Robert Scoble posts over on The Red Couch blog about the name of the blog just started by the publisher of his and Shel Israel’s book.
…our publisher, Joe Wikert has started a blog. Shel linked to it the other night. And he made a common first mistake: he didn’t think through his title very well.
Quick. Tell us what “The Average Joe” means to you?
It doesn’t mean anything to us. It’s like wheat flour. No shape. No meaning. If this were just a personal blog it’d be OK (although I argue that even a personal blog is better if you get more specific).
Now, think about someone searching Google. Why will someone want to read Joe’s blog? Just cause Scoble said to? I don’t think so.
Here’s a better approach: own a niche.
Bad: my blog about something made with flour
Good: Scoble’s blog about artisian bread made in Santa Cruz.
This has immediately made me think further on the titling of this blog. Now, The Closed Circle is about as nebulous a title as you can get. What does it mean? In truth, nothing. I needed a title quick and that’s what I chose. I guess it could be said that it has the advantage of sounding a little mysterious maybe, but as Scoble points out, it hardly encourages people to read my posts – they have no idea of the content.
It becomes even more silly the more I think about it, for if there is one thing that a blog isn’t, it’s a closed circle. There’s nothing closed here, the aim is to be as open as possible. So it’s a really crap title. But hell, that’s the one I have got, and I am sticking to it. I just need to think of a really good reason why this is a good idea…
But the subtitle is something else. Dave Briggs’ Online Diary. That really is crap. I really need to get some ideas of what this blog is about. OK, so it’s pretty varied stuff a lot of the time, but there are two main threads here: blogging and books. So, a subtitle is needed that incorporate’s these things. I need to give it some though – will update later, and of course any suggestions are welcome.