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 just found your blog thru a link on another blog. It’s cool that I got in on the first day of this.
It’s obvious from my boring “About Me” and the tag in my header or my profile that I have given no thought to being clever or pitching my blog or anything.
Clearly it sounds like someone who thought, “OOooh, I think I’ll start a blog today” and didn’t give much thought of what to say.
I have to think about this whole thing. Thank you for the instruction!
Thanks for the great reminder Darren. I’ve incorporated both Tag Line and full pitch into my sites and written a post asking for comments and suggestions to improve. I’d appreciate anybodies input here.
My Tag Line:
Asking questions and sharing answers about productivity and leadership
My Elevator Pitch:
We all want to really “Make a Difference” in the lives of people around us. This site is about becoming better leaders and a more productive people. As well as sharing my learnings for the benefit of others I hope and pray that others will share with me as we all strive to make this world a better place to live.
Hey Darren,
My elevator pitch has always been in short form – though not quite as short as your spot-on six words. Here it is: Blog Harbor offers observations, insights and the occasional rant on current events, sports and the quirky side of life.
It’s a take-off from my talk radio program which is the same format. Now, however, I have two audio satires that run on my blog – the “trick” is figuring out how to incorporate them into the short elevator pitch. Or would that end up falling into the category of Too Much? I’m a firm believer in “Less is More.”
All I’m “selling” at Blog Harbor are text and audio designed to make you think and make you laugh. A thought or two from the Oracle at ProBlogger would be welcomed with open arms. :-)
Great information Darren. I am looking forward to the next 30 days of resourceful material. I can definitely use the help.
Regards,
Otis
Daily Time Management Tips
Short and effective
Good first day tip. My tagline was a bit long. I was able to break it into the tagline and elevator pitch. Thanks!
I hope some of you can chime in on my elevator. My blog may not make this clear at the moment, but this is what I have come up with and will work to implement on my site so that IT IS clear.
http://www.davidsilvaonline.com
“David Silva Online serves as a platform for artists such as myself to share their art, graphics, photography and provide design solutions and inspirational tutorials.”
Great first day advice! Makes you think about the ‘why’ part. I know I never gave this much thought before…
Documenting the people, projects and technologies that are changing the way we tell stories
Tagline: “Style. Substance. Sartoria…For people who are busy with other things.”
Short speech: “I write about fashion, design, finance, productivity, decor, and happiness. I love fashion, but I think that it’s meaninless if you’re not intelligent, productive, and happy.”
Darren,
I just rolled out of bed recently so I will post my elevator pitch later. I may write a few and get some other people to vote on the best one and then use that one.
My current tagline is “from average to extraordinary” and I think that’s a great start for an elevator pitch.
I want something like “I help people who are merely above average create extraordinary lives”.
However, I want to make clear that I have always only been above average… and that the blog is me trying to create an extraordinary life, and helping other people do it as well.
Anybody have any suggestions how to get that across while still keeping it short and succinct?
Hey Darren,
Great post. I’m hoping this will really help me solidify the playing field for my blog. I’m someone who is very interested in so many different things so it’s tempting to try and include all of my interests into one blog. Music is my first passion, my education and my career so it makes most sense to start there, both from “writing what I know” perspective and from a career advancement perspective. If I manage to create a successful blog in music then I can see about expanding my areas of expertise. In this case I’m taking a page from your playbook – rather than trying to incorporate all of your Twitter articles and knowledge into ProBlogger, you started TwiTip.
I look forward to tackling this task after work tonight, and can’t wait for the rest of the posts this month!
Too Full Of Hands, the blog, is my effort to entertain, enlighten and explain a little bit of how I juggle all the roles I play, even when my hands are full!
“The Choice Of A Personal Path” – the tagline makes a good elevator pitch for my blog. This is all about it: helping other to make the choice for their personal paths. And many times it helps me find my own personal path.
Well, that was the first day, I love this challenge :-)
Look forward for the next ones.
Great post!
I’m so glad to see a post that promotes improvement through content not just Internet trickery.
Thanks!
Willblogforgood…
Actually, we’ll all just be better.
The great thing about blogs is that people can read as many as they want. Thinking in terms of a scarcity mindset is counterproductive.
I have been thinking about my elevator pitch all day. I came up with, ‘tpolitics from a theologian’s perspective and theology from a politician’s perspective”, for the short version.
It’s not catchy but it sums up what I have been trying to do and hope to do better in the future.
The longer version is 150 words exactly and I don’t dare put it up here yet – still a little unsure of myself but will hopefully pluck up the courage!
Thanks for the outline and looking forward to the next 30 days – hope I can stay the course!
Thanks for a great 31-day project to help us, and thanks for the first day’s teaching. My initial “short” elevator pitch for a bargain hunting site: “Finding great bargains for you so you can save some money!”
http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/2009/04/the-writers-elevator-pitch/
sigh… sort of… but you’ve got me thinking which is (probably) good.
A
I didn’t think the first day would be such a toughie! It’s my own fault, because my blog is too broad in scope. I am in the process of starting a separate niche blog, and I think by separating that topic, I may find it easier to narrow the focus of this one. For now, I’ve added this to my About Me page:
In my main blog, From the Desk of Janet Barclay, I share insights and helpful tips I’ve picked up while operating my home-based business. You can read more of my tips, articles, and other thoughts at …
Hi Darren,
We started our blog to help our customers connect with the designer and founder Melissa and learn more about our products and events.
Our blog focuses on a few things- inspiring women in business, MB products, MB new items, Melissa’s favorite things is too vague of a blog?
Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks!
Melissa
http://misscalculate.blogspot.com
Miss Cal.Q.L8: the positives and negatives of teaching high school math
Miss Cal.Q.L8 shares the up, downs, and all-a-rounds of teaching. From serious tosilly, this blog offers help, hope, and happiness to the teacher in all of us. It’s practical and inspirational. From the miscalculations of math to the miscalculations in life, there are tips and tricks for everything. Read it to learn, laugh, and like math. How can you improve your teaching skills? Learn from one ‘miscalculation’ at a time.
This has come at absolutely the right time for me. I am blending two blogs together and grappling with how to bring content and going forward with a new focus. Thinking about the blog in terms of an elevator pitch is very useful for the new tag lines, About page, social networking and general branding of my blog.
I’m on to it!
It is so funny that you had this as our first task!! I was trying to do this last night!! Not that I knew it was called an elevator pitch! I was trying to think up a line for my business card to catch peoples attention. This is what I came up with…
Toddler Craft: A blog Dedicated to Fun Crafts & Tips for kids 1-7
Feedback would be appreciated!! I am not sure if I am moving in the right direction on this.
I am really looking forward to do this!! I like having tasks to complete!
Ok, I have two blogs… so here goes, the pitches need to be improved, but I’ll work on that.
The Coveted
tagline: be lovely • be stylish • be coveted
EP: Everyday The Coveted shares fashion inspiration and relates it to unique personal style. We cover personal styling tips, tutorials, reviews, fashion events, emerging designers, vintage clothing, eco-fashion, and sometimes technology….
Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB)
tagline: Stylish & Savvy
EP: IFB cultivates a community for fashion bloggers to share their experiences and creates a resource so everyone can build a better blog. We do this by posting helpful tips on our blog, host a community linking group, forums and our newest feature LittleBirdie: a platform to connect bloggers and PR in a safe and mutually beneficial way.
My tagline is: “Empowerment for Women.”
My pitch is that I provide advice to weakened women to help them go from mice to mavericks. I’ve been through many tough struggles in my life and I can help others through what I’ve learned along the way.
This blog has been lying dormant for 9 months, but I believe your challenge, Darren, will give me the kick in the ass I need to get it going again. Thanks!
–Barb
Here’s my elevator speech. I would love to get input from the other participants:
“Great resources for serious readers who like to have fun”
(My blog provides discussion questions, study guides, reviews, and other resources to help book clubs — and solo readers — get the most out of what they’re currently reading and what they might want to read in the future).
Thanks for doing this, Darren!
Darren…just in time…I have the YogaWomen.net blog up but have been stalled…your assignment has reminded me why I stated it in the first place…have NEVER been able to develop an elevator pitch before…here is it…
Do you know that during Yoga’s 8000 year long history, that every spiritual practice passed from male teacher to male student was created by men to support and to accommodate male anatomy, psychology, physiology and communication style?
YogaWomen explores and explains how gender differences such as pelvic structure, low back curve, elbow joint angle, foot shape and even language preferences affect the hundred’s of thousands of women throughout the world who practice yoga every day in a way that was specifically designed for men.
YogaWomen contributing writers offer solutions that support and serve a woman’s physical, emotional and spiritual development while, at the same time, preserving the essential wisdom of the yogic path which we acknowledge is beyond gender.
My tagline is: “Exploring Relationships and Other Life Foundations”
My elevator pitch
To help others unlock the magic that God has placed in them, both personally and for their business.
Donald
Wow. I read this when I woke up (back when it had 12 comments) and had to go to work. I’ve had the short version of “Education for educators” for years now.
I’ve been thinking about this on and off throughout the day, and decided to modify my About Page and take out some of the superfluous words and information and make it my succinct long version.
Nicole/madlab: ” I may write a few and get some other people to vote on the best one and then use that one.”
Excellant idea! I am going to do the same!
I had so much trouble with this! I have trouble putting my website aims into words.. but I know what I mean. I wrote about it on my website, please take a look Darren.
http://successcircuit.com/developing-the-inner-self-is-part-of-developing-the-outer-self/
Is it a tag line like “Latest Gadgets News, Reviews, Tips and Tricks” appropriate for my gadget blog?? Please help me!
What a great way to start off. Here’s my short pitch for my movie review site:
“The Small Town Critic: shooting bad movies in the kneecap since 2001.”
I already like it much better than my long one.
Very informative blog post. I have an elevator pitch but after reading this post I’ve decided I can tweak it and make it a bit more punchy.
Thanks for the great post.
Karl
Short pitch: Wordful helps bloggers create exceptional content.
Long pitch: Wordful helps bloggers create exceptional content by teaching them how to think and act like their blog’s Editor-in-Chief. Bloggers who are editors have much better control over the quality of their content and the connection with their audience.
The skills of an editor will be in high demand as the revenue models for content publishing evolve.
Wordful focus on editorial strategy, writing, editing, publishing, mindset, reviews and profiles of products, services, people, blogs and other websites
Wordful considers itself the ultimate compliment to Problogger, which focuses mainly on “how to blog,” and Copyblogger, which focuses blog copywriting.
I don’t have a good tagline yet. It’s something I’ve been pondering for several months now. I’ll find one soon enough!
My tagline is:
my world and welcome to it…
The musings of a slightly motivated writer
Like others, mine is an eclectic blog with a mix of personal opinion, book reviews, web site reviews, poems and speeches.
Great post – really got me focused.
The two blogs I’m working on will I think chart new paths so I’m reluctant to post my pitches in this competitive environment but you can rest assured they’re taped up on the wall behind my monitor and loaded into my iPhone “notes” so I can spend every spare minute memorizing them and rehearsing…
best, Stephen
Thanks for this excellent inaugural post and task for your 31 day challenge, Darren; it’s an excellent vantage point from which to step back and consider our blogs from a different, and perhaps more concise, and (hopefully) unique, perspective.
I am currently rethinking the content and the “thrust” of my blog, so to speak, so this is an excellent point from which to dive into the next 31 days, and really think seriously about what I am currently offering, and will continue to offer, in my space.
For the elevator pitch I came up with: “Curious briefings on culture, design, and the digital world, as observed through the looking glass by Atherton Bartelby.” Of course, being me, that was not nearly enough, so I wrote a post to amplify on it: http://athertonbartelby.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/the-curious-pitch/
This was a very useful exercise to begin this rather exciting project. Thanks! And I look forward to the following days!
Flaws are the best part.
Life is not about being perfect. It’s about heart.
I write for busy people that do too much and want to be reminded that they share the world with beautifully flawed human beings – like them.
Selflessness is the most over-rated virtue – and parents; remember: taking care o’ you is the 2nd best thing you can do for your children.
Darren, thanks so much for the challenge. I have done something like this before in a sales training course. A thirty second commercial, if you will. I had not thought of it for my blog, but the exercise has been great. Especially given the reasons and applications for having the elevator pitch. I came up with this short version for the tag line:
“Our faith journeys: places of connection, friction, and intersection between God and humankind.”
Great first day. Thanks you!
My shortie is “Nurturing the Creative Spark”
My long versions is:
How do we find that small seed of an idea, the inspiration, and ignite this “spark” to become the project we imagine? Through workshops and individual mentoring, I’ll share with you easy, fun and non-threatening ways to feed, care for, focus on and grow your idea until it blossoms into the creative project you envision.
Think grand, dream big.
My new tagline is: wanna know how to blog? wordpress secrets revealed right here!
My elevator pitch is: Do you want to know how to start your own blog? Find out how to create a WordPress blog, all by yourself, even if you are a complete newbie.
Sarah
Great start, Darren. I’m applying this challenge to both my marriage blog, and the romance guide I’m writing.
For the blog, my tagline is:
Mastering marriage and midlife one boondoggle at a time.
Which usually works to start the conversation, if only for people to ask about boondoggle (such fun to say).
For the book, I’m toying with:
More fun and romance in just one click!
It captures the topic & the idea the book is web-based but just doesn’t….sing. I’m sure I’ll see great example here. Thanks for all the useful links, folks.
Thanks for the post and the program. I hope I have the time to do all 31 days. Ok, so it took the day but I have finished the first assignment. I posted the process on my blog, in fact I will be posting each assignment on my blog as I finish them. I am using this exercise to get back into blogging regularly. I have neglected it in the past few months due to time constraints and laziness. Anyhow here it is:
Tagline: Grand Gravey: The journey of an artist through technology, gaming, and beyond.
Elevator Pitch: Grand Gravey: The journey of an artist through technology, gaming, and beyond. Join me as I discuss new technologies, video games, art as I create it, and blogging while attempting to use new ideas and technology to further my understanding and mastery of all these things.
You can see the post at http://grandgravey.com/2009/04/31dbbb-day-1-elevator-pitch.html if you are interested.
Great to be part of this challenge.
My elevator pitch: Follow our journey from struggling internet marketers to living on the road full-time in our RoadTrek RV!
Great first post! I’m looking forward to the series taking my blog to the next level. My tag line is: Bringing You The Best in Gospel Music
Running with “Simplified Web Development and Blogger Help”
Would love any feedback from other members. I need to change the width to accommodate the larger tag line. :)
Thanks again for doing this Darren! Cheers!
This is the perfect starting point for me. Your timing is great! I am really looking forward to this whole event.