Writing 12 blog posts might seem like ‘Mission Impossible’ at first, but if you follow these 10 steps and follow them frequently, it becomes an automated process. As I’ve discussed, blogging is a great way to establish the relationship of trust with your target audience that is so crucial for long-term success. It doesn’t matter how entertaining your writing is- if people don’t trust you, they’re not going to buy from you. Building up that bond with your readers, where they come to see you as the trusted voice of expertise, usually equates to money in the bank. So here’s the 10-step process to writing 12 blog posts:
#1- Identify Expert Topics
You want to brainstorm here and uncover the common themes surrounding the issues your target audience regularly face. What are problems they want solved? What are the questions they keep coming to you with? Your target audience is (ideally) a small number of people. Just 20% of your existing customer base are responsible for 80% of all the revenue that comes into your business. It’s known as Pareto’s Law and when you learn to identify who these people are and focus your marketing efforts exclusively on them, the money coming into your business will shift up a whole level.
#2- Identify What’s Trending
This is where you take a look at similar businesses or experts in your field. What are the problems they are solving? What questions are they answering? This can uncover the answers you’re providing that nobody else is and in that case- go for it! It also helps to identify anything you might have missed in your initial brainstorming session. A handy place to get this information is www.answerthepublic.com
#3- Identify Communication Style (Tone)
‘Tone’ is important in getting your audience (your readers) to feel that you identify with them and understand them. Tone is essentially the language you use in your written copy. Often it’s a subtle element, but over the course of your blog posts it makes a notable difference to the “feel” of the article. That 20% I mentioned earlier? You want to write in a manner that they’ll identify with. Writing to an audience of teenagers is different to retirees, which is different again to people who generally have over a decades’ experience in I.T. Match the tone with that of your target audience and you go a long way to ensuring your blog posting has the desired effect.
#4- Get the core elements of communication
Where do you plan to distribute your blog? Will you send links via e-mail to all of your followers, contacts or subscribers? Will you post the links on your business or professional Facebook page, Twitter account or LinkedIn account? You want to be posting it on media platforms (and targeting individual groups in those media platforms) who comprise of the people in your target audience. You drop your line where the fish are!
#5- Objectives
What is the end result you want from writing your blog posts? Do you want more people to subscribe to your mailing list? Do you want more orders? More sales? Developing a stronger relationship with your leads and existing customers should always be one of the objectives- because that’s where the considerable time it takes to plan/ write/ edit/ post your blogs pays for itself. So with that considered, do you want your readers to come away with a better understanding of who you are, what you stand for and what drives you to do what you’re great at?
#6- Storyline
This should be planned before you begin writing each post draft. You want to look at the axis of your 12 posts. Is there a recurring theme in them? Is there a story you want to weave through them? Maybe it’s a step-by-step process you want to teach your target audience about, or you’re gradually setting them up and stoking the fires in them so that by the final posts they’re red-hot prepared prospects, ready for you to sell them on that offer they can’t refuse? You want to know what the subject of each post if before you write, and I encourage you to read my earlier post on achieving this before you go any further. The storyline is like the reference map for all the writing that follows. It helps you to identify whether you’re sticking on point or whether the subject matter is wandering off-course. Time is too precious to waste!
Next week we'll take a look at steps #7 to #10, including the crucial final step that enables you to conquer the "Boss Level" of your blog posting and enjoy the spoils that come with it, to full extent. Stay tuned...
#1- Identify Expert Topics
You want to brainstorm here and uncover the common themes surrounding the issues your target audience regularly face. What are problems they want solved? What are the questions they keep coming to you with? Your target audience is (ideally) a small number of people. Just 20% of your existing customer base are responsible for 80% of all the revenue that comes into your business. It’s known as Pareto’s Law and when you learn to identify who these people are and focus your marketing efforts exclusively on them, the money coming into your business will shift up a whole level.
#2- Identify What’s Trending
This is where you take a look at similar businesses or experts in your field. What are the problems they are solving? What questions are they answering? This can uncover the answers you’re providing that nobody else is and in that case- go for it! It also helps to identify anything you might have missed in your initial brainstorming session. A handy place to get this information is www.answerthepublic.com
#3- Identify Communication Style (Tone)
‘Tone’ is important in getting your audience (your readers) to feel that you identify with them and understand them. Tone is essentially the language you use in your written copy. Often it’s a subtle element, but over the course of your blog posts it makes a notable difference to the “feel” of the article. That 20% I mentioned earlier? You want to write in a manner that they’ll identify with. Writing to an audience of teenagers is different to retirees, which is different again to people who generally have over a decades’ experience in I.T. Match the tone with that of your target audience and you go a long way to ensuring your blog posting has the desired effect.
#4- Get the core elements of communication
Where do you plan to distribute your blog? Will you send links via e-mail to all of your followers, contacts or subscribers? Will you post the links on your business or professional Facebook page, Twitter account or LinkedIn account? You want to be posting it on media platforms (and targeting individual groups in those media platforms) who comprise of the people in your target audience. You drop your line where the fish are!
#5- Objectives
What is the end result you want from writing your blog posts? Do you want more people to subscribe to your mailing list? Do you want more orders? More sales? Developing a stronger relationship with your leads and existing customers should always be one of the objectives- because that’s where the considerable time it takes to plan/ write/ edit/ post your blogs pays for itself. So with that considered, do you want your readers to come away with a better understanding of who you are, what you stand for and what drives you to do what you’re great at?
#6- Storyline
This should be planned before you begin writing each post draft. You want to look at the axis of your 12 posts. Is there a recurring theme in them? Is there a story you want to weave through them? Maybe it’s a step-by-step process you want to teach your target audience about, or you’re gradually setting them up and stoking the fires in them so that by the final posts they’re red-hot prepared prospects, ready for you to sell them on that offer they can’t refuse? You want to know what the subject of each post if before you write, and I encourage you to read my earlier post on achieving this before you go any further. The storyline is like the reference map for all the writing that follows. It helps you to identify whether you’re sticking on point or whether the subject matter is wandering off-course. Time is too precious to waste!
Next week we'll take a look at steps #7 to #10, including the crucial final step that enables you to conquer the "Boss Level" of your blog posting and enjoy the spoils that come with it, to full extent. Stay tuned...