The message that you are sending to your readers is crystal clear – at least in your mind.
Are you sure that your readers are receiving the same message?
While you will get a fairly good feel for whether or not you are on the same page with your readers based on the type of comments that you receive, it never hurts to do a little more analysis.
What message am I sending to you?
Recently we looked at how important first impressions are to your success and being on the same page with your readers (that doesn’t mean you necessarily agree, just that everyone is hearing the same message) is equally important.
The word map above was created using Wordle, which is a cool little tool that generates word clouds, or word maps, from text that you provide. You can enter in actual text or provide a URL to your blog and Wordle will generate a word map that represents the words appearing on your blog, with greater prominence given to words that appear more frequently.
Looking at my word map, I see that the message that has been delivered recently has been focused on the following topics:
- blog
- comments
- readers
- affiliate
- time
This word map seems to accurately capture the message that I have been trying to send as we have been discussing how to increase comments on your blog as well as information related to affiliate marketing.
What message are you sending on your blog?
Create your own Wordle word map and see if you’re sending the same message that your readers are receiving. It would be fun to feature your word map message in an upcoming Speedlinking post, so be sure to let me know once you have your results.
While the output of the word map will change as you add more content to your blog, it will allow you to periodically check what message you are sending on your blog.
Are you receiving the same message that I am sending?
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
I see
1. Blog
2. Comments
3. Affiliate
4. Links
5. Question
That is interesting to see how different words pop out to different people – thanks for sharing!
That’s a neat tool. I’ve always wondered how you get those tag clouds you see on some blogs.
One suegstion, although its more related to search terms than a message – You could try writing more about ‘blogging’, as opposed to just ‘blog’. But I’ve found that search terms and message generally go hand-in-hand.
Yeah, I am not sure if it picks up the “blog” from the meta tags as I often include that on many of my posts. You are right though, “blogging” would probably be a better topic/word to use.
Wordle, what a sweet little tool.
The first 5 I noticed were:
1. Blogg
2. Comments
3. Readers
4. Link
5. Affiliate
Yeah, I have enjoyed tinkering around with it and testing out the results of various sites. Thanks for sharing what jumps out to you.
Nice tool. Thanks derek. I am at work at the moment so will attempt torun it a little later to see what I get.
Well…what did you get?
I ran this on my blog at http://blog.freeplaystationthree.com and got the following results
1. PS3
2. Amazon
3. Singstar
4. Free
5. Abba
I don’t know if I’d brag about that 5th one if I were you
Nicks last blog post..I Want To Use All Of My Phone’s Features
It’s because my one of my posts is about Singstar Abba and there are not many posts on there yet.
Not being a techie, let me just say that when I read your posts, your messages come to me loud and clear. I have not come across even one post in which I had any difficulty understanding the thrust of your message nor the emotions when they were talked about.
After I post this comment, I shall go to the link and see what it is all about. Thanks.
Nicole Prices last blog post..Good Deals on Hair Products
Nicole, thanks for that feedback and I am happy to hear that you’ve enjoyed playing around with Wordle. I appreciate hearing that my message is being received loud and clear.
Derek, what a lead! I do not know quite how to thank you for this lead. Despite being a rookie, this tool is so simple to operate that I found it easy and fascinating. Thank you. I intend making frequent use of it.
Nicole Prices last blog post..Good Deals on Hair Products
hi Derek,
Wordle is too cool. Is that map of your home page or one of your posts? I checked some of my stuff and I think I might be schizophrenic. Can we trade maps?
~ Steve, aka the apparently schizophrenic trade show displays guru
Steves last blog post..Balance
That was a map of my home page on the day that I did it. Since the posts on the home page change, the results will change slightly as well – but it is really fun to play around with.
For me, the words that popped out are words like “how”, “new”, “keep”, etc. Not really saying too much about anything, hehe…
Kelvin Kaos last blog post..Between the Lions: My Once (Now Second) Favorite PBS Show
Lol!
I played around with this awhile back (I think Damien posted about it) and it was pretty fun. I didn’t save any of the results at that time, but it might be fun to do it say weekly and compare the results over time?
Nicks last blog post..I Want To Use All Of My Phone’s Features
Right, as the results will continue to change with the front page of a blog – unless of course you stop updating your blog.
I can see the following
1) Comments
2) blogs
3) Link
4) Affilate
5) Derek
Dexters last blog post..OIO Publisher is Live in This blog
Hi there Dexter, thanks for sharing your insight into what terms stand out to you!
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