Welcome to Day #1 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. As on each day of this project today I’d like to present you with two things:
- Some Teaching/Theory
- A Task to go away and Do
Teaching
Today’s task (outlined in full below) is to develop an Elevator Pitch for your Blog. Let me explain why.
What is an Elevator Pitch?
“An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (for example, thirty seconds or 100-150 words).” – Wikipedia
Many business and self improvement type courses teach students to develop an elevator pitch for their business (and even for themselves). The idea is to have something short and sharp that you can say about yourself when the opportunity arises instead of bumbling your way through explaining what you or your business does (and miss an opportunity).
The goal is both to communicate what you do and to get the person you’re communicating it to to want to know more.
Elevator Pitches for Bloggers
While the idea of an elevator pitch is usually something that start up entrepreneurs are encouraged to do when looking for investors – developing an elevator pitch for your blog is also a smart move also.
One of the most important reasons to do this exercise is that to develop an elevator pitch YOU as a blogger to have thought through and crystallised in your mind what your blog is about.
If you’re fuzzy on what your blog is about it’s unlikely than anyone else will have much of an idea either.
Knowing what your blog is about helps you in developing every aspect of it including:
- Writing Content
- Promotion and Finding Readers
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Networking with other Bloggers
- Branding
- Design…. the list can go on.
In fact almost every task that we’ll be doing in this next 31 days should flow from this task.
Other Reasons for Developing an Elevator Pitch
Of course coming up with an elevator pitch is not just for your own benefit. Once you’ve got one it is brilliant for communicating what your blog is about to readers (both the ones you already have and potential ones), other bloggers, potential partners, media/journalists, advertisers and even to friends and family members who might not get what you’re doing.
Once you’ve got your blogs elevator pitch there’s no limit to the places and situations that you can use it (either part of it or in its entirety). Here are a few that come to mind:
- Your blogs tag line – having a short, sharp and descriptive ‘tag line’ for your blog can be a powerful technique for quickly communicating to new readers to your blog what it is all about. Readers who don’t get a sense for what your blog is about are in danger of leaving quickly – so a tagline that is displayed prominently on your blog can be a great way to hook them in.
- Your about page – the about page of a blog (if you have one) is one of the most read pages of a blog by first time visitors. It is an ideal place to communicate what you’re about and to ‘sell’ to potential readers why they should subscribe and come back.
- Real Life Conversation – whether it be at a conference, in business interactions or just in everyday conversation, the topic of your blog is likely to come up from time to time and these interactions can be an ideal moment to pull out the elevator pitch to describe what your blog is about.
- Business Cards – I get a lot of business cards given to me at conferences and to be honest at the end of the day I can’t remember who gave me most of them. Adding an elevator pitch to a card can help trigger who you are and what you do in the mind of those you chat with at these busy types of events.
- Pitching to Media – One of the things I’ve noticed about many journalists is that they’re very busy people who are constantly being pitched with ideas for stories. Having a thought through and effective ‘pitch’ can help you get noticed and give a journalist a reason to listen to what you’ve got to say.
- Pitching to Other Bloggers – Similarly, I find that if I’m being ‘pitched’ to as a blogger that I take more notice if the person pitching to me gives me a brief insight into who they are and what they do.
- Email Signature – many people have links to their blogs in their emails, but a link can be somewhat meaningless on its own. Why not add your elevator pitch? Similarly signatures in forums can be a good place to have a short description of what you do to motivate people to check you out further.
- Social Media Profiles – the same thing goes for all those social media profiles that you have. Why not use them to not only point people to your blog but to give them a reason to go there!
Where else would you use an elevator pitch? I’m sure there are so many more times to pull them out! Feel free to share other places you’ll be using yours.
Your Task for Today
Take some time out today to develop an elevator pitch for your blog. If you’ve already got one take a few minutes to review and refine it.
How to Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog
I’m sure there has been much written on the topic online but here’s some starting points that I use when doing this type of thing.
- Solve a Problem or Need – I’m a big believer in developing blogs that fulfil real needs and solve problems that people have. The problem need not be a big one (like World Peace) but you should be attempting to create something that people need on some level. Communicate this in your elevator pitch.
- Define Your Audience – who is your blog for? Who are you attempting to attract? IF your blog is targeting a certain demographic or type of person (and it may or may not) – include this in your pitch. If your blog is for teens, don’t develop a pitch for grandparents – target the reader you want.
- Be Clear – don’t leave people second guessing what you mean or interpreting jargon – make your elevator pitch crystal clear.
- Keep it Short – People have limited attention spans and capacity to absorb lots of information. Get to the point, eliminate unnecessary words and make it punchy!
- Stand Out – be willing to use humour or powerful imagery to grab the attention of those that hear your elevator pitch.
- Be Intriguing – your elevator pitch is unlikely to ‘convert’ people to read your blog all on its own – but it should entice them to learn more. You don’t need to say everything in it – but attempt to write something that is still in the mind of those who hear it long afterwards.
- Be Energetic but not Hyped – you convey more than just dry information when describing your blog – but you also convey what YOU feel about it. This is important – if you ‘pitch’ someone with language and a voice that is dry and uninspired you’re unlikely to convert anyone into a reader. Show people that you love what you’re doing, that you’re passionate and that you care about your topic. But don’t go too far and hype it up beyond what it is!
- Consider Using a Question – people are wired to answer and engage with questions. Ask them, even just rhetorical ones, in your pitch and you’ll hook people in.
- Be Ready to Expand Upon Your Pitch – at a recent conference I had someone come up and give me what seemed like an elevator pitch about their blog. It worked really well, they got me interested – so interested that I asked them to tell me more. The problem was that they didn’t really have much else to say about their blog. See an elevator pitch as a conversation opener – something designed to lead into further interaction with people. You don’t have to say it all in your initial pitch – but you should be ready to say more if people are interested.
These are just the thoughts that come to my mind on elevator pitches (what would you add?). Not everyone will be able to incorporate all of the above points but I hope that some of it will help you to develop yours.
My Elevator Pitch
I have a couple of elevator pitches my blog here at ProBlogger. One’s short (just 6 words) and one’s a little longer (a minute or so). I use one or the other of them depending upon the circumstances and opportunity to share.
My short one is very simple – ‘ProBlogger helps Bloggers Build Exceptional Blogs’. I’ve used others over the life of this blog (and continue to evolve it) but have settled on this one for the time being because it is so simple, to the point and clear.
The longer version expands upon this and shares some of the ways that the blog helps bloggers improve their blogs by talking through a few of the main topics I cover.
Write Your Elevator Pitch
Once you’ve got an elevator pitch for your blog write or print it out and put it somewhere near your computer so that as you blog you can be reminded of it. You might also like to start to incorporate it into your blog as a tagline or in your about page – or even to write a post about it on your blog to communicate to your readers what you’re on about (the appropriateness of writing it as a post will of course vary from blog to blog).
Once you’ve done that – feel free to share what you’ve come up with in comments below. I’m looking forward to reading yours.
Tomorrow on the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge – tomorrows task is a writing task that will have you writing a particular type of blog post to use on your blog in the next few days.
Sign up for 31DBBB
If you’re not already signed up for the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge you can find more information on what it entails here.
Update! Get feedback on your results, and see what others are doing over at the forum: Day 1 – Create an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog
Want More?This task is a sample of one of the tasks in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook – a downloadable resource designed to reinvigorate and revitalize blogs. Join over 14,000 other bloggers and Get your Copy Today. |
I love this first task. I didn’t realize it but I guess I wrote an elevator pitch when I first started my site. I don’t have a nitch, which I know hurts me, but I have a grand plan for the site once I have more time to focus on it.
My elevator pitch right now is “A site about everything but nothing in particular”. That is exactly what my site is, I write about what is on my mind. I am, unfortunately, too inconsistent due to what I think is Adult ADD which I am being tested for. My hope is that if I am found to have it, I am able to get some help with controlling it.
I get distracted too easily and really want to use this challenge to try and get myself focused regardless of what I find out about the ADD. Thanks to Darren for a awesome idea and I look forward to the next month.
My short pitch is very short. I write about unimportant and useless stuff :-). (On this blog).
Thanks Darren, will be following this one.
Thank you Darren.
Excellent tip. My tag line is somewhat
boring and general not that I really think about it!
K.
Thanks, Darren.
My satirical blog is written by a fictional female. Right now I don’t spell-out that its satire in the elevator pitch/tag, preferring to let the writing speak for itself:
Love letters to my soul mate, convicted murderer, Scott Peterson.
I came up with mine, which is similar to my tagline.
“Smashill builds creative Capital.” Which pretty much sums everything up I have been going through in my SWOT analysis.
Thank you Darren.
Excellent tip. My tag line is boring and general now that
I really think about it!
K.
this was a great exercise and really helped me define my audience and my blog. it is a work in progress, but now that i have some of this down on paper i feel much more confident about what i am doing, who it impacts and why. just in completing the exercise i thought of several post ideas that relate to my newly defined goals. super important to simplify this way.
thanks darren,
Our branding logo already had a tag “a Profesional Web Development Company” but our elevator line is now “We make Complicated simple.” Visually making the word “complicated” a more, well, complicated, type style.
Definitely learned something on this first one. Also learned that I have done this already – Geekazine: For the Geek in all of us.
What I didn’t know is I could do another. I will have to think about the second Elevator pitch.
A boundless World
Living Life To It’s Fullest Potential
My elevator pitch is: “tips for a fulfilling marriage during the stressful years of medical residency”
thanks for a great first post!
I love this how-to, especially the first two points. It should be obvious, but it can be tough pinpointing the purpose of your blog and, as you said, how can your blog have focus without a clear purpose?
My tagline for Freelancedom is “from bunny slippers to business plans,” while the description on my About page reads:
“Freelancedom was launched as a means of sharing the whos, whats, wheres, whys, and hows of freelance success, and the accompanying freelance lifestyle. It was also created with an eye toward building a community of freelancers who could share stories, experiences, tips, and resources with their fellow at-home entrepreneurs.”
I can’t imagine saying either of these in a face-to-face conversation. Perhaps a melding of the two?
Freelancedom is a how-to blog for freelancers looking for success…in both their work and their stay-at-home lifestyles.
It could probably use some more work…but it’s a start!
Happy first day of 31DBBB!
Hi Darren
Thanks for post 1 of 31. Looking forward to this month immensely.
Here’s mine:
“Helping real estate agents make sense of blogs, Twitter and Facebook”.
It’s a start and I suspect it will evolve.
@peterfletcher
Darren,
Once again I am your humble student.
DPS has taught me tons about photography and now ProBlogger is going to help improve my blog.
There may be hope for me yet!
My blog is simple, it’s mostly about photography, and hopefully will draw a few people into other sites where they might just purchase a greeting card or something. ;o) You know the occasional shamless self promotion.
Oh, I’m not using it to try and teach anyone how to take a great photo. I have a lot more learning to do before I try that one.
It’s about my adventure into photography.
My tag line (from day one) – “my adventures in photography and a little bit of everything else”
I kind of had an elevator pitch already, I just didn’t know it. So my newly revised about page/elevator pitch “Photography is something I have been interested in since my grade school class had a chance to dabble in it way back in the 1970’s…I didn’t care much for the developing, didn’t like the smells. But I did like taking the pictures. Fast forward about 30 years… I began selling my works on-line and the rest, they say, is history.”
Thanks again Darren, I look forward to the next task!
Just take it easy on me, I’m too old to learn very many new things at once!
I already have a tagline that I like, it’s:
Shop smarter. Balance your budget. Learn to be a moneywise mom.
My elevator pitch is:
I teach busy moms how to save and make money to contribute to their family budget.
Thanks, Darren!
Darran,
Thanks so much for day 1 – if the rest of the 31 days is anything like this, then we are indeed fortunate to have your expertise and knowledge. If I didn’t do anything else, today will transform how I manage all 5 of my blogs. I know what each blog is about, but fear it is unclear to my readers. So thanks for this.
For instance, WE magazine for Women is a business and lifestyle blog for women over 40 yet it doesn’t really state that on our home page. So I am going to fix that right away.
We produce and publish articles of interest to women in all areas of their lives such as wealth, health, entertainment, travle, business, technology and international issues.
I am going to expand on the 1 minute version to include more explanation.
My other blogs are not as clearly defined so this is a great exercise for me.
Many thanks, Cannot wait until Day 2!
Heidi Richards Mooney, Publisher
WE Magazine for Women
Darren – Thank you so much! In just 2 tasks (the pre-task and this one), you’ve helped me clarify and sharpen the focus of my blog. I started out knowing why I was creating the blog, you’ve helped me fine tune it. A big THANK YOU!
Great assignment and spooky timing. I’ve just the other day signed up with Entre Card and had to think of a tag, and also had been considering changing my “intro” to make it more representative of what the blog is now. So my Elevator pitch,
THE ONE ABOUT…
Dedicated to offering a unique and thoughtful perspective on what’s going on in politics and other current events.
The tagline,
The One About… Definitely not more of “that”!
Mine’s a food blog that focuses on rustic, seasonal and animal-free eating. I would say my pitch for it would be:
Rustic Vegan is about celebrating the simple things in life, one bite at a time.
Great first post, thanks!
I found this first exercise useful and also enjoyed it.
I tweeted about it with the hashtag: #problogchal, which I just made up.
Is there a standard Twitter hashtag we’re all using that I just don’t know about? It looks like 31DBBB is shorter. Will somebody please let me know?
Really great advice. I don’t think ive ever heard of someone say make an elevator pitch for your blog. You need to understand what your blog is about and a quick pitch is a great way to do that.
I am excited to get started on this series and thank you Darren for coordinating it. This is a great first task. Having had my own business pre-babies, it was always fun for me to come up with catchy new ways to promote our business and when it came time to start my blog, I looked forward to that challenge. Most of your advice I had implemented already eg putting the pitch in my email signature, but it has made me think I want to refine it somewhat. My blog is basically about fashion, accessories, party ideas etc exclusively for little girls so my tagline is “all things sugar & spice”, which I have always thought was a great summary of what I am about but now I am looking forward to exploring it further..ps: Riayn, love your pitch for Spud on the Run – very catchy : )
What a great post. And to think there are 29 more coming!
Now off to write that elevator pitch. . .
This was a lot harder than it sounds. Here is mine:
My story as I take the first steps towards creating a photography business in Chicago.
Thanks for the tip! We started our blog with a short tagline: “Using humor to cope with a serious illness” – We removed this and stuck with the longer elevator pitch: “We’re here to share our random insights and experiences, spread the madness of eating disorder, and have a little laugh every now and then.” Now I see that’s it’s probably a good idea to use both.
hi Darren,
I started my wp blog a week ago and had no idea what to write in the post but merely added some learning notes at http://blog4ebook.com.
Your tips on elavated pitch gave me an idea. My draft shot elavator pitch would look like this:-
“Secret formulars of Asian Companies stay Profitable in this economic downturn ( 2008-2009 ), taken Baldrige Criteria as a Business Excellence Model”.
But Darren, I have no idea where should I put this elevator pritch.
WAit a minute. I just found out it’s THIRTY ONE days, not THIRTY (I was counting the days in April). That means 31 fantastic posts, if each is anything like this first one. Thanks, Darren.
Thanks for the motivation to refine my pitch down – I have a clear idea of what my blog is about, but it’s a good push to summarize it down in a memorable way.
I have a lot of different blogs, so here are my elevator pitches for each:
1. Black Heart Magazine (http://blackheartmagazine.com) – Sex, love, literature
2. Shoestring Montreal (http://shoestringmontreal.wordpress.com) – Because living on a budget doesn’t have to suck
3. Letters from Montreal (http://lettersfrommontreal.wordpress.com) – Exploring the Paris of North America
4. Laura Roberts: Buttontapper (http://buttontapper.com) – Writer, editor, V for Vixen
The last one is the blog associated with my “professional” website, which was originally intended to house my writing clips, but needed some personal touches, so I’m having trouble “branding” it. The blog currently jumps around on a variety of subjects, most often relating to media commentary and literature, but occasionally veers into personal territory. It definitely needs to be tightened up, so I will try to think of a better tagline and elevator pitch for it today!
Hey, thx for this opportunity. I’ve already signed up for this. My blog isn’t really business orientated.
How do I let you know when I’ve completed this task ?
Powderroom.net – for girls who know snow
Elevator pitch: News, reviews, interviews and a supportive, friendly community for female snowboarders all over the world
We’ve had our tagline since launch in 2002 and Pottery Barn used it for a line of bedding they made not long after we launched (which was very similar colours to our colourscheme at the time) – not coincidence I don’t think!
My blog is IndyRealEstateTalk.com I have struggled with an elevator speech, while standing apart from the ordinary and mundane of real estate. One has to go beyond the “I help buyers and sellers obtain their real estate dreams”
Providing the real estate knowledge and information people really want is key to the purpose of my blog, while keeping a sense of connectedness to the communities I serve.
In short, what best describes my blog is
Straight talk about real estate and living in indianapolis.
Empowering home buyers and home sellers with the knowledge they need to make a good decision for themselves would be the basis for my elevator speech.
Thoughts Anyone?
Thanks for the challenge – now on to perfecting the details.
New tagline *aka short elevator pitch): “Art is nutrition for the Soul. Come dine with me.” Just thought of the second part, though I’ve had the first in verbal use for some time.
Longer (standard?) elevator pitch is constantly changing and I am not yet satisfied with anything I’ve come up with. But then, I’m a perfectionist (and proud of it). Below is where my EP stands at 10:17 AM EDT):
“Art is nutrition for the soul. My work spans the fields of Fine Art and museum quality, one of a kind Fine Art Jewelry. One to gaze at when your mind needs a different view; one to wear when you want to show yourself off to the world.”
Honestly? I pretty much composed these just now although this is after months of shaping and reshaping my “clay.”
PCVS
My blog name: Call When You Get There
My tagline: Staying connected while preparing to move apart, and other paradoxes of life.
This is my current tagline, but now that I think about it, it may be too vague. My thought was that the title would hint at dealing with teenagers, and the tagline would make sense from there. Now I’m not sure it says enough. Will have to play around with it. Any thoughts?
This is what I have so far…
Nixtutor takes you from an intermediate computer user to an advanced Linux user by providing full step by step guides to the most common computer problems. By using the Linux operating system you can take advantage of some of the most advanced computer technologies without paying a dime. Nixtutor will show you not only how Linux can become your primary operating system but also how you can be more productive in both desktop and server environments.
Frustrated with your current operating system why not give Linux a try?
Thanks for this post. I am just beginning to blog, so this is very helpful for me to think about in the early days of the experience. I am looking forward to your future installments!
A creative way to give advice..good job Darren.
My blog “Promise of Reason” is a very few of good political blogs of India (a little self-bragging, yeah :P)
My short pitch is (it was not there before today)
“Indian politicians convert rational problems into emotional issues, I do the reverse.”
The long version goes something like this (still working on it)
Promise of Reason from an engineer, so that we can convert emotional topics of Indian politics and social issues into rational discussion. Do you want rational discussion or emotional rant on Indian political and social issues, choice is yours. if first, then visit Promise of reason, otherwise switch the lights off and cry alone in an empty room in front of a voting machine photo, it helps, really. :)
Took me 10 minutes to come up with this:
alafista.com – A Fusion of Japan’s Otaku and Popular Culture
“Portal to Japan’s otaku and pop culture scene for the English-speaking community.”
Thanks for this post Darren.
I’m just starting my blog and having an elevator pitch could really help me focus on what my blog is all about.
I think it’s a great idea to keep my blog’s elevator pitch visible on my desk and then on my site as tagline afterwards.
Thanks, Darren! What a great post to wake up to. I’m on it!
This is an excellent tip and a great way to start the series. I already had a “summary” for my blog, but I never thought about crossing over onto business cards and other places.
I revised mine slightly to give it a little “action” sense. From “Tips and ideas …” to “I provide tips and ideas … .” I think it’ll work better overall.
Hi Darren and 31DBBB participants,
I look forward to go through this exercise, improving my website and communicating with knowledgeable, passionate bloggers. This should be fun!
I think I’ve got the short elevator pitch for the blog. It is already in my blog’s headline – ‘GuitarTeacher.com helps guitarists Play Guitar Better’.
I will work up the 100 word version and repost to comments. I look forward to having forums. Sorry about your hard drive. :(
I think every blog should have an About page, which as you say can double as your elevator pitch.
It’s almost like an interactive business card for bloggers. If you want customers (visitors) to do business with you (read), then offer your business card (About) to let them know more about you.
Here’s mine:
http://dannybrown.me/about-this-blog/
And one designed specifically for Twitter visitors:
http://dannybrown.me/twitter/
Cheers!
I have a short and a long “elevator pitch” for my blog: ChurchETHOS. The short one is a question: “How can the Church regain its influence in Western culture?”
The long version is an explanation of the title “ChurchETHOS”:
The Church has developed some bad habits and has lost a good reputation with Western culture. My blog seeks to think Christianly about the habits and customs (ethos) of the Church and about our reputation with the unchurched (ethics).
waooow, sounds like it’s going to be a tough exercise to read the comments for each article of 31DBBB
Back to the point, elevator pitch for my blog will be “madafan: discover Madagascar (the island, not the movie)”. In fact, I’m not sure yet if I want to put the remaining tagline put in bracket as I think people know more the cartoon Madagascar than the actual country whereby I want to take my readers through discovering the country.
Second question raised by this first post: should I put my usual username or use a new one associated with my madafan blog.
I’ve opted for using the madafan username thinking that I am beginning branding of my blog :-) Hope you won’t mind Darren
BTW, thanks for this wonderful experience you’re getting us into Darren and looking forward to sharing with all those folks.
An elevator pitch for my personal blog would be my tagline: Zooming into the real Darran.
I want people to get to know me, the different sides of me. the geek, the shutterholic, the fitness enthusiast, the traveller … etc as i take them through my life’s journey.
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been so excited waiting for the Challenge to Start! The trouble I seem to be having is that there is so much I want to incorporate into my blog in the future that I’m having difficulty coming up with an elevator speech. Any tips?
Writing an elevator pitch for a *personal* blog is difficult. What is the solution it has to offer? Who are the audiences? How do I feel about it? How do I use a question?
After raking my head for over an hour, I came up with a short snappy tagline for my personal blog, You Got Me Blogging.
“These got me blogging – what moves you?”
And then a pitch of about 100 words:
“You Got Me Blogging shares with you my precious memories, life experiences and random happenings which are important enough for me to write on. Perhaps you’ll be inspired by a long-forgotten dream. Or a heart-glowing sense of humour you never thought you have. Or maybe, you just want to be reminded of the person I am.
I hope to reach out to my readers, family and friends, making the world a slightly better place, one post at a time.
So… what gets YOU blogging?”
What do you guys think of this? Comments are appreciated. The tagline and pitch are incorporated on my about page here – http://www.razlan.name/blog/about/
This tip just made me rethink about a lot of things about my blog. I’m still trying to make an elevator pitch at the moment. Thanks a lot, and I’m looking forward to a lot of helpful posts in the next 30 days.