How to Get Motivated to Write for Your Blog

Posted: 07 Nov 2013 05:59 AM PST

Do you ever have days when you want to blog but you just can't face sitting down and writing?

I think this happens to every blogger at times – but to stop it happening too often, you need to pay attention to your motivation levels.

One solution is to simply write when you happen to feel motivated, as Daniel suggested in Write When Stuff Comes to Your Mind, Not When You Need To.

That can work really well – but you'll probably find you still have times when you've not felt a rush of motivation for days, and you really need to get a post out there.

writing-motivation

Here's what you need to do:

Step #1: Come Up with Ideas in Advance

There's nothing less motivating (for me, at least!) than sitting down at the computer, knowing I need to write a post … and having no clue what I'm going to write about.

If you come up with a bunch of ideas ahead of time, you're already part-way there. You can simply pick whichever idea stands out the most from your list, and get going.

Stuck? Read How to Quickly and Easily Create Plenty of Blog Post Ideas and 10 Blog Post Ideas You Can Use Right Now.

Step #2: Plan Your Post Before You Start Writing

Getting a plan down on paper has a lot of benefits for you – and for your reader.

You won't waste time going off on a tangent.
You'll write faster because you know where you're going next.
You'll find it easier to stay motivated ("only two more sections to go").
You'll produce a better-structured post that's easy to read.

If you're struggling to get to grips with planning, read One Simple Way to Plan Great Posts, Step by Step.

Step #3: Set a Timer

I'm a big fan of timed writing, and find the Pomodoro technique useful when I'm struggling to stay motivated.

When you set a timer, you're making a commitment: you're saying that you'll write (and not get distracted) for a certain period of time.

It's up to you how long to write for. If you're not used to working in this way, start with just 15 minutes. However unmotivated you feel, you can work on your post for 15 minutes. Of course, you can work for longer, but don't above 45 minutes or you'll struggle to keep on task.

This is also a great technique when you're fairly motivated but lacking in time: you might be able to draft a whole post in a couple of short but very focused sessions.

Step #4: Get into a Writing Frame of Mind

Lots of writers and bloggers have particular tools or rituals that help them write well.

Perhaps you find that you write best in a particular place (e.g. a local coffee shop). Maybe you focus well while you're listening to music – that could be something calming, upbeat, or energetic, whatever suits you.

If you're British like me, you might find that you write best with a mug of tea to hand!

Find something that gets you into a writing mood, and use that for your writing sessions; you may find that you start to feel more motivated as soon as you hear your writing music or brew your writing tea.

Step #5: Don't Worry About Spelling and Grammar

While I'm a firm believer in the importance of good spelling and grammar, these shouldn't be on your mind when you're writing your post – they come later at the editing stage.

Daniel has great advice in Never Hit the Backspace, where he suggests:

First you'll write. During this phase your goal is to simply put words down. You shouldn't care if they make sense, or if they are grammatically correct. You should just write the words down.

Once you are done writing, then you'll pass to the editing phase, and that's when you revise the sentences, to see whether or not they make sense, to fix the spelling and grammatical mistakes and so on.

What motivates you to write? (And what kills your motivation?) Let us know in the comments…

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How To Calculate Your Value Per Visitor and Per Customer

Posted: 06 Nov 2013 08:37 AM PST

If you sell a product or service online, be it an ebook, a course, a WordPress plugin or a consulting package, you need to know how to calculate the value of visitors and customers, as these specific numbers will greatly influence your marketing strategies.

Suppose you have a weight-loss blog, and you sell a weight-loss ebook.

The cost of the ebook is $49, and since it’s a digital product, $49 are also your profits (if you had some costs involved, say shipping, you would need to remove those from the $49 to find your profits).

Once someone purchases your ebook you also offer them a personal counselling package, where you’ll personally assist the customer via email or by phone for 6 months. The cost of this package is $199.

And here are the conversion numbers you tracked over the past few months:

- Out of every 100 people visiting the sales page of your ebook, 2 end up purchasing it.
- Out of every 100 people who purchase the ebook, 5 ask for a refund.
- Out of every 100 people who purchase the ebook, 9 end up purchasing the counselling package as well.

First of all let’s calculate the value per customer, since it’s easier. If you sell a single product, then your value per customer is the price of that product. If you sell more than one product or service then you need to factor the percentage of people who buy each. In our example it would be:

$49 + 0.09 * $199 = $66.91

That’s the average value of each customer. Now let’s calculate the value per visitor to the sales page. We know that out of every 100 visitors, 1.9 end up purchasing and keeping the product (1.9 instead of 2 because 0.1 is the fraction that asks a refund, so 2 * 0.95 = 1.9). So every 100 visitors we have a profit of 1.9 * $66.91 = $127. Now divide that number by 100 and we get the value per visitor of the sales page:

$127 / 100 = $1.27

With this number at hand you’ll be in a much better position to take marketing decisions. For instance, suppose you want to advertise on a certain blog. According to the site owner the banner will send you around 500 visitors, and the cost is $400. Should you buy? Yes you should, because you’ll pay $400 and your expected revenues will be 500 * $1.27 = $635, so you are expecting a profit of $235 in that campaign.

Second, suppose you are selling ads yourself, and you are charging $500 for a banner that delivers 600 clicks monthly to the advertiser. Should you keep selling that ad spot? Probably not, because if you used your own banner instead and pointed it to the sales page of your ebook you could make 600 * $1.27 = $762, which is more that what you are getting from the advertiser (you could always increase the price if you want to keep selling the ad spot).

Bottom line: whenever you sell products or services online, calculate the value per customer and per visitor, and those numbers will help you define your marketing strategies.

Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program!

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