Blog Mission Makeover – a Case Study

Jeff Lilly of Druid Journal is among the first to offer feedback on my Subscriber List-building strategies. Beyond just a glad-handing testimonial, Jeff has written a valuable peek into examples of how — exactly — he’s applying the Blog Marketing Checklist to make-over his blog’s mission with focused intention.

Build Your Blog Subscriber List ebook tutorial
Check out the description of what this tutorial covers.

Unlike my Blog Marketing Critiques, Jeff presents something more along the lines of a Case Study — rather than presenting my advice, Jeff has taken my detailed checklist and used it to evaluate his own blog Druid Journal. The main reason I’ve asked for his permission to publish some of our behind-the-screens conversation is because it presents a real-world working example that beats my general, canned, hypothetical templates.

Jeff eloquently breaks down his process for others to learn from. Yeah, this is kind of like when the teacher asks the guy with the A+ paper to stand up and read it in front of the class — but there are genuine reasons why it’s such an effective presentation…
: )

Jeff Lilly writes:
It took me a while to get through the whole thing (there is a lot of great stuff in there!) and digest it.

I was amazed to see that bits of advice you’d given me long ago were even more useful and meaningful when placed in the larger context. And my blog is in a different place now; there are some things I’m ready to do now, ready to take advantage of, that I wasn’t before. The blog mission statement is the biggest one there… A couple of days ago, when I sat down to try my hand at the blog mission statement, out it came:

Druid Journal Mission Statement

For the spiritual searcher who feels called or connected to Nature and the Ancient World, my articles and recordings provide spiritual guidance, inspiration, and beauty, by fostering communication, openness, groundedness, and a sense of childlike awe.

Thinking further, I could see how the name “Druid Journal” captures this larger statement in just a couple of words:

• DRUID: Nature and the Ancient World; spiritual guidance, inspiration, beauty; groundedness.
• JOURNAL: Communication, openness.

And it was easy to create the mid-length version, too:

Druid Journal: Guidance and inspiration from Nature and the Ancient World.

Capture More Subscribers
The bottom line is that I’m finally figuring out why people should subscribe to my blogs. And now that I know, I can remind them of it, tell them about it, explain it in different ways, organize my content around it, and generally make it more visible, so that everyone who visits will know why they should subscribe, too!

Employ a Squeeze Page
Something else I really liked was that you laid out in black and white what a “squeeze page” is, and why you’d want one. I’ve seen yours up, and wondered how useful it really is; now I see, and it’s on my “To Do” list.

Develop an Irresistible Incentive
Your ideas for subscriber incentives were very inspiring. I’ve been kicking around plenty of ideas, and even decided on a couple (without implementing them yet…). You helped me winnow them down (throwing out ideas that were either unworkable or not compelling enough bait) and inspired me on a couple of others.

I want to emphasize again that I really loved the mixture of How-to with Slade’s Voice. The Build Your Blog Subscriber List Tutorial flowed beautifully, like a guided tour.

Now, back to Slade…

On-going Case Studies Series
Jeff Lilly has agreed to come back and report on other changes he implements on Druid Journal and the thought process behind the improvements.

What’s on your Blog Building To-Do List?
Please contact me via the form on my About Page if you’d like to share how you’re using the PageCoach Tutorials and how the tips, techniques, and strategies on Spiritual Blogging have impacted your blogging mission.

Slade Roberson is an intuitive counselor, ATP®, professional blogger, and the author of Shift Your Spirits, Automatic Intuitive Response, and the PageCoach Problogging Tutorial Series. Slade on Blogging shares behind-the-screens internet marketing, self-publishing, and blogging strategies with other personal development writers, coaches, and healing arts practitioners.