What I’m reading: One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding by Robert Gover
What’s on the iPod: Dust Bowl by Mumford and Sons
Oooo, big news coming on the blog here in about 10 minutes. If you’re here before 7:10, stick around. You may not want to miss it.
I’m eyeing the weather report closely. Normally, rain, snow, whatever… I’m inside. However, tomorrow is Toms Shoes’ One Day Without Shoes movement. If you know me and my shoe collection, you won’t fail to see the irony of my going one day without any shoes. But it’s a great cause – to raise awareness on what it’s like to live without shoes as so many millions in the world do.
I hope you take part. I plan to, though I’m thinking the cold is going to prevent me from going very far outside without shoes. And isn’t that the point – to understand how people live without shoes in any climate?
One thing I won’t be doing tomorrow is reading any more blog drivel that promises great content, then dashes hopes. There are a few blogs I’ve seen lately that have these huge build-ups to their BEST IDEA EVER!!! or some such rot, only to deliver – um, yea, the same stuff someone else just said a week, month, or year ago. Worse, I’ve seen a few posts that create gigantic amounts of hype, then deliver – well, nothing. One I read through twice only because I thought I’d missed the point, the big climax. Turned out there wasn’t one.
If you write a blog or even if you write for your clients, don’t promise them the moon in every sentence leading up to what you think is the biggest, most dramatic moment ever. Instead, make every sentence count. Here’s a list of what I’d avoid or include:
Lose the exclamation points. Seriously. Forcing emotion through exclamation points means you’d better have something so incredibly fresh and new to convey or you’re going to tick off a lot of people.
Try creativity. Use it instead of false promises and overworked marketing ploys. Find those adjectives and construct your ideas soundly in a way that conveys to your readers your message, not beats them over the head with your ideas.
Stop showing. Remember the show-don’t-tell rule? I’m thinking it may not apply here. LARGE FONTS and those dreaded exclamation points (!!!!!) may seem like the best idea yet, but look objectively at your message – are they skipping over the text because of your heads and subheads? More to the point, are you using these things because you really don’t have all that much to say?
Study your peers. You have favorite bloggers. What are they doing and how are they presenting things to their audience? Can you use some of their techniques? And please, don’t take that to mean you have to steal their content. If you do, you shouldn’t be blogging. Hell, you shouldn’t be writing.
Don’t present leftovers as a feast. Be original. Sure, ideas are often recycled. Find your own twist, your own perspective, and make it ring true to you and your readers.
Have you seen any blogs that turn you off? What are things that make you stop following?
9 responses to “Giving Your Audience Substance”
OMG-Blogger ate my looong response. I guess that tells me something about the need for self-editing. I'll have to come by later, Lori.
Blogger's been eating a LOT today, Cathy. I think my comment served as an appetizer to your main course. LOL
one thing that really irks me with some blogs is how the writer positions himself or herself as the ultimate expert on everything, and ignores [or worse yet, deletes] comments that don't agree with theirs, or – gasp – offer a different point of view on the topic at hand.
Paula, that irks me, too. Removing comments that are in direct opposition to your views is just stupid. How can you build a good debate – and learn something – if you're closed to anyone but the agreeable crowd?
I've found that those "ultimate" experts are more hot air than actual substance. 🙂
Okay, we'll try again. This time I'm copying it (and cutting it down to size)-gasp-I've been Chopped-another Food Network favorite. 🙂
The thing that has me leaving a blog is preaching and whining. Like Paula said – those ultimate experts. My post about keyword stuffing with the word "I" had some interesting comments. One reader said there is something to be said about storytelling and I -er-they-er-whatever agree. But, there's a difference between sharing and preaching or making it all about you. So, it's not really the use of the word, "I," it's how you use it.
How's that for profound? 🙂
You're one tasty tater, Cathy. LOL
I loved your post, Cathy. It's true – the keyword stuffers tend not to realize how that affects the quality of their content.
I wonder if a tater is a small fry with attitude? 🙂
If you can't be exited about how you build your house without all the pretty pink paint – you probably shouldn't be showing it to people. All those who ignore these types of common rules basically use pink paint to show off a half-made shack of a site.
Excellent analogy, Bill!