I am writing this off the top of my head and from the depths of my heart. The truth is I’m not sure where I’m going with this post, but I know I have some worthwhile nugget for you.
Yesterday when I wrote the post about blog ideas, it’s true, I’d been struggling with finding good topics for this blog, and for keeping my focus on how to write good content on the Web that informs and markets for you.
This morning, I was still struggling. My blockage is coming from an interview we did last week with Yvonne DiVita of Lip-Sticking Blog. I wrote about her ideas for writing quality posts over on BuildaBetterBlog.com, Blog Content Ideas, What’s the best source? Yvonne has had tremendous success with her blog, and it’s established her as an expert and thought leader when it comes to marketing to women online.
She says her success is due to always writing what readers want.
And that’s my problem. I’m never sure what readers want. Oh, I’m very grateful for the lovely comments and feedback, especially since most readers seem to agree with me (;-0)…
But let’s face it: there aren’t a whole bunch of comments or emails flooding in. And people aren’t in dire pain, begging me to please – oh please, tell me how to write a blog post, or an email promo…!
Do you struggle with this problem as well? Is your niche a topic that doesn’t generate a lot of comments or emails because it just isn’t sexy, controversial, or something that keeps people up at night?
About the most controversy a writing blog can stir up is about grammar and typos…that’s a real sparkler!
My solution? I’m more ego-centric than most. I don’t always write what readers want. I write what I want. I most often turn inwards and write about what interests me the most.
And it’s usually whatever writing task I’m struggling with or learning about. (This week it’s about sales writing, more on that later…)
If you followed this blog from the early days, it was all about writing newsletters and ezines for coaches (personal development and executive coaches, that is). The reason for that was it was the niche I was in at the time. I needed a place to write about the things I was doing. "To heck with readers, this is for me," was my thinking at the time.
Which, in retrospect, was logical since there weren’t too many readers at the time!
Which brings me back to my initial dilemma. Today, thanks to the power of the Web and search engines and Feedblitz subscriptions, I have a steady readership that’s growing. This blog is no longer for me, it’s for you the readers.
I want to write about what you need. I can only guess based on this little game I play in my head which goes like this:
"If I were a reader of this blog, what am I trying to learn about writing all the marketing pieces, including my blog posts, my web pages, my email promos, my press releases, articles and sales pages. What do I need to know about writing for the web?"
Last week I bought a relatively expensive copywriting course to learn more about writing sales copy. Well, after listening to the first CD, I’m going to have to return it for a refund. It’s too much about direct marketing sales and not at all about the web. Even though there are similarities, there are also big differences.
Today, it’s up to the customer to let the vendor (or blog author) know what they want and demand that.
Dear readers, I don’t know if this makes any sense to you or not. I’m not even sure what I want from you, other than input from time to time. Unless you tell me otherwise, I’ll continue to write what I want, what I am learning, and share my tips and and struggles with you as I trudge this happy road of Internet success.
All the best, and thanks for reading!
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