Tagline Competition

In my continued effort to work on the direction of this blog and its ‘branding’, I now have come to the point where I am in desperate need of a tagline. (For those that don’t know, a tagline is similar to a slogan, only usually it tends to be a little more discriptive). Every blog or website should have a tagline, especially a blog like mine where the name doesn’t tell you much about the content.

In my search for the importance of taglines, I came across a post by Darren Rowse. In it he says,

“A tagline can be a very powerful part of your blog on a number of levels.

Firstly it can convey a strong message to your reader about the content that they’ll find if they decide to explore your blog. We know that readers make very quick decisions about whether they will stay or leave a page and so any way that you can quickly communicate them the benefits of your blog is important to put some thought into.

Secondly your tagline is often one of the first things that search engine spiders look at on your site because it’s usually at the top. We know that words at the top of a site have more weight than words at the bottom in terms of search engine optimization - so if you have a text tagline it might be worth including some keywords in it.

So the take home advice is to see your tagline as an onsite advertisement for your blog. You’re advertising the benefits of them staying to go deeper inside and perhaps even become loyal readers. As a result you want to capture their attention, communicate a message and include some keywords to help the search engines index you well.”

Infact, Darren’s tagline is, in my opinion, an excellent one; “Helping bloggers earn money“. Why is it good?

1. It’s accurate/up-to-date
2. It tells me concisely what the blog is about
3. It’s memorable. Primarily because it’s short, which is a bonus

Examples of bad taglines that break these points are (don’t be offended if you read this guys, just see it as my opinion or constructive criticism) -

1. Tim Challies uses the tagline, “Putting The Fun In Fundamentalism“.
It’s a good tagline in that it’s memorable, however it isn’t accurate in my opinion. Tim often deals with very potent Christian subjects, and most of his articles are on the serious side, and with that there isn’t much humour; which is kind of what I initially think of when I read the word ‘fun’. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t supposed to be negative. Tim’s blog is one of my regular reads. He writes excellent material and I wouldn’t want him to change at all, but his tagline doesn’t fit. Having said that, when he started out it may have been accurate, but over time at least, the blog no longer reflects this tagline as far as I can see, but I may be wrong.

2. Jemmille has been using the tagline, “Where Else Would You Possibly Want To Be?“, and it completely breaches my second point because it does not tell me what the blog is about at all. Thankfully, someone has already informed them and they are in the process of getting a new one.

3. Culture Shiok uses the tagline, “A day in the life of an Overseas Filipino Worker in Singapore“, and although it tells me about the blog, it’s far from being imaginitive or memorable. If the blog owner in question reads this, please see it as constructive criticism.

So my readers, I need a good tagline and I’m wanting your help. In return, the winner will have a choice from a selection of prizes. This is due to the widely diverse readership that I get, and I don’t like to exclude anyone

The prizes are any one of the following -

• One of my favourite Christian books on prayer, which ought to impact your life if you’re a Christian.
• A full copy of Taleen’s (my sister) Christian music CD (it’s not ‘professionally’ done, but here’s an example - ‘How Deep The Father’s Love‘. There are 10 tracks in total).
• A permanent link to your site on Armen’s Blog links page
• A free review of your site on Armen’s Blog
• A customised banner for your site (based on Armen’s limited capabilities) - risky!
• £10/$20 paid into your Paypal account

They aren’t spectacular prizes, but it’s my first competition, so depending on the interest, I may have other competitions with more substantial prizes.

I still have to fully decide how the winner will be selected. I may like one head and shoulders above the rest, and I’ll just pick it; or if I’m stuck, I may select a handful of the best and place them in a poll for my readers to choose.

Entries should be emailed to me via the Contact page and the closing date for entries is Monday 23rd of April 2007. That gives you just over 2 weeks. I will respond to all entries via email, so if you don’t get a reply within 48 hours, send it again. Please include your full name and the prize you’d like with your tagline entry. You can enter as many times as you like. Prizes that require posting include the postage price. If you’ve any questions, just ask.

Remember - please follow the three key rules and look at my content for inspiration. Note that my blog includes Christian sermons, biblical articles, daily life, past-times, fun, photography, personal videos, blogging, and Australia. This is what may make this quite difficult.

For bloggers - Obviously the more people that take part in this, the better chance I have in getting the best possible tagline. Therefore, I would really appreciate it if you wrote a brief post encouraging your readers to come over here and take part, linking to this post. In return, you will receive a direct link to your blog that will be placed near the top of my sidebar, and will remain there for the full month of April.

Now have a community spirit and God bless!

Want to read other articles? Try these...

• Tagline Competition Winner!
• Gone For The Weekend
• ‘Judge’ Darren for yourself…

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