Updated 5/15/2023
Blogging can be a powerful tool for growing your business or personal brand, but it can also be intimidating. After all, when you blog, you are vulnerable by putting your thoughts out into the world for anyone to see.
The reality is the more success you see from your blog writing, the more confidence you will gain. But how do you build your blog writing swagger so that you can take advantage of this great marketing tool?
Establish Your Writing Process
It is important to create a process that speaks to your creativity when writing since it can help you to feel more inspired, focused, and confident in your writing. What does this process look like? That’s entirely up to you.
Maybe you let loose, writing your first draft in bright pink as you drink your red Moscato. Maybe you can’t touch your keyboard until after you’ve had a second cup of coffee. You may need library-like silence to channel your creativity, or you may thrive when the background ambiance of a coffee shop or bustling office environment is abuzz.
The time of day you are better able to channel your creative side could be early morning or late at night. Yet it’s important to keep in mind that creative inspiration can come at any point – day or night. People often have a habit of ignoring a creative spark or idea because they are in the middle of something. I encourage you, beg you, and hopefully am persuading you to STOP and channel it into something awesome, like your blog.
When you have that spark, make sure you at least take the time to jot down some notes so that you don’t lose your train of thought.
Be Inspired
What inspires you in your industry? Maybe it’s reading the latest trade journal or book by someone who runs a business like yours who has found immense success. Maybe it’s reading other blogs … not only the ones you love but the ones you hate. Sometimes hate sparks more motivation than love (take politics, for example).
Reading any of these options above can give you fresh ideas and keep you up to date on the latest trends and news in your industry. However, you don’t need to limit yourself to just industry-specific reading material. In fact, stepping outside of your industry can allow you to explore other areas for inspiration. What do you like about them? What resonates with you?
Look to other fields that interest you, such as art, music or literature, and see how you can incorporate their techniques or ideas into your writing. The more diverse your sources of inspiration, the more unique and interesting your blog content can become.
Keep Your Voice Genuine
You’ve likely seen the headlines about AI tools like ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools. At a time when technology is allowing us to generate more content quickly, it’s more important than ever to keep your voice genuine.
Connecting with your audience will take you a long way, and being true to who you are will allow you to gain more real listeners than a large mass of followers. Quality over quantity is critical in marketing since your ideal customer is someone who will return to you the next time they need your product or service (or, even better, will recommend you to others who need your help).
Know Your Audience
Here’s where we get into the nitty gritty of blog writing. Building your writing confidence begins with always striving to produce high-quality content. And if you want to generate high-quality content, you HAVE to understand your audience.
Understanding your audience is crucial when writing a blog post because it helps you tailor your content to their interests, needs, and expectations. If you don’t know who you are writing for, you may end up creating content that is irrelevant or unappealing to them.
By understanding your audience, you can use language, tone, and style that resonates with them and addresses their specific concerns or questions. This not only makes your blog more engaging and valuable to your readers, but it can also help you build a loyal following and establish your authority in your niche.
Understanding your audience can also help you identify opportunities for monetization or collaboration with other businesses or influencers that target the same audience.
So who is your audience? In the marketing world, we call your audience your ideal customer or buyer persona. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of who you are speaking to in your blog. It’s based on a number of factors like customer demographics, goals or pain points, and even behavior patterns.
The more detailed you are when creating this ideal customer, the better chance you’ll have at developing the best content that attracts and resonates with visitors to your blog.
Make Your Blog Compelling
One of the biggest mistakes we see in the blogging world is when business owners use their blogs to talk about their lives. They personalize their blogs too much to the point where it reads more like a diary than a tool meant to share knowledge that can help your customer (or potential customers) with a problem that needs to be solved.
A blog is a powerful platform. As famous writer and activist Alice Walker said,
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
As a company that provides a service or product, you can use your blog to not only showcase your offerings but also to establish yourself as an authority in your industry and connect with your audience.
The blog posts that you create should keep people coming back for more. Customers are looking for solutions, and as you continue to provide those solutions in what you write, your confidence will soar because you’ll realize the power that you have with the pen (or keyboard).
Never Overextend Yourself
One of the worst things you can do to derail finding your blog writing confidence is to push yourself to the point where you feel like you have to write a blog post. Be pushed by inspiration, motivation and maybe too much caffeine. However, don’t be pushed by time, pressure or the need to keep up.
Keep in mind there is a difference between time and goals when it comes to blogging. You can control goals; you can’t control time.
Blogging can be intimidating, but building your blog writing confidence is possible. Create a writing process that speaks to your creativity and be inspired by other fields outside of your industry. Keep your voice genuine and know your audience to produce high-quality content that resonates with them.
Avoid personalizing your blog too much. Keep it compelling, and keep in mind that it’s better to produce quality content than to overextend yourself. As you continue to provide solutions in your blog writing, your confidence will grow, and your blog will become a powerful platform to connect with your audience and establish yourself as a leader in your industry.
