Do Comments Affect How You Write Your Blog?

June 6th, 2006

If you have been anywhere in the blogosphere in the last few days, you have seen the flurry of reaction to Seth Godin’s decision to remove comments from his blog. One of Seth Godin’s reasons for ending comments is that:

…it permanently changes the way I write. Instead of writing for everyone, I find myself writing in anticipation of the commenters.

Now I’m not going to add to this windstorm of opinion (see it for yourself), but I will use his reasoning (however accurate or flawed) as a starting point for what I think is a worthwhile discussion. Do comments affect how you write?

What’s your blogging voice?
Everyone has their own blogging voice, an individual recipe of conversational tones, language and opinions diced and sliced into your on-line persona. It could be conversational, sarcastic, literary, professional, or completely insane.

Think about how many posts you’ve read in a day about the same web trend, piece of code, or new photo gallery. If they’re all the same, why do you continue to read them? Because each and every post is different, depending on whether the author is objectively discussing the topic, sarcastically ripping it a new one, or posing a question and asking for opinions.

Weren’t we talking about comments?
We are, because comment threads are no different. Numerous truly unique conversations can originate from the same topic. Your voice not only sets the tone of your writing, but also the conversational tone of the comments. The thread doesn’t necessarily have to remain in that tone, but it introduces the starting point.

So what your saying is?
We’ve established that you, as the author, affect your comments. Now, let’s get back to the original question. Do comments affect how you write? I feel that they do, but it depends how much you let it. Comment threads are like any other conversation. You can try to control them, let them control you, work with them, or ignore them completely. But in the end, they tend to have a life of their own.

What do you think?
Do the comments (or lack of comments) your blog receives affect the way you write? How? Do you consider that a good thing or bad thing?

Yes, I do allow comments and I wholeheartedly encourage yours.

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  Designers: Know How to Write, But Don’t

May 22nd, 2006

A recent post from A List Apart puts forth the argument that design is a full user experience and not just a visual layout wrapped around Lorem Ipsum. I whole-heartedly agree. For any project to be successful, content and visual design need to seemlessly work together and support each other in one cohesive unit. Both are essential to promote, instruct, educate and/or support the goal at hand, whatever that goal may be. Words and images need to be introduced from the earliest stages of a project through final delivery and post-launch analysis. Yes, Lorem Ipsum is dead…and good riddance.

Where I strongly disagree is the assertion that a designer can simply pick up a book or take a class in order to add “professional writer” to their skill set. Designers, especially web designers, have been plagued throughout their careers by people who pick up a book or take an HTML class and then claim to be a web designer. It is this thought process that wastes considerable time in client meetings justifying why they should spend thousands on you when their neighbor’s cousin can do it for $50 because he just downloaded a hacked version of Dreamweaver and flipped through Web Design for Dummies.

I have heard throughout my career that there are designers and there are developers. Two different mindsets and never the two shall mix. I certainly don’t subscribe to this stereotype and don’t think it is remotely that black & white - but there is an ounce of truth. Every professional has their own set of inherent knowledge, tricks of the trade, and detailed skill sets that only come from years of experience. I consider myself a designer first. Although my writing and coding skills may support my work and make me more marketable, I am the first one to enlist a professional web content writer and coder/developer when the need arises.

Here’s my advice. Go ahead and read that book and take that class. Not to do the work yourself, but to more intelligently educate your clients and more effectively work with writers and/or developers to create the best possible product. Only then will you have the most success.

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  Don’t forget the subject line

May 2nd, 2006

Consumers now spend more time reading and sending email than watching TV. Why? Because email remains the only mass media channel you can engage in one-to-one marketing with your customer (and potential customer) base. Reach your audience at work, at home, and while mobile. That is, if they let you in.

Yes, your customers are reading email more. Yes, they are visiting more sites because of email. And yes, they are buying more products online. But…(wait for it)…they are smarter than they used to be. And if they’re not, you can be damn sure the spam filters are.

Ah, yes. It takes me back to the days of the Land Shark. I can hear it now. “L-l-l-l-and Shark…” I doubt Chevy Chase would have that easy of a time getting in the door these days.

So why am I going through this seemingly endless talk about emails and land sharks. Because most design, marketing, and sales teams think about graphics, content, and the recipient list. What is rarely mentioned, let alone planned and tested, is the subject line. The subject line. I’ll say it again, the subject line. Come on, folks. That’s your opener. The three second pitch that gets you in the door or out with the trash.

There are several things you can do right now to increase your open and click-thru rates, which could possibly translate into more sales. And that will make you happy and your boss very, very happy.

1. Use company or brand name in the subject line - It offers immediate credibility and reinforces your branding. Plus, it has been shown to increase unique open rates by five percent or more. Not too shabby.
2. Write a brief subject line - Keep your subject line to six words or less. Most email clients cut off subject lines at 50 characters, including spaces. If you can’t cut it down, than try splitting the subject line into sections using colons or commas. Remember that the subject line is being scanned as quickly as most entry points on the Internet, in about a second or two.
3. Never falsify the subject line - Using “RE:” or FW:” is not in compliance with CAN-SPAM and is easily recognizable as spam
4. Avoid these words and/or phrases - Most content filters directly analyze the subject line and the following is high on their lists:
   bill consolidation, cash, credit, hello, free, instant winner, investment report, interest rates, register to win, save $, seen on tv, stock alert, life insurance
5. Set expectations of the email –If it is a newsletter, reinforce the soft sell and long-term relationship. If it is a “special promotion”, tell them what it is. Your customer will expect a hard sell, so saying “25% off our entire line” is well understood.
6. Test how subject lines are displayed in different email clients – With the variety of email applications (including web-based), screen resolutions, and operating systems, testing will greatly benefit your campaign.
7. A/B test your subject lines with your audience – Take small random sample of your recipient list for each of your best two or three subject lines. Send out a different subject line to each group and wait 24 hours for the results. They’re the ones getting and opening the email, so pay attention. The results might surprise you.
8. And finally…Keep It Simple, Stupid –Tell them about the subject of the email. After all, it is a subject line.

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