Warning: Does your content create a big disconnect with your readers?

A few days back I was reading a pretty grim, disturbing blog post about spleen tumors in dogs. This article talked about all sorts of nastiness, including what happens when the tumor ruptures and the dog "bleeds out" internally, collapses, goes into shock and then dies.

Pretty graphic. Pretty sad.

The blog owner apparently had a few lines of text appended to the end of each of his blog posts. These lines were a call to action to join his newsletter.

So far, so good.

But here's the kicker...

The call to action started with these words...

"If you enjoyed this article..."

Enjoy?

ENJOY?

I felt like blowing chunks after reading it, so no... I didn't enjoy it. And I'm sure any dog owner who's desperately searching for information about spleen tumors will not "enjoy" the article.

Did I find it useful? Yes.

Would I recommend it to others? Yes.

Under different circumstances, would I join the newsletter to get more info like this? Yes.

But I most certainly did NOT enjoy the article, which is why I did not join the newsletter.

It only took one simple word to create a disconnect, but it was a huge disconnect in this particular example. "Enjoy" and "bleeding out internally" just don't fit well together.

***

Bottom line: If you're going to use "cut and paste" bylines for all your content, or if you're going to automatically append any information to the end of your blog posts or articles, then be SURE that this automatic text matches your content. Make sure it doesn't create a disconnect that will get your prospects fleeing from your site.

Becky