Blogging Lesson From a Good Bottle of Wine
Robert Goldstein is a food critic who wanted to separate divine wine taste from all that market hype on class and sophistication.
As it turns out, when wine lovers are asked to do a blind test, result shows that even if they would naturally go for an expensive bottle of wine, the $10 wine from America they’d normally ignore actually tastes better than a $150 Dom Pérignon.
So why people still going after that overpriced bottle?
Simple. Because society makes it look good, it must therefore taste good.
The same rules actually applies to blogging.
Take a look at a pro-blogger for instance. Beneath all that experience, great content, and connections to-die-for, there’s this one powerful thing that makes the difference – the public perception.
You see, it’s not enough that you’re good. You MUST be perceived to be good.
Of course, the disclaimer would always be that to be perceived as good, you must have high value to begin with.
The upward curve of every blogger happens when they’re starting to gather recognition.
Once that happens, your popularity can grow at an exponential rate. Not just an incredible amount of comments, but think of response posts like what people would normally do when a problogger inspires them with an idea. Or perhaps collaborations and more important contacts landing in your inbox.
How do you achieve this?
There is really no concrete formula or guide to show you the way, but here are some ideas to help you:
- Surround yourself with an air of professionalism – just like how imported wines would always brand themselves as the sophisticated kind. There’s this one time a female blogger experimented with what kind of twitter profile picture would gather more followers (or response). At first, her twitter profile pic seems like normal girl in her 20’s. Then there was a time she changed it to a smart-looking girl wearing glasses. However anti-feminist that might sound, she concludes it actually worked (the smart, geeky pic) made more people listen.
- Testimonials matter – the good wines are usually the ones your friends rave about. Unless you’re a food critic or a wine expert, you don’t just suddenly blurt a series of the best wines in the world. No. You rely on others. Go get yourself interviewed, if not, guest post. Do anything that’ll put you on a broader radar (like contests, sponsorships, joint ventures), pull those readers to your blog, and let them know you’ve got quality. Make people notice, make people talk.
- You need a good packaging – so maybe that well made bottle with its fine vintage detail that sparks our attention, maybe it’s that oak box that has that refreshing earthy smell, or maybe it’s that waiter with the nice bow tie who comes to deliver that expensive wine. Good packaging helps, it reminds you always that there’s quality somewhere in there. So here’s the tip: have a good blog theme, a custom one if possible. Have a great logo. When you have products to sell, don’t settle for cheap graphics. Make your readers know you’re out to put your best foot forward. Trust me, it helps.
This might sound a bit distant, but actually learning and trying to understand human psychology can go a long way.
Our readers, or maybe more importantly, our first time viewers rely much on their ability to make judgment calls.
If you’re blog doesn’t spark interest, then that’s just too bad. It goes the other way around, you can always use these things to your advantage. Your blog might not necessarily be like as expensive as a Dom Pérignon bottle, but at least look like it. With good content, of course.
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