Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Branding Your Writing, Writing Your Brand

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"Imagine someone hiring you after falling in love with your writing style, only to find you entirely different in person!" – from Write Your Way to More Clients Online (Part One: Plan Mindfully)

On Thursday's call with choice, the magazine of professional coaching, Publisher Garry Schleifer was doing triple duty – he was my gracious host on the call, he was listening for writing tips for his own content marketing efforts, and he was managing the Facebook fan page where listeners were posting questions.

Pam Strand asked, "What are some tips for keeping [your] writing consistent with your brand?"

I shared that I had spoken earlier this week with a team who were redoing their website. It felt to them like they needed permission to move away from the crisp, professional and utterly generic language of their current site.

While I always encourage people to write with the same language your ideal client would use, it should be natural and authentic for you as well.

Maybe you are a member of your own target market, or maybe you're just looking to attract clients who are a natural fit. But how will you know if you speak the same language if you're trying to sound like someone you're not?

Writing prompt: To match your writing with your brand, consider what you want people to think of when they hear your name, or the name of your business. Look online for examples of others who write in that style. Then practice applying those techniques to your own unique ideas, topics and expertise.

Five Writing Resolutions that are Worth Keeping

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Want to write more and better blog posts this year? Then

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  1. I will plan out my writing time and topics.
  2. I will write masterfully, always pausing to step back and ask, “How can I make this even better?”
  3. I will read my writing out loud before I send or publish.
  4. I will publish more frequently than I’m publishing now, by first getting more consistent, and then gradually increasing.
  5. I will share my writing with as many people as possible, in as many places as possible, while always aiming to treat each reader as if they were the only one.

My newest book will help you with all these resolutions, with five sections devoted to how to:

  1. Plan Mindfully
  2. Write Artfully
  3. Edit Skillfully
  4. Publish Consistently
  5. Share Widely

Write Your Way to More Clients Online: How to craft captivating content for newsletters, blogs and social media is available from Amazon.com and Coaching Toys.

NEW: Write Your Way to More Clients Online is now also available for your eReader.

A New Daily Blogging Habit – It’s not what you think!

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If you want to post new content more frequently (I recommend 2-5 times per month), I’m going to suggest that you develop a daily blogging habit.

Stop. Breathe. Don’t worry. It’s not what you think.

I do NOT want you to post every day. For most people, that’s an unrealistic goal, and not necessary for reaping all the benefits of blogging.

It’s like I suggested in a previous post, Five Writing Resolutions that are Worth Keeping: To increase your writing frequency, look at how often you’re aiming to publish right now. Get solidly consistent with that goal, and then gradually increase your number of posts.

Otherwise, you’ll be trying to change too much, too fast, without having these foundational supports in place:

Five Foundational Supports for Your Daily Blogging Habit

  1. Blog post calendar – Have at least a rough plan for how you will keep your blog fresh throughout the month. I recommend Charlie Gilkey’s planners, available in two versions – free and premium. I just sprung for my second year of premium planners (combined with his Freelancer Workweek planners) and have found it well worth the small investment.
  2. Blog post planner – Make use of the feature on Charlie’s planner that allows you to group your posts by categories. That way, you can see at a glance that your blog is balanced.
  3. Article time – If you’re sitting down to start, finish and publish a blog post all at the same time, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Instead, devote time to take each post through four stages – brainstorming, drafting, writing and editing – with at least a short breather in between.
  4. Idea catcher – Have a place (or many) to capture your new brainstorms wherever you may be, and a set time to transfer those into a draft post where you can proceed through the rest of the stages.
  5. Draft posts – Set your blog to save your new posts in “draft” mode by default, and use that space to develop your ideas and polish them for publishing.

A daily blogging habit is a commitment to devote time to your blog. But blogging every day doesn’t mean posting every day. It means that no matter what day it is, you have at least one blog post that you’re working through the stages of the writing process.

Top 10 Reasons We Love Lists

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“The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for lists.” – H. Allen Smith, American Journalist

Preparing for next week’s call, “How to Write a Better List,” I stepped back to reflect on why lists are such a popular format for blogs and articles. Here are my conclusions, some of which I wrote in an earlier article, “The Top 10 Reasons to Write a Top 10 List.”

As readers we love lists because:

  1. Lists are familiar and we know what to expect right off the bat.
  2. Even when the topic is serious, we have a positive association with Top 10 lists as a source of entertainment.
  3. Lists break information down into digestible chunks that are easy for us to absorb.
  4. Lists are easy to skim, helping us get a broad overview of a topic, even when we’re busy.
  5. Lists are linear, logical and organized – even when we’re not. There is something comforting about that.

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As writers, we love lists because:

  1. Readers love them, so there’s a better chance they’ll keep reading and read/receive more content from us in the future.
  2. Lists provide an instant structure for generating article or topic ideas.
  3. Lists help you focus your mind, your topic and your writing.
  4. List items can be the foundational material for countless other projects such as other articles, book chapters, entire books, workshops, coaching programs or presentations.
  5. Lists challenge us to think of more ideas in order to come up with the number of points we’ve promised in the title.

Blog + Pages = Blogsite – Simple Writing Tips for Your Blogsite Pages

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Last week on Content Mastery Action Day, an Action Club member asked me about turning her blog into a website (or “blogsite”). The process is as simple as adding pages, and yet simple is not easy.

I can’t finish my website because I don’t know what to write

This same problem has plagued so many talented business owners, resulting in “Coming Soon,” screens or blogs/websites with the address: “www.butpleasedontgotherebecauseitsnotfinishedyet.com.”

Inside, this creates a sense of pressure, embarrassment or even shame, and that can seep into your confidence level about all aspects of your business.

Outside, this creates the impression that your business itself is undeveloped, under construction or temporary.

You can build a website around your expert content

Hopefully you’ve been concentrating on writing relevant, masterful content and publishing it on a blog. That blog is a great place to create or enhance your online presence with the most current details about your business vision.

Take your blog, add some pages and voilà! You have a blogsite (blog/website hybrid) you can easily update.

On most popular blogging platforms such as WordPress, adding a new page is as simple as adding a new post. Check with your VA, designer or other web specialist for more details.

Simple writing tips for your key blogsite pages

Writing your About page – We covered this topic in last week’s call, Writing an Online Bio. Action Club members can download the recording, handout and worksheet from last week’s call. The key to an effective About page is to put yourself in your visitors’ shoes and imagine what they need to know about you in order to take the next step in your relationship.

Writing your Services page – On your main Services page, give a broad description of each service, with the option to click through to more detailed pages for each individual offer. This gives everyone an overview without overwhelming someone who is just exploring. Want an even simpler option? Suggest that visitors contact you for the details. You can always add those detailed pages later. This is about getting it done!

Writing your Contact page – To minimize spam (unwanted email), use a contact form (such as Wufoo, Contact 7 for WordPress or a Google Docs form) instead of displaying your email address. Visitors can fill in their contact details along with their questions or comments, and it is sent to you just like an email. Include a postal address and phone number on your Contact page to enhance your trustworthiness as a “real person.”

Writing your Welcome/Landing page – To welcome your reader to your blogsite – perhaps for the first time – I suggest you write a specific message for them (versus your latest blog post). Again, put yourself in your visitors’ shoes and help them know they are in the right place.

You can either create a “featured” blog post that will always display at the top, or you can set up your blogsite so that visitors to www.yoursite.com will “land” on a Welcome page.

Later, you may want to branch out into some other optional pages where you can promote your special programs and events, products or free resources.

For now, starting with these four simple pages will turn your blog into a blogsite, building on your expert content and solidifying your blog as the home base or “hub” of your online presence.