This is part of a series of posts on Blog Literacy from the writer’s perspective.

I don’t know about you, but when I land on a site for the very first time, I do a likkety-split thin-slice to get a gist of the writer’s purpose.

As a writer, we need to know what the reader is likely to do, and provide the pathways we want them to take. As a reader, we want to know what the writer’s "big idea" is at a glance.

Think about how we shop for books to get an idea of what your reader might instinctively do once they get to your site:

• A quick glance at the inside flaps;
• Scan the table of contents;
• See who gave advanced praise; 
• Maybe read a bit of the Preface or Introduction.

It helps us decide if we buy the book. I think readers do the same with blogs.

For me, I want to see: a face; a name; some kind of porch pitch about the purpose of the site (either a specific tag line or a blurb). All without having to scroll or click. But that’s me – and I visit alot of blog sites.

What do your readers see when they first land on your site?  Let’s go take a look — and keep in mind these things:

• The visitor may not be an experienced blog site reader
• They may enter in the middle of your site, not necessarily your home page
• They all know where the back button is…and can easily back out of your site with one click

Let’s take a look at a couple of blog sites and see if we can find their "big idea" in a thin-slice:

Susan W. Bird at Bird’s Eye View: A great job with a snappy title and a tag line telling me what she’s writing. A welcome smile and a short bio.  All above the fold. The only thing I miss is the categories (which can be like a Table of Contents).

Dan Schwabel at Personal Branding Blog: Dan does a spectacular job in branding himself across the blogosphere with comments, MyBlogLog and some great content. His banner tells me what I need to know. His picture and his bio is a click away, but they are easy to find.  Dig the way the category cloud makes it easy to see what he writes about (yep – personal branding) – though I’d like to see those categories up higher.

I get questions about ads quite a bit. I’m not, nor do I coach, professional bloggers. I help business people extend their voice or augment their business with blogs. Though I believe that subtle placement of advertising is fine, I’d caution (implore?) against putting any advertising above the fold.  As a reader, what would that tell you about a site? Probably that the advertising revenue is more important than the message, yeah?

As a blog writer, make it easy for your readers to thin-slice your site — then deliver what you promise.

Great bloggers will always keep the reader in mind, providing an easy path to the point — their Big Idea. I hope to show how reading and writing are reciprocal processes (sorta like talking and listening in a conversation, yes?).