Yesterday, I posted a nice little snarky thing about how Harry Potter Ruined My Marriage. Of course, it was a way to tell you all about my weekend and the fact that I really liked the movie and want to read the book.
It was the writer expressing some fun thing in the writer’s life; writing for the fun of writing.
Today, I’m doing my normal Internet research and checking out new blogs and I read a post where I couldn’t figure out the point. So I went searching for what the blog was about, in contrast to the article, thinking if I found out what the blog was about I could figure out the point of the article.
But, no tag line to the blog (like “Technology for Writers”). No “About” page for the purpose of the blog to relate the article (like “About Ten Keyboards“).
So I left the blog. Don’t have the time. Felt a little smug about it, knowing I had stuff like that on my blog.
Then I looked at my latest article on Harry Potter and promptly critiqued myself for failing to follow my own rules when it comes to posting: you write on topic for your blog.
Harry Potter is fun — but most people have taken the Harry Potter theme and applied it to the purpose of their blog. What Harry Potter taught them about business. How Harry Potter applies to office politics.
But not a straight, fun personal ride like I posted.
You see, the statistics on your blog will tell you the percentage of visitors coming to your site who are new. Mine, and perhaps most, blogs have the majority of their visitors visiting for the very first time.
And what is the very first article they see?
Yup, the one at the top. The one that you just posted that was off your blog’s topic. The one that is not about your personal brand.
Whether you are writing a book or an article or using the technology of the blog to market your work, the rule is the same: you write on topic.
I forgot in the fun of the moment and the first impression I left to new readers was something off topic.
(But it was still a great movie and I still can’t wait to read the book…).
Scot
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Dan Schawbel 07.25.07 at 5:15 am
I don’t think being off topic every once in a while is that bad though Scot. I say this because people need to see the other aspects of your brand that are not business or topic related.
Scot Herrick 07.25.07 at 7:51 am
True enough, Dan. Some bloggers even have a separate category for “off topic.”
There’s a difference, too, I think, on whether or not your blog is early in the writing or well established with tons of readers.
When most of your traffic is new, you get that big first impression of the site when it first opens. If you were looking for “Technology for Writers” and ended up seeing Harry Potter Ruined My Marriage, it would make you wonder if you really got to the right site.
Early on I’d rather mix in the other aspects of myself into the on-topic writing. That can easily be done.
Lisa Gates 07.25.07 at 8:29 am
Scot,
I too have had a post or two that lingered for a day and didn’t represent me too well. That said, sometimes those posts hold the seed to discovering a new direction or a deepening of your brand.
Fortunately, the immediacy of the medium gives us a toehold in forgiveness… :–)
Scot Herrick 07.25.07 at 8:51 am
Lisa,
I’m reminded of the scene in the car from Runaway Bride where Richard Gere tells Julia Roberts that journalism is “literature in a hurry.”
Blogs are like that.