What’s Liz Doing at Performancing?

When I first started blogging, it was easier. Technorati indexed something near 12 million blogs, not the 60 million it does now. Blog Networks hadn’t really started. Content theft wasn’t a major problem. I had 20+ years of writing experience. I had managed major print and online publishing efforts that were produced for International markets.

It still took me 21 days to get my first comment.

I left a few of my own, and few people followed me home. One was blogger who beautifully described what the blogosphere was like back in summer of 2005.

I’m beginning to find that having a blog is akin to having a village store. You have the regulars that stop in on a regular basis to get their usual wares and to catch up on anything new. And then there’s the new person in town who stops in for a look see. The new person might get a couple of the regulars curious to the point where one asks, “Who’s that.” To which the reply is, “Don’t know, someone passing through I guess.” As for my blog, I’m glad you stopped by to have a read and for your kind response.

That’s what it was like, back in days when we had time.

But now . . .

In just a brief one-twentieth of a second–less than half the time it takes to blink–people make aesthetic judgments that influence the rest of their experience with an Internet site.

–Kamakshi Tandon
REUTERS, Internet users judge Web sites in less than a blink
Jan. 17, 2006

A twentieth of a second.

Today everyone is a reluctant reader. Publishers who waste our time with text that is

too dense to read without a machete,

too broken up by ads to have the energy to find our way through,

• too distracting to hold our attention
• too apologetic, self-serving, or link-begging, self-promoting, “give me a break” unaware
• too many colors, too many type faces, too many gizmos, gadgets, and widgets, to attend to what’s being said

have no idea how fast we click away leaving their content unread.

My career for the last couple of decades has been getting readers to want to read.

I’m going to show you how I do that.