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Don’t Have an Ugly Site

April 5, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 1 Comment

Do you want people to read your words? Great! This is why blog design matters. Really, REALLY matters. The problem comes when we try to agree on what makes for a great blog design. The fact that there are people who have a fetish about feet teaches me this: there are a lot of different people who like a lot of different things. You will NOT please everyone with your site design. Stop trying.

You can, however…

Have legible font. (Please, no dark background with white font. Please.)
Choose 1-3 fonts and NO MORE. (Especially all in the same post.)
Make sure your sidebar isn’t running off the page or into the content area.
Have crisp, clear images. (There are options if you don’t take pictures.)
Be mobile friendly. (According to Google, not your mom.)

I know too many people who think, “I don’t want to have a trendy site that looks the same as everyone else. It stands out on purpose.” There is often a reason that so many sites look the same. It has to do with design aesthetics and (yes) trends. Standing out can be a gamble. Are you going to be memorable because your site is wonderfully unique or because it is memorably awful?

Try to find that sweet spot between keeping your own brand of unique and staying within a clean, modern aesthetic. Your words are too important to be hidden by an ugly site.

Not sure where to go from here? Listen to an interview with a blog designer to see what you need to know!

What are your biggest pet peeves when it comes to blog design? Let’s be critical in a civilized way in the comments.

More on how not to be ugly.
10 Blog Layout Tips from A Beautiful Mess
8 Blog Design Tips to Make Sure People Read Your Content by Jeff Bullas
Quick Tips to Make Your Blog Mobile-Friendly by Torque

Your Audience Is the Person Who Needs YOU

April 5, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 2 Comments

Experts always say to write as though writing for one specific person. Here’s my beef with that and a few thoughts on how to write for your audience.

Last year I wrote about making my own laundry soap. The recipe used essential oils, so the essential oils crowd passed it around a lot on Pinterest. That crowd, if I’m imagining it as a singular person, is a woman in her early thirties who has a brood of kids and is financially savvy and concerned about natural health.

I had a roller derby game that same week and my teammate’s husband ran up to me and said, “I made your laundry detergent!”

Let me describe him: He is in his forties and has a long, silver ponytail. He loves to grill meat in the driveway while drinking beer. His wife’s skater name is Becky Booty, so he is Mr. Booty.

Mr. Booty is not the essential oils crowd. He is the last person I thought would be reading my blog, much less making recipe from it. Mr. Booty is my problem with the audience of one. People are often more surprising and complex than we imagine. Reducing our audience to one single, specific person named Nancy can make humankind very two-dimensional.

I do not mean that you should wholly discard the idea of writing for a specific person. Rather, let me suggest an addendum. Rather than thinking of a singular person who fits into specific categories, think of a specific need. A need that YOU, specifically, can meet with your writing, art, product, or services.

Perhaps that need is for laundry detergent. Or encouragement. Or a page-turning suspense novel for a week’s vacation. What does your audience need from YOU? Do think about a specific audience, but realize people are complicated. There will always be a Mr. Booty (or twenty) in the crowd. Write for a specific need.

Do you write for an audience of one? Or do you write for a particular need? Let’s discussed like civilized folks in the comments.

Or…ignore me. These people say you should.
(Even Kurt Vonnegut disagrees with me. Not a good sign.)

How to Define Your Target Audience by QuickSprout
How to Write for Your Intended Audience by CoSchedule
How to Write Copy That Goes Viral by Seth Godin
(Shoot, if Seth Godin says write for one person…But I’m not sure we are totally at odds.)

Show Your Face

April 5, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 4 Comments

Let’s say you didn’t get to buy your domain name like I told you and you have to be YourNameWrites dot com. But you already had a Twitter handle that is @YourName. You have 8k followers, so you aren’t rebuilding THAT. You know what helps people recognize your brand? YOUR FACE. I’m talking about why you need a great profile picture.

Don’t be an egg. Don’t be a cartoon or a picture of your dog or a picture of your kid. Unless you’re Prince during his Artist Formerly Known as Prince Days, people are not going to know you by a symbol. (They really didn’t know him as a symbol either.) Be your face and be your face everywhere.

Your face is your brand.

Your website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkenIn, Pinterest, GoodReads, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram and your Google Plus (while it lasts) should ALL have the same photo. Of your face. Any platform that people MIGHT find you on and associate with your professional writings and actions should be consistent.

My exception to this is my personal, private Facebook profile. Exhibit A. On your left is my (2015) picture for all my platforms. On your right is my personal Facebook profile picture, complete with my Mom’s 1988 glasses and my half-crossed-eye trick.

Be professional. Be personable. But also be MEMORABLE. I love a quirky profile picture. Exhibit B: Eric T Tung, #33 Global Social Media Influencer. (Did you listen to the podcast episode where I talk to him about Twitter?)

Are you going to forget that face? NOPE. The tie gives him a semblance of professionalism and the great expression shows his personality. This is very much his BRAND. He is smart, savvy, and FUN. Think about who YOU are and what you want people to see. Take THAT photo.

What’s your brand? What is your photo saying about YOU? Let’s talk like civilized people in the comments.

Some other lovely people have similar thoughts.

Does Your Profile Picture Matter? by Social Butterfly Guy
The Science Behind the Perfect Profile Picture by Buffer (and if science says it…)
How to Take a Great Social Media Profile in 4 Steps by Digital Photography School

Why You Should Own Your Name dot com

April 4, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 10 Comments

Do you own your name dot com? Here is my take on why you should own your own name as a domain.

But first: Stop reading and go buy your domain name. NOW.

{If you already own it, give yourself a high five & skip to the next post.}

What if your name isn’t available? Try with your middle initial. Or if you’re a writer, try YourNameWrites or YourNameWriter. Don’t be fancy or clever with a dot anythingelse. Get your dot com. Once you have YourName dot com, try to keep it consistent on social media. (More on that later.)

Why? For authors this makes the most sense because you will be known by your name. Say you become super famous and get speaking gigs. Unless you are The Bloggess, you will be introduced as your name. Plus? You AREN’T The Bloggess. Few of us are. One, to be exact. And she does also go by her real name. Just check her latest book.

Perhaps my favorite reason to own your own dot com is this: Owning your own name lets YOU control the narrative. You are the authority. You are YOU. As Dr. Seuss puts it in The Birthday Book, “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” You are YOU. Own YOU. Be YOU.

There may be good reason for exceptions to this, like a giant platform under a blog name. Or you are an anonymous blogger. Or you write under a pen name. (But you should then own that pen name.) Even if you still choose to blog or write under your clever blog name, at least BUY your name. For a rainy day, perhaps. Like when it’s raining money and they need to know where to send the check. You can simply say, “Send it to MyName@MyName dot com, thankyouverymuch.”

Agree? Disagree? Let’s have a civilized discussion in the comments about why you should own your name dot com.

More People Who Say So:

Why You Should Own Your Name as a Domain from Amanda Formaro
Why It’s Worth It to Purchase Your Domain Name from Life Hacker
Why You Should Grab Your Domain Name Now from Gary Matthews
(and by “now,” he wrote this in 2013, so you REALLY better hurry)

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