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  • Hi Melanie – bizchickblogs has a tagline that I don’t use; I’ve been thinking that I need to update the logo area with it and just haven’t. They absolutely can make a difference in reader perception.

    I have one for my company blog, and for the company. They absolutely are agonizing. 🙂

    Cheers,
    Tia

    • Hi Tia!

      Thanks so much for your openness and honesty about taglines.

      You’re SO right — “perception” is the key. 🙂

      Good luck with your re-vamping!

  • Hi Mel

    Have you been struggling to come up with a tagline?
    Do you have a tagline but you’re not satisfied with it?
    What are your tips for creating a tagline?

    My answers are yes, no and no tips at the moment. LOL

    So difficult to come up with a great tagline without it sounding like something from a “teach yourself business” manual.

    BTW – I don’t know about you Mel, but I think that Marcus should announce the winner of his “tagline contest” on this site.
    We can be trusted, we won’t tell anyone.

    • Hi Keith,

      Agreed!!

      I see no reason why Marcus can’t post the winning tagline here. After all, we’re friends and true professionals who can certainly be trusted to keep a secret.

      And he shouldn’t be concerned with the fact that anything posted on the internet can go viral in a nanosecond! LOL 🙂

      Love to have you hanging around here,
      Mel

      • Absolutely Mel
        As you say, true professionals.

        Come on Marcus, let’s be having it.
        Chop chop.

  • What a great topic! Taglines define what the biz is about and also what the site is about. I have been to so many sites and had to think, “what exactly are they trying to do here?” When that happens, they either don’t have a tagline or it’s very, very unclear. Mine changes as my biz evolves and I see nothing wrong with that. I love the fact that Deb and some of the others have had theirs for a decade or more. My biz is still maturing, therefore my tagline is too! I have noticed a trend to throw in everything but the kitchen sink in the tag. I do think a simple, concise statement is enough.

    • Yeah, Martha, let’s leave the kitchen sink out of those taglines … I’ve got enough dishes to wash already! 🙂

      I like your philosophy to allow your tagline to “mature” as your biz matures.

      You had an awesome discussion going on today on your blog, too — being “authentic” online means different things to different people. Your readers sounded off bigtime!

      Thanks for knocking on my door today.

  • Melanie,

    You have given some great examples of taglines that work. On the Internet we can not afford to try some thing tricky like McDonalds…Lovin it or Nike’s… Just Do It. They have put a lot of money into making those taglines stick to them.

    On the net, your tagline needs to tell your reader what you all all about, the second they land on your page.

    • REALLY good point, Sheila!

      So glad you brought this up. Within a matter of just a few quick seconds, people will decide to stick around or click away.

      Polish up those taglines, people! 🙂

      Thanks for chiming in.

  • Melanie, Thank you so much for the shout-out in your post! I’m flattered to be included and hadn’t thought of my blog’s name as as a tagline until you said it. 🙂 Having agonized over taglines with previous businesses, this one came pretty easy given I’m a ghostwriter. I think the most important thing is that whatever you use, it must speak to your audience (so you have to know who you’re selling to) and be something you can live with for a while (branding, branding, branding). By the way, I love the graphic at the top of your post. How did you do that? I’m always looking for new tools to play with. 🙂

    You’re the best, Melanie – I’m so glad you’re in my life!

    • Lisbeth!! So happy you’re here.

      You’re welcome for the shout out and thanks for mentioning my graphic — it was easy to create and tons of fun. Just head over to “Wordle” to create one for yourself: http://wordle.net

      Sounds like you’ve experienced some of the “agony” of crafting taglines. I’ve helped a few online marketers create theirs but when it came to coming up with my own … Oy. 🙂

      Big virtual hugs!
      Melanie

  • Great post, Melanie. I have a blog that is mostly about books, but I would also say it is a lifestyle blog. So I came up with this tagline, “Books, Inspiration and Life”. I think that everything that I write about falls under one of these categories.

    • Three powerful words, Janette — nicely done!

      Appreciate you stopping by and I’m amazed at how many videos you’ve produced — awesome! 🙂

  • Aloha Melanie, interesting topic and not many brings this to our attention. I think I may have heard one other time, but it is something to deeply consider and stay on top of this such as this. Having a catchy sub title does help, in the long run. Glad I came by and thanks for sharing. Mahalo, Lani 😉

    PS.. saw your info., in a cool community group we belong to. Come by and visit me. Sharing is caring!

    • It’s a joy to see you here, Lani!

      I haven’t read many blog posts about taglines, either, so I thought it might be a topic that would catch the eye of at least a few people.

      And ,as it turns out, it’s been a really fantastic conversation piece! Of course, my readers ROCK. 🙂

      Thank you for joining in to share your thoughts.

  • Taglines are difficult and it took me a while to make mine. I actually sat down and thought about what I do and how I do it. Honestly, BNI and the 31DBB had a lot to do with it. Taglines go in the same category as subject lines: I have to sit down and think about them for a while! 🙂

    • Hi Kristen,

      “Subject lines” are a whole other Oprah! I’ll let you write about those on YOUR blog. What do ya say? Sound like fun? 🙂

      You definitely fit right in with the majority of online marketers who didn’t exactly craft a tagline overnight. Me, either. It was agonizing. No joke.

      Thanks for the visit!

  • I am so sorry to hear all of the struggles coming up with various business taglines. I did not have a challenge. Mine came easily and accurately and I almost feel guilty about that process now. What suits my business: Club Creative Studio is the tagline- “Art That Sets You Apart”. It works for me.

    • Veronica,

      Count your lucky stars and your blessings!

      Your tagline probably came about very easily because you’re an artist. And we all know artists’ brains work differently than mine. LOL! 🙂

      Thanks for coming by today.

  • So good to read such a valuable blog. Well done Thanks for more great info

    • Thanks for the compliment, Roberta — I appreciate you!

      And I loved your recent post on “priming the pump”. Very creative. 🙂

  • LOL. I checked out Remarkablogger’s tagline. Cracked right up.

    I believe that taglines should speak right to your audience, include your keyword and make it really clear what your blog is about. Something I find interesting, though, is that some of the top blogs don’t use taglines. With some of them, they’re just so well known that a tagline probably doesn’t matter in terms of identifying their audience and topic . . . but they aren’t all immediately known like that. I wonder why they don’t use them. Maybe we don’t need to suffer through the agony of creating them 🙂 ??

    • Excellent and interesting point, Leanne!

      I think the top “authority” bloggers (as we like to call them) are known simply by their names. But I have a sneaky feeling it wasn’t always that way for them. We’ve all got to start somewhere, right? So I’m wondering, for example, if “Chris Brogan” started out as C.B. or …

      He’s got an old (original) blog hidden away somewhere with an ever lovin’ tagline on it!

      How long do you think it will be before you and I won’t need our taglines anymore? 🙂

  • Taglines are fun! I just seen a cool one the other day! It was on Remarkablogger’s site, you’ll have to google his blog and check out the tagline! When I see ones like that I think, man…why couldn’t I have come up with that, lol!

    • Hi Jen — love your enthusiasm!

      Hope you’re hiring yourself out as a tagline specialist. Have a feeling you’d never run out of clients. 🙂

      I subscribed to Michael’s blog a long time ago. He’s a fascinating man.

  • Iconoclast. Natural-born, no less. I love it Melanie! And I love your tag line. You inspire Moms to turn a traditional institution into an empowered one. Wow. That’s big. And while you’re at it, you inspire a whole lot of other people. 🙂 I’m delighted to be one of them!

    Did it occur to you that ‘The Agony and Victory of [fill in the blank]’ could be a very interesting tagline?

    I’m in the brainstorming camp. Heather is exactly right IMHO. I tried my tagline on at an annual alumni event of entrepreneurs. Originally it was ‘Empowering Entrepreneurs to Think Like Entrepreneurs’. It was only after brainstorming and trying it on with about 30 people unfamiliar with my blog that I added ‘and Act’. Two powerful words that were a priceless contribution. Contributed freely by a very smart woman.

    Sometimes we can lose our enthusiasm for something that might actually work. We get dissatisfied in familiarity. I think of changing my tagline for that very reason. Thank you so much for including me in your examples. You’ve given me a much needed fresh perspective. And I’m truly honored to be included in such great company!

    ~Theresa

    • “Cant see the forest for the trees” comes to mind, Theresa.

      When you’re so close to the biz issue at hand, it’s sometimes impossible to come up with workable ideas, solutions, and even a blinking tagline. 🙂 You did great by putting some non-vested eyes on the task.

      I was more than jazzed to include you here because I think EVERYONE should be reading “Big Fish Top Dogs”! Okay, I might be a little biased but it’s genuinely how I feel.

      “Did it occur to you that ‘The Agony and Victory of [fill in the blank]’ could be a very interesting tagline?” Darn right it occurred to me! So let’s sit back and see who takes it on. LOL 🙂

      Thank you for adding so much to my day and my life,
      Melanie

      • Melanie I’m speechless. Thank you.

        As to ‘The Agony and Victory of…’ I knew it wasn’t an accident. You wrote the perfect title for this post! Meaning within meaning. A delightfully subtle example. Well done!

        I love your posts. You are on a roll. 🙂

        Loved the Remarkablogger tagline too. lol!

        These comments are the best… and you are the inspiration Melanie!

        ~Theresa

        • Thanks, Theresa! But let’s remember one thing …

          My comment threads are pretty cool and sometimes pretty lively because of people like YOU. 🙂

          Michael Martine of Remarkablogger is a hoot! I was introduced to him and his “no bullshit” blog a couple of years ago. His list is a good one to be on.

          Hugs!
          Melanie

  • I have always felt that the tagline is as equally important as the business name and logo. It all ties your brand together. My tagline is “Helping small business owners, slowpreneurs and individuals conquer the internet one mouse click at a time”

    I am sure as I continue to work on my business plan that this will perhaps change and I am good with that. I am going to use the questions you posed at the end of this post and use them to help fine tune my business plan as well. Thank you for this great post.

    • Howdy Joe!

      “Slowpreneurs” — love it!

      And “conquering the internet one mouse click at a time” says it all. 🙂

      Glad you found some value in the questions I asked and thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.

      • OMG I am ashamed to admit that was a typo that I just caught as I checked back to this post it was supposed to be solopreneurs LOL.

        • well shoot..I thought I finally found myself in that slowpreneurs label! lol

          • LOL Bonnie well ok you can be a slowpreneur if you want to be. You will be in a class all your own 😀

  • Hi Melanie!

    Great tag lines you’ve highlighted here. And thanks for including mine and for calling it bold! It was a bit of agony coming up with it ten years ago but once I did, it stuck. Since then I’ve seen it used by a lot of other people online, but I really think I was first.

    Actually, Alex Mandossian was my first major contact a decade ago and he bought “mywebgal.com” as a gift for me, later transferring it to me. He also impressed on me to keep things simple and direct, which resulted in my tag line. (Great guy, by the way. I owe him a lot!)

    I’m on my way over to visit Marcus’ blog now. Love the idea of inviting readers to craft one for you. I’ve gotta see this! 😉

    You ROCK, my friend. Big Hugs!

    • Thanks for swinging by, Deb!

      Wow – how wonderful of Alex Mandossian to purchase a domain name for you. I bet that’s one of the neatest gifts you’ve ever received. 🙂

      You’re welcome for the mention here and I’m hoping my readers will go and check out your totally cool website AND get on board with your “Virtual Karaoke” event. Fun!

      Marcus Sheridan’s post is going to blow you away and wait till you see the number of comments — amazing.

      Big Hugs back at ya!
      Melanie

  • Struggling with a tag line? Oh my yes! Love this post and love all the helpful comments below it. What a terrific idea to ask your actual audience to help find a perfect fit.
    It just occured to me while reading (and I think Heather mentioned this) that it really is about creating a feeling so perhaps that is the place to start. Defining what feeling you want to share and create.

    More to ponder. I look forward to see what other add to this discussion. And hey, please feel free to send any gems my way! lol

    Thanks for this post Melanie! 🙂

    • Hey Bonnie,

      Sorry. I’m fresh all out of ‘gems’. Coming up with a tagline suggestion for Marcus Sheridan depleted my energy and tagline reserves. Let me regain my stamina and I’ll get back to ya. LOL! 🙂

      Heather is right. Not only do you need a tagline that shares what you have to offer, you also need to evoke some kind of emotion. Oh, the challenges we have as entrepreneurs!

      Catch you soon.

  • Talk about opening up a can of beans here, Melanie! We could talk on and on about this! I’ll try to be brief.

    I’ll second Marcus in saying there’s no one right answer. Since your business is a living and growing thing, it changes over time — so it’s hard to describe in a few words what you know is most likely going to shift in some way or other. As I consider my own tagline (and thank you for putting me up there!) I almost always want to say, “Yes, and . . ” when I’m talking to people. And it also depends on who I’m talking to. It speaks volumes to some people — and for others, maybe other words would have been better.

    For that reason, I think it’s ok to change your tag line from time to time. I usually discourage people from changing their logos, because that’s what clients and customers come to recognize you as and it’s so heavily tied into your brand. But your tag line, I think, is a step or two down there, and meant to clarify your brand, so if it’s not hitting the mark, or your business has changed, go ahead and tweak it. Or tweak what you’re doing to get back in step with your tag line. You want to be cohesive.

    I’m actually thinking of changing my tag line — it’s over 2 years old, and my business is refining, changing, growing. Ack! Here comes that uncomfortable feeling!

    Thanks Melanie, for making me think this morning!
    Marcia

    • Marcia, I’ve enjoyed “My Breakthrough Business” since the day I landed there and your current tagline definitely speaks to me.

      But I hear ya loud and clear!

      Luckily, you do have complete freedom to change your tagline as your business transitions through growth spurts. Really good point about resisting the temptation to change your “logo”. Ouch. That could turn disastrous.

      I’ll certainly keep you in my prayers if you decide to head back to the tagline drawing board. 🙂

      Thanks a heap for joining in this conversation!
      Melanie

  • Hey Melanie, this was great! Taglines, like you have said, are tough. Come up with one and then ask others how they feel about it and then things can get even tougher. The reality is that there is often times no right answer, but that’s exactly why I put it to my community. And boy did they come through.

    In fact, many people came up with multiple ideas. All said and done, I was given over 100 ideas by tons of awesome people and ‘yes’, the experiment worked. I’ve chosen one and it will be my tagline (look for this article in about a week).

    Anyway, thanks so much for the mention Melanie and continued success to you on this wonderful website. 🙂

    Marcus

    • Hi Marcus,

      I was hoping you’d stop by. I was totally enamored with the responsiveness of your Sales Lion community when you reached out for their help. Congrats, kudos, and accolades galore!

      You received over 100 tagline suggestions?! That’s nothing short of astonishing. Just goes to show how much people enjoy and appreciate your content and how they love lending a helping hand to a friend in need.

      You’re quite welcome for the mention and I’ll be sitting on pins waiting to see which tagline you chose! 🙂

      Melanie

  • Yes! Melanie, I’ve been struggling with this since last week. Leanne had a post on this and I realized that the haphazard one I put together “Reflecting on the little things in life in Huancayo, Peru” didn’t include my audience and I so want to include my readers.

    I love Heather’s idea about brainstorming. Maybe this one will just take some meditation. I wouldn’t want to rush into anything either. Thanks for mentioning that some people do struggle and spend their lifetime on this. It’s calming to be able to relate. =)

    • You’ve made a great point, Samantha, and an astute observation. Good for you!

      As much as it’s tempting to create a tagline that makes sense to us and clearly denotes our passion, it makes better sense to ‘speak’ to your audience through your tagline. We’ve got to remember to remove ourselves from the equation.

      Thanks for your feedback today!

  • Great post, Melanie!. It’s akin to the 140 character challenge in which we participated to explain one’s blog.
    I have always found the use of taglines critical. For our dialysate company, we used: We don’t sell products, we provide solutions worked well.
    The names of our companies also serve as taglines (Bicarbolyte, astre, BioFiltration Technologies, Adjuvancy) as does our current tagline- making the world better, one enterprise at a time..
    Thanks for sharing.

    • Thanks, Roy.

      It’s great when the name of your company can double as a tagline. And I love “Making the World Better One Enterprise at a Time”. Awesome!

  • Wow! Melanie, what a great post and fabulous topic. It will have people talking for weeks.

    Fist of all, I’m honoured to be featured among such amazing bloggers, thank you.

    Secondly, you’re right on the money – our tag line was written and then re-written more than anything else on the whole site. We had the blog name and all the content done and dusted, but kept coming back to the tag line.

    What starts out as a bit of fun turns serious very quickly lol. One word change and the whole meaning can be lost or made. I’m happy with the final outcome (this was about the forth attempt).

    I started with ‘Supporting Mumpreneurs’, then realised I didn’t just want to support them, I wanted to empower them to feel successful and be successful.

    My tips would be:

    1. Come up with an idea of what you want to say and then brainstorm and mind map them all.

    2. Narrow it down to 3 or 4 potentials and then ask for a fresh eye.

    3. Ask your audience – anyone who isn’t to close to the project.
    What does it mean to them and how powerful is it on a scale of one to ten.
    How does it make them feel?

    And try to have fun 🙂
    Heather x

    • I knew it! I knew it!

      I knew someone would stop by and openly admit “a bit of fun turned serious very quickly” when it came to deciding on a tagline. LOL!

      And I’m so happy it was you, Heather. 🙂

      You’ve eloquently and accurately described what the majority of mumpreneurs and other small business owners go through to FINALLY be able to put up a blinking tagline on their website!

      I’m sure my readers will appreciate the awesome tips you’ve shared — thank you.

      Hugs,
      Melanie

  • A lot of creativity goes in the tagline. Tristan Higbee (remember, I mentioned him!) says that the site name, the heading and the tagline should always be in sync…you don’t want your readers to get confused. This is such a tought task 🙁 Maybe when I start a “serious blog” I might have to give a lot more thought to this!

    • Trust me, Hajra — you could spend a lifetime coming up with a tagline. For some folks, it’s a cinch and for others it’s pure hell.

      And if you’re anything like me, you’ll end up with about twenty of them staring up at you from a piece of paper — not knowing which doggone one to choose!

      Check back with me when you’re ready to cross over that bridge. 🙂

      • Oh yes… I started with the title “Clueless” because I was clueless about everything and then i changed it to hajra kvetches and I still kvetch!

        • If that’s working for you, Hajra, stick to it.

          But I’m not so sure how many people would type in “kvetch” in their search bar in order to land on your blog. Something to think about. 🙂

  • Yep Melanie, couldnt agree more, taglines are not easy, though some people just seem to get it really right.
    I finally settled on mine after really thinking about what I wanted to leave people with (Giving comfort, hope and inspiration…stepping through grief), the keyword bit came into the equation after a brainstorming session with my coach.
    I envy those lucky people who can just do it…copywriters, glorious copywriters!

    • You’re SO right, Maureen — copywriters are their own special breed. 🙂

      I think you’ve done a marvelous job with your tagline! And it sounds like a keyword brainstorming session with your coach was a huge help.

      Great to see you here today!

      P.S. I’ll be writing a piece soon about that little unexpected surprise you left for me on your blog a few weeks back. I haven’t forgotten and thank you!