One of the most overlooked items on a blog is the tagline. As with any great company, website or personal blog, the blog’s tagline creates an atmosphere and first impression for your readers, but most bloggers do not think about it past the time they are filling in the blank while setting up a new Wordpress install.
Your blog’s tagline tells your new and existing readers where they are and what they can expect in a very few amount of words that is readily seen throughout all of your blog. That is very powerful and it should be thought of carefully as it is an essential part of your branding.
That said…I need to tell on myself a little bit.
While I have always thought about taglines in all aspects of my businesses, I always left one out. While working on a new project for Bike198, my print designer (RegularJoe) and I knew we had to come up with something because this new apparel project needed to have it included. I shot him over an email throwing some ideas on the wall, but it was during a long climb in the north Georgia mountains on a humid Saturday morning on our road bikes as the sun was breaking through the low level clouds at the top of the mountain peaks…he came up with it…
“I like what you came up with, but you know what I was thinking? How about ‘Live the Ride’?”
The moment I heard it…I knew it fit perfectly. It spoke to the way of life, obsession with bikes/parts and the desire to get out on a ride every chance we get that encompasses everything that is Bike198. When new readers hit the page, they will get an emotional feeling (read what David Risley says about emotion and blog success) that portrays the site in a perfect manner. “Live the Ride” was born and we are now integrating it into the site and new projects.
What Should A Great Blog Tagline Do?
A great blog tagline should give your readers a quick glimpse into what your blog is about during that split second interaction with your logo. When you are developing your branding and how you want your blog to appear to outside readers, a blog tagline can go a long way in converting new readers because they will know who you are and what you are about as soon as they land on the page.
A great blog tagline should have several characteristics for success.
- Should be short and to the point to prevent confusion (ideally no more than 5 words if you can swing it).
- A blog tagline should be factual about your site’s content so new readers now what to expect from your blog as soon as they land on the page.
- The tagline should have an emotional attachment to create atmosphere and community around your brand (ex. Ramped Up Pro Blogging in RobbSutton.com makes you feel like you are going to increase your success, traffic, income, etc.)
- Your blog’s tagline should be original.
- The tagline should not change multiple times (it is as important as not changing your logo).
- Ideally…it should be placed with or close to your logo.
Some examples to get you off and rolling:
- PCMech: Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On
- TutsPlus: Power Up Your Skillset
- Shoemoney: Skills to pay the bills.
- YouTube: Broadcast Yourself
- Steve Pavlina: Personal Development for Smart People
- Apple: Think Different
- Visa: It’s Everywhere You Want To Be
A successful blog tagline (much like logo design) is often the easiest/hard thing to come up with for your blog. When read, it looks like it was easy to formulate as it just seems to fit. When developing, it can be one of the harder aspects of your branding to brainstorm and get right.
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