Guest Expert: Jo-Anne Vandermeulen
With age comes wisdom…but, not when we’re talking about blogging.
It doesn’t take years to become an expert blogger. You can *conquer all obstacles* and become a professional as early as…tomorrow. Yes, I said tomorrow. To become a blogging expert, all you need to do is:
– Define Your Niche – Mental blocks will be unheard of. Never will you tire for what you’re passionate about. Mental juices will flow. The articles will ring true—with an honest voice. The reader will devour your post.
– Carefully Proof-Read – Checking for the usual punctuation and grammar is a given. Beginners can ask someone to look over their article. Swapping articles—having a critique partner is an excellent idea.
– Content Must Give – Producing valuable content will attract new readers and have viewers coming back for more.
Now you’re ready to attract a LARGE NUMBER OF READERS, but the competition is fierce. Tons of blogs are out in the Internet.
FACT: “The Internet is a vast wasteland of thoughts and ideas. According to Technorati, someone creates a new blog every 1.4 seconds. If blogging was a crime, and in some cases it very much should be, it would be the number one source of criminal activity in the land.” – Adam Brown, FreeLanceSwitch Site, 01/07/09
A lot of these blogs are filled with valuable content….so how does a blogger stand out from the rest?
Before pushing the submit button, to have your post published, ask yourself these questions:
1.) Who are my readers? My words and expressions are going to be different depending on my audience. A title for a majority ‘male’ audience will likely be different than if targeted for a ‘female’ audience.
Male – Sex, Battle
Female – Love, Solve
*Can you think of other words that are used depending on the gender use?
Even think about the audience’s age. If I’m writing for my daughters, my style will be a lot different than if I’m posting for a senior-age audience.
*Check the Feedburner, stats, and now Facebook Fan Pages even gives the author a complete profile of whether their audience is male or female, ages, geographical locations, and the number of views over the week.
If I’m not happy with the facts, then it’s time to change my vocabulary and style.
2.) Am I writing for my viewers or am I hung-up on the Search Engine stats? Check the title— Every now and then I’ll write an eye catching title rather than words only termed with key phrases.
LOL…I’m still getting comments from the post titled – “Who Likes To Get Naked?”. I’m pretty sure the search engines didn’t pick this title up, but I sure attracted the readers.
Whereas, the title: “8 Tips To Successful Blogging” was successfully picked up by the webcrawlers but would have easily been skimmed by those uninterested in improving their blogging skills.
3.)What is the main purpose for my blog? I must be honest with myself, and clear to my audience. I create the title and article to reflect my purpose. Whether I’ve decided my posts are for interaction, to help or inspire others, build friendships, or sell products, I have to keep my promise by staying on task and resolving the questions before the end of each article.
You can *conquer all obstacles* and become an expert blogger, but you have to follow some guidelines that have proven successful when publishing posts. There are many blogs that supply tips and techniques to assist bloggers to become stronger. Research and read what has worked for other experts. Toss that fear out the window, write the posts, and then check the stats…you never know…a new vocabulary and style of writing may be a better way to go…and the answer as to how YOU CAN BECOME AN EXPERT BLOGGER OVERNIGHT.
Author Jo-Anne Vandermeulen graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in Education and an English Literature major. She taught for the Moosomin School Division for twenty years before starting her full time writing career in 2006.
Jo-Anne produces and hosts a live weekly Blog Talk Radio (BTR) show, “Authors Articulating,” where she shares marketing and promotional tips with other writers and answers questions from her extensive and ever-growing list of followers. She is an owner of Premium Promotional Services, a company that supports and markets fellow writers.
Her first book, a women’s fiction (suspense/romance) called “Conquer All Obstacles” was released November, 2009. Her latest book, a non-fiction resource titled “Premium Promotional Tips for Writers”, was released in December, 2009.
Jo-Anne has two grown daughters and resides in Courtenay, British Columbia with her mini-dachshund, Oscar.
A few days ago Jo-Anne was interviewed on Page Readers BTR, listen to the interview.
