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
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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
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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.
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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 …
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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.
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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 ..
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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