Saturday, July 27, 2013

Measuring Your Content Stripe like Tequila

First of all, I know that ads are the most popular way to monetize your blog. 

But when I go to a blog, I want to read content.  As monetization increases less and less of the blog screen is devoted to actual content.   With some blogs the amount of content has been reduced to a continually thinning stripe down the page.   Even though the saying is “You can’t be too rich or too thin” your content stripe really can get so narrow that it lacks value.     Do you aspire to write the next infomercial, or are you writing "must-read" content?  

I suggest we measure the content stripe the way I measure how much tequila I am consuming – using the width of my fingers.   Three to six fingers of tequila – nice buzz.     Nine fingers of tequila – difficulty talking.   Twelve fingers of tequila – difficulty walking.   Fifteen  fingers – who remembers?

Now look at your blog on the screen.  (No cheating by using an extra-wide screen!)    Put three fingers up on either side of the screen.     How much content is visible and how much advertising?   Now try six, eight, etc.   Keep in mind like tequila, the more fingers you have, the less you remember and the less the readers get for their viewing investment.


For some of you it may be faster to reverse the measure.   If you only are giving me three fingers of content, I’ll be finding another bartender.  

1 comment:

  1. I have other issues when it comes to monetizing my blogs (Yes more than one), But you make an excellent point. I don't want to struggle through adds to find content.

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