Let me start off this week with an apology. My goal for this year has been to write a single post each week on Monday night, and this week I completely strayed, just now getting to it on a Friday morning. That’s not to say I don’t have blog topics or ideas, it is just that life can sometimes get in the way when we let it. I had the time Monday to write, but did not succeed. I did at least transfer some of the better posts from my blogspot site to this one, but no new content was created. Looking back through those posts got me thinking about why I originally started writing this blog 14 months ago. Yes, I have a dream to one day run a small meadery that would provide enough income to keep our family afloat, but the origin of the blog was to create a reference set for the latest mead trends, be they experiments written about in forums, new publications from the mead, wine, and beer industry, or just funny anecdotes and stories. This week, I am going to stray from a post about making mead, to write about the things I have been thinking about the last few weeks. Let’s call it musings, episode 1. I will try to keep these types of posts minimal in the great scheme of things, but if you have any thoughts or would like me to continue in this vein, let me know. The URL for the site is www.terrapinbluffs.com after all, and although meadery is in the header, that doesn’t mean mead is the the only thing I will ever write about.

Musing Topic One: Blog Viewership

To this point, I haven’t done much to promote TBM other than mentioning it a few times on facebook and talking with friends about the content. I have created a twitter account, but my paltry 7 posts doesn’t inspire many people to follow me. And that’s ok. I have only been making mead for a little less than 5 years, so the authority with which I can speak on the subject dwarfs in comparison to some other blogs (I’m looking at you, Jack Keller, or Ricky and company at Groennfell Meadery, or Paul Reiss at The Meadist, or Chrissie Zaerpoor at Kookoolan World Meadery, or so many others I don’t have time to mention). So before I make that massive push to publicize my posts, I’ve preferred the stealth launch. But that doesn’t mean I don’t worry about why I should say or do to promote this blog and increase viewership.

I am extremely grateful that the friends who have found this site and make mead seem to come back, but being completely honest, my unique viewership over the last month was 19 visitors, with a total of 78 visits. And I’m pretty sure I myself account for half the visits, and at least 5 of the unique visitors (my laptop, my phone, my wife’s laptop, and both work computers). My viewership is growing, as I only had 7 viewers as of April 1, but the growth is disappointing. It bothers me more than I am often willing to admit. So, I spend much of my time thinking about the best ways to promote my site and get more people to read, while simultaneously doing everything I can to not tell people. It is a very interesting dynamic. But in the last few weeks there has been some great content posted about starting blogs, finding readers, and one day making the blog itself profitable. These ideas are universal, and worth a look if you blog, or ever intend to. (Note, my intent is not to make money off of the TBM blog, so I have avoided ads, and will do so for the foreseeable future. Who wants to pay for advertisement when there are only 19 viewers anyway?)

ProBlogger.net. In general, this is a great site for learning about what is necessary to run a blog, how to set it up, and what to expect in those first few weeks when no one is reading. About a month back, they published a Beginner’s Week series that is well worth a read if you are just starting out, or looking for new ideas on where blogging can take you. I especially liked the Katie 180 Success Story, and found it extremely relevant as I have another friend who occasionally posts on her own blog (Random Thoughts of a Random Dietician) about similar nutrition information.

Entrepreneur.com. When I can find a few minutes at work to take a break, I am usually perusing articles at Entrepreneur.com (and occasionally Inc.com). The entrepreneurial topics range across all business sectors, and have resulted in me keeping a folder at work of the inspiring articles I have read. Following Entrepreneur has been especially helpful the last few weeks, as they have posted five new articles in their 2nd quarter startup series about starting a blog as a business. And if you poke around a little more, you will find some other great articles, like this one about long-form content and its importance in gaining social shares and increasing backlinks to your site (if you aren’t familiar with google’s strategy for ranking websites, backlinks are one of the most important parts of the algorithm). I have some great ideas to use this on my site in the coming weeks, so look out for some long-form posts like last week’s analysis of a meadmaking recipe.

SmartPassiveIncome.com Pat Flynn has done a great job explaining the ins and outs of online business at SmartPassiveIncome.com. What I really like about his take on online business is the importance of getting to the first page in google’s search results. This especially helps with increasing ad revenue, as few people are likely to go beyond the first search page results, let alone beyond the first two or three available links. That doesn’t apply to my site, but it may to yours. If you are interested in online business, start with his Passive Income 101. Pat is also extremely open with his business, and posts monthly income reports highlighting what you can earn if you follow some of his best practices. Awesome stuff!

Musing Topic Two: Designing a Logo

If you have been following along, you might have noticed that when this site first launched I had an About Us section at the top linking to the origin of the TBM name and its logo. I have since deleted the About Us section, incorporated some of the ideas into the homepage, and now have recopied the name and logo pages as archived blogs from my blogspot site. I mention this because to this day I am still not 100% satisfied I have chosen the best name and logo, so I find myself continuously wanting to think up new names or at the least change the logo design. For those especially perceptive readers, to this end you might have noticed me changing background colors on the website a time or two. But what does this mean for you?

When you start a blog, or a business, it is nice to have confidence that your branding is finalized. Me, I spent months in the analysis paralysis stage before I finally decided to just go forward with Terrapin Bluffs Meadery as the name, knowing I could always change it in the future. This change may not be easy, so it is a good idea to spend as much time as possible finalizing your name and logo. Just don’t let it delay that go live stage, as so many things change once you finally start writing and find your unique voice.

Again from Entrepreneur.com, there have been some recent articles discussing the importance of logo design and branding. When you think of the color of brands, do you think about why those colors were chosen, or what they mean to your audience? Jeremy Smith’s article, How to Use the Psychology of Color to Increase Website Conversions, is a great primer on understanding the importance of these decisions as they relate to your audience. If you are marketing for men, they are most likely to prefer blue, green, and black; women are most likely to prefer blue, purple or green. And avoid orange and brown for both sexes, as these are likely to be the most disliked colors of the bunch. You should also check out this infographic, Color, Value, and Evolution of Logos, put together by Ruby Media Corporation, to get a good look at how large corporations have designed their logos and what the color choices say about them.

Smart Passive Income also has a great post discussing important factors when considering a website re-design. The Mega-Details Behind the New Design of The Smart Passive Income Blog is a great reference for those wondering what impacts your web design could have on your viewership and conversion rates. And it is important to remember that when you make these changes, if you are in it for the money, aesthetics and personal choice may not be the only factors to consider.

I mention these articles because over the next few weeks/months I am planning to experiment with the logo colors and a possible complete redesign. While I like the logo as it stands, the striking contrast of the yellow text on a pure black background bothers me. Printed with an inkjet for an iron on t-shirt patch (to this day, one of my favorite Christmas presents, given to me by my wife in 2013), the colors come out faded and more natural. On a computer screen, however, they come off artificial. I’d like to make the logo colors more natural, like the actual colors of the diamondback terrapin, specifically the centrata subspecies native to the coastal Carolina south to north Florida. It may even help with getting readers, as the dominant colors I am looking at are green and light blue (preferred by both men and women!), with accents of brown and grey-black (centrata terrapin shells are typically green to brown, skin is light blue to grey with dark grey to black spots and patterns). Check out some terrapin images here to get an idea.

Conclusion

And with that said, I am going to leave you with one final link to another entrepreneur.com article, 5 TED Talks That May Change Your View on Life, posted Tuesday. A great way to finish the week if you haven’t seen them already.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments section. I’d love to hear your thoughts on attracting blog viewership and logo design or redesign. Thanks for reading!