Blogs Let Readers Be Lazy Lobsters

The latest issue of Hunt’s Headlines is titled "Crustacean Couch Potato".  It’s a spoof of a Maine restaurant one of Todd Hunt’s friends visited whose menu lists "Lazy Lobster" as one of the entrées. The waiter was able to clear things up.  A "lazy lobster", he explained, is one that’s been removed from the shell, so it’s easier to eat.  The lobster’s not lazy – the customer is, the waiter went on to say.

Since blogging is always on my menu of activities, I think this lazy lobster tale harks back to a point I’ve often stressed in my blog posts.  Online searchers rarely read.  Instead, they scan.  Your blog needs to be "removed from the shell", so to speak, so searchers can be "lazy".  With a minimum of effort on their part, they must be able to discern that they’ve come to the right place and that the information they need is right there with you and your company.

Notice that at no point in the restaurant story are diners criticized for wanting everything the easy way, including already-shelled lobsters.  On the contrary, the restaurateur was taking full advantage of patrons’ "laziness" by offering a unique service. Bloggers for business need to do the same, featuring the most important words, the ones relating most directly to the purpose of the readers’ search, early in each blog post.

The other thing about online searchers being scanners, not readers, is that each blog post should offer valuable and very relevant information, but just enough of it to engage searchers’ attention and entice them to visit the website to learn more. Don’t suppose for a moment that I’m recommending "dumbing down" your material – quite the contrary.  It’s highly likely you’re addressing people as smart – or smarter than – you are, and your respect for their intelligence has to come across loud and clear. What’s more, you want your audience to get a clear sense of your unique approach to your business and your insight into the issues they face.

What I am trying to express with this "lazy lobster" idea is that readers could have gone to more technical sources, perhaps to government websites, or to encyclopedias to find information, but they didn’t do any of those things.  That’s because they want you to help them make sense out of the ocean of information out there.

Serving "lazy lobster" in your blog could bring in some good business revenues!