Blogging is an art form and it should be treated as such. To truly master blogging you're going to need to spend a lot of time perfecting your writing style and getting to know your customers. The deeper you know your customers and the better you can serve them with clarity the more likely your posts are to resonate and inspire action.
Unfortunately, most of the content out there on the web isn't up to speed. It's either not well thought out, not useful, or is written to serve the author instead of the reader. If you want your blog posts to bring in new subscribers or customers, then you have to do something different. You can't continue doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
The time has come to switch things up and start writing for your audience in a way that makes them care about what you're doing. In this post we're going to look under the surface for reasons your blog posts aren't helping your business grow.
Who Are You Focusing On?
As a practice, blogging began simply as a form of self-expression. People opened up their LiveJournal accounts and wrote to their heart's content for the entire world to see. Since then the blogging landscape has changed a little bit. People still use blogs as an online journal of sorts, but the purpose of blogging has shifted, especially if you want to use your blog as a means to generate sales or bring in new subscribers.
If your blog posts are written in an effort to please yourself or only talk about your business then you're missing the potential of your blog. A lot of blogs simply have content that belongs inside of a personal journal.
In order to have an effective blog you need to blog for your customers and provide them with tremendous value. When you shift your writing towards them, and you begin to passionately solve their problems, you'll begin to see a shift in your conversions.
When people can tell that you care about them and their success through your service, they'll be hungry for more.
"You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want" - Zig Ziglar
Start using your blog as a tool for service and you'll start to see a steady change, the questions below might help:
• What's the biggest problem my audience faces?
• How could I entertain and educate my audience?
• What practical knowledge could I break down and give away for free?
Who Is Your One Person?
When you're crafting a blog post it's easy to get wrapped up in who you want to write to. After all, you don't want to offend anyone right? Wrong. Well, kinda. Writing is already a very intensive process and if we want to hit the mark then we're going to have to narrow our focus.
It's easy to want to write to everyone and try and please all parties. However, if we do this there's no way your blog post is going to be as effective as it could have been otherwise. Useful blog posts usually solve one very specific problem, and are geared towards a single person.
People worry that when they narrow their blog posts down to a single person they're going to miss out on potential readers, but this couldn't be farther from the truth. Most successful bloggers have one or two personas that they orient each blog post towards.
Most people who come across their blogs will share a few characteristics with the personas they wrote for. These reader personas will help you get in the mind of the person you're writing for and help you to craft a more powerful post. The more detailed you can be in your description of your persona the better.
Crafting a Reader Persona
A good persona is a combination of both psychographics and demographics. Demographics explain who they are, while psychographics get into why they do certain things. The questions below will get you started:
• What is this person's age, gender, and income?
• Where do they live?
• What do they do for a living?
• What is their education level?
• What is their family life like?
• What time of day are they most likely to read your blog/use your service?
• What is their biggest struggle/pain point?
• What do they love the most?
Do what you can to get inside their head, and write your blog post to that exact person. Some people have found it effective to find a picture that represents their ideal reader to really get in the zone.
You Have to Make a Request
If you're writing a post that's geared towards your ideal reader and it's solving one of their most pressing needs then your post is going to be a hit. So, what's next?
You have to tell them what to do next. When a person lands on your website there's a good chance they're going to be looking for guidance. So, they'll be looking to you as an expert. As a result, you're going to need to be direct in telling them what you'd like them to do.
I can't tell you how many times I've read an amazing post only to reach the bottom and be greeted with nothing. As the author it's your job to tell the reader where to go. If you've done the above steps effectively they'll be glad to do whatever you tell them to do.
If you want them to sign up for your newsletter, then make sure you ask them. If you'd like them to check out a new course you're offering as it's an extension of the blog post, then tell them to check it out.
Writing compelling posts will take time and practice, but with consistent effort you'll be writing post that help your readers and grow your business.