7 Blog Elements That Form First Impressions
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Do you know why Michelin uses a baby in their tire ads?
Solomon Asch is a psychologist who pioneered the study of impression formation. He conducted an experiment where a bunch of people were divided in 2 groups. Both the groups were asked one question.
Group A is asked:
John is envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious and intelligent. In general, how emotional do you think John is? (Circle your answer.)
Not emotional ~ 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7 ~ 8 ~ 9 ~ Very emotional
Group B is asked:
Mike is intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn and envious. In general, how emotional do you think Mike is? (Circle your answer.)
Not emotional ~ 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7 ~ 8 ~ 9 ~ Very emotional
The Results
Folks in group A marked John as a very emotional person. Most rated him as 7 or 8.
Folks in group B marked Mike as a not so emotional person. Most rated him as 3 or 4.
The Twist (if you haven’t found out already)
John and Mike – both were described using the same 6 characteristics! The only difference is that the order of the characteristics was reversed. The first characteristic for John is envious and the last one is intelligent. Where as the first characteristic for Mike is intelligent and the last is envious.
Because envious is an emotionally loaded characteristic, most people marked John as being emotional. And because intelligent is not emotionally loaded, most people marked Mike as not being emotional.
The first characteristic made all the difference!
The Power of the First Impression
Lead with your best foot forward. Because the first impression has a lasting effect on your readers.
People will make a snap decision about your blog in less than 4 seconds!
So you have to make a powerful first impression. Here are 7 elements that you should pay attention to improve the first impression your blog makes.
7 Blog Elements That Form First Impressions
1. Make sure your blog has a sharp colour combination.
2. Make sure you use good readable fonts.
3. Un-clutter your blog. Remove all the frivolous elements that don’t assist your blog readers.
4. Make sure the first screen of your blog looks fabulous. Work on your logo and header so that they match the emotion you want from your readers.
5. Spend more time on your headlines. Your headline will put the readers in the right frame of mind.
6. Use good looking images in your blog post. Because good images quickly create a positive mind frame.
7. Start your blog post with a bang. Don’t hide your main point in the middle of the post. Start with it.
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Comments (23)
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Good read. For me, the banner is key for determining the quality of a blog at first glance.
Second glance usually goes to the first paragraph and the quality of the writing.
Posted 26 Sep 2007 #
7 Blog Elements That Form First Impressions are RIGHT ON! I love all of the advice you give on this blog. You are fantastic and I am so happy I stumbled upon this site.
Posted 28 Sep 2007 #
Nathan: Thanks Nathan
Posted 28 Sep 2007 #
Chuck: Thanks Chuck. I think – as Malcolm Gladwell says in his book “Blink” – that first impressions are mostly subconscious. He gave an example that an experienced tennis player can say when the other person will make a foul while serving… before the ball is released from the hand. But he can’t tell you how he knew it.
A lot of small details go in making the first impression. These above 7 elements are the main ones in my opinion. But you have to make sure that these 7 elements mash together. And that the overall impression that your blog gives is a positive one.
Posted 28 Sep 2007 #
Interesting. I got it backwards. If you ask a child if they would like peanut butter, cheese or a ham sandwich, they will usually request the last thing in the list. I have also noticed that my students tend to remember the last step in instructions more readily than the first. At any rate, your point was very well made, and as with all good writers, you incorporated your advice into your own post. Loved it!
Posted 28 Sep 2007 #
Bloggrrl: Michelle – thanks for your very intelligent comment. Do you want to try out something really freaky?
Give people a choice between peanut butter or cheese sandwich. Most of them will ask for cheese sandwich (the last choice). Next time, tell people that there is choice between peanut butter and cheese sandwich. But food will be served after one hour. And they can tell you what they want then. The waiting period will reverse the choices. Now more people will ask for a peanut butter sandwich (the first choice).
(Experiments have been done on this actually! You can search for experiments on “primacy” and “recency.”)
The importance of order of things matter on what you want people to do.
i. If you want them to make a snap judgment, the first element is the most important.
ii. If you want them to make a choice right now, the last element plays an important role.
iii. If you want them to think and then make a choice, the first element plays a role again.
iv. And for memory – its usually the last thing that they read that remains fresh in their minds.
Posted 29 Sep 2007 #
Another great piece of writing! I’m featuring this post in this week’s “Sunday Seven”. Thanks for being so clear headed in your communication.
Posted 30 Sep 2007 #
[...] BLog Clout comes through again with his consistently great writing and advice. 7 Blog Elements that Form a First Impression hooks you at the beginning and keeps you in until the [...]
Posted 30 Sep 2007 #
This post was quite interesting. Speaking from first hand experience, it is pretty difficult determining how someone would react in different scenarios based on their personalities.
Posted 01 Oct 2007 #
Donald: Thanks. While everyone has different preferences and personality, its easy to make the majority feel that you are credible. While you can’t predict if the next person will buy from you or not, you can improve things so that you know that 20% of people who visit your blog will buy from you.
Posted 02 Oct 2007 #
Very good points to create a first impression on the users of your blog. The best part of it is…you are practicing what you have written.
Will have them in mind and in action too!
Keep writing such stuff.
Posted 02 Oct 2007 #
Sam: Thanks Sam for your kind words
Posted 02 Oct 2007 #
Well, you certainly got me.
I chose the same answers as group (A) & (B) as well!
It certainly makes the point about first impressions — thanks!
Posted 24 Oct 2007 #
Hello, very nice site, keep up good job!
Admin good, very good.
Posted 29 Oct 2007 #
Hello, very nice site, keep up good job!
Admin good, very good.
Posted 04 Nov 2007 #
Forgive that beside You was little ed!
The Author, you simply – super hero!
Posted 30 Nov 2007 #
John images…
Interesting web page is, i’ll see you later one more timea…
Posted 02 Feb 2008 #
These are excellent tips for flagship blogging. I do believe in uncluttering your website of unnecessary images and what nots. I also believe in spacing out text in posts by creating short paragraphs.
Posted 16 Apr 2008 #
Very good and helping advices. Really like your blog. Check my blog http://ermusylib.blogspot.com/
Posted 13 Jun 2008 #
Everyday I beat my own previous record for number of consecutive days I’ve stayed alive.–George Carlin (1937– ), U.S. comedian
Posted 15 Jul 2008 #
The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum.–Havelock Ellis (1859–1939), The Dance of Life
Posted 16 Jul 2008 #
Hi Anklesh,
1.How to customize the fonts in the posts, with my own choice of fonts, size and color? Is there a plug in for this?
2. I have a few 3 column theme templates with the two sidebars on the right side together. How can I move them so that I have the post between them as advised by you?
Posted 02 Oct 2008 #
Classic exposition, I have also mentioned it in my blog article. But it is a pity that almost no friend discussed it with me. I am very happy to see your article.
Posted 27 Jul 2009 #