#31WBGB: Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog

Welcome to Week 1 of 31 Weeks to a Better Genealogy Blog! If you are just joining us, you can read the kick-off post here.

This week’s topic and action item is to write an elevator pitch for your blog.

What’s an Elevator Pitch?

What’s an elevator pitch, you ask? It’s a brief overview that can be delivered in the space of an elevator ride (hence, the name). “The idea is that you have a short and sharp piece that you can say about yourself when the opportunity arises, instead of bumbling your way through explaining what your business does (and miss an opportunity).” ¹

The goal here is to tell people what you do and interest them in hearing more. I’ve done this task with my staff in my real-life job in the past. The hardest part for them has been getting past the corporate-speak and making their pitches personal. I think the challenge for us will be similar in that we need to move past the generic “I write about genealogy” into what really makes each of our blogs unique.

What Can You Do With An Elevator Pitch?

• Tag Line – a tag line, which is even shorter than an elevator pitch, can be a great way to hook new visitors to your blog. Writing the elevator pitch will help you create a compelling tag line.
• “About” page – conversely, an “About” page can be a longer version of an elevator pitch.
• Real-life Conversation – thinking back to Jamboree a few weeks ago, wouldn’t it have been great when meeting new people to say, “Hi! I’m Tonia Kendrick and I write Tonia’s Roots, which is about . . .” They might actually remember it. : )
• Business Cards – you could put your elevator pitch and/or tag line on your card. This is just one more way to make you stand out from the crowd.
• Signature Line – you already put your link in your email signature line, don’t you? Add the elevator pitch and it could motivate people to click on the link. You could do this with forums and message boards, too.

Tips for Writing an Elevator Pitch

• Define your audience – who are you writing for? You may have more than one elevator pitch that you use for different audiences.
• Keep it short – no more than 100-150 words. “Get to the point, eliminate unnecessary words and make it punchy!” ²
• Be energetic – show people that you are passionate about what you are doing.
• Know what you are trying to achieve – your goal is not tell everything about your blog, but to interest people in visiting – or staying – and reading.
• What tips do you have? – tell us in the comments.

Action Item(s)

• Spend some time this week developing an elevator pitch for your blog. If you already have one, take another look at it and refine it if necessary.
• Come back here and leave your pitch in the comment section. If you write a post about this activity, leave a link.
• If you are feeling particularly ambitious you might want to do more than one version. These could be for different audiences or they could be super-short (140 characters or less = tweetable!), regular length, and then an expanded version (in case someone says “tell me more”).

This Week’s Prize 

I’m excited to give away a copy of Family Reunion Organizer for Windows.*  Click on the link to see more about this program, which looks like it would be great for reunion-planners.

Here’s how to win.  Leave your elevator pitch (or a link to your blog post about your elevator pitch) in the comments section by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, July 9, 2011.  I’ll choose a comment number at random and the person who left that comment wins the prize!  Contest is only open to US residents.

*Disclosure:  I received this copy of Family Reunion Organizer as a prize sponsored by RootsMagic at the 2011 Southern California Genealogical Jamboree.  I am not affiliated with RootsMagic and receive no remuneration from them.

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