Lately I’ve been studying, perusing and gobbling down blogs like they’re peanut butter cups – mainly because there are so many amazing people writing and producing genuinely fun, interesting, informative stuff that I don’t want to miss a thing. (yeah, I was that kid who flitted from swings to slides to sand box and back again – to converse with everyone on the playground and to get a feel for how things worked.)
The other reason I’m doing all this G-2 (information gathering) is because I’m getting ready to launch the blogging live program for creatives and healers. Like this week.
In the process I’ve created a few “Blogging Rules for Creatives.” Why rules? Because we all need somewhere to start and far too freaking many of you are still on the fence when it comes to blogging and I want to fix that. I want you to have some guidance to use as you dip your big toe (and eventually you’re whole foot) into the blog-o-sphere. Rules like these are meant to show you how easy it can be to move forward.
(If, down the road, say after your 117th or 53rd or 7th post, you decide the rules I’ve shared with you just aren’t jazzing it for you – let ‘em go. My work will have been done!)
Blogging Rules for Creatives & Healers (or healing creatives or creative healers):
1) Know your audience. Call ‘em your niche, your peeps, your tribe, your perfect clients – but just call them. Be very clear who you’re writing to (here’s my love song to my peeps for an example ). When you know who you’re writing to it’s so much easier to get your message out.
2) Focus on your purpose. If you’re clear on your life’s purpose, it’s easy to tap into what you most want to say to keep you on purpose. Lots of creative people start out trying to create what they THINK their audience wants. A good way to avoid this is to ask your perfect people what they want from you. As you create posts (and eventually products and services) stick to putting your purpose to work so you can be of the greatest service.
3) Use your own voice. A never ending process – but with each post you’ll gain momentum and clarity. Read your posts aloud, ask your best friend or mastermind group to review some of your posts and run it through their BS detectors. Your goal is to sound precisely like YOU on your blog so that your readers can know, like and trust you. Hell, they’ll love you for being you. And it guarantees you’ll never have any competition. There really is only one of you.
4) Short and sweet. Think about the average blog reader’s time frame. Now think about your perfect people. How much time do they have to spend on line, reading, commenting and learning from blogs? Keeping your posts between 500 and 800 words gives you a goal to keep focused and allows your readers to skim and read without having to set aside a separate time of day. If you write daily – the shorter the post , the better.
5) Set a schedule and stick to it. You don’t have to write every day, but if you’re thinking of only posting once a month – stick to an e-zine. Your readers will have found 28 (or more) other blogs to read while you were on hiatus and they just may not feel it anymore by the time you post again. In the early days, it’s easier to set a less stringent schedule, such as 1-3 posts a week rather than 7 days a week. It’s easier to increase your momentum as you get going. If you lose momentum or fall of the radar, chances are better than good your readers are going to forget about you. (yeah, we’re fickle).
Sure, there’s like 30 more rules of the road I’ve been compiling and I promise to share them with you as soon as I can. In the meantime, let me know what’s keeping you from blogging and how I can help!