Blogging is nothing more than a conversation with your reader. Visualize your ideal reader (hopefully your ideal client) sitting across from you with a cup of their favorite hot beverage and you are having a conversation. The only difference is that the conversation is all from you and it’s in writing, a blog post.
Right now, I’m picturing you in this conversation with me, nodding your head and saying “oh yeah, I get it, that makes total sense.”
If you’ve ever role played, this is probably easier for you than if you haven’t because you have to play both your role (the blog post writer) and the role of the reader (your client or customer who reads the blog post.)
Knowing this, there are 5 keys to blogging success:
#1 Write to One Person
Yes, this does mean you are going to need to know who your ideal client or target market is, specifically, before writing your blog post. For example, you may write a blog post for middle aged, divorced women, with kids gone (or no kids), in corporate careers, who are struggling with their weight. That is a very different blog post than the one that targets thirty something busy moms with extra baby weight! Know who your market is and know their pain points and priorities.
#2 Use Conversational Words and Tone
Write your blog post the way you would speak. With the many ways technology keeps us in touch, including email, text, instant messaging, and more, our communication styles have become much more relaxed and abbreviated. Eliminate the big words (and they really aren’t very big), from your blog post, like “implement” and say “use,” instead of “initiate” say “begin.” Relaxed includes starting a sentence with a preposition (and or but), because that’s what you’d do in a verbal conversation.
#3 Tell Stories
Stories from your own life, the life of clients (change the names to protect confidentiality), the life of friends and family (with permission) are all great ways to bond with your blog post reader. Studies have shown that people remember stories far longer than they do facts and figures (except for those analyticals in the crowd.) Your blog post is an opportunity to share from who you are, not just what you do.
#4 Make a Point
Every story, no matter how rich in detail you make it, must have a point. Why are you sharing this particular story in your blog post? What is the lesson you want your reader to get in the blog post.
#5 Create a Call to Action
As you close your blog post, as you would close a conversation, there is a next step. In a conversation about business it might be a request for proposal, and agenda of next steps you want them to take before you get back together, you might provide a resource. The same applies to your blog post. Invite interaction, ask your reader for their feedback, opinion, how they’d handle the situation you wrote about, or give them a chance to buy something. Reading your post without a call to action is only spinning their wheels.
Here’s my CALL TO ACTION . . .comment here and tell me if you currently use these 5 blogging success tips and how they work. If not, which are you missing and when will you put them into action?
Hello Melissa; Thanks for sharing your suggestions. One of my favorite preachers is joel osteen. He has a gift of making his talks sound like he is speaking just for me. And you are right about using conversational language. Your best advice was about using stories. I find that my most well received posts are the ones that include the sharing of a personal story whether it be mine, a family member, or a past client. Looking forward to your future posts. I am a blind blogger who is hoping to start his own coaching and public speaking practice, and I thought I’d start by learning from some of the more established members of the profession. thanks again, Max
Maxwell,
Stories are food for our souls! Glad to hear it is effective and sounds like you have a fascinating story. Are you in real estate?
Hugs,
Melissa
Great post Melissa and yes I am using all of these techniques although still working on improvements to the site we discussed. Agree that story is very important. I recently wrote an article linking our cottage life experience with the need to know your audience. I admit I’m worried that a few of my “guests” may see themselves in the article but decided to take the risk because the lessons learned are just too good not to share. Hopefully I’ll be forgiven. Lessons from the lake: Know your audience http://www.mightywrite.ca/
Leanne,
You can always change the names to protect the not-so-innocent, LOL. Like to see your face, use gravatar.com.
Hugs,
Melissa
Yes, you snagged me to read this and I’m happy to say that I am very conversational (and use all of your 5 tips) and even use the BOLD and ITALICS and CAPS to sometime draw emphasis to a word or phrase too, for those who might just “skim” the post. I’ve found that in our business of design, you must include pictures to get their attention too. People are TOO busy, and don’t read a lot of text so you have to make it interesting enought to draw them in…..which I hope that I do, most of the time anyway. I hope my Southern Drawl comes through on my blog posts, http://cumbysinteriors.com/blog/ !
Melissa Galt–as my dad might have said, “You frustrate the daylights outta me!” You’re just too good at practicing what you preach. You grabbed me and enthralled me with your “5 Keys…” I sew immediate application to both writing and public speaking. But you had that link to finding your target audience, and there are a couple of links in that one! So off I go. Are you trying to take up my whole morning? Less than two minutes ago, a new emergency speech outline slipped into my billfold: “5 Keys to Public Speaking Success.” Point 1: Speak to One Person. Sound familiar? Yeah, and I’ll give you credit. By the way, you have become one of my “Must Read” resources for good stuff. With your nudges I’m going to update a couple of old websites I’ve neglected: http://www.EveryKidaWinner.com and http://www.GrandpaDale.com. You are an inspiration, Melissa! –Dale Smith, Past Winner: “World Championship of Public Speaking” (Toastmasters International)
Wow, Dale!
Thank you for being a regular reader and delighted to learn of your passions and focus. Are you a member of your local National Speaker’s Association chapter? They’d benefit greatly from your experience.
Look forward to more feedback always!
Hugs,
Melissa
Thanks for sharing your advice Melissa. I would also add that in addition to creating that all important conversational tone and inserting your call to action – visual content is also important. I would recommend including relevant video and infographics to support written content or at a bare minimum some photographs. It helps hold the reader’s attention.
Melissa,
I use my life experiences from when I was married. I usually target women that have been victims of abuse. I don’t just stick to physical abuse but I blog about the various forms of abuse. My question is do I need to link my blog to my website? Right now they are two separate entities. My website is http://www.kevawilliams.org and my blog is godsdiva1.blogspot.com
What are you suggestions?
Keva
Keva,
Your blog really needs to be inside your website or you aren’t gaining the traffic from it for your services. Blogs are designed to educate people into wanting to work with you, but if you keep it separate they have to go “find” you. Making it a core component of your website provides stronger branding and a clearer path to you.
Why aren’t you using the email keva@kevawilliams.com?
Hugs, Melissa