Copyblogger Rhetorical Analysis

I don't have a blog, nor do I see myself creating on in the near future, but I was seriously intrigued by the CopyBlogger website. It has pages of articles that give advice to those who are trying to improve their personal blogs. The article that I chose was titled, "The Seven Deadly Sins of Advertising." It is a humorous, yet informative set of fallacies to avoid while writing for others. Naturally, those who are avid bloggers are most likely to be the primary, faithful viewers of the site. Bloggers must make their pages witty, original, exciting, and worthwhile to read for their page to survive. The best way to teach is through example, and that is what Copyblogger does in their own writing. They use their own style successes to convince the reader that they really know what they are talking about, and allows them to see the suggestions in action. Though this website is geared mainly towards bloggers, it still attracts writers of all types, and I am one to attest to that. Copyblogger has awesome tips for writing books, television scripts, or news articles. Any writer would seek for the helpful tips that this website reveals. In this day and age, publishing one's writing has become more accessible through such mediums as blogs, twitter, facebook, online debates, and simply commenting on a news article. With so much competition, the need to stand out amongst the rest is greater than ever. With this website, all aspiring writers will be one step closer to their dream of being praised for their words.

Trying to stay interested while reading a textbook is like trying to stay entertained by watching an old potato sprout roots. Why? Because it just spews out information that has no relevance to the reader. It is full of sentences with no voice, no originality, nothing that would make the audience want to keep reading further. Copyblogger’s website is the complete opposite of this writing style. It uses concise sentences and nonchalant wording to keep the reader engaged in the piece. Such examples are, “The good news is most of them suck,” or, “The game still ain’t about you, baby.” The ultimate goal of this style is to make the reader feel like they are part of a normal conversation, and not being lectured to. Where textbooks can make the reader feel inferior due to their supposed higher level of knowledge, this blog strategically places itself on the same level as the audience to better relate with them. Every salesman knows that the best way to get a potential client to purchase something, they must first build a foundation of trust and relation.

Singin’ in the Rain, one of the most beloved musicals of all time, gives some useful advice; “Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em laugh. Don’t you know everyone wants to laugh?” Surely the writer for this website understood that principle well. Rarely do people dislike something that makes them smile for a bit. From personal experience, I know that the only blogs I am apt to keep reading are those that make me laugh. Society is constantly coming up with new expectations to fill and responsibilities to take care of, but fails to produce more hours in the day to accomplish them with ease. It is only healthy that during a jam-packed day of work, classes, trips to the grocery store, frustratingly long lines, homework, traffic, laundry, and making a meal for a sick person in the ward that one takes the time to take a break from their schedule and find something to alleviate some stress. This is exactly what Copyblogger does. It uses phrases like, “Is my topic actually interesting to someone other than my mom and my cat?” to get a chuckle out of the reader, and pushes them to keep reading in hope of more.

People like ingenuity. They thrive off of cutting-edge innovations in the arts, sciences, literature, and more. Were it not so, our world wouldn’t be constantly busting out “new and improved” technology. Therefore, the only way to get noticed is to present something that has never been seen before. In the case of this Copyblogger’s article, they came up with a creative way to present their information. Though it would have been easier for the author to have simply stated his or her suggestions in a bland, essay format, they chose to take a more unique route. Since early Christian times there has been a document explaining the seven deadly sins, or vices that mankind often succumb to. Because article had seven common mistakes of striving bloggers, they decided to turn their idea into a spoof off of the famous document. Thus, The Seven Deadly Sins of Blogging was born. It was this title that originally drew me to this article in the first place. I figured something with that creative of a title must be at least somewhat interesting, and it was. That was enough to convince me to cleverly break up my writing at times when it was appropriate.