Create If Writing

I've got a fantastic free resource for you today, Seriously Simple Social. It's a guide to the major platforms (with my commentary, of course) and some helpful links to get you started with the various aspects of each. You can create your own simple social media strategy! Keep reading to learn more, or pick up your Simple Social Media Strategy Guide NOW. 

This week, Blab died. Did you know Blab? It came crashing onto the scene a little over a year ago with it's four-way split screen, live chat, and the ability to create what was essentially a live TV show without needing to know any tech. I hadn't used the platform in months (mainly due to scheduling conflicts, in turn mainly due to four children), but I am sad to see it go.

The reality of social media, however, is that it won't all stick.

And even if it DOES stick, how can you manage all the platforms? Secret: you can't. I mean, you can have a presence on a lot of platforms, but if you're trying to be active, managing multiple accounts is overwhelming. Spreading yourself too thin may make you less effective, not more.

I'm all about the strategy. I'm all about the WHY. If you know the purpose behind everything, things fall into place with more clarity and cohesion. (For more on this, check out my Foundation Series mini-course!) The general why behind a social media strategy is to make you more effective without wasting your time or resources. You'll also have a specific why that centers around what you hope to accomplish.

To create a simple social media strategy, you'll need to consider four main things:

Your Purpose: the specific why of your blog or business and the goals that you have.

Your Platforms: the social platforms you will use.

Your Plan: the way you will handle the posting and scheduling.

Your Particulars: the details about how many posts, when, and what your specific follower counts are.

Sometimes I think the hardest part of this altogether is the platforms aspect. Because there are SO MANY. How do you choose? How do you manage them all, or even the few that you decide to use primarily?

I created a resource that I hope will make this simpler. It breaks down the most used platforms and provides links & resources to help you utilize them. Plus you'll be guided to create your own simple social media strategy. Because who DOESN'T want a strategy that is smart, but also SIMPLE?

The key with social media is to find the platforms that fit your goals, your specific content, and your audience. (Need help with your audience? Check out my Find Your Perfect Audience series!) This will not look the same for everyone, even in the same niche. It's great to know where your kinds of people hang out, but you also might find that YOUR people, the ones who really jive with YOU, are somewhere else altogether.

As I mentioned at the start, platforms come and go constantly. As I started writing the guide Blab (RIP) was one of the major platforms that I planned to feature. Then I heard rumors Blab was going away, so I downplayed but still mentioned it. And moments after I finished what I thought was the final draft, I saw the headline that Blab ended. Like, right that second. Making my guide out of date, five minutes in.

IT'S HARD TO KEEP UP.

The best way to keep up is to follow the people who know what's up. Subscribe to relevant emails (see my list of favorite email lists to subscribe to) and listen to weekly podcasts or check blogs from people who are keeping up. Here are a few great people to watch:

Social Media Examiner- everything social & internet

Sue B. Zimmerman- Instagram

Jenn's Trends- Instagram & more

Madalyn Sklar- Twitter

Holly Homer- Facebook & Blogging

Take some time to think about the platforms that are already working or that you already have an audience. If you're totally new, check out my guide to see the platforms and hop on a few to see what's happening and what feels good for you. Don't give up on any immediately. I was a slow go-er on a few, then really ramped up. And some that I used to use a lot (*cough* Instagram *cough*) I rarely even open on a weekly basis.

Use the free guide to plan your strategy, then stick to something for a few months, evaluate what's working and what's not, and adjust as needed. You can TOTALLY create your own simple social media strategy to make your more effective and keep you from overwhelm.

Just get started. Like NOW.

Blogging is an investment of both your money and your time. Whether you are setting up more of an author site with a blog, or a blog in and of itself, you want to have the blog design basics down to keep people reading, scrolling, clicking, and STAYING. You want engagement and return visits.

Even though many of us might prefer to just focus on the writing (can I get an Amen?), without having the basic blog design elements in place, people will be turned off. We can't please everyone, but we can avoid the big pitfalls and work to make our blog a place where people come and STAY. 

In this episode I'm talking with Elaine Griffin about Blog Design Basics YOU need to know. (Originally recorded in 2015!) In this episode we talk about why you might hire a designer or what you can do on your own if you choose not to hire a designer. Elaine also discusses how to pick and work with a designer, what her pet peeves are in terms of design and why you DON’T want to use a plugin to be mobile-friendly.

You can find more about Elaine’s services on her site or follow her on Twitter or like her on Facebook.

When You Need a Designer vs Design DIY

• Designers help you establish your visual brand.
• You may be able to use plugins to do a lot, but those can slow your site speed if you use too many!
• Designers know about back-end technical things you may not.
• Designers provide an expertise about aesthetics & functionality that you might not have.
• You might break something. (Raise your hand if you’ve ever broken your site!!)

Being Mobile-Friendly

• You need a good mobile responsive theme (most of the Genesis themes are).
• New iPhones sometimes need a coded work-around.
• Use Responsinator to check how your site looks on different devices.
• Headers can be an issue. Designers can code them down, but larger headers can be a large problem!
• Sometimes ads visible in the truncated view of posts also cause problems.

What You Get When You Pay a Designer

• design expertise
• header sizing
• where things should visually be located on your blog like ads & content
• technical and back-end knowledge
• best plugins
• where you might need special coding
• support for emergencies
• your TIME
• professional look

Elaine’s Personal Pet Peeves

• too much navigation (she suggested two nav bars, neither one too crowded)
• huge header
• grab a button widget (no one is grabbing your button!)
• too many badges

Tips If You Can’t Afford a Designer

• Don’t be afraid of white space.
• Be simple and clean.
• Use Google Fonts (free for commercial use) rather than just what fonts come with a theme.
• Have big, beautiful images. (Use stock photos if you aren’t a great photographer.)
• Make sure your header isn’t too big.
• Have an About section in the sidebar with your email. (Brands don’t like contact forms.)
• Mobile Friendly!

Elaine’s Favorite Plugins

• Simple Social Icons
• Shortcodes Ultimate
• Studio Tiny MCE
• Visual Editor
• Gensis eNews Extended
• Featured Widget Amplified

Important Mobile Friendly Tip: DO NOT use a plugin to make your site mobile friendly. Even if the Google test says your site is mobile friendly when using a plugin, Google has actual defined mobile-friendly as an actual responsive sizing-down and coding. Your plugin is not really doing that, so while it technically IS responsive and may show up as fine on the Google test, you may actually NOT be mobile-friendly and lose search traffic. Use a theme rather than a plugin!

Tips for Working with a Designer

• Find someone whose designs you like, but make sure your personalities seem like a good fit.
• Have some vision for what you want. If you don’t, be prepared to accept the designer’s vision.
• Don’t approve something and then later decide to change it.
• Ask if the designer can show you test sites in Wordpress rather than just a view in photoshop.

Is blog design an area where you want to invest your money or your time? You will absolutely have to invest one or the other to have a professional site.

I’ve learned a lot about CSS and blog design hacks over the years, but often I spend way too much time trying to figure things out. That time equals money! Especially if I break something in the code (it happens almost every time) and then have to call someone to fix it.

Helpful links:

• Mobile-friendly test site
• Responsinator
• Why you should hire a designer
• Top Ten Blog Design Mistakes

Have you worked with a designer? What are your tips for getting the most bang for your buck?

Are you doing design DIY? What made you choose that route and where did you learn the tools you used?

You know about affiliate programs for companies like Amazon, but today I'm taking you behind the scenes of affiliate programs that may be a little less familiar. 

Ever gotten three (or five or fifteen) emails in the same day or week letting you know about the same free webinar/book/video training? Friends, you are in the throes of an affiliate program. You just might not know it. Want to go behind the scenes of affiliate programs? I do! I do!

I'm currently an affiliate for Nick Stephenson's Your First 10K Readers launch, so I'm involved in an affiliate program right now. It's not the first big affiliate program I've done, so I've gotten a chance to see some of the ways that they work. I'm going to share Nick's free resources within this post as I walk you through what affiliate programs might look like. 

First up: Here are Nick's free resources. These are free, but they are my affiliate links. (You'll see why & how as you read the post.)

Now, let's get onto the business of how those links to free things are actually affiliate links, shall we? 

As you may know, there are a lot of affiliate programs out there. The most familiar kinds are those with companies like Amazon, where you apply to be an affiliate and then at any time can use your affiliate links to promote products and receive a commission if someone buys that (or any) product after clicking through your links. They could click through a link for your favorite book and then realize they need dog food instead and you get a commission.

Other programs like ConvertKit (my FAVORITE affiliate program) is more specific. Someone has to sign up for a specific thing through your specific link. Each program has a different payout. Most are a one-time fee. ConvertKit is a 30% commission of all people that sign up under you, every month. (Sound good? Read more about ConvertKit.) 

These programs work through distinct links and cookies, which track in ways I don't understand because I'm not tech-y. Essentially until or unless people clear their cookies or the cookie expires, after someone clicks through, the sale will be tracked and you get a commission. Woot! 

With some of these larger launch programs (which I'll dive deeper into next), there is a lifetime cookie that does not expire. So for the affiliates in these programs, they just need someone to click through one time. Which allows these programs to do something smart. 

The lifetime cookie means that some larger affiliate programs and launches can think outside the box. What this typically looks like is a free book, video series, webinar, or other neat product. Many virtual summits work this way. You will see a link or receive an email about the cool free product, but when you click the link, a cookie is attached. If you EVER purchase the upsell that inevitably follows the free product or another related course, book, or package, the person who introduced you to the free product gets paid. 

This works well because sales are more effective when they aren't just tossed at you. Would you be more interested in a course if you were simply given a link to a sales page OR a free video training that gave great information before being given a link to a sales page? 

Exactly. What about it? Well, for the most part, people tend to ignore the disclosure part until linking to the paid part of the product. So for the free products, there is no disclosure. Someone could send you an email with a product they just really like OR an affiliate product.

I don't like that. 

It's odd-- I'm not always a rule follower. Not at all. But some things really get me when people color outside the lines. Disclosure is one of those. 

I think it's all about trust. I lose trust in people when they aren't up front. I talk a lot about this in Episode 33 about disclosure. I'm not opposed to affiliate links or buying through them, especially for people I support, but I don't want people trying to sell me affiliate products without telling me they are affiliate products. It feels...gross. SMARMY, even. And you know I'm anti-smarm.

Let me be clear: I feel very strongly that these free products need to be disclosed. It's awkward because they are free, but STILL. If there is a cookie involved, there should be disclosure. If there is a potential payment involved, there should be disclosure.

Unsure what should be disclosed? This epic post about disclosure and the FTC written by Rae of Sugar Rae will explain it all. In detail. 

Typically, you need a software and/or a manager to make this easier. I know that a lot of people use Infusionsoft for this and since it's a tool I don't use, I can't really speak to it. There are also affiliate plugins for Wordpress that will work with WooCommerce, so if you're interested in running this kind of lifetime cookie affiliate program, you can check out something like Affiliate WP. 

I hope this is enlightening as far as affiliate programs and how they work for launches! Questions? Thoughts? Worked on a big launch and want to add your note? Leave a comment below!

What does it take to make it online? In this interview with Amy Lynn Andrews, we chat about her blogging journey and the ways she has survived algorithm changes, rebrands, and a huge drop in traffic. She is the writer of one of my favorite emails, The Useletter, and so of course we also chat email lists.

Tricky question, right? If I had to choose one word that would describe someone who is going to find long-term success, it would be SCRAPPY. You have to be willing to fight and scruffle and work and hang in there through changes. (Can I get an Amen from people who were rocking Facebook before the algorithm changes??) The online world is not static.

So if you want to make it online, you can't be static either. You need to be ready to adapt and regroup, or you may die off.

Does this sound dramatic? I don't mean to be. But making money online consistently for years means you can't be no punk. Amy Lynn Andrews ain't no punk. (Tweet that? Maybe not.) She has been blogging forever and has a lot of wisdom to share about what it takes to make it for the long haul.

Don't try to transition your personal blog into a business blog. (6:56)

Unless you want to confuse, anger, or lose all your readers, that is. (This is something we talked about in the Find Your Perfect Audience series!) If you want a rebrand that is largely different, you can choose to start a wholly new blog with new readers (and probably will take some of your current superfans) or you CAN choose to just scrap your blog's old focus and rebrand, but you will likely alienate that readership used to the old.

Be helpful. Which comes from continually learning. (9:58)

Consume information and stay current on trends and apps and updates. Things change really quickly these days with algorithms and platform changes and new platforms. If you can't stay current on your own or don't like to do the research, subscribe to email newsletters that will keep you up to date! (See my list of must-subscribes HERE.)

Make smart choices with free verses paid content. (14:45)

I've talked before about how much free is too much. It's a very personal decision that should flow out of your personal goals. If you are working for pageviews (to make ad revenue, for example), then you will want to be pushing out tons of free content to bring people to your site. If you are creating a paid product, make sure that your product has something special or unique from the free content (yours or other people's) online.

Realize that people will pay for curation. (19:00)

Even if people can find information for free on their own, for the sake of ease, people WILL often pay for curation and organization. Many bloggers sell books that are made up of their blog posts, all free on the site, but arranged into a readable book format. It saves people TIME and people will pay for that savings.

Be YOURSELF. People follow people, not websites now. (19:47)

We are drawn to people who share information that we are interested in, especially if they have a similar mindset to our own. Don't try to be someone else. Be yourself and you will draw the people who want the information presented from YOUR point of view.

Think outside the box. (25:50)

Amy Lynn Andrews started the Useletter as a way to present so much ever-changing information quickly and in a way that didn't clog up the blog. When you consider what it is you're trying to accomplish and why, don't shut yourself into thinking that there is only one way to present the information. Consider what platform or tools you can use.

You need an email list. (26:30)

You own your lists. You don't OWN your traffic. By that I mean that you have access to those readers anytime you want to shoot something into their inbox. This is HUGE. What you send is totally up to you and should fit your goals. (For help with figuring out how to apply your why to your blog and your email, you should check out my Foundation Series Mini-Course, which will help you get started.)

Be valuable and unique. (30:08)

"It's all about something that people are getting from you that they're not getting elsewhere very easily." -ALA

Stick with What Gets You Excited.  (32:09)

If you love writing blog posts, write blog posts. Don't stress about having some kind of crazy awesome newsletter. Send your posts via RSS and focus on what you LOVE. Don't stretch yourself so thin to follow the trends. Ask your readers what they love. Check your traffic and stats to see what people are interested in.

Don't just monetize the same way other people do. Ads are NOT the only way to make an income. (36:20)

Experiment and find what you love and what works for YOU. Ads may not be the best way for you to make money. There are also affiliate sales, creating your own digital products, coaching and more. Try things out and see what fits for you.

Find a way to diversify so your income is not ONLY tied directly to traffic. (42:04)

If your income is only tied to traffic, when Google updates or you get a penalty or Pinterest changes or Facebook changes, you could take a huge hit. Consider how you can diversify your revenue streams by trying things other than just ads that are tied to CPMs. Traffic is fickle.

Consider what you can sustain over the long haul. (45:35)

There will be peaks and valleys in your blogging journey. What can you do and keep on doing? This doesn't mean that you can't change as you go, but don't choose something that will leave you in a burning pile at the end of three months. Plan for the long game.

Take the Time at the Front to Establish Your Reputation. (49:49)

If people trust you, it will be easier to weather the storms when they come. If you are known for creating great content, this will take you further than anything. If the business jumps ahead of your reputation, it can be harder to work backwards. Establish your expertise and trust at the front end.

Don't Compare Your Success to Someone Else's Success. (52:01 )

This is a biggie. Especially if you are helping people grow a business or brand similar to yours. Probably every one of us will experience the feeling of giving someone a leg up who is just starting out and then watching that person totally ECLIPSE you with their success. It happens. Remember YOUR personal bottom line. We all have been in the starting point and struggled through growth. Stay in your own little world of what's success for YOU.

• How the Useletter was born (24:05)
• How not to stress out about email and freebies (31:17)
• How many pageviews she typically gets a month* (50:11 ) *recorded in 2015

Do you feel encouraged? Do you think you have what it takes? Dig in, my scrappy friends. Let's do this for the long haul.

Do you know how to experiment with your blog successfully? In this episode I interview Ramsay Taplin of Blog Tyrant all about how to take calculated risks and run experiments that will better your blogging and get you the results you want. A lot of these principles can apply to multiple parts of your online platform, whether we are talking experimenting with Facebook ads or a content strategy on Twitter. 

A lot of people dream about making a full-time living being your own boss and working from home. Ramsay Taplin from The Blog Tyrant did just that in his early 20s, selling his first five-figure blog when he was 19. Blog Tyrant started as an anonymous blog until Glenn of Viper Chill asked Ramsay to be his very first guest post ever—if he would un-mask and reveal his true identity. (Read that post here!) His site is a wealth of knowledge and has a great community of readers.

Some of my favorite Blog Tyrant posts are:

• 41 Tips That Got over 10,000 Email Subscribers
• How to Start a Blog and Dominate Your Niche
• A Proven Blog Strategy That Works in Any Niche

You can find Ramsay on Blog Tyrant, Twitter, and Facebook. He is great about answering emails and responding to Tweets!

• You have to adapt and grow as a blogger and online entrepreneur. The internet is always updating and you must follow suit!
• Keep clever people around you that inspire growth.
• Permanent curiosity is a great tool to have!
• Take calculated risks and experiment to find what works for YOU.
• Pay attention to the successful people around you are doing. Be a good student of other bloggers or people in your niche.
• A Google penalty can tank your traffic and sales. An email list is a great way to keep your own audience no matter what algorithms change.
• An email list is the best way to grow in your market. It’s a platform to promote products, new websites, posts, or anything you’re doing. Email is a trusted signal from you to your audience.
• NOT having a search bar can help you funnel your readers where you want them to go. You are the best curator of your own content, so this is less arrogance and more an understanding of what people need from you.
• Don’t let fear or perfectionism keep you from moving forward!
• Having definitive goals for your blog can help you build your email list and following. Think about what kinds of people you want to attract and what you can offer them to keep them around. Be specific in your mind about the person you are pitching to.
• Ramsay is in the opinion that reach trumps loyalty. (What do YOU think in the comments?)
• You need to be distinctive as a blogger. How do you stand out from the rest? You don’t need to be original, but you do have to be unique.

Using a Facebook Boost, you can’t choose metrics the way you can in ads. If you’re going to pay, it may be easier to just click Boost, but setting up the ad and choosing the metrics is a lot more helpful!

Keep your email subscribers in an excel spreadsheet doc on your computer and keep it backed up.

• Promotional End: How can I get the cost per click down for a campaign? How can I fine-tune promotions (like on Facebook) to reach the right subscribers?
• Colors & Placement: Will a button color affect sign-ups? Will placement in the sidebar or a pop-up have a better conversion rate?
• Email Open Rates: What kinds of email do people want to open? What subject lines get the best open rates?
• Search Bar & Navigation: How can you best funnel your readers to the places you want them to go and the places that would be best for them?

Helpful links:

• How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
• Intentional Blogging- an interview with Paula Rollo

Happy podcast-iversary to me! I've been podcasting now for sixteen months, but just passed the 52 episode mark, which seems like the official time to celebrate. (As to why it took longer than a year? I also hosted another podcast and couldn't quite hack both. That's a freebie: don't take one two or three podcasts at a time your first year.) I thought for this episode and post, I'd talk about things I learned this year.

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Note: This post contains affiliate links! At no extra cost to you, I will get a commission if you click through and guy something. Thanks for the support!

It takes many more hours than you'd think. Each episode takes maybe a total of like 3-5 hours. Sometimes with my shorter solo podcasts, it's only 1-2 hours. That includes recording, editing, writing up show notes, doing all the meta data stuff, uploading to my media host, and actually publishing. It's a LOT. If you don't have a lot of time, don't start a podcast.

Like everything else on the web, you have to WORK to find an audience. I assumed that since I had been blogging for years, I would have no trouble getting thousands of downloads. The reality is that most of my original audience didn't carry over (to the new blog OR the podcast), which shouldn't have been surprising to me. After all, I started the podcast and Create If Writing site because my lifestyle blog peeps couldn't care less about writing, blogging, and social media. But it still surprised me. A year in and I really want better numbers. I'm on a steady climb. But it's work. And audiences for blogs don't necessarily cross over to podcasts.

Despite all the popular trainings that say you'll get rich podcasting, you will not get rich podcasting. See the part about it taking 3-5 hours to publish and also the part about struggling to find listeners. There is money to be made. People are making money. I still hope to do that one day. But about a month in, I realized that making money was a long way off.

You need a workflow for editing. My biggest struggle for the first bunch of months was editing. Yes, there are YouTube videos for everything. But they all say different things. And I would encounter an issue, look up a YouTube video, spend an hour watching and trying to implement, and everything would sound worse than it did in the beginning. I finally hired an editor, but that only worked when I was getting paid for my other podcast gig. I went to Podcast Movement in 2015 with the goal of learning to edit sound myself and after ONE amazing session with Meron Bareket, I DID. I can't sing his praises enough. I now have a workflow that takes me five minute to edit sound. THANK YOU, MERON. Check out his free podcasting checklist.

There are two kinds of editing. So...my mention above was for sound editing. There is also CONTENT editing. Some people just leave everything in, but I realized quickly I'm not one of those people. I edit out mouth sounds (especially lip smacks) and sometimes loud breathing (more of this is happening now that I'm pregnant and out of breath) and excessive ums or longer pauses. After my five minutes of sound editing, there is always an hour or two of content editing. Maybe one day I'll chill, but probably not. :)

You will begin to edit yourself. Because a few things really annoy me, I found that I autocorrect myself. As in, I RARELY make those lip smacking noises anymore and when I'm recording, I'm very aware of my pronunciation and the way my mouth is moving. I've also cut way down on ums. This is the third kind of editing. I'm pretty happy with the effect on my overall speech. Thanks, podcasting.

You really DON'T need to spend a billion on equipment. Everyone talks about the Yeti because it's like the sexy mic with a fun name that looks cute. But based on what I hear from multiple sound professionals, my trusty, un-sexy ATR2100 is the way to go. There are different kinds of mics, dynamic and condenser. The dynamic (which is the ATR) cuts out more background noise. The condenser will make your sound editing more difficult. I hear great podcasts from people with the Yeti, but when it's more money and the sound quality will be harder to achieve, why not go with the unsexy? The ATR is generally about $60 and other than buying Ecamm Call Recorder for recording my interviews, I pay my monthly Libsyn media fees and I'm good to go. I use the free Audacity program to edit and I have my site on Wordpress. Simple stuff.

I talk too much. I had to edit SO MUCH OF MYSELF out of my early interviews. They were rambling. I talked. And talked. And talked. It was super embarrassing to hear these monologues back as I edited. So I got better at this, too, over time. I still like a more conversational podcast, but I had to tell myself to shut the heck up. Mentally. Not out loud. Because that would be weird.

I CAN talk alone. My very first solo show was a wreck. I think I called myself a weirdo like four times. A friend nicely told me after that episode that I needed to trust myself more. And also that I should smile more when I talk. Done and done. THANKS, LIZ!!! I now write out the briefest of notes for my solo shows and blow right through them. I guess I channeled all the me I now edit out of my interview podcasts and put them right into the solo shows.

I'm a perfectionist about SOME things. Remember that bit about editing out lip smacking sounds? Yep. I do that. And I do it for my guests. And I can't stop! While I'm happy to let some things just slide (um: housework, anyone?), I can't NOT spend a lot of time editing my podcasts.

I'm good on the fly. Okay, so truly I learned this in college the time I had an oral report due and realized in the first five minutes of class that I had prepared all my literary criticism and notes on THE WRONG TOPIC and had ten minutes to plan a twenty minute oral report right then and there. After that, what can life throw at me? But it can really be intimidating to interview big time people that I've looked up to for (in some cases) YEARS. I get nervous still when I hit the call button, but after that, I love talking with people. It's easy. Fun even. I'm not sure this skill has a practical application in real life, but it makes interviews fun.

Always know how to say names. I constantly started an interview and, after saying my guest's name, had to stop and say, "Wait-- is THAT how you say your name?" Also, my name is hard, so I started sending out a note that said "Kirsten rhymes with BEER-sten." Figure names out before you go live or even get your guest on the phone.

Go to the bathroom first. I will not divulge with which guest this happened, but I may have allegedly peed into a cup (while my mic was muted, duh) during an interview. Ahem. #proudmoment

Be respectful of time. Let guests know how long the interview will take and DON'T GO OVER. Unless you realize that things are on a roll and you ask if it's okay if you go a little long to finish a train of thought.

Set expectations. I didn't always send out a little document with what to expect and it was ALWAYS a mistake not to. I had people do interviews while in the room with other people who were talking and eating or people not know they needed earphones or just a lot of things they needed to know. Sometimes I did say this in email, but without a little document PLUS the email, people didn't always get it. Be sure they know what you need them to do. Especially if they aren't podcasters or used to doing audio interviews.

Podcasting is addictive. I have now been at the helm of three shows. One is still going on. Another I hope to resurrect. One died, but I'll be repurposing the content here, which is excellent news! You start a podcast and you may fall in love. Forever love. Launching multiple podcasts might be something that happens to you. This will likely not be my only one. It's just too fun!

I can't even begin to say what I learned from all my guests. It's all soaked up in me, sponge-like. Sometimes I had amazing conversations that weren't recorded. I feel like I learned so much more than I could ever put in show notes.

I've loved this year. I love my small but might community. (Are you in the community? You should be!) I'm happy to still be going strong and hope this is the year to really dig in now that I have some great content and fabulous guests behind me to GROW.

Any questions about podcasting? Thoughts from your own experience?

Free books! Free downloads! Free courses! Free breakfast!

Free offers are all the rage, especially in this online world of blogging & author-platform building. But is there such a thing as too much free content? Let's talk about it.

(WARNING: I may give you things to think about but not a definite yes-or-no answer.)

The popular thinking about free content is that you'll draw more readers with your stellar free content and then people will stick around. You'll create raving fans and then when you create a product or write a book, these raving fans who came for the free will pony up their hard-earned cash and shower you with Benjamins.

That's one theory. It's popular. Here's another.

You create awesome free content and attract readers. They love you and they love your content! You write a book or create a product that costs money and your readers, who have been trained and weaned on all your free content are confused. Pay you? When we are used to free? No, thanks! Instead of attracting rabid fans who want to buy your products, you have attracted a bunch of bargain shoppers who have no budget or don't want to pay when they're use to free.

Do either of these sound familiar?

I think the thing to remember is that we set expectations with the things that we do. Free content can set the expectation that people can expect awesome content from us. It lets our people know that our paid content must be REALLY amazing because our free content is so good. People grow to trust us, to value our voice, to gel with our content. This happens because we give away great free content.

But free also can set an expectation on monetary value. Free can attract people who are at a point where they are not able to pay for courses or coaching. Free can make people ask for discounts, free rides, and favors when it comes time to pay. Free can get people's panties in a bunch when it stops being free. Because it goes against the expectations YOU set.

When we are trying to attract our ideal readers and clients, we do that by creating targeted content that speaks their language. While it stands to reason that creating quality free content develops raving fans, it is also logical that free content breeds fans who enjoy and expect free content.

The answer to the question of how much free content is too much is, of course: it depends.

On you. On your goals. On your revenue streams. But here are some general principles I thought I'd lay down while you are trying to decide on how to balance free and paid content.

I have attended countless webinars or opted into free trainings where the first four of eight points on the topic are free. Then, just when I'm usually getting really interested, the host lets you know the last four points are only revealed in his or her new course. Nevermind that the webinar was not called Four Things You Need to Monetize Your Podcast PLUS a Bonus Sales Pitch for Four More Things IF You Buy My Course. Don't bait and switch. Be free or don't be free. But be CLEAR.

A lot of free content is meant to give you value but also present a related paid product. (That is, in essence, a sales funnel.) A great example of this is a free course, like my Free Email Course. You get X number of emails or videos that provide training. Typically at least one or two of these emails or videos will mention the paid product, perhaps with a more hard sell at the end. These free trainings can be so full of value! But I've also taken a few that really were ONLY a sales pitch and had no inherent value. Typically that will result in an unsubscribe and not a sale.

If you offer a free book or course, don't also charge for the same product. You might think I don't need to mention this one as it's pretty obvious. YOU'D THINK. I still remember meeting an author at a conference and buying a book from him (after he asked me in a way that felt like an offer I couldn't refuse). Later, I joined his email list. And got the book for free.

No, it wasn't a print book like the one I bought in person. But I would have preferred an ebook to print. And free to NOT-free. I also felt like the author could have mentioned that I could get the book for free, so it made me feel a bit icky about him. This only makes sense if you have two different versions, like a printable workbook with extra features that costs money and a simple ebook with fewer bells and whistles that is free.

I've heard more than one person talk about giving away about 50% or more of their paid material in their free trainings. Perhaps they underestimate people like me, who exhaust all free before moving to paid. For people like me, a course made up of 50% or more content that was available for free, it feels like you were cheated.

I have been disappointed by paid courses more than once when only one module out of six had new information that was not included in free workshops or blog posts. This feels...ew. It makes me regret spending money. It makes me lose trust for the creator. It makes sense that some of your free funnels like webinars and posts and even ebooks might have some similar content. But what is behind the pay wall should really WOW. And if it doesn't...well. Maybe you shouldn't be charging for it at all. Or perhaps you are giving too much away.

Because there is so much free these days, people are getting more discriminating. I have literally seen Amazon reviews for permafree books that say, "Not enough content for the value." Which baffles me, because ANY content for free is greater than the the value...right? Because it was FREE.

Except I learned in Nature Camp back in middle school that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Maybe that book is free, but it cost you time to read it. It may have cost your email to opt-in. For your free content to be effective, it needs to shine. It needs to have value in and of itself, NOT only if you buy the related product.

This is a little trickier, as the online space is super crowded. I do think it's important to check out related content. I wouldn't go too crazy and read every single thing or purchase a course just to spy. That's weird. Just do a little research! But not TOO deep. Sometimes reading all the content out there related to yours imprints it on your brain so that it comes out subconsciously in your own work. You don't want that. You want your own original spin.

Recently I bought a book that was almost $10. Not a ton, but it was a PDF ebook. It was like 10 pages. And was literally less content than many of the free (and popular and easily searchable) blog posts on the same topic. A little research would have helped this author realize that her book was not remotely worth the price tag considering how much similar (and more in depth) content is out there.

One big note about this-- I am speaking on the assumption that you are creating content that you sell, whether books or courses or services like coaching. If your revenue streams are focused around traffic-based methods like ads or sponsored posts, a lot of this discussion is moot. If your point is simply to drive traffic to your site in and of itself, then you may not even need to worry about how much free you should give away. You can give away ALL of it, because you aren't saving content to create products or books.

Think of Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income: You can see his most recent income report to see how most of his sales are NOT related to products. It comes from affiliate sales and sponsorships and speaking fees, with some coaching and books tossed in. He doesn't need to worry about free content vs paid content because his revenue streams are not steeped as heavily in creating products, but more in traffic-based sources. This may be you, too. 

What'd I miss? I'd love to know your thoughts on free or NOT free or TOO free, both as a creator and a user! Share in the comments.

If you need a few more thoughts, here are some interesting points of view!

• Why I'm Not Giving Away Free
• How Much You Should Give Away Free
• How to Use Free to Drive Your Marketing Strategy

I used to check my stats. A little obsessively, perhaps. I liked to see the little number graph at the top of my Wordpress dashboard, even though I KNOW the Wordpress stats aren't as accurate as Google Analytics. I liked hitting refresh sometimes when a post was doing well. 

And then...I had my own personal blogpocalypse. All my lovely Pinterest traffic got cut in half last year when an algorithm changed. My stellar numbers were immediately and irrevocably way less. I realized just how fragile pageviews were and decided to stop trying to chase them. 

I talked about this before in my post (and podcast) about changing to a people over pageviews mindset and as I wrap up the four-part series on Finding Your Perfect Audience, I wanted to close out by talking about how to turn your readers into raving fans. 

Why does this matter? 

I feel like someone needs to write a new version of Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans post so we can all start linking to something else. But it's brilliant and I love this idea. The idea, of course, being that you can make a living creating your art if you have about 1000 true fans who will buy everything you create. I don't focus so much on the exact number, but more on the idea that you need people who CRAVE what you make. They want it. They wait for it. And they jump to buy it. 

So how do we get that? 

In this finding your perfect audience series I talked about figuring out your why, planning out your ideal reader profile, finding out through analytics who your actual readers ARE, and where to go out and find readers. But these readers then take nurturing. They require relationship to morph into true fans. 

Sometimes people balk at the idea of platform building, as this post on Beyond Your Blog shows. I think we simply need a mindset shift. In that post Jessica Graham writes about moving hearts, not Like buttons. She resists the idea of playing a numbers game but wants to reach real readers. YES. But we have to think about numbers, too. (My biggest issue with that post is the reality that if you want a nonfiction book deal, as she seems to, you HAVE to have the numbers. Listen to my interview with industry insider Chad R. Allen for more.)

It's a simple question, right: How do we treat our readers as people? 

I mean, that sounds ridiculous to write that. But so often we DO treat people as numbers, or we consider the numbers to people stats, not people. 

Think about your favorite writer or blogger. What could they do to make YOU feel special? 

I remember the first time I hit reply on an email from a blogger. It wasn't a personal email to me. It was a weekly blast email that went out to his whole list. But it moved me. So I hit reply and wrote a short message. Within an hour? I had a response. From him. The real person. Talking to me, like a PERSON. 

Replying to an email is such a small thing. But it is SO significant. Ever hit refresh a bunch of times on a blog post where you left a comment to see if there was a response? I have. I remember doing that on Young House Love one time and feeling all giddy to see a one sentence reply from John or Sherry. 

Tiny things. But they matter. We should treat our readers like VIPs, because they ARE. Here are some simple ways that you can do this. 

Respond Personally. (Until You Can't.)

I like to say in some of my signup email sequences that until I'm Taylor Swift, I will respond if they reply to my emails. I'm not as good at replying to blog comments, oddly, but working on that. I also am SUPER active in my Facebook group. I can't always jump in during real time or quickly (some days I'm not online for hours because: four kids), but even if I'm hours later and other people in the group responded, I like to just pop in. 

I feel like it's so important for people to know that you really are a person. Some people fear that humanizing themselves takes them out of that sort of seat of admiration where people look up to them. But I've found people seem to (oddly) look up to me more and shoot me encouragement about what I do when I am just being one of them. 

This is a great strategy until you really are too big. But what's too big? And could you pawn of something else to a VA and spend this time personally responding to messages, comments, and emails? Something to consider. 

Build Community FOR Them. 

I have been building my Facebook group this year and at almost 500 members, it's not the hugest group in the world. But I'm almost SCARED of it getting bigger because I don't want it so big that it loses the very real sense of community it has grown. 

Listen.

This seems simple and small. And, if you don't have a Facebook group or have people responding to your blog posts and your emails, then it may be hard to listen. So if you're still just growing that readership, make sure people KNOW you listen. Say that you'll respond to comments and then do it. Say you'll respond to emails and follow through. Invite them to respond. Hear what they have to say. Ask your Facebook group members to share their latest posts with each other. Read. Comment. Share. 

Follow Back. 

I have a rule I tend to follow on Twitter. If someone shares one of my blog posts or retweets something, I follow them. Every so often I don't check notifications as much as I should and a few fall through the cracks, but as a general practice, I follow back anyone who shares my content. Many people are stingy with their Twitter follows and some people follow back EVERYONE. I don't think either is the best policy. Generally, it's best to follow relevant people. But people sharing your content certainly are relevant. And they are showing themselves to be supporters of your work. Why not support back? 

And if you want to take it a step further, respond to their tweet. Like it. You can retweet it if you want, but sometimes that can seem weird like if they were retweeting YOU to begin with and you retweet them retweeting you. Be sensible. But there's no need to be stingy. 

And if you want to go FURTHER, check out their stream while you're there and share one of their relevant posts. Just for kicks. 

Drop in Unannounced for a Visit. 

Every so often, drop into your readers' Twitter streams and blogs. Share a post or retweet something. Just show up and let them know you were there. This doesn't take a lot of time and you don't have to do it for every single person or be on a crazy schedule. Plan it into your weekly workflow and then surprise your people by showing up on their turf. Again, it's a small thing that makes a big impact. 

Give Exclusive Content. 

I'm not an RSS fan (if you've read my book Email Lists Made Easy for Writers and Bloggers, you know this!) but I subscribe to Pinch of Yum's email list and get each full blog post in my inbox. And I read them, too. About once a year they surprise the email subscribers with a special email that holds a free gift. One that I remember was a guide to creating great food photos on Instagram. Amazing! Free! And just for subscribers. Free and exclusive perks make people happy to know you. Especially when they are unexpected. 

Meet in Real Life. 

If you're going to a conference where some of your peeps may be, host a meetup. I've been to several of these and they are fantastic. I also sometimes hang out with people who live in Houston and every so often get to meet up with someone traveling through. Face to face interaction is amazing. Nothing compares, really, so if you have a chance to do this, DO IT! 

Let Them Shine. 

I feel like being generous is a hallmark of greatness. And this is easy to do online. Whether it's something simple like sharing a blog post or giving people a shoutout on Twitter (not through some automated system) or even mentioning them by name on a podcast---the smallest mention publicly can make someone's day. 

In March I attended the Smarter Artist Summit in Austin and got to meet Bryan Cohen and Jim Kukral from the Sell More Books Show. It's one of my favorite podcasts and I arrived at their live show accidentally early and got to crash their small dinner. Since we made that real-life connection, I've gotten shout-outs on the show a few times. It has TOTALLY made my day. I feel valued and special and like I'm really a part of a community because I'm on their radar. 

If you don't have a podcast, think of other ways you can shine the spotlight on your community members. Someone who does this really well is Debi Stangeland, who features a reader in her weekly email, The Big Idea. (I would highly recommend subscribing, by the way! Great content every Friday.) Consider this as a great model and think of how you can feature your people. 

With that in mind, here are a few people from my community that I want to give a shout-out to this week: 

Matt McCarrick has become indispensable to me as my community manager and part-time virtual assistant. He has really helped grow and promote discussion in my Facebook group as well as personal encouragement and really helpful updates on my blog and podcast show notes. He has his own podcast, the One Verse Devotional, which is about a five minute five-day-a-week devotional digging into one verse. It's a great way to start the day. He's also a FABULOUS virtual assistant and podcast editor. Contact him through his site, Phosphorus Project. 

K. Kris Loomis is a fiction writer who just published a book of short stories called Funeral Home Stories. She had me at "funeral home." I've loved getting to read short stories again (sometimes my reading life really suffers) and it's great to have fiction writers in my community, which is really a diverse ecosystem. You can check out her book HERE. 

Rebecca Confiño has been vocal in the Facebook group and has a neat site called Mamaguru focused on mindfulness. I think most moms could use mindfulness, don't you? If you're interested in deliberate living and want to consider how you can up your mindfulness, check out her site for some really great resources. 

Elizabeth Elliot is someone I recently "met" online through my sister-in-law and she has dived right into the community. We went to dinner last week since we are a few miles apart and had a lot of laughs over gyros and talked about writing and platform up close and personal. She writes about faith in the daily grind and is working on a really unique devotional for parents whose kids are involved in sports. I'm not going to name names (cough JJ WATT cough), but she has a well-known football player's mom on board for the project. 

If you're reading this post thinking, "Ain't nobody got time for that," I get it. These are not easy things. They are involved. They require YOU to be involved. Up front. Personal. 

Seriously. This kind of philosophy may just not be your jam. It may not fit with the business you're trying to build or the kind of writing you want to do. You may NOT want to reply to emails, even if you aren't at Taylor Swift status. That's fine!

Or maybe if you're overwhelmed you can pick a few manageable things and be really good at those. If you do everything on this list, you might die. (Or not get anything else done.) You also might build some of the craziest, raving fans around. 

(And hey! I'll answer. PROMISE.)

This is part four of a series on how to find your perfect audience! Catch up by reading post one about knowing your WHY, post two about creating your ideal reader profile, and post three about knowing who you currently have in your audience.

Experts say you should write for your target audience, preferably with one ideal reader in mind. When I first started blogging, I totally nailed this concept. Every post had a laser focus on that one reader.

Because my audience literally consisted of one person: my mom.

Ten years, two blogs, and a podcast (or three) later, I’ve learned a thing or two about writing for the ideal audience. Mostly I learned the hard way: by alienating people, accidentally building the wrong audience, and trying to force my current audience to like content they did not like. Targeting the right audience can be really tricky, especially if you also want your blog audience to be your book audience.

If you are starting from scratch or with a smaller audience, you can find where your target audience is hanging out and do some quality research. If you have already built an audience, you need to find out who they are. You want to target readers who will help you reach your goals.

So, WHERE ARE THEY? How do you go find your perfect audience and bring them back to your blog? I've got a slew of ideas for you. 2500 words worth of ideas, so buckle up, buttercup.

Before you look at the actionable steps, download your worksheet to identify your target audience.

The cohesive theme of your blog combined with a clear goal will help you attract and keep your target audience. But unless you are great at SEO (search engine optimization), people are not just going to stumble across your blog. You will need to do some work to find your readers. I'm going to break this down into platforms and tools.

Facebook Groups
You are probably already utilizing groups in Facebook, but if you are not, get in there. I really think this is the best place right now to connect, but it can also be very frustrating as so many people are using groups. 

First, find relevant groups. Go back to your reader profile and use the information you created. If your ideal reader is a mom who likes to read and has grown children, you have three different groups to search for: mom groups, book-reading groups, and groups for empty nesters. As a group-creating addict (I admin something like 25 groups), I can tell you that there is a group for EVERYTHING. If not, CREATE one and use keywords in the description so people can find it in Facebook. Maybe you'll created your own group of ideal readers! 

Pay attention to the stated guidelines of each group. Don’t just bust in to drop links to your blog. Watch and see what people are talking about and engage in meaningful conversations. Trying to be helpful and provide value will get your farther than trying to link to your blog every day. Each group has its own culture and you need to get to know it a bit first. It's pretty easy to see when people are trying to simply piggy-back off another group to gain followers. Be an asset. Follow the rules.

Twitter
Twitter is a fast and easy way to connect. I like to find and follow other bloggers and writers similar to me. Then I look at who they follow and especially who follows them. Check the Twitter profiles to find new followers. (For more on this method, see my guest post on Jane Friedman’s site on using Twitter in 15 minutes a day.)

You can also utilize search and advanced search on Twitter to find conversations and users. See this list of Twitter chats to hop in and join an actual weekly conversation. In Twitter chats people tend to follow each other and get to know each other week to week. It's a great way to connect on the platform. (Need help figuring out Twitter chats? Read THIS.)

Amazon Reviews
Reviews on Amazon can be great for research (and a rollicking good time). Search for genres similar to what you hope to write and check out the book reviews. Great reviews can help you know what people enjoyed and bad reviews can help you see gaps that people want filled.

Some reviewers also have an email listed. You CANNOT add these to your email list (you always need permission for that), but one more aggressive strategy might be to send an individual email to reviewers who liked a book, offering a free chapter or digital download or maybe linking to a relevant blog post. Don’t be ultra creepy- be sure to mention where you found their email address. But if they are making that public on a site like Amazon, they are open to communication. Or...they might not understand the internet and privacy so well.

Goodreads
Not everyone on Goodreads fills out a full profile, but you can spend some time searching books like yours or in the genre that you hope to write, reading reviews (again, great for research purposes!), and connecting with reviewers either through the platform. You can click through their profiles to find where to connect online through Twitter or a blog. There are also many groups centered around genre that can also be fantastic for connecting with readers. I'm not a huge Goodreads user myself, but many people are and for book writers, it is a great place to connect with readers.

Wattpad
I am not a heavy (or even light) Wattpad user, but many have found success releasing manuscripts one chapter at a time on this platform. It’s slick and pretty and many of the books have hundreds of thousands of reads.

Not every writer wants to share work for free, but even if you don’t share content, the site is full of readers. You can connect there with people’s other social profiles or even just use it as a research tool. See what kinds of books people want to read and what kind of feedback they are leaving.

Blogs
Back in the day, people used to leave comments on blogs and then connect with other bloggers by clicking through the comments. Though commenting is really drying up, you can still connect through comments. Some blogs have hundreds of comments and you can learn more about potential readers or click through their name to find out if they have a blog or online presence to connect with your target people. Head over to their blog and leave a comment.

As with Facebook groups, don't be gross and try to just fish for readers. It's always pretty obvious and looks smarmy. Every so often on a blog post, someone asks a question and before I can respond, another blogger jumps in and leaves a link to where they answer that question in their own post. I mean, kudos to you for being resourceful (and faster than I am responding to comments), but it just doesn't sit right with me.

Product Hunt
This site isn't for everyone, but it's a great place to submit your book, blog post, or podcast episode. It has some strict rules (don't ask for upvotes in particular) but can be a great place to share your content and bring readers back to your site. It's used by a lot of entrepreneurs and freelancers and you have to get invited to be able to Hunt (ie, post) your own products or links.

Medium
I really like Medium and would love to spend more time there. Some people have moved their blog exclusively over to Medium rather than self-hosting. I wouldn't do that. But I would say that it's an okay place to actually re-post your blog. (Many times, duplicate content is an issue for people, but Medium seems to be above the Google law on this, so you can literally post on your blog, copy and post the same thing on Medium.)

You can connect with new readers through reading and commenting as well. Make sure your profile is set up to send people back to your site. To give you a big rundown of how you can use Medium, this is a super guide from Buffer.

In Person
Yes, I mean not behind a computer screen. GASP! This can be tough for the people like me who are either in pajamas working out of the house or wrangling a bunch of kids. But you can go to local meetups, seek out local groups that meet in person on Facebook, or even host your own Meetup. This is a great way to actually connect and get information from real people in person. I have spoken at a few local conferences and find that some of the people that hear me in person do my thing stick around and become engaged. It opens up doors that the internet can't do, or at least not as quickly.

Other
I don't want to spend a ton of time going through every single platform. Some of them I neither use nor fully understand or like. But you can connect on basically any platform by doing searches for users or hashtags, checking for groups, and joining conversations that are already happening. Some other places to look for your ideal peeps: LinkedIn, GooglePlus (communities can be a good place to connect), Instagram, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and more. I love Pinterest for bringing traffic, but it's not my go-to for actually getting to know people as it's the least social of the social platforms. (Which I mostly love.)

BuzzSumo
This is a pricy tool, but has some free search options, even if they tease you about the awesome content you could get for only $99/month. Use BuzzSumo to search for your genre or a book title or blog post similar to yours and you can see top posts online, broken down by the number of shares on each social media platform. This can let you know what is being shared and WHERE, which is an important component of finding your peeps.

FAQ Fox
FAQ Fox lets you search for what questions people are asking in forums. That's pretty awesome because I heard a lot of people giving the advice to "check in forums" to learn what questions people are asking. But the internet is FULL OF FORUMS. This cuts right through the noise in a way that Google couldn't. See which can help you see what questions people need answered, what problems they have, or what they are curious about. Learn more about the best ways to use the tool from this post. Did I mention this is free? 

Sem Rush
SemRush allows you to search terms and see what related searches people are making on the internet. It is not free, but you can get ten free searches per day. These tools can help you learn what your potential readers want to know and read and also what keywords to use that might help your blog become more visible in search.

Keyword Tool 
This may not lead you to your audience, but the Keyword Tool will help reveal some things about your audience that might bring them to you or help you create relevant content for them. You can try using the basic Google method where you start typing and see what Google fills in, but this is more extensive.

Google Keyword Planner
This is also more about creating the right content that will bring people to you, but is helpful in terms of research and knowing what questions people are asking. For a great tutorial on the Google Keyword Planner, check out this informative post.

Facebook Custom Audiences
This is a bit advanced if you aren't already using the Facebook advert manager, but you can do SO many things with the information that our favorite spy, Facebook has. You can actually upload your email list as a custom audience to Facebook in the adverts manager, then create a lookalike audience and target them with ads. This is a great way to bring in new, ideal readers, especially if your email list is already pretty targeted and filled with your peeps. This post from SmartBlogger has a TON of info (including how to upload your email list) on using the Facebook adverts manager tool for custom audiences.

You can also create custom audiences and look at the insights from those custom audiences, whether you choose to use your own audience (like your uploaded email list) or create an audience to watch. Facebook collects data like my kids collect Legos, so you can learn TONS of information (and be terrified at the amount of information that Facebook collects).

Here is a tiny glance at some of my custom audiences:

What you may notice as you've read through these tools and platforms is that there are two main strategies to finding your ideal audience. Both are proactive, which is to say they require you doing something, but they are slightly different. Ideally, you should do both.

1.Reaching Out to Bring People Back to Your Site
This way is more hands-on and personal. It involves things like commenting on blogs, speaking up in Facebook groups, attending Twitter chats, and anything that means that you are stepping out and personally talking to people. You are hopefully doing this in a non-smarmy way where you really want to be helpful and connect without just stealing someone else's audience.

Example of a smarmy way to leave a comment:

2.Researching and Creating Content that Will Attract People to Your Site
When you are using some of the tools to understand your ideal readers, you will be learning information that you can use to create the kind of content that will hopefully attract those people. SEO (search engine optimization) is a piece of that, but it also can look like this:

1. Study keyword tools and search what questions people are asking
2. Write a stellar piece of content that answers or addresses those questions
3. Join related Facebook group
4. Per the FB group's rules, share your perfect blog post to answer their questions OR use that link in a non-smarmy way to answer crowd-sourcing questions in the group

OR:

1. Study keyword tools and search what questions people are asking
2. Write a stellar piece of content that answers or addresses those questions
3. Post to Twitter using popular hashtags in your industry

Those are just two examples to get you started. The point is that you can research, create content based on what your people want, and then share where those people will find it.

If you ONLY create the great content your people want but expect ideal readers to just find you, you'll be sorely disappointed, unless you're an SEO genius. You need to have both pieces: creating the ideal content for your ideal readers and also going out to find those readers to bring them back to your ideal content.

This beast of a blog post concludes our four-part series on Finding Your Perfect Audience. WHEW.

This post and podcast episode comes from my talk at Social Media Day Houston on How to Brand Your Writing Voice across Social Media Platforms!

What comes to mind when you hear this word? Even though I know it means more, I always THINK of visual logos and colors and the way a brand shows itself visually.

Branding is more the entire message, the packing of the message, the ideals and beliefs, and overall a comprehensive picture of the person, company, or brand. It's bigger. But visuals stick with us because we SEE them, which is one of the reasons we think of branding as a visual. (If you didn't think of visuals, please let me know in the comments what YOU think of!)

But because branding is all-encompassing, that means that your writing is a part of that. More specifically your writing VOICE.

Since not everyone has had the extensive tour of English departments that I have, I will give you a definition of voice. Essentially, the writing voice is the narrator or writer's point of view and writing style. The voice is the part of writing infused with personality. It distinguishes on writer from another and makes that writer unique. It gives the writer POWER.

Though you may not talk or think so much about voice, you KNOW it. Voice is often what draws us to a certain writer.

• You may love the Blogess for her humor and style.
• Or perhaps Ann Voskamp and her poetic way of describing the mundane.
• Maybe you are a fan of Derek Halpern's don't-hold-back approach.
• Or Amy Porterfield's wise and upbeat encouragement.

You know voice when you read it. You are drawn toward certain kinds of voices and repelled from others. This is why developing your own writing voice is so important!

For a great post about developing your writing voice, see this post from Kristen of She's Novel!  Or this one from Mandy Wallace!

I know. I know. I should call this blog the Why Blog because I talk about this all. the. time. But the reality is that you need to know this. And then you need to make sure it is still the same. You need to KNOW it. Because everything else flows from your WHY. Are you writing to bring in a full time income and keep your rent paid? Are you creating a side business that you hope will be a full business? Are you doing this as passion project and don't care if you make money? Are you doing what you do to help others? To entertain? To teach?

Your why is probably going to be a combination of a few things, but you need to think about this and know this. (For go deep on this, you need to check out my Foundation Series mini course!)

Who is your target audience? You need to speak the language of your people. You need to know your current audience and your target audience. (Don't worry! I have resources on developing an ideal reader profile and on figuring out who your current audience is.) When you know your audience, you know how to speak to them. You know what will attract them and what will repel your non-ideal readers.

How would you like your readers to describe you? Think of the adjectives you wish that people would use when they talk about you. Are you funny? Quirky? Authoritative? Goofy? Wise? Kind? Generous? Outgoing? Snarky? This is a huge part of knowing your voice.

Not all voices are easy. Your writing voice should be natural enough that you can work at it, but it's not work EVERY TIME. Which is to say that it is something you are able to write. You may want people to describe you as funny, but ARE you? Ask a friend. Do people laugh through your blog posts? Can you convey humor through words? Your writing voice should be consistent, even though it will have nuances through social media platforms. I can be funny in a tweet, but not laugh-out-loud funny. I'm witty, but not a comedian. Know what you can sustain and choose to hone in on a voice that feels easy and natural to you.

Once you have answered those questions, you need to work on creating your persona. This is another one of those English-major terms. A persona is the role or character adapted by an author or character. In the context of the business world, persona pre-dated avatar as the way you described your ideal readers.

But the kind of persona I mean is the persona of YOU, not your customer.  Essentially, you will be creating a role for yourself that you will embody online. If this sounds weird, the reality is you already HAVE a persona.

When you filter out certain things from your public life, that's part of creating a persona. When you share particular pieces of content and not others, that's part of your persona. When you frame something in one way and not another, that's part of persona.

Once you have a good idea of who your persona is (remember: I mean YOU), you can more easily navigate what to share and how to share it. Your persona will help you understand the content and the way you introduce a certain post to share. It will help you know when to shut up and when to speak. It may even help you respond better to comments from readers.

Write More.

For more nitty gritty tips on honing your writing voice, the best thing you can do is practice. Try writing with that persona in the forefront of your mind. It might even be easier for you to write as that "character" than just YOU. It gives you a little distance because it IS you, but an edited and filtered version of you.

Speak Your Words.

You can also SPEAK. The spoken word does not work when literally translated into the written word (ever read a transcription? BO-RING), but when you read aloud, this can help you hear how your words sound. (It's also a great way to find mistakes.) Read your words aloud. Let that help you edit. It will give you more of a voice and reveal places where your written word sounds boring or doesn't have any personality.

Use Twitter.

I also like using Twitter as an editor. No, I do NOT put whole posts through it. But there are times when I take a quote I like of mine and plug it into one of the click to tweet plugins so it's shareable on Twitter. Usually? They are too long. Which makes me pare down and often my writing is better. Not everything should be shorter, but when you are very conscious of your words, it helps you choose them with more intention.

I hope that this post is helpful it developing your writing voice and keeping it consistent. In the podcast episode I say more about how this looks on different platforms and I think I'll put that in a second post because we are almost at 1200 words. My persona is long-winded, y'all. (And sometimes says "y'all.")