Getting the static out of an elevator pitch for your blog.
Finally settling down at the blog to take on the first day of ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog with the Yeah Write community. Never mind I’m sitting on a couch in a nice living room, not my own, as my daughter’s trumpet and her teacher’s horn serenade me.
This is too important to miss.
Day 1 assignment: Write an elevator pitch for your blog.
What the heck is this blog about? What is my message? My mission?
Good grief. I went to my first blogging conference in May. Lots of fun. Lots of handing out of business cards and lots of questions, “So what is your blog?”
“My blog is called South Main Muse.”
This is when I started to realize that it makes no sense. Well, no sense to anyone who doesn’t live in my small town. And to narrow that massive pool to an even smaller subset, it probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone not living in Morgan County, Georgia reading the local paper.
You see for five years, I had a column South Main Muse. I live on South Main Street and I wrote humorous observations of small town life from the vantage point of my porch on South Main Street.
Makes perfect sense if you lived in Morgan County and got the local paper.
Guess the internet is a lot bigger than that. They don’t call it the World Wide Web for nothing.
Makes the elevator pitch pretty important.
Descriptive words that spring to my mind.
Midlife, small town, family, chaos, inspire, succinct, finding humor in the every day.
Hmm.
What about . . .
Midlife crazy from a porch on South Main Street.
Don’t know. Any suggestions?
I’m with you. I started trying, but then realized it’s a lot harder than i thought. i like all your adjectives.
Off my rocker on South Main Street.
Ramblings from the rocker on the porch.
Writing from small town crazy.
sorry just playing around. it was easier than working on mine. 😉
I love it Courtenay. Free associate away. It’s like I’ve been staring a bug for so long my eyes can’t focus on the wings. The antennae. I love thoughts from a fresh perspective.
Midlife crazy from a porch on South Main Street. I would absolutely read that! I think short and sweet. It doesn’t have to include everything we’ve ever written just has to snag an interest and I think that line does it.
Thanks Zoe. I do need to come up with a longer explanation — the exercise gives us up to 150 words. But a sentence is about all I could come up with today. 🙂
I do love that tag line, Jamie!
You blog is like a porch that I want to sit on as well. So approachable, friendly, supportive and what I imagine Southern Hospitality to be like.
I think the sentence you came up with is a good start – all you need to do is figure out who you want to write for and what you want to accomplish with your blog and you’ve got it 🙂
I like your tagline a lot–it gives an instant idea of your point of view. Maybe add something about small town life as well?
I’m a small town girl myself. Based on that pitch.. I will definitely be back to read more. I had no idea that was even something you could even DO in a small town. I’m interested. 🙂
Hey – thanks for stopping by my blog, that also doesn’t seem to have any sort of rhyme or reason – ha ha. I got a suggestion to try out the Yeah Write thing…..and I am afraid.
Maybe I’ll saunter on over there. See what it’s all about.
You and I have a propensity for porches in common. 🙂
Doesn’t every town have a Main Street? and wouldn’t South Main always be a little friendlier than North Main?! Haha! You are more than just “midlife” though…you have a big girl perspective….irreverent and holy, silly and sage. And on your porch, lit up by candles and littered with bicycle parts, I imagine you keep fireflies in a jar and wine in a tumbler and regale your friends with stories and parables-revealing the heart cry/laughter of these years! Keep up the good work and thanks for the transparency!
I think you’ve got something there with the idea of your old column, sitting on your porch on South Main to the World Wide Web of today. Are there parallels — universal stories that we can all relate to regardless of small town or big city dwellings?
Thanks Laura.
Well I like it as is. I don’t think you need to change it. I like the commenter’s point about doesn’t every town have a Main Street. But I’m going to admit the dumbest thing on my part, that even though I knew you didn’t live in MAINE, I have been reading MAINE all this time. So I didn’t “get” the title as it applied to your blog and thought maybe you lived in South MAINE once upon a time. So you accomplished you mission with me today with MAIN Street. You have full permission to reply, “Well DUH!” 😉
Midlife crazy….works for me! 🙂 Love what you came up with and the beginnings you have. It is hard to describe what a blog is about…at least it has been for me. I’m working on narrowing mine down a bit for the elevator schpeel(how do you spell that?) as well. I lack confidence it throwing it out there and owning it.
KC
Does anyone else get that Journey song stuck in their head every time they hear “small town”? Yeah, I know I’m a total dork.
I always took South Main to be a street, so I don’t need clarification with that. It’s also a universal street, which broadens the appeal — it feels very much like an everywoman blog. That works really well with your header (OMG — the look on your son’s face is too adorable — LOVE IT!!).
Journey — “Just a small-town girl”living in a lonely world. And also John Mellencamp. “I was born in a small town.. ” that one is the one I think of. I love that the “every woman” comes through to you. That is always what I think. If I’ve thought this thought or done this stupid thing — or have managed to conquer fears or weaknesses to do something — I hope that others can be encouraged or inspired to take that first step.
We all have to conquer that fear of putting it out there. But KC I think you do your niche VERY well. I wish I could narrow my focus like your craft and family blog. And you do it so professionally. I just like to write. :).
I’m glad I’m not the only who misread your title as “South Maine.” I finally realized my error when you kept talking about Georgia.
Still, I appreciate the explanation of where in the world South Main is.
South Maine would not be bad. But alas I am a few miles south. And it’s very hot and humid on South Main today.
I thought ‘turtle wrangler’ said it all! 🙂
I did that too! So this post was very eye opening. Now I’m very curious about your small town Georgia life.
I like it. It feels personal, like I know something about you. And it has an energy to it. It’s alive. Now I need to work on mine!
You love jani.