Drive-By-Shooting Sunday: KameronMF
Ahhh, finally he was in his element. James had a beautiful two-handed broadsword that shone in the sunlight like a flash of lightening.
He wielded it with enthusiastic Romanesque grace – and the talents of a six year old. All he knew how to do was swing the blade in a wide circle and pretend to be victor of the foes he slew with great force.
They say that what one lacks in skills, he makes up for in determination. And so it was in the case of the shining new warrior.
“Why don’t you try standing like this?” Harry’s precision with a blade, his training and long familiarity with the movements of Iaido showed clearly as he carefully practiced the strikes he’d make.
Ah, ever the doubter and the one to go his own way. (Stubborn, yes.) “I like it like this.” Merry knight of the woods was he, missing only a fine steed and armor. “I think I’m going to buy one of my own. Only I want a really fancy one,” he stopped his posturing to frown at the plain handle.
“What matters is balance and quality, not fancy,” Harry imparted wisely as he made another move. He was pleased with the quiet silence of the movements. Last week’s hit was far more loud and strategic – James’ style. This style… this was perfect.
Then Harry froze. The victim was coming.
Today’s drive-by is for Pens and Swords, the blog of Kameron M. Franklin, a fantasy writer. Here’s what the site looked like when we passed by:
And here we go. You have a great, great, great blog name. YOUR DOMAIN NAME URL IS TERRIBLE. You’ve used your own name, and not even a full name at that. Bad idea. Bad, bad, bad.
And the real kicker?
www.pensandswords.com is available. Kameron, stop reading now. Go to www.inmotionhosting.com right away (or use our affiliate banner ad to your right) and register that domain before you do anything else. Right now. I mean it.
(If any asshole out there runs to buy that domain name, I think they’re a cheap, sneaky bastard who doesn’t deserve an Internet connection. That’s low. Really low.)
One huge problem with your blog? I wanted to write to you and tell you to go secure your domain name in private before posting this drive-by… But I couldn’t. I could not find any way to contact you.
If I can’t contact you, potential buyers can’t contact you. Agents can’t contact you. Publishing houses can’t contact you. You are isolating yourself from success with locks and chains.
Put up a contact form on your blog right now. Make yourself accessible, because that is what blogging is all about – a two-way communication street between you and your readers and community.
The banner design does not reflect the coolness of your blog name. It’s terribly boring and needs a serious overhaul to stand out. The sword through the circle only represents half your blog name. The flash images aren’t appealing. The plain blue is monotone.
Reflect your creativity. You have all the opportunity here, as a fantasy writer. Your creativity is the singlemost reflection of you, so show it in what you can visualize in your mind and translate that to your banner design. (Or get us to whip up something fantastically cool for you.)
Navigation is great. You have clear, simple navigation. Add that contact form and reorganize the order to be Home, Published Works, About Kameron and Contact Kameron. If you have more than one published work (and you do), why not create a page for each book? Provide the synopsis, an extract and an image of the book cover.
Make it easy for people to get interested in your books and buy them.
The content and posts are fine. I would have liked to see the headlines stand out more to attract the eye, so perhaps find a way to bold the blue. Make the blue a little darker, too – it’s slightly on the pale side and hard to read.
Use the proper case for titles, too. It should read “The Dwarf-Elf Cliché” and not “The dwarf-elf cliché”… see? Which stands out more? Which looks bolder? Number one. Do it. I know you can.
Onto the sidebars. First, the left one: Well done with that cover image and putting your book right there for people to see. I would also consider adding “Other Works” just below and putting images to your other books. Make it easy for people to buy.
Reorganize your widgets. Put Popular Posts at the top to attract readers and commentators – they’re more interested in your posts than what other people said.
Instead of having Popular Tags, turn those tags into categories, if they aren’t already. That terminology is more standard and easily understood. Also (and again), use the proper case for the titles – you have some categories written in all lowercase, which looks odd.
Recent comments could go below.
Now the right sidebar. Your RSS is fine, clear and in a good spot – but all those little buttons aren’t necessary and take up valuable real estate on your blog. (The Technorati favorites can stay.)
Also, if your RSS feed is set up with Feedburner with reader compatibility, those little extra buttons aren’t necessary. People can choose which reader to add to when they sign up.
Since you have an older blog, having the drop down for archives is smart. I approve. However, not all the category titles you’ve chosen aren’t clear to me as a visitor landing on your blog. Blazer Beat? What is that? EWA? CSFF? These may be known acronyms in your field, but to any given reader, they are meaningless.
The problem is that people mostly aren’t curious. Instead of clicking through, they’ll simply not click at all.
Below that, you have a list of Fantasy Authors, and my first questions is… Why? Why are you promoting other authors’ books? Why drive people to other places beyond your own site? I would remove that completely.
You have a widget for Fantasy Fiction Blogs, and that’s fine. You’re still driving traffic away, mind you, but you don’t have many up there and they aren’t really competition for your sales, because it’s clear it’s a blog and not a “go buy this writer’s stuff”.
Fantasy Resources, good. People like that. Fantasy RPG blogs, again, nice. Still not competition.
But the list doesn’t stop. We’re moving on to writer blogs, web comic blogs, writer resources… and by now, I’m thinking you need to really do some trimming. Why not take all those links and widgets pointing away from your site, cut them down to your ten favorites, no matter what the category, and call it “Resources I Like.” You’d drive less traffic away and avoid looking like a huge resource center for people who hit your blog.
See, the point is, you want to establish your credibility, be known as a great fantasy author and sell your books, you need to focus on that: Selling your books. Being the expert. Being THE MAN for fantasy. And with a kick-ass banner and less links pointing out to others?
You’d be looking like the fantasy pro you are.
The vicious slashes Harry had made were far more chilling and deathly than James’ attempts at playing gladiator. He’d cut his thumb, sprained his ankle and generally made a bloody mess.
But he was grinning with the glory and shone like there was no better day to be alive.
“That was fun. Can we do it again?”
Want more? You got it. Check out the lineup of upcoming hit jobs:
June 22 – Trish’s Diary
June 29 – g33kart
July 6 – Geek’s Dream Girl
July 13 – Spiritual Tramp
July 20 – From the Living Room
July 27 – McAWilliams Photoblog
Want your blog shot down? Sign up in the comment section for your free drive-by, and we’ll schedule you in. Or hit us up for a private drive-by via our contact form for only $25.
Come on. You know you wanna.
21 Responses to “Drive-By-Shooting Sunday: KameronMF”
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I’m up for a drive-by: http://blog.miramarmike.co.nz
Mike Riversdale’s last blog post..Rugby commentary the way you’d do it … but funny
Hi guys,
What a great name for a site. To me, if you are using pen and sword you don’t want to contradict the fabulous boldness there. That sword could clear the clutter on the right as the men said and make the site so much more worthy of the name. The power is diluted at the moment.
From the bit of content that I read, it looks like you have some very succinct and useful things to say about your industry and your part of it. If the pen is mightier than the sword, let it breathe. There’s the value in it for your readers.
Funny, I am not at all into RPG’s and fantasy, but reading what you had to say about your industry did intrigue me. So it works a bit across disciplines.
Is your intended audience just other fantasy folk?
Janice C Cartier’s last blog post..A Few 2 Minutes-Part 3
James,
Good hit. The overall impression is friendly and well-ordered, yet there are a lot of little tweaks that could make a big difference. The site has a lot going on, but doesn’t feel junky, and that is major. A lot of blogs are so cluttered! Now if Kameron could just get it cleaned up so a lot less was going on, readers could focus on what matters most with ease.
Oh, Kameron, do get that domain name registered. Seriously!
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Tip of the Week: The One Piece of Advice I’d Give a New Blogger
I also have the widget that adds what other people say before my “Recent Posts” widget, I’m going to go change that. Thanks for the tip. I’d love to get a drive-by: http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com
Marelisa’s last blog post..Share the Love Friday on Marelisa-Online Abundance Blog: Week of June 9th, 2008
Great tips James. I’m going to go put my “Recent Posts” widget above my “Recent comments” widget. I’d love a drive-by: http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com
Marelisa’s last blog post..Share the Love Friday on Marelisa-Online Abundance Blog: Week of June 9th, 2008
Good analysis, boys.
I’d add this to the link question. I think Kam might do better with a “resources” page – that way he can include all of the links he wants. Once someone clicks on “resources,” they’re going to leave his blog – but that’s OK. It’s a service, and it’s not in your main navigation. It gives someone who’s already ready to go a specific place to go?
Not sure that made too much sense, LOL.
And, yeah. Go get your domain name. If you don’t, I’ll get it for you, and hold onto it until you’re ready. Seriously.
Bob Younce at the Writing Journey’s last blog post..My Blogging Journey
This was really helpful; even if I don’t do many of those things myself, at least I know what not to do! I would like a drive-by as well. I think it would help me going on the right foot since my blog isn’t very old.
http://greenplant.wordpress.com
Amy – Green Plan(t)’s last blog post..Coming Clean
eeks. There were some really good ideas in that one. I had to take some notes.
Oh by the way…To the Men…I believe this is applicable at least to James, not sure about Harry, and if it is…Happy Fathers Day.
Wendi Kelly’s last blog post..CAN and WILL?and BELIEVE
Hey all! Yes, I agree, snag that domain name now. Most folks would hock a limb for a domain name like that.
@Wendi: Applicable to James, yes. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that.
@ Wendi – Thank you
@ Bob – I’d agree with that – but when you’re trying to sell, the less links out, the better.
@ Kelly – This is one of the first sites I’ve seen in a while that doesn’t look cluttered. Rare!
@ Janice – Ha, yeah, I thought you’d like the potential there, eh?
@ Mike – Free is August 3. Paid gets you faster
@ Marelisa – You’re August 10… or again, hire us for faster service.
@ Amy – August 17 for you… okay, you know the drill by now.
Kameron? KAMERON? Did you get that domain name yet??
Whoa. You touched on so many things I’m guilty of at my blog. I didn’t care before since it’s just a diarist blog, but hmmm, you’ve given me lots to think about.
Thanks (again)!
steph’s last blog post..to my husband, on the occasion of our sixth wedding anniversary
Funnily enough, I’m a regular reader of Kameron’s. Since I read it through Google Reader, though, I never thought to comment on the design….since I never see it!
Kameron, mate, if you need any graphics assists, I’ve got some free time. Drop me a line and I’ll hook ya up.
Ben Overmyer’s last blog post..Zen and the Art of Gaming
@ James – and I guess that’s really the question for Kam. I don’t get the impression that he’s really in it to sell a whole heck of a lot via the blog. I could be wrong.
Either way, I get what you’re saying. Even when you’re not trying to sell you want to keep links out to a minimum, and to make sure the links you do have provide value of some sort.
Really, Kam’s got links to both my blogs and I just don’t want to see either of them go away
Bob Younce at the Writing Journey’s last blog post..My Blogging Journey
Eh, yeah. Potential there rocks. Hope he knows to leave the graphics alone…very cool , very clean. And that domain… can he hear us? GET IT NOW!!!!
Janice Cartier’s last blog post..4 Questions To Get a Clue
Hey, guys. Great drive-by . . . slashing?
I’ll be sure to snag that domain name. I didn’t grab it initially because I was going for name recognition, but I can’t remember why I didn’t grab my full name. Too long of a domain name, mabe? Anyway, I’ll be correcting that shortly. And I’ll add an email contact to my About page.
The long list of outbound links is a legacy of my pre-RSS reader habits. I also like to provide link-love to friends and colleagues. I had a link resource page on a previous incarnation of the blog, and will probably go back to that, with some trimming now that I use Google Reader.
I have a very minimalist lean when it comes to graphic design (took 2.5 years in college before a received some sage advice from a professor and switched to writing). That said, I’d love to rework my logo. I’ll be in touch, Ben.
Kameron’s last blog post..The dwarf-elf-orc cliche
@Janice: my primary audience is fantasy fiction readers, secondary audience is aspiring fantasy fiction writers. I blog about my writing process, trivia about the worlds and characters I’ve created, and market news. I’m pleased that people outside of the genre/industry, like yourself, can also find value.
Kameron’s last blog post..The dwarf-elf-orc cliche
I do find it interesting . Process I guess. Good luck with the tweaks and congrats on your successes so far.
Janice C Cartier’s last blog post..4 Questions To Get a Clue
ok, I’ve been cleaning it up for a week or so, on and off since you visited grandad’s blog. I think I’m ready. If you would please be so kind as to give me a drive-by when you get a chance. Thank you
prin’s last blog post..Prin’s Blues Page
@ Prin – You’d be looking at August 3rd for a free drive by on our blog. Paid moves you up the ladder, of course. Let me know if the 3rd is good or you prefer sooner!
thanks John, August 3rd will be fine. It will give me more time to work on it
prin’s last blog post..Prin’s Blues Page