You can’t always write about personal experiences as a blogger unless, of course, you are a personal blogger.
When you write to monetize, earn money online, generate leads via digital marketing, and lure others to your perspective, then here’s the absolute secret:
READ MORE.
When you read more, you write better. I promise you this is true; I know this from direct and hands-on experience. If someone does not read the news, industry publications, leading and cutting-edge blogs, white papers, or other sites where you learn, then when you sit down to write your slate is empty.
There are no new ideas and concepts or angles to blend into your perspective.
You can only revisit old content and hope that it’s fresh with another posting.
What’s worse, you bore your audience.
Who is Your Audience?
YOU!
You are your first critical audience. Present yourself to the world with the freshest perspective you can offer on news of the day or issues of interest. Put yourself on the receiving end of what you write; is it worthy of others? Are you trying your hardest to bring readers in and keep them?
I picked up Bloomberg BusinessWeek tonight to leaf through. I was treated to the first five stories on a variety of global topics that immediately piqued my interest in writing with those inspired angles.
As I was climbing into the car, this title came to me…my mind was not done mulling over its overflow of jumbled ideas, but guess what? My day is jammed with others who demand my attention. When I can open a business publication and let my mind explore the endless possibilities to write for myself, then I’m fulfilled.
Is that how you are inspired? Do you think like this all the time with your blog?
I have trouble shutting it off, and I have trouble focusing on one arena of topics because I do hybrid PR – I know a little about a lot with a thirst to know more.
How do you write, get inspired, find topics and share them?
Tell me is there’s a topic you’d like to see written about here. I am happy to accommodate a try!Thank you for reading me; I appreciate you.
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Smart advice Jayme. Reading is the window to the world and there is no better way to get ideas and be inspired than keeping abreast of current (and even old) news. One trick that has worked for me is reading outside of the industries I cover – sort of a way to gain a fresh perspective on markets I normally don’t follow but always turns out to be a treasure trove of ideas!
John_Trader1 Morning, John! I agree…when you push yourself to read outside of your own arena, you see more opportunities — perhaps business development or a job opening, too.
I just had to write this post; I know everyone says this kind of stuff all day long on blogs. When it was rattling and writing in my head, I had to churn it out and share the energy.
Thanks for coming by, too!
Totally agree, Jayme. The more you read, the better you write. 🙂
And, as you know, I’m pulling together a blog post that asks this very question! Thanks for weighing in with your thoughts. If you think others in your community would like to participate in my crowd-sourced post, I’ll be happy to share the link to my survey!
lauraclick Hahahaaha…only in exchange for a Happy Friday Series post!!! LOL….:-)
Thank you Jayne for this opportunity to join in, and share with you, and your community…
>I write from my heart
>You inspire me
>Being present in the moment I find topics, and share them off-line, and in the viral world on a variety of social platforms
Dr_Rae So many thanks for stopping in to share Dr_Rae! What a pleasure having you for the first time here.
As I do with all people in my community and beyond, please consider writing for The Happy Friday Series? Each Friday a guest post on a definition/perception of “happy.” I’m sure, with what you’ve written here, that your story is one I want to read!
Thank you so much.
Thank you Jayne for your generous, gracious, and very tempting offer I plan to take you up on…
Dr_Rae Thanks!!! YAY! ~Jayme My email is jayme at soulati dot com. When you are ready, send the post, your brief bio, links and a preferred image!
Almost done Jayme 😉 Plan to have my story on “Being Happy” to you next week. Enjoy your July 4th holiday weekend, and be safe! ~Rae
*typo correction >Jayme
I am interested in learning more about sheep shearing and since you said that you would blog about our suggestions I am excitedly waiting for your post.
Joshua Wilner/A Writer Writes And, I will redirect you back a few years to hunt up that cool video with Dino Dogan and Danny Brown…anything sheep related, they are the experts. Uh-huh.
timbo1973 Can’t wait to hear about your RSS reader test. I just let all those darn blogs collect in Google Reader and never went there. I find Triberr to be my best method of combing the ‘sphere for good content. Seems I can cull and scan to find newer perspectives NOT big bloggers.
How frequently are you posting, Tim? I see your posts maybe 2-3/week, perhaps? That right?
The kids provide tons of inspiration! You could be a Daddy Blogger, but I’m liking your content better about apps, readers and IT stuff!
I read a lot – both work and play – and it’s true, it can certainly feed the writing. It’s not so much that I struggle for ideas, for content as — the time to make the work pay off. By that I mean, I could read and write all day if it paid the bills. I could stop where ever I was, stop what I was doing, jot off little missives – if that was all there was to it. But work has to get done, stupid bills paid and many a decent idea goes right thru my head, never seeing the business end of my keyboard. So when I do make myself take the time to write – and boy am I, once again, way off track on that front – I know I need to write ‘better’ – better keywords and SEO, better content that’s for the readers I seek, all that jazz. So as always, thanks for the kick in the pants that I need to get ON that, get back to writing. FWIW.
Couldn’t help but drop by and say: I loved this piece! It’s so true and a great reminder. I make time to read on the way to and from work (my commute is 1h each way) and it keeps me up-to-date on both the industry and current events. It’s a nice chain effect to read -> have a better understanding of your industry & others’ -> gain more fodder for writing -> have better conversations with colleagues and friends -> know what you’re talking about -> be confident -> succeed!
A long chain effect, but a good one 🙂
Best,
Lisa