From time to time I find new resources for writers online. After several years of being a professional freelance writer and having a full-time writing business for a few years now, it is actually rather uncommon for me to find a new writing resource that brings something to the table that I’m not getting from somewhere else.
Today, I found this writing blog via a tweet from the former owner of the Freelance Writing Gigs blog. I think I have come across this woman before, but not this particular resource. Anyway, I decided I’d like to follow along for a while, so I looked for the RSS button. At first, I thought there wasn’t one, and then I realized, the author was trying to be helpful to non-technical types by including a bit of explanation instead of the traditional, “Click here to subscribe to the feed,” or the like.
I deliberately chopped the screenshot off in order to respect the writer’s original content, but if you click the link, it goes to her website.
The arrow points at where you click to subscribe to the feed. It took me a second to find, because I’m so used to seeing the orange and white icon or at least seeing the words ‘subscribe’ or ‘feed’.
I am guessing this blogger chose this language as something that is more descriptive for the writers who find her blog who are not technically savvy. However, in doing so, she lost me.
This is not a criticism, just something I noticed that got me thinking; in an effort to make something more accessible, how often does one risk making it less accessible?
In this case, I think the wording is perfectly fine, but because there is a “standard” that people look for, unintentionally opaque. I would include the traditional logo next to the wording to give the more internet savvy readers a quick and useful signpost. After all, a new subscriber is a great asset to any blog. Making it as easy as possible for as many readers as possible is a worthy goal.
Incidentally, if you are looking for an online blogging resource, check out successful-blog.com (or just click the picture). It has plenty of that, you haven’t read this a hundred times already content that is refreshing to find.
Furthermore, tweet that pointed me in this direction comes from another writer with a fresh take on blogging and writing online. You can find it here.
Happy Writing to you all today.