How to write a blog (and sell more)
HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) How to write a blog (and sell more) A 7-step plan to grow your income By Marya Jan Blogging Coach & Content Strategist Writing Happiness Page 1/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Table of Contents Welcome Why blog for business? Some blogging stats for your viewing pleasure The 7 step process of selling with your blog Step 1 Identify your ideal audience Step 2 Get your blog ready for visitors Get yourself a hook Dress for success Get your head around consumer psychology Step 3 Offer an incentive they can’t turn down Step 4 Create strategic, purpose driven content Post less, not more Build authority, convert more traffic Step 5 Find new peeps through strategic promotion Guest posting is your ticket to forming connections Conquer social media, one platform at a time Step 6 Make offers via email Step 7 Fix your pages that sell Get yourself some clarity Conclusion Recommended reading Page 2/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Welcome Hello there, This is Marya here. I am a blogging coach, content strategist, and a freelance blogger. I teach experts and solopreneurs how to turn their blogs into the most effective marketing tool for their business. First the boring bits: my formal qualifications include MBA- Marketing, Bachelor at Law and Post Grad Dip of Education. I have about 10 years of experience working in marketing and academia. I have also worked as student counsellor and a career coach. I have been blogging for the last three years and in these years I have been able to successfully: Create and sell two highly successful courses: SELL MORE WITH BLOGGING is currently in session right now. Guest post on the leading blogs in my niche. (Problogger, Copyblogger, Boost Blog Traffic, Men with Pens, Write to Done, Make a Living Writing, Freelance Switch, Firepole Marketing, Tiny Buddha, Dumb Little Man, Stepcase Lifehack and many more.) Build my list of subscribers filled with high quality fans and leads. Teach Blogging for Business courses and workshops at TAFE (Adult education providers in Australia). Command top rates for my blog coaching and content creation services. And all of this while not spending hours on social media or sucking up to the A-listers (I am an introvert). Not having huge amounts of traffic (actually quite embarrassing to admit this). And working part time hours (I am a mom to two boisterous boys and can only spend a limited amount working on my business). In short, I now consider myself to be a ‘self-made blogger’. And I did it all by focusing on two things alone. Page 3/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Strategic content creation and making right offers to my email list. This way I turned my blog into the best and most effective marketing tool for my business. And I am here to teach you how you can do the same for your business. I teach you how to: Create blog posts to get your audience thinking about your products, programs and services. Write emails that convert them into hot prospects. Publish landing pages that will have people ready to buy – from YOU. And by ‘you’ I mean: Any expert or solopreneur who is looking to help more people and sell more of their products, programs and coaching. So, for example, maybe you are a health or wellness coach wanting to fill your book this year or a speech therapist eager to launch your online program. A writer who wants to sell more ebooks or a jewellery maker itching to see more of your custom designed pieces in the world. Perhaps, a web designer ready to sell more design services or an artist wanting to transform more homes. Or, you are a life style expert and now want to launch your product or service. I will teach you the same strategies that I have used to build my own successful business. Thank you so much for visiting my blog and downloading this ebook. It is chockfull of tips and tricks, and strategies to help you take your blogging to the next level, all with the help of your content. I hope that you continue to engage with me on my blog or via other social media platforms. You can find me here. Blog: Writing Happiness Twitter: @WritingH Facebook: Fanpage Google +: MaryaJan Ok, let’s dive in … Page 4/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Why blog for business? Before we officially begin, let me tell you the biggest myth of blogging that keeps small business owners, like you and me, from taking blogging seriously and seeing it for what it is – the most effective marketing tool for our small business. You see … people often confuse blogging for business with another form of blogging – a more general known form, where people spend hundreds of hours creating content - or sharing it on social media. They want to draw huge audiences and then dream of monetizing by displaying ads on their sites, or selling other people’s products. Where their utmost concern is to get noticed by the influencers – the A-listers. In other words, they want to become a ‘popular blogger’, because they have been told that it is the only way to succeed. They hope of ‘skyrocketing’ their subscriber numbers by hoping and praying for others to link to them. They dream of getting discovered somehow. Of becoming rich. This is their whole plan of becoming a ‘successful’ blogger. What if I told you that you don’t need to do any of that to run a blog that brings in more business than you dreamed possible? Your Blog is the Most Cost and Time Effective Tool to Make Big Profits. (And Not a Vehicle to Become ‘Popular’!) When you blog strategically, you don’t have to wait to sell until you have a big list to sell to. You can make a profit from day 1 if you want to. You don’t have to spend hundreds of hours on creating content or sharing on social media platforms. You just have to know the short cuts. You don’t have to do anything that you are not comfortable doing (no sleazy marketing tactics required). You don’t have to sell you soul – I promise. And you certainly don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on ads that don’t work. What you want is a clear, step-by-step process that helps you create a strategic plan. And you need a plan – not a miracle. Page 5/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) You need something concrete so you know exactly where to start, what to do next and not have that feeling of falling behind. (Side note: This is why I created my comprehensive online training Sell More With Blogging to give you a complete step by step so you finally stop wasting your time and start putting everything into action. Its doors are currently closed but I will send you more information when the next round of enrolment is underway). For now, I am going to give you an overview of what the process of building your business with your blog looks like. So if you are not chasing popularity, what do you hope to accomplish with your blog? This: Grow your business, sell more, be of service to people who need it and carve out a meaningful life for yourself – all with the help of ‘blog marketing’. When you utilize your blog as the perfect marketing tool: You don’t spend tons of time on creating content. You don’t chase mentions and social shares. That you are confident in your own skin. Instead, you kick off things right by fixing your website, offering the right freebie and building your email list the right way. And you don’t wait forever to email promotions. You understand blogging is the perfect tool for you to grow your business, and help others. You get that it is not a race to being the most popular kid in town. You want to build your business, and you want to do it on your own terms. Without having to resort to any sleazy marketing tactics that make your skin crawl. You want to be in control – not second guessing all the time. You want to build your business – a lifestyle you want and you want it having loads of fun. So let’s help you get there .. Page 6/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Now, if you are the type, who needs some hard facts and concrete date, I’ve got you covered, as well. Here are some business blogging stats for your viewing pleasure. According to Hubspot, the inbound marketing agency: About 46% of people read blogs once a day. Most people read 5-10 blogs, (about 58%). Almost 60% of businesses have a business blog. Nearly 40% of US companies use blogs for marketing purposes. 2/3rd of the marketers say their company blog is critical or important to their business. Companies that blog have more than 55% more website visitors. Businesses who post at least 1 blog article a week are 66% more likely to generate business leads than those who don’t. Blog articles influence purchases. Companies that blog have 434% more indexed pages, hence they have more traffic. Business leads that are generated by blog articles are 62% less expensive than other forms of web traffic sources including social media, paying an SEO company and email marketing. Ok. You are convinced. You can use blogging to help build a successful business online. You just need to know how. Page 7/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) The 7 step process for selling with your blog So, if you are not looking to become popular, how do you then start the process of turning your blog into a marketing tool? Glad you asked. Your goal is to sell more of your products, programs and services, right? You need more clients and customers to grow your business. At its most basic, the process looks something like this: 1. You have a product or service to sell. 2. You find people to sell it to. 3. You sell it to them. You can’t have a business unless you have something to sell (that helps people solve a problem or fulfil a desire), get in front of people to sell and make an offer. I am assuming you already have a website/blog that is doing this for you. You might already have a process in place to capture email addresses as well. With blogging, you get to optimize the two most critical aspects of this lead generation and sales process – creating content that pre-sells and building your list of targeted people ready to turn into customers. This is what the blog marketing process looks like: Step 1: Identify your ideal audience that you can truly serve well. Step 2: Create a blog that positions your business as the right choice and make sure your blog is not sending your ideal reader away. Step 3: Offer the right freebie to get the right person on your list. Step 4: Create strategic, purpose driven content to have them sticking around. Page 8/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Step 5: Finding new peeps through strategic promotion. Step 6: Make offers via email. Step 7: Fix your pages that sell. Let me explain why you need to have all these steps in working order to make money on your blog. 1. You don’t know who you want to serve so you end up attracting the wrong audience. People who have no interested in buying from you. 2. You have no USP. People can’t see what makes you different or special. They won’t even bother checking you out. 3. You have a generic incentive. You attract all sorts of people or not many. It probably doesn’t speak to your ideal audience. 4. Poorly crafted content. People don’t think you are good enough, they don’t even start the process of placing their trust in you. 5. You don’t promote your content. You don’t put yourself in front of new audiences, your list doesn’t grow. 6. Your list grows cold. You don’t make any offers and when you do, people are not used to you selling. You see many unsubscribes. 7. Weak sale page. Low conversions, people don’t buy, meaning low sales. So as you can clearly see, you need to have all these elements in place at the bare minimum, and continue to improve them slowly over time to sell more and attract new audiences, leads and ultimately customers. Let’s take a look into each step in detail to see how you can do that. Page 9/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Step 1 Identify your ideal audience So let me remind you again – you are writing a blog as the vehicle to attract your perfect audience. Your perfect audience is your ideal reader who finds your content somehow (through social and search), gets massive value from it, gets on your list, becomes interested in your products and services and over time becomes your customer. This is why you publish high relevant, highly useful content in the first place. The question now becomes who is your ideal audience? And it is not everybody. You might have heard the saying, if you set out to attract everyone, you end up appealing to no one. So get specific. No, way more specific. Start with your products and services. What problem are you solving? Who needs your product or service? Attract small business owners is not specific enough. Do you want to serve new businesses meaning someone who just monetized or somebody who is earning 100K a month? What do you mean when you say small business owner, a solopreneur or a small company with less than 10 employees? Do you want to help women specifically or people within a certain age – like people over 50? The narrower you make it, the easier it gets to speak that reader. And yes, you do end up excluding tons of people – this is something that makes a lot of people nervous – but it is far better to be an influencer in a small niche rather than be a nobody in a big one. Plus, you should still choose a target market that is big enough. If you get so specific that it becomes a super small niche, you will have problems attracting enough people to sustain your business. Create a profile for your ideal reader in such detail that you can actually imagine this person sitting across you when you are creating blog posts. Page 10/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) And when you actually go through this process, everything falls into place. You have no problems creating content for your blog because who know who you are writing for. You have no problems crafting messages for your social media platform because of the same reason – you know which message will appeal to your ideal audience. You can even create more the one persona, and create to both groups if that’s what you prefer. But get as specific as you can. And you will see this pay off big time. Page 11/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Step 2 Get your blog ready for visitors a. Get yourself a hook Does your blog have an overwhelming sense of ‘seen that before’? Are you struggling to establish your Uniqueness or Point of Difference (POD)? Don’t stress. You are not alone and it takes years to build a successful brand. That being said, you need to figure out what is different about you. What will make other readers take notice? How can you stand out? You need a hook Here is a little exercise that will help you get going in the right direction. It will help you determine your point of difference. Answer this question for me. I am different to other _______________ blogs because I help you ___________ so that you __________________________________. For example, in my case: I am different to other blogging blogs because I help you turn your blog into the perfect marketing tool for your business so you sell more of your products, programs and coaching. By doing this, you articulate a compelling and tangible benefit for your audience. It’s not about what you do, it is how you can help your audience get what they need. Be clear and consistent in your message Everything you write about should strengthen your ‘difference’. It should also come across in: your title and tagline your headline your popular posts displayed on your sidebar your free opt-in offer your call to action Page 12/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) your products and services your social media profiles your guest posts your content Other ways you can help strengthen your personal brand: • Be authentic – establish a strong voice • Determine your emotional appeal: are you serious, sassy or hilarious? • Get your look right • Be an expert – demonstrate your authority b. Dress for success Your blog is your house and your blog readers come knocking on your doors looking for something; information, advice, perspective, solutions. They won’t go past the home page if it looks like a college student dorm. Meaning, if you want to make a rocking first impression on your readers, you better think about coming across like a professional. You better think very hard about your blog design. Design Matters It doesn’t matter how good your content is, if your design looks amateurish, cluttered or worse dodgy, nobody would give you a second thought. All it takes are few seconds and your readers are gone – poof. They have too much to do and time is precious. While you don’t have to spend a fortune on design, you also do not want to look “spammy”. Get yourself a great design and you could have first time visitors digging enthusiastically to discover hidden treasures. Your readers want a clean, easy to use experience, if you deliver on this, you have won half of the battle. Get the foundation right That would be your installed theme. You can go with a free theme, or purchase a customizable, premium theme (recommended). It will set you back around 100 bucks but the investment will be well worth it. Your site can now look like nothing else on the market. You can also look into hiring a professional designer if you can afford one. The best way to go would be to set a target income. Once you have achieved that, you can then invest into getting yourself a professional design. Here are some ways to make a great first impression. Page 13/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Professional blog header: Your blog’s header graphics should be clean and professionally designed. (Also come up with a great tagline that tells your readers what your blog is all about and how it will benefit them.) Big and bold headlines. Use large and simple to read headlines. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot. Don’t display your retweet, Facebook, or LinkedIn count numbers if no one is sharing. Use two colours: Use two font colours on your blog: 1) a base colour (default colour for all post text) and 2) an action colour (for links and other items you want readers to notice and click). Make blog and newsletter opt-in forms prominent: Move your blog update by email form to the top of your sidebar. Eliminate clutter: Look for useless items that clutter up your blog’s navigation and side bar. Be careful with advertising: Ads are a double-edged sword. They can make you money but they can turn your blog into an advertising circus. For many bloggers, ads don’t pay enough to warrant scaring off readers. It also goes a long way in making your blog trustworthy in the eyes of your readers. More about that in a minute. c. Get your head around consumer psychology Doing a crash course in human psychology will do wonders for your conversion rates. And there is no need to go to Uni for this. You want to focus on learning more about persuasion and understanding motivation for starters. Display Social Proof Let me ask you a question. You go to your local supermarket and notice a huge line of people waiting in front of a store. What do you do next? Chances are you stand on tiptoe and try to see what all the fuss is about. You go out and see someone had a little accident. You want to go over and see what happened. You can’t help it. It’s human nature. Page 14/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) You see a new restaurant packed with people, you wanna go chech it out yourself as well. People follow others' lead. We want to go where others are And this is the power of Social Proof. When you go to a blog for the first time, and it’s hopping with activity. You think, wow, it seems like a good place to explore. You see people tweeting, sharing, commenting and you nearly assume that the content is really good. On the other hand, when the blog looks like a ghost town, you decide that the place must not be worth checking out. That’s the reality, however unfortunate it might be. That’s why it is so important to get some social proof (and eliminate the negative). The power of testimonials List what nice things people are saying about you. They don’t necessarily have to be from your buyers if you don’t have too many. Clients List People don’t want to be the only ones signing up to your list or buying from you. Show off your list of clients. Offer a freebie for sign-up Like I have done. Just don’t compile a list of articles you have published over the years. (And while you are at it add your email sign-up form at a prominent position, either top right on your side bar or just under main navigation.) If you want to repurpose the material you have got, at least make it around one main theme and update it. Nobody wants to get the feeling that they have been duped. Page 15/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Step 3: Offer an opt-in incentive they can’t turn down Once you have identified your ideal audience, you are now in a position to create two things to attract them One, the perfect giveaway or your opt-in offer Two, content that will appeal to this targeted audience. In this step, we are going to take a closer look at creating your perfect freebie. Go specific Most people make the mistake of writing or creating something on a broad topic, hoping to attract to a wide variety of people. For instance, let’s say you are a life coach wanting to fill your book with client appointments and also sell your ebook. You might think on creating a free report on how to live a successful life with fulfilment. Good idea? Not so much. If anyone comes across this report, they are going to wonder what sort of success you are talking about. Is this success in relationships, health or finances? Furthermore, if they are someone in their twenties, success in relationships is going to be very different from someone say who is married with kids going through a midlife crises. My point being, the more specific you are in creating your freebie, the better your chances of getting the right person on your list. If you are a life coach specializing in relationships, look at your idea reader. Who are they? How old? Are they male or female? And then think about creating something that would appeal to them specifically. Yes, you won’t attract a lot of people but that’s actually a really good thing. As soon as you make them an offer, most of them will unsubscribe. So why not minimize that from day one? You actually won’t even get to that stage, they will start unsubscribing because your content will not appeal to them. Because they are not your right audience. Page 16/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Remember, you want to build your email list with high people who will turn into prospects the more they get to know you and your business. Solve a problem You don’t have to spend hours creating that offer, whatever it may be (downloadable ebook, video tutorial/how to, printable checklist or worksheet, report or a case study). As long as you choose a problem people are interested in solving, you are good to go. Create a special page Also consider creating a squeeze page to give more details about your opt-in offer and entice people to sign up. According to Brian Clark of Copyblogger fame, you should have these elements on your opt-in page. These are essential for your success. 1. The headline: You’ve got to instantly catch attention with your headline. 2. The benefits: You’ve got to tell by teasing, usually with fascinating bullet points. 3. The call to action: You’ve got to expressly tell people to sign-up. 4. The opt-in form: You’ve got to have a way for them to sign-up. Page 17/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Step 4: Publish strategic, purpose driven content First of all I am going to go ahead and assume that your content is top notch. It is scannable, screen friendly and concisely written. Even though, it’s not perfect (and who’s is?), you know it is good. Your headlines entice your readers to click and open your posts; your intros draw them in. Your calls to action are strong. (If not, no worries, keep working and you’ll get there in no time.) Ok, good to get that out of the way. So let’s now take a look at two things to need to sort in order to have the perfect content strategy: Frequency and content type. 1. Frequency Write less, promote more Now you might be thinking that the more you post, the more readers or subscribers you are going to get. No! Please stop thinking that. That’s old school. It doesn’t work like that. You don’t need to bust your a$$ writing every day. Derek Halpern says most bloggers spend 80% of their time creating content and 20% promoting it. This is a fatal mistake and you need to be doing the OPPOSITE. Spend 20% of your time creating content and 80% promoting it. Especially in the beginning when your blog is new and you don’t have many readers. This is total waste of your effort and content. Why would you want to write when you don’t have sufficient amount of people reading it? Why do you want to create so much content when you don’t have enough eyeballs on your site? You are setting yourself up for failure. Page 18/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Instead of writing daily, a few times a week or even once a week, write on a regular basis. Choose consistency over quantity. Don’t Bother Posting Every day In this post ‘Why Posting Every day is a Silly Strategy (And What to do Instead), Jon Morrow, Associate Editor of Copyblogger advises newish bloggers against posting every day. He explains by doing this you destroy your social proof: “Social proof is evidence, left by your readers, that your blog is interesting, popular and worth reading. Your subscriber count, number of comments, number of retweets, likes and +1’s show new visitors that other people like and endorse you. Without social proof, getting people to subscribe to your blog is much harder. By posting too often, and thus continually replacing the latest post, you reduce the amount of social proof that each post will get. Few people will expend their present effort on yesterday’s conversations. If you publish a post every day it’s only up at the top of your blog for that day. If you publish a post only once a week, it would be at the top of your blog for a whole week. And a post will get more exposure if it is up at the top for longer… People will interact with it more since it’s the latest, most relevant content for a longer period of time.” You also risk losing readers. People unsubscribe if they get too many emails from you. Also, by writing less frequently, you are able to devote more time to the quality of your posts. You are able to do more research, link to quality sources and then have time to promote it. Don’t go too long without posting though, or your readers might forget you. This happened to me. I subscribed to a blog and they didn’t update for a long time. When finally I got an email, I had no idea who they were. Don’t let this happen to you. Once a week is what I swear by. When you write, say once a week (which I aim to do), your posts get more attention, attention they deserve. You will find that people engage more and share more. Try writing epic posts, every once in a while You are also able to write longer, ‘epic’ posts. Peep Laja of Conversion XL says that longer posts receive more links and shares. And it is indeed true. Page 19/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) The longer posts are perceived to be more valuable than shorter ones. Hence they are the ideal linkbait. Now there is huge debate whether you should write 500-600 word range posts or posts that have a monstrous word count (2-3K). They are not necessarily read all the way through. They are usually considered a resource and bookmarked more than they are read. I suggest doing what you believe is right. I think blog posts should not mimic book chapters. Like Michael Hyatt said in his book Platform, if people needed to read a book, they would get one. Most of my own posts are less than 1000 words. Takeaway: 1. Post consistently but take the pressure off. Once a week is perfectly acceptable, even recommended in today’s time. 2. Aim to write a few in-depth posts for more links, social sharing and better SE rankings. 2. Kind of content you should be creating The kind that builds authority, convert more traffic “Typically, blogs that publish often (daily or more) are looking to gain a massive amount of consistent traffic. But a successful business blog doesn’t have to have a huge amount of traffic – it just needs to attract traffic that is likely to convert. Hence, it’s not about frequency, but content.” Kristi Hines of Kikolani. Create K-L-T If you have ever followed Copyblogger, you might have come across this concept popularized by Sonia Simone. Know – Like – Trust When you regularly publish high quality content on your blog that really helps people solve their problems, it does a few things: It helps increase awareness about your business, it creates likeability. Along comes trust which is crucial if you want to sell successfully over the Internet. By posting fresh, engaging content, all you are doing is creating brand awareness and positioning yourself as an expert. You are also differentiating your business from others at the same time. What makes you unique? Well, write about it and let people know. Page 20/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Online, people don’t buy from people they don’t know. Unless you are a household brand name, it is worth creating content that will help people connect with you. You can take them up slowly on the ‘Awareness Ladder’ (A concept detailed by Ben Hunt in his book Convert, which by the way I recommend highly.) Remember get them to know you, like you and trust you. Makes good business sense doesn’t it? How to improve your website trust factor? Chris Garrett talks about this very issue. Work out who you want to attract and what you can do for them Use a professional blog theme with good quality images that aligns with the image you want to portray and the audience you wish to attract Reinforce your trust with evidence, testimonials, case studies, and social proof Focus your content on who you can help and how, and avoid putting off humans in favour of search engines Build a relationship with your audience over time Create Truly Valuable Resources: The next stage is to not just think in terms of professionalism, but extreme value. Your reputation will be built on sharing content that people want to consume and share. Remember, the more authority you have, less traffic you require to have a successful business blog. Page 21/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Step 5. Finding peeps through strategic promotion Guest posting is your ticket to forming connections Have you ever dreamt about your post going viral? You fantasized about it getting tweeted hundreds and thousands of times, being liked and shared on Facebook in millions and bringing you an avalanche of traffic. It can very well happen, but the thing is you can’t orchestrate it. You don’t have a say in what goes viral, you can’t decide if it’s going to be something you have written. Glad we got that out of the way. The only thing you can count on to get more shares and traffic is some help and support from the ones who have already made it. The big players in your niche. If they tweet out your post, share it on your Facebook or Google+ page, it can almost guarantee a lot of attention coming your way. But, you say, you don’t have any connections. None of the A-listers know you? I hear you. I have been there. It took me almost two years to develop any relationship with bloggers that I really respect and admire. But it was my fault, not theirs. I didn’t make any effort and didn’t do things right. If you don’t have any connections, it is time to start building them now, on a priority basis. It is hard to have them notice you first. But it can be done. And the way to do it is through guest posting. Guest Posting Success Stories Before we dive deep into guest posting practices, it is a good idea to talk about people who have gone down this route with huge results. Page 22/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Leo Babuta of Zen Habits blog. He has over 250,000 subscribers. Yes, you read it right and he has a vast chunk of this figure via guest blogging. In his ebook ‘How I got 100,000 subscribers in 2 years', he says “I used guest posts, frequently, far and wide, as my main means of branding. I tried to reach as many blogs as possible, especially those that had decent audiences that I was trying to reach. So if there was a productivity blog, or a personal development blog, or a health and fitness blog, or a blog on frugality or parenting or simplicity, I’d try to be on it with a guest post. I started simply by networking with other bloggers, sending them friendly emails and offering to collaborate somehow, perhaps with an exchange of guest posts. Sometimes I got lucky, lots of times I didn’t. Still, I persisted, and over time I was able to get lots of guest posting slots on lots of blogs. People who read multiple blogs in this sphere saw my name all the time, all over the place. At the end of each post, paid or unpaid, was my name, my brand, and a link back to Zen Habits. Slowly, this strategy paid off. I built up dozens of links back to Zen Habits, but more importantly, my brand began to take hold in the minds of many of my potential readers.” (Keep in mind though that you are NOT looking to grow a popular blog, but a profitable one. So don’t think that you can’t be successful in business unless you grow you readership to this size. Keep working to build you list but remain profitable is what I say.) And recently, who can forget about Freddy Kruger of Blogging – Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing. You might have seen his posts on all the major marketing blogs. He has been so successful that he has launched his course “Write like Freddy” which is great to learn everything about writing and guest posting. And then there’s Ali Luke of Aliventures who pretty much posted on every writing, blogging and web writing blog. There is Gregory Ciotti of Sparring Mind, Henri Juntilla of Wakeup Cloud Oni of Youngpre Pro and so on … Give Guest Posting a Go Back to building connections. You can retweet their posts but if they are a popular blogger, they are used to getting hundreds of tweets. It is very hard to stand out this way. Same goes for commenting on Facebook pages. You can leave comments on their blog - that is the first step in establishing a connection. If you leave insightful comments, they are bound to notice you and you might even get a response back (remember we are talking about mega bloggers who are strapped for time). Almost all big bloggers read every single comment they get, even if they can’t respond to every one. After you have been commenting a while, it is time to pitch them an idea for a guest post. Just get to them with a short email. A lot has been written about making a great pitch. Page 23/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Guest blogging brings you highly targeted traffic, which is much more likely to stay or subscribe than a random or paid one. You are creating content anyway, right? Why not go where everybody is? Embrace social media – one at a time Does the thought of social media fill you with dread or are you forever chained to your social networking sites – all day long? Whatever the case maybe, you need to use social media to promote your brand. I see two potential problems with this: There are so many; Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest and what not. Where do you go? It can be a case of total overwhelm. And then there is this case of time. If you have a business, and a life, suffice to say you can only do so much. Unless you have more than 24 hours in the day. I suggest, Start with one social medium Pick one that most resonates with you I love Facebook because I can build my brand much easily. I can schedule posts in advance and I can spend as much or as little time as I like. I also build my fan base and build my email list. You might be more into the social networking aspect of it. You might like Twitter or Google+ better. If you are big on visuals, Pinterest might suit better. Whatever. The point is to do one, and do it well. That’s it. No secrets here. Page 24/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Step 6: Keep your list warm Most clients and readers I talk to and obsessed about the size of their list – and for good reason. Maybe you are like that? You have heard that it is the size of your list that matters. Err .. actually, while the size of your list does matter, 10,000 person list will get you better results and more business than a 500 one, but, there is one thing that is even more important. Your relationship with your list. How warm or cold it is. Think of it in this way: how many people open your emails on average? How many people actually click through? The more people you have opening and reading your emails, the warmer your list becomes. And this is something worth celebrating. Why? Because when it’s time to promote your products or services, you will have fewer unsubscribes. More people will open and read your launch content and find out about you offer. More people will click through to your sales page and actually buy, assuming your sales page copy is good and your emails are relevant and interesting. Actually, the better your relationship with your list, the less you have to worry about nailing your sales page. You are sending warm traffic to your sales page, people who know, like and trust you. You have invested lot of hours, energy and emotion into building this relationship and it is going to pay off. So how do you actually nurture your email list? Actually it is not hard to do once you know what needs to be done. Email them at least once a week. Research tells us that it takes people multiple exposures to you before you have any impact. Page 25/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Email them and let them know about your latest blog post. Send them personal emails once in a while. Send them subscriber only bonuses and reward them for being a loyal subscriber. Keep it consistent Once you start doing this consistently, you will start seeing results. But you have to put in the work first. Page 26/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Step 7 Fix your pages that sell Lastly, you have got to learn the basics of copywriting. You might have noticed this yourself. All the influencers and upcoming bloggers are not only really good at blog writing – don’t get me wrong, they are great – they have another magic bullet in their arsenal – they are experts at injecting copywriting secrets in their blogs. They are using all tricks of the trade to persuade you to read, share, subscribe or buy – without you even noticing it. Why? Because Web is a direct response medium. When you write a blog post, you want your readers to do something. You want them to tweet, share or pin it. You want them to leave a comment or subscribe. And you do this by learning the basics of copywriting. When you write your pages (and content, for that matter), make sure you structure them right and also infuse them with secrets that all copywriters use. Learn AIDA principle Capture your readers Attention, no matter how annoyingly fleeting it is. Hook them by writing powerful headlines. Ah – the headlines! A lot – and I do mean A LOT- has already been written about them. You can forget everything and just remember this. Make them curious Offer a clear benefit for reading further Build Interest. Tell a compelling story, quote a startling statistic or make a shocking claim. Don’t let go of the momentum. Getting their attention is the easy part, keeping is REALLY hard. Create Desire – for your future posts, for your products, for your services. Call to Action. Now tell your reader what to do. ‘You’ is Your Best Friend The most important word in copywriting is YOU. Page 27/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) As a blogger, you should be using it ALL THE TIME. First, get to know your reader well – what keeps them up at night? Address them directly in your posts (Like I am doing here) Be considerate – don’t try to impress them, and don’t try to dumb it down either. Takeaway: Go over your last post again, do you see a lot of ‘yous’? Or is the content focused on you in the form of ‘Is’ Keep it Tight Long vs short – the debate rages endlessly. What people don’t seem to understand this; copy can be both short and highly repetitious in content, or long but really succinct. It is not the length of the post that matters, if the subject matter demands it, write your heart out. But keep it to the point. Conciseness means making sure every single word counts – but not at the expense of providing complete information. Benefits vs Features People do not care about you, at least not right away – that is the harsh reality of things. They care how you can help them. Position your product or service as the answer to their problems. While trying to create a unique selling proposition, always remember that features tell, benefits sell. Your blog is about travel – is a feature. You help people go on great holidays on a tight budget – is a benefit. You are trained in copywriting – is a feature. You write copy that sells more for your client’s business - is a benefit. You have a 12 year career coaching experience – is a feature. You are an expert at getting fresh graduates jobs – is a benefit (and a really cool one at that!) Stop Living in Fear of Your Old High School Teacher Page 28/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Learn the rules of grammar and then break them with confidence. Doing this doesn’t mean that you start getting sloppy. You can’t substitute ‘effect’ with ‘affect’ or use its when you mean it’s. You can’t confuse ‘whom’ with ‘whose’ either. That’s just confusing. You can, however, start your sentences with conjunctions (And, but, Or etc.) if you wish, or use fragments to make your point. Like this one. You could also get away with ending your sentences with prepositions. For example: Spam is something we need to get rid of. You still have to write well, you can’t publish your first draft. Edit it like you would do normally for any print publication. And be conversational. Write like you talk – only better. Page 29/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Conclusion So, you now know what you have to do and you are slowly but steadily putting everything into action. You have a clear purpose – create content that attracts your ideal reader. You also know you have to be working hard, being consistent and never give up. But how long will it really take you to make it? When will you have truly made it? When Will Your Blog Reach Escape Velocity? Yes, Danny Iny of Firepole marketing has some useful words to this on this topic. The Magic Numbers: 1,000 and 10,000 “I wanted to know when that “tipping point” starts to happen, so I reached out to Corbett Barr and Jon Morrow and asked them: “When does it start to tip? When does momentum start kicking in, and make this whole process easier?” The answers came back in two conveniently round numbers: 10,000 unique monthly visitors, and 1,000 subscribers. That’s where the tipping point starts to happen, and it all starts getting easier. At 10,000 unique monthly visitors, the fans start doing some heavier lifting, your reputation paves the way, and Google’s increasing comfort level with you starts to really pay dividends. Likewise with 1,000 subscribers: with a list of that size, you reach a critical mass that allows your good work to be spread far and wide, without your having to do nearly as much work as you did before.” And in the words of Sonia Simone It takes some time to build an audience, and momentum is your friend. Most of us don’t take off like rockets. We build slowly at first, then the snowball starts to grow. If you’re not finding the audience you want yet, ask yourself: Page 30/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Here are the biggest takeaways from this ebook: How can you grow your blog and in turn your business? You don’t need to become a popular blogger. Period. You want to be profitable rather than popular. You don’t need a huge list before you sell something. You can launch a product or put up a hire me page from day one. You don't need tons of traffic. You only need targetted traffic (your ideal reader) – traffic that converts. You need to know how to get that traffic. You don't need to spend unlimited amount of time creating content that nobody is reading. You create content and then guest post to drive traffic to that piece of content. You follow the 80/20 Rule: 80% promotion, 20% content creation. And you do it on one-two social media platforms. You must create strategic, purpose driven content that builds your authority, create trust and attracts your ideal reader. No connections? No worries. You actively incorporate Guest Blogging in your promotion strategy. You guest post to form connections, not the other way round. This is what I swear by. And finally, just as a reminder, here is the 7 step process for your blog marketing success. Step 1: Identify your ideal audience that you can serve well. Step 2: Create a blog that positions your business as the right choice and make sure your blog is not sending your ideal reader away. Step 3: Offer the right freebie to get the right person on your list. Step 4: Create strategic, purpose driven content to have them sticking around. Step 5: Finding new peeps through strategic promotion. Page 31/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Step 6: Make offers via email. Step 7: Fix your pages that sell. We have had a look at every step in detail – so you can start taking steps and putting what you have learnt in action. Maybe you need to make a few tweaks on your blog – maybe you need to change a lot. In any case, I hope you start today. Rather than tomorrow. And if you have found this ebook useful, don't forget to share with your friends. You would be helping them and also me in spreading the word. Just tweet this: Free ebook: How to write a blog (and sell more) http://writinghappiness.com/ebook/ Like Writing Happiness on Facebook if you haven’t already. https://www.facebook.com/WritingHappiness Have something to say? Any feedback? Drop me a line at [email protected]. I'll leave you (only for now) with a solid list of books that I have read multiple times and recommend highly. Enjoy! To your success, Marya Blogging coach and content strategist Writing Happiness Page 32/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Recommended reading Solopreneurship Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt The Personal MBA: A World-Class Business Education in a Single Volume by Josh Kaufman Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Carl Newport Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss Problogger: Secrets to Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse & Chris Garrett The Entrepreneur Equation: Evaluating the Realities, Risks, and Rewards of Having Your Own Business by Carol Roth The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E GerberBlogging for Business: Everything You Need to Know and Why You Should Care by Shel Holtz Influence Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by by Chip and Dan Heath The Art of Explanation: Making Your Ideas, Products and Services Easy to Understand by Lee Lefever Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki Page 33/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) The Impact Equation: Are You Making Things Happen or Just Making Noise? by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith Engagement from Scratch!: How Super-Community Builders Create a Loyal Audience and How You Can Do the Same! by Danny Iny Influence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation by Sally Hogshead Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah BergerInfluence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini Content creation and marketing Clout: The Art and Science of Highly Influential Web Content by Colleen Jones Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, ebooks, Webinars and More that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business by Ann Handley Content Strategy for the Web by Christina Halvorson The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott Accelerate!: Move Your Business Forward Through the Convergence of Search, Social & Content Marketing by Arnie Kuenn Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing by Lee Odden Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don’t Work by Dan Roam Social Media Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith Page 34/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (And Other Social Networks) by Dave Kerpen No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing by Jason Falls and Erik Deckers The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott The NOW Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social by Jay Baer and Amber Naslund Web Copywriting Convert: Designing Websites to Increase Traffic and Conversion by Ben Hunt Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug The Copywriter’s Handbook, Third Edition: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells by Robert W. Bly Web Copy that Sells by Maria Veloso Success mindset Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink Switch; How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath The Power of Habit (Why We Do What We Do) by Charles Duhigg The Fire Starter Sessions: A Soulful + Practical Guide to Creating Success on Your Own Terms by Danielle LaPorte The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield Accidental Creative How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice by Todd Henry Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham Page 35/36 HOW TO WRITE A BLOG (AND SELL MORE) Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande Tiny Buddha, Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions by Lori Deschene Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky The Big Moo: Stop Trying to be Perfect and Start being Remarkable by Seth Godin Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell The Dip: The Little Book that Teaches You when to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain Page 36/36
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