The post How to Become a Purple Cow Blogger appeared first on ProBlogger.
Photo by Daniel Kitzen M on Unsplash
One of the most common mistakes that many blogs make is that they are not easy to spot.
We've all seen those blogs (and most of us, if we're being honest, admit we've written about them at some point) – blogs that you look at for a few seconds but see nothing until you move to another blogging site.
On average, blog readers stay on a post for only 96 seconds. Not long! So you've got just over a minute and a half to make an impression - something great that will rock your readers' worlds, grab their attention, and keep them scrolling through the zombie pages.
I think all professional bloggers should read two great books: Purple Cow and Free Prizes Within (affiliate link). Both were written by writer Seth Godin. There's a lot to munch on in this blog post, but one of the most important is how to stand out, aka the "Purple Cow."
We live in a world where we are bombarded with news from various media (including the internet) all day long - it takes a lot to break through the noise with your blog.
How to be a purple cow
How to become a purple cow blogger? The answer I can give you is no - there's no formula for that, if there was one, they would all be equally great and one of many. However, there are a few things to keep in mind in your quest to find the purple cow:
Draft
One way to grab the reader's attention is to use visual effects. Seth himself has done this well in his books and his bald blog. I'm sure it's one of the first things people notice when they visit her blog. It catches you, sticks in your memory - the blog suddenly becomes "the same bald blog". Good branding will be noticed - whether it's your image, your logo, bright company colors, or the stylish look of your blog.
Title
Have you ever browsed the results of a news aggregator or search engine and was absolutely blown away by the title someone wrote for their article? I know many times. Your blog title and blog posts are very eye catching. Consider using it for that. Of course, your headline should match the content you're writing, but experiment a bit with your headline. You may also be interested in this post: How to write a great blog post title.
Taking pictures
Images are sure to grab the attention of your readers and draw them to your blog. You have to be careful with the placement, but images can attract your readers like logos. I don't know about you, but blogs containing blocks of text annoy me more than a cold shower! Break your site down a bit. At Problogger we use Unsplash for images and Canva for graphics.
contents
“Content is everything” is an oft-quoted saying about blogging. I don't agree, it's not everything, but it's very important. If you don't write engaging, engaging, insightful, funny, humorous, or useful content (or a combination of the above), you're likely to give up right away. I strongly encourage you to consider original content - although I have several other blogs that are similar to news - the original content I write always gets attention. Quotes and references become puddles. Do something original and stand out from the crowd. Here are some tips for adding originality to your content.
Give something
I'm not talking about giveaways here (although they can work if you're right), but I'm talking about giving gifts to your readers. Seth's book Inside the Free Prize takes readers back to when we were kids and got those little plastic toys for free in our cereal boxes, and writes about how to think about what products the "free gifts" we get with us. Or a service that will surprise and delight your readers. What can you offer for your blog? If you're like me, remember when someone gives you something for free - it makes a difference. Think beyond your free gift, it doesn't have to be an actual physical gift, it can be a gift, it can be information paid for by someone else, it can be a newsletter, it can be of personal concern to the reader, it can be a link to your reader's blog.
There are many ways to make your blog stand out. Perhaps the best thing you can do is browse the websites and blogs in your bookmarks and think about what other people are doing to stand out for themselves. Why do you keep coming back to your favorite blog? What happened to you, how do you look like him?
Be original, be extraordinary, be extraordinary, be purple cow!
Get more blogging tips from our Blog Tips for Beginners series.
This post was first published on March 19, 2005 and was updated on June 23, 2022.
The post How to Become a Purple Cow Blogger appeared first on ProBlogger.