Written on March 19th, 2005 at 04:03 am by Darren Rowse
Random Blog Tips - Purple Cow Blogging
One of the common mistakes that I see in many blogs is that they are quite simply unremarkable.
We’ve all seen seen these blogs - (and most of us if we’re honest will admit to having written them at some point) - they are the blogs you look at for a few seconds without actually seeing anything before you surf on to some other site.
A couple of days ago I told you that blog readers stay on any given blog for an average of 96 seconds. Its not long so you’ve only got just over one and a half minutes to make an impression - to do something remarkable that will rock your reader’s world a little and shake them out of the web surfing zombie like state that they are probably in.
Two great books that I think all enternetuserss should read are Buy the Purple Cow and Buy the Free Prize Inside (afffiliate links). Both are by the author Seth Godin. There is lots of goodness to chew over in these books that relate to blogging - but one of the major take home lessons is about being remarkable - about being a ‘purple cow’.
We live in a world where we’re bombarded with messages all day long from a variety of media (including the web) - in order to break through the noise with your blog its going to take something remarkable.
How to be a Purple Cow
How does one become a Purple Cow blogger? Its not an answer I can give you - there is no formula to it, if there was everyone would be remarkable in the same way and in the process become just one of the crowd again. However there are some things you might like to consider in your quest for the Purple Cow:
Design - One way to grab attention of readers is with visuals. Seth himself does this pretty well on his books and blog with that Bald Head of his. I bet that is one of the first things that people look at when they come to his blog every time. It grabs you, it stays in your mind - the blog suddenly becomes ‘that blog with the bald head’.
Titles - Have you ever been looking through your News Aggregator, or Search Engine results and been totally grabbed by the title that someone’s written for their post? I know I have many times. The title of your blog and blog posts are crucial attention grabbers. Consider using them to do just that. Of course your titles should match up with the content you write (so don’t call every post you do ‘Britney Nude’) - but experiment with your titles a bit. You might also like to read this previous post on titles.
Pictures - I recently had some testing done on my blog with Eyetools (I’ll publish something about this next week). One of the things I noticed was how pictures often drew readers into my articles. You have to be careful about their placement - but a picture has the ability to totally grab your readers - as do logos. I don’t know about you, but blogs that are just slabs of text turn me off faster than a cold shower! Break your page up a bit.
Content - ‘Content is everything’ is the cry that often goes up about blogs - I disagree, its not everything, but it IS pretty important. If you’re not writing compelling, intriguing, insightful, witty, humorous or useful content (or some combination of the above) then you might as well give up now. I’d highly recommend that you consider original content too - whilst I do have some more ‘news like’ blogs - its the original content that I write that almost always gets the attention. Quotes and links are a dime a dozen - do something original and you’ll stand out from the crowd.
Give something away - I’m not talking here about offering prizes (although they could work if they are the right ones) but I’m talking about considering giving your readers a gift. Seth’s book Free Prize Inside takes readers back to the days when we were kids and used to get those little plastic toys for free in our cereal boxes and writes about how we should consider what the ‘free prize’ is that we give away with our products or services. What can you give away with your blog? If you’re anything like me, you remember when someone gives you something for free - it makes an impression. Think outside the box a little with your free prizes, it doesn’t have to be an actual physical gift, perhaps its an award, maybe its some information that others charge for, it could be a newsletter, it could be some personal attention to readers, it could be linking to your readers blogs.
There are many ways to make your blog remarkable. Probably the best thing you can do is to go surfing of the sites and blogs in your bookmarks and start asking yourself what others are doing to stand out. Why do you keep going back to your favorite blogs? What hooks you in? How could you be more like them?
Be original, be surprising, be remarkable, be a Purple Cow!
Written on March 19th, 2005 at 03:03 am by Darren Rowse
Comparing Blogs to John Kerry - An issue of recognition
There has been a bit of commentary around the web this week about the statistics that 48% of Americans have never knowingly read a blog and that only 7% are regular readers. Whilst bloggers might be a little disappointed in such statistics I actually think that they are good. It means that 52% of Americans must have some idea what a blog is (they must have some idea to even answer that question).
It reminds me of an article I read a month before the US presidential election last year - in it the author spoke of a study which found that presidential candidate John Kerry had a name recognition rate of 60% of the American public. I was staggered that 40% of the population didn’t seem to recognize the name of the guy who could be their next president!
I know I’m comparing apples and oranges (or Kerry’s with Blogs) and don’t really have a major scientific point here - but I don’t think these studies really need to be taken too seriously other to say that at this point in the history of blogging that perhaps there is still some room for growth of the industry.
Written on March 18th, 2005 at 10:03 pm by Darren Rowse
Gnomedex 5.0
Does anyone want to sponsor me to go to Gnomedex 5.0? I’d pay the entry fee but I think the flight to Seattle from Melbourne might be a bit of a killer.
Written on March 18th, 2005 at 09:03 pm by Darren Rowse
Adsense Publishers Meet with Google
Jen from Jensense writes a great post on an event that she was invited to speak at by Google about the Adsense program. The post is full of all kinds of great information not only on the event but on Adsense itself. I highly recommend you check it out for bits of information like:
- Many of the people who work on Adsense are also Adsense publishers! (I wonder what their sites are - it would actually be worth finding them to observe how they use the program in their own sites as I suspect they’d be right on the money with its use).
- One presenter (Dr Cheng Wu of Efunda) suggested blending ads into content is the best way to place ads
- French Adsense publishers had threatened to boycott the program unless Adsense made changes to payment systems (ie sending cheques in local currency or having direct deposit payments as they’ve just announced).
- Attendees were given a heatmap showing them where Google had found best placement of ads to be (wouldn’t mind getting my hands on one of those - anyone got one they want to share?)
Sounds like a fascinating event to be at and one that I’d love to see more reporting on with details of what was presented if anyone who was there feels that they’d like to let the rest of us know about. Lets hope they do more of these sorts of meetings.
Written on March 18th, 2005 at 07:03 pm by Darren Rowse
Random Blog Tips - Big Fish, Small Pond Blogging
I just checked my email and found three requests from readers to have a look over their blogs and offer some tips. I’m happy to do this from time to time for free - but am unable to do it individually for everyone in depth without having to charge a bit of a consulting fee (mainly due to the numbers of requests I get. So I thought without mentioning the blogs who’ve asked for help (I don’t want to cause any offence or embarrassment) I thought over the next few days I’d write a few random tips that come to mind as I’ve surfed each of them.
Define Your Niche
The temptation when you first get into blogging is to write everything that comes into your head whether its about the movies you’re seeing, what you’re reading in the newspaper, your work, your latest techy toy etc. Whilst this might interest you and give you plenty of posting ideas it actually can make it difficult to write a profitable blog for a number of reasons. These include:
- You have a better chance of ranking higher in search engines if all your posts are on related topics that are interlinked. If you have 100 pages on 100 topics the search engine will not see you as an authority on anything, but if you have a collection of pages that relate to one another they’ll consider it a safer bet that you are an authority on that topic.
- You have a better chance of finding an advertising income stream for your blog. This is the case both for ad systems like Adsense and if you’re wanting to get private sponsorship for your page. With Adsense - it looks at the content on your page to determine which ads to serve. If it looks at your page and sees many topics you’ll confuse it and the topic of your ads may or may not relate to your content. The danger is that if your content does not relate to your ads you’re not likely to have people click the ads. The ideal situation is that you write on a topic and your readers see ads for that same topic - if you get this happening you increase the chance of them clicking and therefore of you earning an income. Likewise with private sponsorship deals you’re unlikely to find a company willing to pay you money to put their ads on unless their product relates to what you’re writing about. It wouldn’t be good business practice for them to do so.
- You run the risk of confusing your readership if you blog on too many topics. Yes you might find a few people who are interested in the eclectic mix of topics you write on, however the more things you write about that they are NOT interested in the less chance you have of them coming back to your blog.
Of course there are exceptions to the ‘niche topic’ principle of successful blogs - there are of course successful blogs that cover many topics, but most at least have a loose theme whether it be politics, technology, news, etc. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard given to web entrepreneurs is ‘try to be a big fish in a small pond’. Define your pond (a topic) and work at having the most comprehensive site on the net on it.
If you want to write about more than one topic I’d recommend you start a second and third and fourth blog rather than try to put it all into one.
I know that this tip can be difficult to hear for some bloggers - but its not just me that is saying it. Virtually every profitable blog that I can think of is carving out a niche for itself - some are smaller than others, some are more profitable than others, but they are niches nonetheless.
Written on March 18th, 2005 at 05:03 pm by Darren Rowse
UCC blogads attracting widespread attention
One of the more interesting and controversial uses of the BlogAds system of blog advertising has been a campaign by the United Church of Christ. Today they’ve come out with some statistics that reveal the success of this campaign. One of the keys to their success is that they created an ad that was not only visually stimulating (it is animated) but also one that was controversial and that stimulated the bloggers that ran the ad to comment on it themselves - thereby stimulating even further attention for the ad. We’re starting to see more and more of these types of ads using the BlogAds system as marketers begin to see the potential of ads that become part of the conversation on a blog.
‘After only one week of utilizing online blogads (shown at right) to promote the UCC’s Stillspeaking Initiative, more than 25,000 internet users have clicked through one of 50 purchased blogads to view the church’s online 30-second “bouncer” commercial….
The UCC’s new blogad utilizes a series of still photos from the denomination’s 30-second television commercial - rejected twice as “too controversial” by the major broadcast television networks - to entice blog visitors to “see the ad the networks didn’t want you to see.”‘
Read more at United Church of Christ News: UCC blogads attracting widespread attention
Written on March 18th, 2005 at 12:03 pm by Darren Rowse
Interview With Henry Copeland From Blogads
John Hawkins has a good interview with BlogAds owner - Henry Copeland over at A Mini-Interview With Henry Copeland From Blogads. Henry is always most insightful and a creative thinker that I respect so when I see him featured in this type of thing I always carefully read it from top to bottom. Here are a few highlights:
‘John Hawkins: Do you believe the number of advertisers and amount of revenue generated by blogging is going to continue to grow for the rest of this year and into next year?
Henry Copeland: I think the numbers will continue to grow at LEAST until bloggers get 0.1% of the total US annual advertising spend, $250 billion. That may take 3 years or it may take 18, but it is inevitable. Bloggers understand their subjects and their audiences better than anyone else in media AND they’ve got the lowest overheads. After all, pajamas cost much less than suits.
John Hawkins: I want you to play Nostradamus here — don’t worry, everybody understands you’re just speculating — and give me an estimate: How many bloggers do you see reaching the “earning a living” threshold over the next few years?
Henry Copeland: I’d be thrilled to reach 500. But 5000 is possible. And if things go really well 50,000.
John Hawkins: Are you considering branching out into other types of ads like banner ads or text ads?
Henry Copeland: We’re just now adding a pure text unit, something designed to promote more intra-blog communication: 500 characters, no image, no edit, no HTML, no breaks, no bulk buy. Banners and other IAB (InterActive Advertising Bureau) units are antithetical to the spirit of blogging — there’s no relationship with hyper-literate, hyper-linked conversational blogger way of thinking.’
Read more of this interview at A Mini-Interview With Henry Copeland From Blogads
Written on March 18th, 2005 at 08:03 am by Darren Rowse
Poll: How Much Do You Earn From Adsense?
As some readers have already noticed - I’ve just added a poll to the sidebar which asks ‘Last month, how much did you make from Adsense?’
In the last update at Adsense Google have changed their rules to allow disclosure of monthly earnings so I thought it would be interesting to find out what bloggers are making currently with the program. The poll is anonymous and I have no way of telling who has participated or what they’ve indicated as their earnings so your privacy is in tact.
I’m not promising a scientific result here - but rather hope that this poll will give us all a little bit more of an idea about what bloggers earn from Adsense. I have my suspicions about what it will find but will let the results speak for themselves as bloggers share what they earn.
Disclaimer: Polls on this site are not scientific and reflect the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the earnings of Adsense publishers in general.
Written on March 18th, 2005 at 08:03 am by Darren Rowse
Where to start at enternetusers?
Josh, a reader of this enternetusers just emailed the following question:
‘Hi Darren, I’ve just discovered enternetusers after seeing your link on another page and I’m really impressed that people are making a living from their blogs. I’d like to be a pro blogger too and was wondering if you can point me in the direction of the best articles on your site to start off reading? Your archives are so full of articles I don’t know where to start!’
Thanks for stopping by enternetusers Josh - I appreciate your email. Where should you start? I’d try some of the links in the square menus at the start of the page - especially Blogging for Dollars and Adsense for Bloggers (which is the first post of a series of tips on making money with your blog using Adsense. Most of the other links up there are to my main categories.
In addition to that you might want to view some of the following links which are the 10 most viewed articles on this blog over the past month:
- Earning a Six Figure Income from Blogging
- How to keep First Time Readers to your Blog - Part I
- Does Frequent Posting Boost Traffic?
- Adsense - an equation for Success
- Interview with Joel Comm
- What Google Never Told You about Making Money - An E- Book Review
- Positioning your Adsense Ads Part I (also popular was part II and III)
- When Money Motivates Blogging
- Combatting Comment Spam
- Look what Blogging Bought me
Regular readers might like to nominate their own suggestions of helpful articles if they so desire in comments below.
Written on March 18th, 2005 at 04:03 am by Darren Rowse
The 4 Secrets to an Effective E-Newsletter
One of the good blogs that I’ve started reading a bit more of lately is Search engine optimization and Online marketing, a group blog written about Affiliate programs, B2B Marketing, Business Blogging, SEO and more. They write an article today that might be helpful to bloggers wanting to explore developing an E-Newsletter to add to their blog and keep readers in touch with their blogging. They write 4 secrets - the first of which is:
‘Make it Useful. With a business to business newsletter in particular, it’s difficult to get any traction with readers if you don’t give them some kind of actionable “aha” with every issue you send. They are barraged with emails, and eager to click the delete button as often as possible.
Your goal therefore, is to give them pause. To make them live in fear that if they delete your newsletter, they will miss some insight that would have made a significant impact on their success. Useful information rises to the top of the pile, and when your newsletter is on top, you need not worry about how big the pile is….’
Read more of this article at The 4 Secrets to an Effective E-Newsletter
I would recommend starting an Email Newsletter for your blog if you’re interested in developing a more loyal readership. Last year I started one on my Digicam blog that has now been signed up for by 3000 or so readers that have opted into the newsletter which lets me promote my latest posts to them every week. Its really added a new dimension to what I do. Of course if you’re wanting to start such a newsletter make sure you’re willing to actually deliver what you promise to your readership.
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