My Pearls of Wisdom

IS BLOGGING A STRUGGLE?

Some people love to blog as a way of showing off. Connecting with their audience, making their voice heard. Or sharing their knowledge or passion as a means of raising their profile and directing traffic to their website. But last year, when meeting a client who wanted some coaching to improve her business blog, it became clear that some people just aren’t natural bloggers. The client in question spoke eloquently about her field of work, and in person is a force to be reckoned with. Yet she struggled to get her words down on the page (or laptop). Interviewing her was genuinely a revelation – I learnt so much about her area of expertise and came to understand it in ways that have stayed with me ever since. And while transcribing our interview I realised I had a veritable mountain of compelling blog headings, with her brilliant advice to attach to each. Yet she struggled to form her thoughts into posts she was proud of. So here is what I would recommend to anybody who, like this client, is better in person than they are on their blog.

* Jot down some subject headings that you would like to blog about. Sit down for a good hour with a friend or colleague and record yourself offering your insights on each subject, as if you were advising a client. Encourage them beforehand to ask questions, challenge you when you are unclear and act as a prompt to get you to expand on your subject.

* Transcribe the recording and print it out, then go through it with a highlighter pen, highlighting any ‘nuggets’ that really convey your thoughts in the most memorable way.This includes anecdotes, examples and scenarios described – don’t ignore these as they often ‘lift’ your blog, turning the abstract into something real that a reader can relate to (see my introductory paragraph).

* Now take these highlighted sections, and copy and paste them onto a new document – your ‘blog copy’. Read through it a few times and see what stands out and demands to be read. You should now be able to create some compelling blog headings, using your blog copy as the basis for your blogs. Try ‘hooking’ a post on an anecdote or scenario, opening your blog with it, then moving on to what we can learn from it, or how to tackle it (the way I have with this very post).

Still finding it a struggle? For one-to-one blog coaching, or getting your business blogs ghost-written, contact me at mg@marinagask.com or marina.gask@sky.com.