WTF Blog Clutter: What to Call Your Feeds and Ads
In Unrelated Ads Angst and Feed Clutter, part of the WTF Blog Design Clutter series, I talked about how to name the ad and feed sections on your blog so your readers and visitors aren’t confused with jargon or misleading representation.
Many of you asked me what title or label should be used to lure your visitors into clicking on your ads and subscribing to your feeds without driving them away or confusing them. Let’s brainstorm some possibilities.
Naming Ad Sections on Your Blog
If you use a misleading title for your advertising or “sponsored” section, you can really upset your readers and visitors when they click through to an ad. That’s a sure way to lose visitors. You need to warn them, but you also need to entice them to click, if your blog is serious about making money.
Like most online advertisers, Adsense is very clear about what you can and cannot do with their ads, including the use of deceptive titles that infer the ads are not ads. You need an honest, transparent, yet motivating title for your ads.
“Visit Our Sponsors” is simple and generic, as is “Our Commercial Recommendations.” You can be blatant with “Advertisements” or “Ad sponsors” as long as that still complies with the terms of service for the advertiser.
What about something more appropriate to your blog’s topic?
If your blog is about cars, why not title them, “Drive Some Business to Our Sponsors.” If your blog is about cats, what about “Our Sponsors are the Cat’s Meow” or “Here Kitty Kitty! Shop Here!”
Contextual ad services require keywords near their ads and on the page, so why not add more by being clever, not deceptive. You cannot imply the links in the ads are publisher-created content, but you can say they are ads or sponsors with some imagination.
You can also color the background or the area around the ads to set them apart but also integrated into the blog’s design to draw the eye towards them without distracting from the content. There are many ways of highlighting your ads without words that helps the visitor recognize them. Research the guidelines the advertiser provides, as some do not allow graphics or design emphasis, and check their top revenue earners to see what they are doing.
Naming Feed Subscriptions on Your Blog
As featured in the article on feed clutter, I cited an article by Copyblogger about changing the title of your feed subscriptions from “Subscribe” to anything else could improve your blog’s subscription rate and help clean up the WTF confusion that term represents. If “subscription” implies payment, then what terms do you use to promote your blog feed?
The answer depends upon your reader’s familiarity with feeds. If they are familiar with feeds and feed readers, then all you need is the feed icon.
If they aren’t, what words can you use to get readers to sign up for your blog feed?
You can use phrases that link to your blog’s feed, or to a Page with a listing of your various feed options. Here are some phrases to consider:
- Keep up with my blog!
- Add this blog to your feed reader.
- Want to know how to keep up with my blog?
- Track this blog.
- Follow this blog.
- Follow me.
- Frequent Reports and Updates
- Follow me where I lead…
- Stay up-to-date
Again, be clever with the phrasing and match it to your blog’s purpose:
- Cat blog: Track this cat
- Auto blog: Take a trip with us!
- Nature/Outdoor blog: Take our hike!
- Travel blog: Track Our Travels
- Sailing blog: Chart Our Course With Us
- Medical/Health blog: Want a daily dose of My Blog?
Use the feed icon to add some visual hint and have fun with the all the possibilities. Got more suggestions?
