It’s time. All rise.
Blogger: Alex Parr
Site: alexparr.wordpress.com
Length is everything. So they say.
Alex says: When I entered social media I was advised that it would be a good idea to do a blog – then I discovered Twitter and I still wasn’t sure whether this was the way to go, but after lots of persistence, I dipped my toe in the water. The purpose of the blog is to write about mastermind groups, let people know a little about me and hopefully draw them to my website to build the Brains-Trust empire. My difficulty is wondering why on earth people would be interested in reading what I had to say and how I was going to find anything interesting to talk about?
Mission: To grow a personal brand revolving around making profitable connections between businesses and solving their problems through Mastermind Groups.
The Verdict
This is a smashing site to start with. Two pages, simple layout. Let’s put it under the microscope…
Title: Mind over Matter – Looking at the Brighter Side of Life. Subhead – I always think that you can have a positive approach to whatever you do.
Ok here’s where I’m at with this. Whenever you’re selling anything: yourself, a company, whatever – the stuff that goes between your <title> tags is critical. What does this title say to you?
If you’re using a blog to vent your personal spleen, you may as well use your name. Your name is your brand (ergo alexparr.wordpress.com). So therefore, capitalise on it. If you’re known for what you do, stick with your name. If you want greater brand recognition, throw in some relevancy to your expertise and passion. And keep it short. And memorable, if you can. Something you could also replicate across your business collateral would be advantageous. Alex Parr > Market Matchmaker or Alex Parr > Building Business Relationships would work a treat.
I might also mention the funereal main picture. This is so not Alex’s personality. Alex is effusive, bubbly, at times irreverent. Those are her key traits. Those strengths are what make people gravitate to her. Do you really want to come to this site to weep and contemplate a big bunch of tablets?
Main content: Take a look at the main story, above. And the length of the home page, left. There’s, umm, quite a lot here, right? A lot of space taken up. But how much of it is compelling, creates motivation to take action? How much is practical, passionate, peerless?
I think the messaging here is confused. There are loads of pictures of snow, below an essay on the merits of Mastermind Groups. Everything has a place, for sure – but the magic bullet is signposting.
Reduce the number of posts on the home page. Change full story to excerpt so you can still show a good range of stories in a tighter space (really useful plugin that achieves this here). One quick tweak to this blog: change the Public name of the user so it’s Alex Parr, not alexparr. More friendly, more businesslike. More logical.
Furniture: Email subscription, Twitter updates, Blogroll. Blogroll – argh! Please please please at least change this name to ‘Fave sites’ or ‘Inspiring sites’ or something that doesn’t relate to an ironic geek joke from the 90s…
Important issue to consider, here. Do you want to be seen as going the personal or professional route? If personal, and you don’t like tinkering, the wordpress.com option is cool. If you want a bit more oomph and to look less tiny, more titan – go self-hosted. Raft of options available here.
About page: Great information, neatly aligned. But why oh why do you let people comment on your fixed information like this? Remove comments on pages straight away! It’s simply a case of going to your dashboard, selecting Pages and then clicking Quick Edit below the About page. And disabling the Comments option for the page. Simples.
What’s missing: Contact page. ‘Flow’. Think about the actions you want your readers to commit to at your site. They may never visit again. So make your calls to action as strong and as potent as they can be.
In summary: Alex wants to create excitement through her blog, to build on her reputation as an outstanding connector. To do this, it’ll take more thought about what her visitors want. She can do this by talking to her existing clients, to find out why they attend Mastermind Groups, what their principle pain points are that she can address in her professional role. Alex has a Brains-Trust site that talks about her work. It is crucial she integrates both sites in one place so visitors don’t miss out on either. Content is outstanding – so why not get it out there and make it shine?
Alex, over to you. Let us know how you progress.
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