Getting Blog Readers to Convert –
Say Hello to PAT

Jan 18, 2008
12 Comments

Welcome to My First SlideCast

This post contains a SlideCast. If you are viewing this in a feed reader and don’t see the SlideShare player immediately below, please visit the original post or SlideShare to view it. All you have to do is click on the play button, just like a video… except you can also go to the previous and next slides if you want to.

PAT: Permission, Attention, and Trust

Getting Traffic is Only the Half of It

There are more than enough posts published in the blogosphere on how to increase traffic and promote your blog, but fewer on converting your readers. Conversion is when a visitor takes the action we most want her to: she buys something, signs up for our newsletter, clicks on an ad or an affiliate link. I’m sure you’ve seen desperate television commercials that attempt to get you all excited about a product so that you will abandon all common sense and CALL THE NUMBER ON YOUR SCREEN RIGHT NOW! That doesn’t even hardly work for television, anymore (note the rise of the long-form infomercial and of home shopping programming). It sure as hell doesn’t work on the web.

So what does? PAT. Who’s PAT? Well, PAT’s not a person, at all. PAT is three related concepts: permission, attention, and trust. How acquire them and leverage them in order to improve conversion is what this is all about. This is the tactic and approach that I take with what I do here on Remarkablogger.

PS – This is my first slidecast, a new offering from the wonderfully cool service SlideShare. As such, it’s just a wee bit rough around the edges. I promise my next one will be better. I wanted an alternative to just “talking head” videos, something that engaged the eyes and ears together and still had interactivity. Hope you like it. You can embed them just like YouTube videos, so feel free to embed it in your own posts if you want to.

  • Great content! This will definitely come in handy when considering future conversions.

    Not so sure I like the slidecast for this topic. For more visual concepts it would probably work more effectively.

    But I wasn't familiar with SlideShare before, it might come in handy in the future. Thanks for the heads up!
  • @ Michael - Let's you and I be rebels ;)

    But I hear you on the shiny new toy. I'm the same :)
  • Michael Martine
    @James: Well, lucky for you my blog is mostly text. :) I love learning new stuff and screwing around with it. Maybe seeing if there's a way bloggers can use it. Text is still the workhorse, but it doesn't sound very exciting if I were to announce that in 2008, I was going to write more text posts. ;)
  • You know, I love your posts. I really do.

    But I hate videos and slide shows. I know they're the new "in" thing for people who don't like text and all, but...

    I wish there was a way for people to post these and give the written version, too. Because there are plenty of people who like text better.
  • Haha...no I wasn't going for the weirdo from SNL either. It was just a little conversation demonstrating permission, attention, and trust.

    Great idea with the whole SlideShare thing, I can see myself reading alot more blogs if they were actually read to me.
  • Michael Martine
    @Walt - Thanks, I'm going to write about SlideShare soon, and SlideCasting, specifically (or, maybe I'll do a SlideCast on it, duh). I thought about getting a picture of the SNL Pat character, but I didn't relish getting a DMCA notice from the NBC lawyerbots. Also, a sexually ambiguous weirdo isn't exactly the metaphor I was looking for! ;)
  • Jay... Are you thinking about that "PAT" from the Saturday Night Live skits?

    Michael,Kudos... you appealed to my inner PAT... and sold me on SlideShow.

    Walt
  • Michael Martine
    @Jay - some interesting things going on in your head, man.

    @Heather - Thanks, although if you go back and look at it again carefully you will notice there isn't a single bullet in the whole thing. :) I hate bulleted point slide shows--they are so lame. I have vowed to never use them! A great resource for creating better presentations is Presentation Zen.
  • Cool slideshow. I thought you got your point across really well with good content and relevant bullet points. I particularly liked the use of images and text that appeals to my visual learning style.
  • Jay meet PAT, "Hi PAT, nice to meet you."

    "Hi Jay, likewise. Go ahead and look around; make yourself at home...oh and check this out...cool huh?"

    "Yeah, it's awesome. Can I hold it?"

    "Sure, go ahead...in fact, why don't you keep it."

    "Wow, thanks!"

    ...Michael, dude, thanks for introducing me to PAT. ;o)
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