Steve Rodgers said
Hi Jordan,
Thanks for sharing.  I really like the story.  Not only is it well-written, but it's got a great personal touch to it and your passion for music really shines through.  I like how you take the reader from where you were, to how you (and they) got here.
Good stuff!  

Hey Steve,
Thanks for the feedback. My biggest fear with this initial blog post is that it's too long. John's sample blog post is about 950 words. This one that I've created is about 1600 words (and this is my 3rd draft attempting to whittle it down, haha).

Is there a recommended word count for these blog posts?

Jordan

John Oszajca said
Hey Jordan,

When it comes to copy, the old adage is that you take the time it takes to tell an enticing story. That might be 100 words or 50,000. Believe it or not, I have heard of sales letters that are 90 pages long... and work. If the reader stays engaged then that's all that matter. Comments tend to be a god indicator.

The only thing I would do is start the blog post with a full width horizontal image. So headline, image, start of blog post. That's pretty standard in blogging these days and pulls the reader in more.

One other thing is that you mentioned targeting. I don't typically send cold traffic to a blog post. I send traffic to a squeeze page and then send my list to the blog post. I might also use small scale advertising to promote a new blog post to people who like my page, or who are in a custom audience made up of subscribers. General content like this is a hard sell to a total stranger.  

Good to know on copy length.

I'll add a header image.

Yep, agreed on traffic. I won't be using the blog as a general landing page. This blog will be used as the landing page from my squeeze page (ie. the landing page from Email #1 as you outline in MMM). The "Target" description I included above is generally the target I'll be hoping to attract from ad traffic pointed to my squeeze page.

Thanks for the feedback!

Steve Rodgers said
Hi Jordan,
Steve here.  Yes, when it comes to blog posts, it really depends on the topic of the post.  If you were to just kick around a few sites, you'll find most posts can be from 500 to 1200 words.
More informative type content is going to be a bit longer, while simple news updates, even from major news outlets can tend to be a bit more concise.
Since you already seem to have a firm grasp on the type of traffic you'll be sending to blog posts (either subscribers only, or promoted FB content to a custom audience) chances are the interest in your post will be in line with what you're doing.  Therefore it can be as long as you think people will sit an dread it for.
That's where you can challenge yourself to tell stories in a much more concise way, without pulling the good stuff out of the tale.
Remember, while not everything you do will be intended to sell, it should be sparking interest in what you are selling, to some degree.  If you can find nifty ways to button-up the end of your articles, to perhaps give people a call to action to check out a sales page, that's something that is always good to do.

 

Let us know how you make out.  

Good advice. Great insight! Thanks for sharing it with me.

I'm on my 4th draft now with some help from a friend. I just want to make sure it's interesting through to the end so I am able to capitalize on my subscriber's attention while I've got it, and not loose them early on. I think we're just about there.

Thanks!