Purple Cows Make Great Bloggers

If you are involved in the marketing scene at all then you have no doubt heard of Seth Godin and his purple cow theory. His theory in a nutshell is that you can take your business (or blog) to new heights by differentiating yourself from your peers.If you are looking at a field of cows and 1 of them is purple, then chances are that is the one that will draw your eye.This theory has a LOT of merit when it comes to the world of blogging.

Keep reading to find out why.

All Visitors Enter Here

Readers find their content on the world wide web in such a number of various ways that it would be in impossible task to list them all. Some readers use Google, some use Stumble, some use Digg, some use social services like Blog Catalog or MyBlogLog. They arrive a number of different ways, arriving is easy, getting them to stay is hard.

Let’s just take two examples of popular methods being used right now and that would be StumbleUpon and let’s say Entrecard. I must admit I am not the biggest fan of Entrecard traffic but it is a perfect example for this article.

If you are not familiar with either then you probably shouldn’t even bother reading this article but you can read about Entrecard here and StumbleUpon here.

In a nutshell they are both social media services that can bring a large amount of traffic to your site on a daily basis. They use very different methods but for the end user (the reader) they are the same.

Using either of these services a reader might blink onto your site for just a few seconds. They will form a first impression of your site based on nothing more than the appearance. Instantly they will decide whether it is a blog they might like to read or a blog that isn’t worth the time.

Hold that thought and let’s talk about visual appeal for a second.

The Halo Effect

Visual appeal has been studied to no end and you can find a number of studies on the net about the affects that your site appearance has on readers. You can read in detail about one of these studies at this site but I have summarized it for you below in the quotes.

“The speed at which users form value judgments of web pages precludes much cognitive thought. The users tested had an emotional reaction to home pages that they could not control. “

“This pre-cognitive “affective reaction” is a physiological response to what they see on the screen - a gut reaction.”

“This carry over of first impressions to other attributes of products is sometimes called the “halo effect,” or cognitive “confirmation bias” where users search for confirming evidence and ignore evidence contrary to their initial impression. People want to be right, and tend to look for clues that validate their initial hypothesis.”

“…the strong impact of the visual appeal of the site seemed to draw attention away from usability problems. This suggests that aesthetics, or visual appeal, factors may be detected first and that these could influence how users judge subsequent experience…. Hence, even if a website is highly usable and provides very useful information presented in a logical arrangement, this may fail to impress a user whose first impression of the site was negative.” - (Lindgaard 2006)

One Chance to Make A First Impression

So if we agree that appearance has a big impact on people’s first reaction to a site, where and how does this affect you? Well recall our Stumble and Entrecard examples. These readers come across your site for just a few seconds before they are faced with a decision to either stay and check it out a bit or head on to the next site.

Stumblers are on the prowl for content that grabs their attention while Entrecarders are chain dropping feverishly hoping to build up enough points to purchase ad space on Entrecard sites.

These users can easily see a hundred blogs or more in an hour. How do you convince them to stay and check yours out or maybe grab your feed to check you out later when its more convenient?

It should be obvious…..you need to have a purple blog.

The Purple Blog

What makes a purple blog? A purple blog is a different blog… different in a number of ways. Here are a few suggestions.

• Customize your theme - Don’t use an out of the box free theme without tweaking it and making it your own. Also their are thousands and thousands of free themes….many of them hideous. Don’t pick one of these. There is something to be said for the themes that you see frequently, they are popular because they look good. Don’t try so hard to be unique that you use an ugly theme. An off the shelf theme and a custom logo will look pretty sharp and make you 100% unique to the readers eyes.

• Logo - A custom designed logo can make a tremendous difference in the first impression of your site. You can go to the DP forums or Sitepoint and get a logo designed by a graphic artist for 50 bucks or less. A small investment if you want to purpleize your self. If you’re handy with Photoshop then you can make your own for free.

• Advertising - A source of controversy for many bloggers. Readers tend to think negatively of ads ESPECIALLY if they are overdone. If you have twenty 125 blocks down the sides of your blog followed by rows of adsense, flash units, blinking lights, music etc then the first impression will definitely be negative. Use advertising sparingly and make sure it’s appearance fits the theme of your blog.

• Color Selection - This may be a part of your theme appearance but be aware that colors invoke reactions in people’s subconscious mind. Blue is known to have a calming effect while red invokes excitement etc. I am oversimplifying it and people react differently but it is safe to say keep your color selections on the soft and warm side rather than bright red or orange etc. You can read all you want to know about colors affect on your emotions here.

• Photos - Blogs that cleverly use pictures in their posts are a million times better looking than blogs that don’t. Pictures add personality and a flair to blog posts that make them much more entertaining to read and more visually appealing on first glance. Be sure that they tie into your content or are related in some way.

What Can Purple Do For Me?

The goal of being purple is to get the reader to take the time to read your content. So be aware that simply being purple won’t make you the next blog superstar. At best it will hook the passerby long enough to get them to give you a look over. By affording you the opportunity to showcase yourself then your appearance has done it’s job.

Your appearance becomes much less important once you earn the readers trust and confidence and branded yourself as an authority to them.

Purple Examples in Everyday Life

Once you recognize the affect of being “purple” then it will start to make more sense. Let’s take a look at a few everyday examples of where ordinary things or people became “purple.” In many cases becoming purple took them to new heights of recognition.

Dennis Rodman was at one time a no-name, second rate basketball player that barely anyone who wasn’t an avid fan had even heard of. He literally turned himself purple by differentiating himself in a number of ways.

The way he dressed, the way he acted, who he socialized with etc. Granted he probably isn’t a blogger but you get the idea. Nobody to somebody based on his appearance. Very purple.

Who would think that the plain jane average looking gal on the left would develop into one of the most controversial and well known performers of all time. Madonna not only transformed the way she looked but the way she acted and the way she talked and became a household name.

Very Purple.

Hulk Hogan at one time was a little known wrestler wrestling on one of the obscure leagues that exist in the shadows. He developed himself into a superstar by differentiating himself from his peers. The blonde hair, feather boa, 22 inch pythons all gave him a brand. Muscle bound freaks abound in pro-wrestling and most of them you couldn’t pick out in a lineup. Millions around the world know Hulk Hogan at once glance. Purple? Yep.

Conclusion

Even the term Purple Cow is an example of being purple. The topic we have covered is no different than discussing branding yourself but branding doesn’t have a hook. It isn’t unique or different and comes across kind of stuffy. How to be a Purple Cow makes you wonder what the heck this guy is talking about. It grabbed your attention in a way that branding simply does not.

The three examples I gave above have absolutely nothing to do with blogging but everything to do with becoming purple. In all three cases they were ordinary run of the mill people who transformed themselves into mega superstars by becoming purple.

They are purple in their appearance and they are purple in the way they act. Is their a lesson to be learned from these 3 purple cows? Only if you might have a tinge of purple yourself. Some bloggers are always destined to be a black and white cow.

Are you a purple cow in the making?