What should BlogHer's tagline be?

Can you help us boil BlogHer down to a single, catchphrase? One that will help remind us why we come here -- and answers the question "so what?" for people new to the site or the conference? I think BlogHer needs a tagline. Quick-like. One as good as these:

• The X-Files: The truth is out there
• Burger King: Have it your way
• Global Voices Online: The world is talking. Are you listening?
• Three Kid Circus: Bananas is our business

Here's the opportunity: When we relaunch the new BlogHer Web site in a few short weeks, I'd like to put a single sentence at the top of the homepage that delivers all the promise of the mission, vision and positioning statements we refined in October based on your survey feedback.

But instead of paragraphs, this phrase should be just a handful of words or even a sentence. Plenty of blogs have taglines (hat-tip: Toby Bloomberg). Some of them, like Global Voices, are good. But others strike me as too wordy or too limited. I want BlogHer to have a tagline that combines inspiration with a dig in the ribs.

So here's a starter list. Which do you like? Hate? Please add your own in the comments below (number them!) and/or vote on them all:

1. BlogHer: By, for and about women who blog
2. BlogHer: Where the women bloggers are
3. BlogHer: Please pass the megaphone
4. BlogHer: Be seen. Be heard.

Spoils to the winner: Everlasting gratitude and permanent credit on the Web site. Let 'er rip...

Comments

[Amber]

I vote for #3!

[Sour Duck]

While I like the feel of #2, it uses language that is already sexist: e.g., "women photographers", "women journalists", "women drivers". It assumes the default gender of general terms is male.

I would suggest an in-your-face, defiant tagline. I'm sure you won't like these, but I'll list them anyways:

- World Shut Your Mouth! (er... maybe that's taken)
- We're Not Going Away. Deal with it.
- It's our world.
- It's our world, you're just a visitor.
- Stop typing and start listening.
- Blogging and Proud of it!
- We're Taking Back the Press.
- TV is dead. Long live the Blogosphere!
- Another night of "Survivor"? We think not!

Okay so some are silly. Feh. These are off the top of my head.

A tagline that lays down the gauntlet, so to speak, will be more intriguing to the mainstream media. And that's part of the point of the tagline, isn't it?

And please, for the love of God, don't go with #3. How wimpy can you get? How about:

WE'RE TAKING THE MEGAPHONE!.

(Apologies to Amber, I see you like this one.)

[Lisa Stone]

Thanks for weighing in Amber!

Hiya Sour Duck - let's arm wrestle: #3 is wimpy?! Our responses are a great exercise in perception. Because I saw that line as anything but wimpy -- saying please when I ask another woman to pass along the megaphone when she's done. That said, I do like "We're taking the megaphone". Might shorten it to an exhortation: "Pick up the megaphone."

I keep vacillating between a couple of these taglines. Today I'm particularly fond of "Be seen. Be heard." Just to noodle on that for a minute:

- Seems true to our mission, where BlogHer has created an opportunity for exposure/education/community for women bloggers, but a woman can only take advantage of it IF she shows up and speaks up.

- Seems to poke a subtle stick in the eye of all the blogs and sites and conferences that don't invite or link to women. Yet at the same time it moves us beyond the old, tired "Where are the women bloggers?"

- I like it as a great play on the saying "women should be seen and not heard".

- It's not preachy or anti-anyone, it's punchy and pro-community.

- In fact, it's almost taking back "see and be seen" but in a grassroots kinda way.

- Selfishly, for me, BlogHer as a conference was distinguished by the degree of listening people did.

Thoughts?

[Sour Duck]

Lisa, okay, a bit of armwrestling for you:

I had intrepreted #3 as asking "pretty please" for the boys to pass us the megaphone, not other women.

If there is confusion surrounding the tagline, if it is unclear, this indicates that the tagline is not good.

Another point: if you do not adopt a bold tagline, you run the risk of being to bland (and unmemorable).

Nicey-nicey, middle-of-the-road taglines are unexciting and unmemorable.

I repeat: you want to be bold in your tagline. Grab people's attention.

"Seems to poke a subtle stick in the eye..."

*cough* *splurts tea* Did you just use "subtle" in an argument for a marketing tool? Marketing is sizzle and most definitely not subtle. Are you afraid of offending future (male) employers, Lisa? (big grin)

And sometimes you have to grab the megaphone (from the men), not pick it up. What happened to the anger and offense that motivated the first BlogHer conference? *One* conference does not solve the "where are the women bloggers?" silliness. Follow-through with a daring, bold, even provocative tagline.

You'll be thanking me later.

(Can't wait for the marketing Queen Bee to drop in with her thoughts, but I'd also like to hear from more conference attendees, both from last year and this year. I'll linkblog this and hope at least 9 more people show up.)

[mir]

I am all about Blogher: Be see. Be heard

But I think it should be moved into the active sense;

Blogher: Seen and Heard.

or she says jokingly,

Blogher: Really, the better half.

or even funnier;

Blogher: tits and wits

although seriously I would reject all but the first because they are essentialist and just plain dumb.

[Jenn]

I like #2 best.

[Lisa Stone]

Mir, you can take full blame for the fact that my screen is covered with coffee!

Okay, forgive me for lacking the proper, erm, wits, but when you say you prefer the first, do you mean #1 or the first one mentioned in your comment?

Thanks for the vote, Jenn...

[Susan Getgood]

Blogher: Egos checked at the door

[Lisa Stone]

Oh, Susan, you ARE good.

Shout out to Sour Duck: Thanks for helping us get the word out!

[Lisa Stone]

Hi Sour Duck, just read through your comment too.

Hmm, well, if I were worried about future male employers, perhaps I should have thought about that before starting BlogHer!

Actually, I think there is a role for subtlety in taglines. I think the best taglines are short, direct and do give way to layers of meaning if you take the time to peel that onion. Like Susan's suggestion. Like the four best-case examples I give above, from Burger King to Three Kid Circus.

You are quite right that we cannot risk a misunderstanding! That is forbidden.

More votes and feedback please.

[Laura]

I love "Be Seen. Be Heard." I also liked "It's Our World." And I'd like to suggest the following:

1. Take the World by Storm
2. Use the Power of your Voice
3. Use your Voice
4. Change the World, One Keystroke at a Time

[Candace]

So far I like "Be Seen. Be heard." the best though I'm not sure it says enough. I also like something Sour Duck started on - maybe "Take back the Blog." Or how about "A Blog of One's Own"?

[Cool Walrus]

I vote for #4.

[Lisa Stone]

Thanks for the vote, Cool Walrus. Nice Candace: A Blog of One's Own.

Laura, I'm very taken by your #3! Here's my edit:

BlogHer: Raise Your Voice

Thoughts?

[Liz]

I like "Be Seen, Be Heard" for all the reasons given.

Also, I think it *is* an active statement (referring to what you will do while at Blogher), and while it doesn't say *everything*, I do think it says the right thing in a positive yet sly way.

Also, I like that it can speak to anyone, not just women. Like you can come to Blogher and Be Seen and Be Heard as a woman, by women, but also as a guy, by women, or as women, by guys, etc. :)

And finally - yeah, tagline, good idea!

[Beth]

Of the original options, I vote for #4. I agree that #3 sounds like a "pretty please" to the boys, and #1 and #2 just don't have the same punch for me.

That said, I also like "Raise Your Voice." A lot, actually. I think that's my favorite so far.

[Joy Des Jardins]

Of the ones you mention, I like #4 best Lisa....Be seen, Be heard.

I have a couple:

1) Blogher: www = World Wide Women

2) Women Around the World

Just a thought.

[Jenny]

I thought the tagline was "the conference a community built" ;)

I like the Be seen... one.

I'll think on this, but I'm pretty hopeless. We tried a bunch of different taglines when we were creating mommybloggers.com, but we were laughing too hard to actually choose one. Things like Mommybloggers - don't make us stop this car! And another favorite: Mommybloggers - there's a special place in Hell for us.

[Beth]

I'm getting here late .. but Mir -- you are to blame for wine all over my terminal! :-)

I remember the one you came up with during your stair speech - blogher - where it is always open mike for women. But, I like number #2 with one more word:

BlogHer: Where women bloggers are (heard)

BlogHer: Women's voices in the blogosphere

with apologies to global voices
Blogher: Women are talking, Are you listening?

with apologies for being silly
BlogHer: Where the girls are ...

[Tina]

I'm a fan of World Wide Women.. maybe with something added after that. Not feeling so creative right now!!

[Susan Getgood]

Just my .02 but I think the tagline needs to be about more than the gender of the participants, and also cover some of the ways blogher is different than the ego-laden conferences we are all familiar with (and hate). Participatory. A blogging conference, not a business conference. New voices, different voices. Etc.

That said, a perfect tagline is almost impossible to find. Might as well get half dozen candidates you like and throw a dart. And I'm not joking.

[sweetney]

I like "Blogher: World.Wide.Women." (visually you could highlight the three W's by using a different color text and/or font).

And I'll give a shout-out to the much-maligned #3# "BlogHer: Please pass the megaphone"; I don't think "Please pass" is language coded with domination by patriarchy any more than asking someone to "please pass the salt" is, honestly.

But then "BlogHer: Be seen. Be heard." has a nice ring, too.

That was totally unhelpful. Sorry.

[Lisa Stone]

How gratifying! Can't tell you what it means to tune back in after a couple of hours and get this terrific feedback.

Thank you. Keep it coming.

P.S. Jenny, whether or not BlogHer ever uses the tagline "Don't make me stop this car," I may have it tattoed on my forehead by morning. There are five nine-year-old boys holding an all-night rave in my house, even as I type...

[Laura]

Thanks Lisa, I love Raise Your Voice even more than Use Your Voice. Good edit!

[Liz]

I also like Blogher: World Wide Women.

That's pretty hot. :)