This is Day 1 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, a group project 50+ other bloggers are doing together in an effort to help each other become better bloggers. You can read more about it and still sign-up to participate here.
Welcome fellow 31 Days to Build a Better Blog bloggers!
And if you’re not officially signed up & participating in this group blog project, welcome to you too. Even though you won’t benefit as much as you would if you had signed up, bought the 31DBBB e-book, and fully committed to this project, everyone who reads & discusses any of the 31 posts in this series should be able to glean some insight to help them become a better blogger.
Day 1’s lesson and assignment is all about writing an “elevator pitch” for your blog. It’s a great place to start this series because it forces each of us to give our blog an identity.
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
Find Your Focus
One of the most common reasons blogs fail is due to lack of focus.
General speaking, people read blogs for one of 3 reasons: to learn, to be inspired, or to be entertained.
This may sound harsh, but if you blog “about life” or “whatever’s on your mind,” unless you’re a celebrity nobody outside your family and close friends is going to read it. The focus of your blog should not be on you, but on how you can help your readers.
Writing your elevator pitch forces you to answer some essential questions:
- Why are you blogging?
- Who are you blogging for?
- What are you blogging about?
My Elevator Pitches
I am not only facilitating this project, but I’m actually going to do all 31 days both for this blog, Christian Web Trends and for my personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org. So, here are my elevator pitches…
Christian Web Trends discusses news & trends in technology to help Christians communicate more effectively.
At LiveIntentionally.org we encourage, challenge, and discuss how to create the life we want for ourselves rather than allowing circumstances and other people to dictate who we are, how we feel, and what we do. We do this by discussing books, inspirational stories, and life lessons.
What do you think?
Discussion
Since this is the first post in this series, go ahead and take a moment to introduce yourself in a comment. Tell us
- your name
- the name of your blog
- the URL of your blog
- the elevator pitch for your blog
- any thoughts or questions about elevator pitches
The Extra Mile
A few other things you can do to take your blog, other bloggers, and this project even further.
- Reply & give other bloggers feedback on their elevator pitches
- Tweet, share, & bookmark this post. (You could win a $25 gift card!)
- Write about your elevator pitch and/or about elevator pitches on your blog.
- Ask & answer questions about blogging but unrelated to elevator pitches in the forums.
288 Comments
I blog as "fringes" at freefringes.com, although most readers know my off-blog identity as well. My elevator pitch both on- and offline is personality driven. It's hard for me to sum up anything about me in only a few words, and I admire those who can do that for themselves. I am a writer, and my blog is a daily writing exercise. The common thread is my love for family, writing, books, movies and music, sometimes in interchangeable order. There are SEO crumbs on my blog designed for people surfing the 'net needing a humorous slant on parenting, special needs parenting and, sometimes, living with depression. We're all making it one day at a time, and I think my blog shows people how to embrace their imperfections.
Hello from the dry part of Tennessee, I am Chris McGrath (@DigitalMcGrath). I am a total slacker when it comes to blogging. However, I am hoping to change that in the next 31 days.
My blog can be found athttp://www.digitalmcgrath.com
My elevator pitch is:
The purpose of this blog it to talk about things web related. Wether it be social media, web development tools, WordPress, or any other web related topic. There will also be posts about me personally sprinkled in. Enjoy the ride!
I liked your post, adding the picture with the business card definitely adds another touch since people are so visual. I know that's one of things I need to improve upon with my blog is adding more pictures.
I wouldn't worry too much about taking away from the focus of the group. Most of us are writing faith based blogs b/c this is a faith based blog organizing it you know? But comparing jdeddins and trainingcrucible i'd say go with whichever u want to grow more. jdeddins blog has A LOT going on and I was kind of overwhelmed when I first went to it. ( My day job includes marketing and design stuff) So you might be able to focus and streamline it through this. But trainingcrucible sounds like something ur really passionate about and could probably have a lot of fun playing with and get just as much growth.
Hi, my name is Nolan Bobbitt and you can find my blog athttp://www.nolanbobbitt.com
My Elevator Pitch:
I am a pastor who had to leave ministry to learn how do effectively do ministry. For the last three years I have worked as a barista and shift manager for Starbucks. So many of the things that I used to think were important when I was a vocational pastor I now realize were a colossal waste of time and energy. As I seek to "re-invent" and re-imagine my voice as a blogger, I would like the opportunity to encourage full-time ministry professionals from the perspective of the guy who understands their calling and position (+15 years as a pastor) but knows the "other side" of trying to live out those messages in the real world!
Nolan, it's nice to "meet" you. I really enjoyed checking out your blog and look forward to reading more. Sometimes being in vocational ministry feels like a very lonely place that few understand. I'm intrigued by your perspective looking from the inside out and from the outside in.
Nolan, it's nice to "meet" you. I really enjoyed checking out your blog and look forward to reading more. Sometimes being in vocational ministry feels like a very lonely place that few understand. I'm intrigued by your perspective looking from the inside out and from the outside in.
Nolan, it's nice to "meet" you. I really enjoyed checking out your blog and look forward to reading more. Sometimes being in vocational ministry feels like a very lonely place that few understand. I'm intrigued by your perspective looking from the inside out and from the outside in.
Thanks for the thoughts. I have decided to focus on <a href="http://www.trainingcrucible.com” target=”_blank”>www.trainingcrucible.com for this 31 Days of Blogging. As I was thinking about the Elevator post I got to thinking about why I run, it's to help others. Every race I have run in the last year has been to support a charity. I hope to keep that up and do more races to help raise awareness about various causes that are important to me. I think have a more central focus (running) will help bring more people to site and encourage them to stay longer, versus have a blog that it reaching out in 4 different directions. It will make it easier to find something helpful.
Thanks for the thoughts. I have decided to focus onhttp://www.trainingcrucible.com for this 31 Days of Blogging. As I was thinking about the Elevator post I got to thinking about why I run, it's to help others. Every race I have run in the last year has been to support a charity. I hope to keep that up and do more races to help raise awareness about various causes that are important to me. I think have a more central focus (running) will help bring more people to site and encourage them to stay longer, versus have a blog that it reaching out in 4 different directions. It will make it easier to find something helpful.
Pingback: Creating my Elevator Pitch - | Scott Ayres
Hi there, my name is Rob Ross. I am a participant in the growing house (organic) church movement in Canada. I also coordinate Oikos Ministrieshttps://oikosministries.com .
I will be using this opportunity to design, redefine and realign what we are doing as a ministry. I have used the idea of an elevator pitch on our site and in my signature before but I would like to refine it. Basically the elevator pitch is "making disciples that make disciplemakers that multiply churches for God's glory". I am looking forward to seeing how this is going to become more focused and further refined as the course progresses. 😉
Wow!!! The internet is so powerful. Did you ready the 20 blogs OurChurch just did about sharing your faith onine?
Yep. And I was thankful to have the opportunity to guest blog for the series. Lots of great insight and information in the series.