ponder: there’s more to blogging than business.

3 DeAnna Spencer { 05.19.06 at 10:27 pm }

Most media and books do have descriptions. Books usually have a synopsis on the back cover and movies usually have trailers. I was merely offering a suggestion on the blogs. There was really no need to get defensive.

4 gorgeoux { 05.20.06 at 11:26 am }

Sorry if I got defensive; point taken. I think that while considering your advice I got stuck at the point where I’d have to write that description and couldn’t decide how long/ brief it should be, what to include vs. what to leave out.

I’ve also being subjective, since from a consumption point of view I very rarely take into account a description, synopsis, or trailer while making a buying decision. For example, I consume a lot of movies at home (a couple a week), some received from people I trust–they would equal referrals in the blogosphere–, and some recommended by director/ cast/ awards. It also means that I don’t see trailers and that I don’t read the synopsis on the covers.

However, me being atypical as consumer, perhaps your advice can be taken further and made more impactful in at least two ways:
- advice on why and how to write an effective description for one’s blog
- a debate to identify the endorser of choice, as an alternative of self-written descriptions (publisher/ blogs reviewer/ awards/ even a relevant and more successful blogger)

5 learnsmallbusiness { 05.20.06 at 8:44 pm }

Thanks for the comments. I wrote a post answering part of your first question. I hope that it was helpful. I have to think about the other questions.

6 gorgeoux { 05.24.06 at 4:05 pm }

You’re welcome, and your post is much appreciated.

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