“How Blogging Changed One Woman’s Life (and Mine, Too)” plus 1 more |  |
| How Blogging Changed One Woman’s Life (and Mine, Too) Posted: 05 Aug 2012 01:04 PM PDT This is a guest post from Jeff Goins from goinswriter.com. Years ago, I blogged about a woman who was going to be evicted from her apartment. I met her while I was volunteering with a local charity one random Saturday afternoon. Her name was Pat, and she spoke with a thick Bostonian accent and had a strong smoker’s cough. Her apartment was covered in newspapers, and she had a couple of dogs whom she loved dearly. Pat told me if she didn’t pay her rent in a week, she’d lose her apartment and end up back on the streets. Apparently, she had been homeless before. I didn’t know what to do. She needed more money than I had, but I got the sense that she was telling the truth. So I turned to my blog. I only had about 100 subscribers at the time, but I told Pat’s story in a post, asking friends and strangers to consider chipping in whatever they could. Within 24 hours, we had the money: something to the tune of $500. By the end of the week, it was closer to $1000. That’s not a ton of money to some people, but it was a matter of survival—of life and death—for Pat. That was the first time I saw the true power of blogging: not only to get a message out there, but to truly change lives. Looking back years later, I can now see the application to online business. Here are three important lessons we can learn from this story. People want to help other peopleWhat does this have to do with you? Well, if you help others, they will want to help you. This is called “reciprocity” and is an important key to online business and community-building. If you do good, good will come your way. It only takes a tribe to make a differenceDo you think you don’t have enough fans or followers to make a real impact? Try again. There were only bout 20 or 30 people who gave a donation to my “Pat fund,” but it was enough for her. If you have a message to spread (or a product to sell), you might be surprised by how few it actually takes to get the word out (and to make a living). As an example, I’ve noticed that a small percentage of my readers actually buy my products, but those that do are dedicated fans. So whether it’s $4.99, or $499, they’re interested. Tell a story people can participate inWhat made this giving opportunity so attractive was that people could take action and see immediate results. They got to be a part of the story. And this is worth way more than a mere “return on investment.” They were given the gift of significance. I saw the same thing with a recent book launch where I encouraged people to submit their stories. In a few days, I had upwards of 100 entries. Just think how much more vested in the project those people will be once it releases. The next time you launch something, consider how you can empower people to tell their stories and be part of a larger one worth telling. Jeremy Statton explained how he uses this technique to create engaging contests in a recent post here on ProBlogger. So, tell me: how has blogging changed your life? Share your story in the comments. Jeff Goins is a writer who lives in Nashville. You can follow him on his blog or on Twitter @jeffgoins. His new book, Wrecked, just came out. This week only, you can get the eBook on Amazon for only $0.99. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger How Blogging Changed One Woman’s Life (and Mine, Too)     |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2012 07:07 AM PDT This week, we’ve got a couple of intriguing blog posts coming up that deal with bloggers’ personal stories. Obviously, personal stories tend to do well with blog readers. But look around, and you’ll see that personal stories have become a mainstay of the media more generally.  Personal stories are big We have reality t.v.—real stories about real people (admittedly in some pretty outlandish situations!). We have the social media explosion, where anyone and everyone has the opportunity to “go viral” and enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame. We even have a whole generation of people who are reputedly more self-assured—and self—promoting—than ever before. Personal stories are big—and not just online, or among bloggers. So if you’re yet to experiment with the power of personal on your blog, now’s the time to commit to it across the board. But blogging is inherently personal, right?Blogging might have started as online journaling, but I think we’d probably all agree that it’s come a long way since then. If you’re blogging as an employee for a company, you may not consider what you do to be very personal. If you’re running a news-style blog, you may feel that your job is to report facts objectively, not tell stories. So, depending on the kind of blog you run, you may find it difficult to inject a personal element into what you do. Personal isn’t always about youWhat if you are writing blog posts for a corporation? Or what if you’re just shy about revealing too much of yourself? How can you get personal without making it about you? Simple: put the personal focus onto others:
Personality-rich post formatsPersonal posts don’t just have to revolve around topics—certain post formats seem to do a lot to help us create a personal connection. Here are a few of my favorites:
Are you using the power of personal?Are you confidently creating a sense of personal connection through your blog, or is it something you struggle with? what techniques do you use? Share your tips and advice with us in the comments. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger     |
| You are subscribed to email updates from @ProBlogger To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
