New Home Forums Monthly Challenges May 2017 Blog Beginnings

24 replies, 6 voices Last updated by  Bradley Morris 6 years, 9 months ago
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 25 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #41619

    Sara McCann
    Adventurer
    @saramccann

    Ok. So technically I do have a blog already on my website. This is it here..https://hypnosatori.co.uk/blog/ (laughable I know!)

    Realistically though it is just a page I have added to my site with the title ‘blog’ I have done nothing with it other than created a page. So, do I have to write 3 posts or 5? I think I could manage 3 by the end of May in amongst the other stuff I’m doing but not sure about 5.

    I will write the blog posts around some of the hang ups that smokers have….confidence, willpower, habits, trigger mechanisms etc. It’s about time I started creating that blog anyway so may as well be now!

     

    #41626

    Sue-Ann Bubacz
    Adventurer
    @sue-ann

    I think 3 is more than fair for you, Sara, since you haven’t been trying or doing any blogging presence, actively. Oh and Sara and everyone, go use the easy as magic Canva for Blog Post graphics. FREE And EASy…I use it constantly for my web work. I even cheat and use it to edit photos since I can’t edit a photo to save my soul and then realized but I can do it in Canva. I promise you’ll love it. I’ve been using it for years and just learned more new things it can do, recently.

    Three is a lot for me and I’m a blog writer! Lol But, I’m going to take the challenge (may hate myself later) to complete 5 posts for my mini-challenge but, want to know if I can include work (newly written posts) even if published as guest work or whatever elsewhere and on my own site in combo?

    Also, I DO want to do a little extra on my blog, WriteMixforBusiness.com because, working with “tech help,” basically put my blog out of commission on and off for the better part of the last 30 days so, I want to add a few pieces of content this month. My usual is about 2 posts per month on my own site, sometimes more. This will be a real challenge because I feel like I do better writing for others than on my own site!! (P.S. My Blog is a Hog! Lol)

    Writing for my site is just always so much harder…maybe because I’m still feeling around some for my exact audience avatar, specific reader. However, metrics tell me my main topics (business and marketing) are also part of my largest user profile base so, I seem to be off in the Write (haha) direction. I’m still trying really really hard to get more traction at my own site.

    Also, I am finally making progress on the brand spanking new site (BizShops) and will be ready to share it with you guys for feedback (before starting to push or promote it) very soon! Whew. It’s been tough. And this third try (and host) is gonna be a charm, I hope!! Ha

    Thanks for everything mountaineers!

    #41704

    Sara McCann
    Adventurer
    @saramccann

    Wow Sue-Ann, you have yourself quite a work load there! How are you feeling about it all…weighed down or excited?

    I have dipped my toe in with Canva…got frustrated with it and left but on your recommendation I shall give it another chance! lol 😉

    So excited to see your new site, Bizshops, you know…you’ve come so far in your learning and action already – I’m really proud of all the things you’re accomplishing!

    Really made me giggle that you’re finding your own blog a hog…but hey, doesn’t that just show you have a valid ‘problem’ you’re helping people with? I think you’re right…that you’re finding it tough going because you haven’t got your avatar etc. Once you have that I reckon the ideas and writing will start to flow more and more. Keep going – you’re doing so well!

    #41732

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    Hey Sara, this is an exciting start to your blogging and storytelling journey.

    My suggestion to get you going is to write about what’s fun. If it’s quitting smoking, do that. If it’s writing a short story about someone who quit smoking, do that. If it’s about something else, do that.

    The most important thing is to write, this will help you be a better communicator in all ways, which will help you with course creation, copy writing, sales, etc….

    Stoked for this!

    I wasn’t a fan of Canva either. One that Andy and I use (and love) is called http://www.getstencil.com

    Good luck with the challenge!

    #41785

    Sara McCann
    Adventurer
    @saramccann

    Thanks Bradley. I shall have a look at getstencil too and see what works best for me – much appreciated!

    Oooh, you have just given me an idea for an article now! I never thought about trying to be funny…I was just going to write practical stuff…but you’ve just triggered an idea now. If I can pull it off well I think it will be just the ticket! Thank you! Will update again soon.

    #41940

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    Hi Sara!  I’m glad to hear that you’re jumping right into the next challenge – crown and all.  I followed the link to your blog and I have to admit I really enjoyed it.  I laughed because it was so obvious and so simple and sometimes that’s the most brilliant humor of all.

    I hope you are flying forward with your first post!  I always feel so much pressure when I tell myself I’m writing a for a specific purpose.  So I started a daily habit of morning pages (although sometimes they migrate to evening pages).  Every morning I wake up, walk and feed the dog, then sit down at my computer and type my 750+ words for the day.  I’m sure there are many ways to do it, but I use 750words.com (free for first 30days then $5/month) which has been worth it for me to develop the daily writing habit.  After venting, complaining, wondering, and generally thinking out loud on paper, I cut and paste anything useful into Evernote and then when I need an idea for an article I have so many ideas there already.  As author Jodi Picoult says, “You can edit a bad page.  You can’t edit a blank page.”  But especially if you’re experimenting with a different approach, I highly recommend the strategy of “just writing for the sake of writing” to get your brain juices flowing and the ideas down on paper without overthinking or trying to fix your spelling.  I can’t wait to hear your update!

    @sue-ann You have such ambitious goals for the next couple of weeks!  I hope you will start your own thread for this challenge, so we can give you all kinds of encouragement and positive feedback.  Thanks for the Canva suggestion.

    @bradleytmorris I’ll have to check out getstencil too!  Thanks for the suggestion.

    #42118

    Sara McCann
    Adventurer
    @saramccann

    LOL! Re. the humour of my blog! @laurakoller Yep, simple probably sums it up. 😉

    I love the methodology of writing blog posts that you have, definitely think I’ll be copying that technique – thank you so much for sharing as it sounds like a great way to just get doing stuff! Right, I have today booked in for writing blog posts only so am off to vent!

    #42220

    Sara McCann
    Adventurer
    @saramccann

    Ok. First ever blog post written! Eeek! Feels real now!

    An idea inspired from @bradleytmorris that has grown in my mind and triggered the memory that someone once said to me “when creating content always remember that it needs to do one of two things – make people feel happy or clever” I’m ambitiously aiming for both. (rolls eyes!)

    So Bradley suggested i make it fun and perhaps write a short story about someone stopping smoking. I then thought…what if I write a huge story about someone stopping smoking? Each article can be like another chapter of the story. What if i make it funny, full of typical excuses and traits of smokers. Making fun of the crazy mindset of smokers but not in a judgemental way because the main character of the story is also a smoker and so is poking fun at herself. Meaning (hopefully) that the smokers reading it feel understood and are able to laugh at themselves a little bit…making it all feel like not such a serious and frightening issue to them.

    Now, I certainly don’t think I’m a good enough writer now for this next ambitious part of my plan (being that I haven’t written a proper story since middle school!!) but…I hope that I can improve and maybe, just maybe I can one day create a book from it all to give away on Amazon!?! Woah, I mean…right now…that is a far and distant idea but it’s there as a thought. I suppose, in essence, i am trying to apply the ecourse adventure idea to self help books…turning them into a story that people enjoy reading in order to be helped. Rather than the boring self help books currently on offer…that everyone always buys…but no one ever gets passed the first couple of chapters!  So that is the distant dream but right now I’m concentrating on one article (or chapter) at a time.

    The idea of the full story is to show a group of people who have come together to try and stop smoking. I will follow their journey, the things they do to try and stop, the fears and excuses they have. With the aim of making smokers feel understood, able to see the funny side of it all and pick up help ideas to stop themselves from smoking. I will address some of the issues smokers face like willpower, what to do with their hands, conditioned responses, nicotine replacement therapies etc etc. And for each smoking issue I cover I will write another ‘informative style’ article on that subject so that one blog post leads to another, and so that hopefully , what is essentially just a funny story can become a self help program for people.

    Now here it is: https://hypnosatori.co.uk/blog/ I have been through and changed it 100 times today and am still not completely happy with it…so will probably change it 100 times more tomorrow! I think perhaps it needs more images throughout it and am not convinced about the cover image. I think my writing needs some serious improvement too and am trying to think of more humorous stuff to put in it. But I’m trying not to be too hard on myself and remember that it’s just a first attempt and better than having nothing on that blog at all.

    Any and all…positive and negative…feedback would be very much appreciated!

     

     

    #42231

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    Sara – How unexpected and enjoyable!  I really enjoyed this.  You have created several colorful characters, and that dynamic may be helpful in working through all those different smoking issues.  It’s also nice to get into the head of the smoker, because then the people reading your site will feel as though you understand them and you are not preaching to them.  Last, a story is such a great way to make information sticky (see “Made to Stick” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath who have a whole chapter on storytelling as a sticky method).  This was unexpected, but your ability to tell a story has piqued my interest and I want to find out what happens to these people.  Instead of listening to someone preach at me, I feel like I’m part of the story.  I actually read a book about financial planning that used a similar storytelling method ( see here ) and I wish you could read at least the intro or the first chapter, but it was such a clever way to share the information because instead of listening to someone describe it all to me, it became about people asking about the same things that confused me too.  The author spent some time in the intro describing why he chose to write the book this way, so that’s why I thought it might be helpful.

    I get it about all the revisions.  I think I’ve revised each blog post at least 40 times – often just changing a word here, recrafting a sentence there.  As for the Amazon book, your best bet is to start drawing traffic to your blog and your site and it will be THOSE people who will be the biggest drivers for selling your book.  So you are already on the right path.  I can share more about that with you, including a 12-step program (different than the one you may be familiar with for drinking/smoking).  But all of that starts with the first blog post – and now you’re live, published, and on your way to even better things!!!

    The best insight that I’ve learned about gaining a reading audience is to always be relentlessly helpful.  And I can sense that you are going to knock that one right out of the park.  Congratulations!

    #42348

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    I love it @saramccann. Your writing style is so fun to read. I was right there in the waiting room, putting out my first and final cigarette with you.

    What could be cool, IF you have any “Stop Smoking Hypno Audios” would be to have a CTA at the bottom of the article that has them opt-in for their first step on the stop smoking journey. (Escape from Nicotraz)

    Well done. Keep writing. Clearly you’re having fun with it.

    Oh, and remember to share it on social media and to your email list as you write new articles 😉

    Sharing is caring.

    #42396

    Sue-Ann Bubacz
    Adventurer
    @sue-ann

    Way to go, Sara!

    My update so far on the blog challenge:

    One post is in the final polishing stage, ready to submit. Because this is for another site, publish date is TBD but, I can let you guys know when (fingers crossed) it comes out. (This one was started before the challenge came out, I admit!)

    Two more posts are in the works right now: one for my site and one for another site called, GrowMap, and I hope to have them completed within the next couple of days. Barry Feldman also asked me to write an Amazon review of his new book, The Road to Recognition, written with Seth Price, and it was a fun little project. The book is about building your personal brand and offers actions to take, from A to Z.

    For another post, I’m thinking of doing a fun one for Lorraine’s feline site, if she likes and can use it:)

    Finally, I’m thinking about a post that can open some pre-sale interest and list collecting for my How to Bling Your Blog and Feed that Hog course as another (maybe 5th?) blog post to make the challenge. Whew! not sure if I can do it but, I do want to try…

    I have a progress log update, too, but have too much to do next so I’ll have to stop in there, soon. You may have noticed, my progress blog always includes stuff I’m doing that has my head spinning!!!!!!

    #42453

    Andy Freist
    Mountain Guide
    @andyfreist

    Great work Sara, keep it up!

    #42497

    Sara McCann
    Adventurer
    @saramccann

    Wow! @sue-ann you have writing coming out of your ears right now! It all sounds fantastic and certainly…with the commitments you have to it all you’re definitely going to ace this challenge! The Amazon book review sounds really interesting – hope you share that as would love to have a read! Am currently looking at the edit you have so SUPER kindly sent me of my first blog post. Can’t thank you enough for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this for me!

    @bradleytmorris I do have a ten step program to stop smoking already set up on my website that I can direct people to as a CTA  See here: https://hypnosatori.co.uk/product/purchase-ten-steps-to-stop-smoking/.  BUT…the reason I have never bothered with my blog is because I came to the same realisation as you and Andy did….would i buy this if I wanted to stop smoking? As the answer was no I never motivated myself to promote it and instead set off to create something better (and found myself here inventing escape from nicotraz) And now I feel like I don’t want people to use the method I currently offer and form a bad impression of me. I want them to only experience the best possible. Having said that, it is a very comprehensive stop smoking program (way better than most other hypnotherapists offer – it just doesn’t sparkle or offer the support I would like it to – if you know what I mean!) Oh…I don’t know what to do.

    I think this is why I have dithered between progressing up the mountain with escape from nicotraz or mindtrix. Essentially, escape from nicotraz is there already with ten steps for people to follow through..it just needs filling with sparkle, community and a story running through it (which is there in my head bursting to get out)  and it will be ready and my heart is still stuck in it…desperate to complete it. But now, I’ve started Mindtrix too and I want to complete that also. As I shared with someone else recently…my school report from being a kid always did label me as erratic and inconsistent. And here I am again hitting that brick wall of inconsistency. (sigh)

    On another note, I will share the blog post with my social media etc. I am going to wait until I have 6 pieces of content first though. ( I plan to create 3 more next week in order to achieve this) My reason for this is that, (as the 30 day challenge showed me) sometimes life gets in the way and school holidays and sickness can make work very tough going. As there is only one person..me…to keep the wheels turning I decided that I needed a bank of 6 weeks of content. (6 weeks being the longest school holiday the kids have) so that when life does get in the way, it doesn’t matter if I miss a week or two of content creation, because I can still keep a consistent marketing feed pleasing my audience from my 6 week bank. A bit like of having a savings account that you can rely on when times are tough! lol

    @andyfreist – thanks, I will… once I climb over this next brick wall! 🙂

    #42525

    DavidJ Jurasek
    Adventurer
    @DavidJ

    Sara,

    I just read your STOP SMOKING DAY blog entry…

    To be frank.. this is some good shit! Taking a drag of a magical emotional spliff here. I feel you and love the texture and feel of reading this post. Love how you weave first person story and wink wink nudge nudge along the way….

    It’s evocative.

    Excited to read and see more… and I don’t smoke (weed nor tobacco!). : )

    Also, a question or point of feedback: When the blog post ends, I want it to lead me somewhere next. Like a button to read the next chapter of this story or to choose to look at your sales page, or a free offer. Something, dmann it! You got my attention and interest in the best way! : )

    #42538

    Laura Koller
    Adventurer
    @laurakoller

    Sue-ann – My head is spinning with everything you have on your plate!  What a variety.  I’m amazed you can keep your head screwed on straight.

    Saramccann – My vote is for you to first progress up the mountain with Escape from Nicotraz (love that title) because you already have the skeleton and the flesh there, so you can focus primarily on adding fashion and flair along with all the creation steps you are still learning to do.  This blog will enhance that mission nicely.  Once you’ve finished that successfully, then you can move on to Mindtrix having a whole lot of other “trix” in your bag.  I, too, have a couple of other ideas that I’m eager to pursue, but the honest truth is that I need to start with what I have using the content that I’ve created so far and then I’ll be so smart this process can only get easier, right?  Just like the process of writing each blog post.  I swear that’s going to get easier one of these weeks…

    I love the goal of 6 weeks of content.  I’ve decided that I need accountability and a deadline to move forward, and I’m having a hard time getting ahead.  (Geez, I can’t figure out why.  I mean, there’s so much free time on my schedule!)  If you can make it work, please send me the playbook.  Or maybe we should become accountability buddies!!!

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 25 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.