I talked about the first 5 things to remember when introducing your blog here: http://www.socamom.com/soca/en/daily-blog-roll/401-qso-what-do-you-blog-aboutq-5-out-of-10-things-to-remember-when-introducing-your-blog. Here are the other 5 as promised!
6. What do you want them to remember?
If I am talking to a mom struggling to listen to me and wrangle a busy toddler, I want her to take away that I talk about parenting. If I hear a Caribbean accent, I want her to remember that I write about Caribbean American parenting. If I am talking to a PR representative, I want them to know that I am open to writing about brands that I believe will be of interest to my readers. There is no one answer for this, it really depends on the person that you are talking with – see numbers 1, 2, and 3!
7. Always have a list of 3 things that you write about in your short answer.
If you give people a list, they tend to remember better than if you give sentences that they have to pull words and meaning from then make their own mental list. Mine are – Caribbean American Parenting, technology, and product reviews. A good way to come up with your list is to look at your tags and categories, and see which ones have the most content. That is what you write about. Pick the top 3.
8. Memorize your short answer. Know that thing backwards and forwards.
When you are not confident when you answer the question, “what do you blog about,” the person who asked will not have confidence in your answer. The “uh” and the look up to the sky (I am guessing they are looking for help from above, but I can’t be totally sure), makes me think they are not completely sure what they are blogging about or why – and I am a blogger who knows how hard it can be to narrow down your blog and describe what you write about. Imagine if you are talking to someone who isn’t entirely sure what blogging is exactly. By the time you look up, sigh, and start with the “um”, they have already answered for you… and that answer is, “she doesn’t even know, does she?”
9. Have a list of secondary topics that you write about.
Once you have presented your first three topics, you may peak their interest, and they want to hear more. It may also happen that the first three topics are duds for them, but they are still interested in talking with you about blogging and what you do. Having a list of secondary topics that you discuss in your blog, that are more universally interesting, may make your blog interesting to an audience who may not have ordinarily visited your blog. For example, I am usually boxed in as a “mommmy blogger”, but I write about so many other things that my readership has more men than women, and quite a few single people with no kids read my blog as well.
10. Talk a little, listen a lot.
The reason I have a short answer to the question is so that I can get a feel for what they are thinking about the answer before I elaborate. Look for body language, listen change in tone of voice, and encourage follow up questions so that you can share the aspects of your blog that are interesting to both of you. Ask about what they do. Think of a post that you wrote that you can email them to keep the conversation going.
We blog because we have something to share – something that we think will help someone, inspire them, or just give them a much needed mid-day laugh. Use these tips to help you come up with your own way to share your writing with people that you encounter who are interesting in what you blog about.
