Top Resource: The (nearly) Ultimate Guide to Better Writing, from Write to Done - DailyBlogTips

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Top Resource: The (nearly) Ultimate Guide to Better Writing, from Write to Done Posted: 20 Jun 2014 02:21 AM PDT Is writing sometimes (or often) a struggle for you? Perhaps you never seem to feel very inspired. Or maybe you never seem to finish what you start, or it's difficult to stay productive. You might have a specific problem with a particular aspect of writing, like crafting blog post introductions, or proofreading your work. The free ebook The (nearly) Ultimate Guide to Better Writing from Write to Done covers all of these topics and more. (Note: you'll need to supply your name and email address to get the ebook – you'll also receive regular updates from Write to Done, though you can unsubscribe at any time. They publish great content, not too frequently, so I'd recommend staying subscribed!) So what's the book like? At 116 pages, I'd consider it a full-length ebook – it wouldn't be at all unreasonable to charge for it. It's packed with great information for writers – Mary Jaksch, Chief Editor of Write to Done has brought together some of the best articles published on the site. The topics covered range from finding your passion and inspiration to practical advice on writing blog posts and ebooks, proofreading your work, and staying productive. Like the Write to Done blog itself, the ebook is aimed at writers in general rather than bloggers specifically – but there's definitely lots of good advice for bloggers here too. Since Write to Done has a strong guest posting culture, plenty of great writers are included as well as Mary Jaksch herself, such as Leo Babauta (who founded the site), Joanna Penn (of The Creative Penn), Larry Brooks (of Storyfix) and even me. So, what didn't I like about the ebook? I did have a few niggles. The ebook might have benefitted from a little more organisation – although the chapters are in a reasonably logical order, it would've been useful, for instance, to split them into different sections on different topics .I'd alsohave liked the authors of each chapter to be listed in the table of contents. But those are minor complaints, and given that The (nearly) Ultimate Guide to Better Writing is free, I definitely recommend downloading it and dipping in and out to find the chapters that are most relevant for you right now. It could be just the boost your writing needs. Have you read The (nearly) Ultimate Guide to Better Writing? What did you think of it? Drop a comment below to tell us.     Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program!

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ProBlogger: How to Build a Blog that Has Lasting Impact Upon Its Readers

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How to Build a Blog that Has Lasting Impact Upon Its Readers Posted: 19 Jun 2014 08:31 AM PDT If you want to have a blog that makes a difference in the lives of those who read it, I would highly recommend getting clarity around these three simple (yet powerful) questions: Who are your readers? What do they need? How will they change as a result of reading your blog? Mid-last year I wrote very briefly about these questions and suggested that they might be a great way to come up with a purpose statement for a blog. Since that time I’ve had conversations with four ProBlogger readers who took these questions and applied them to their own blogs – and in doing so saw marked improvements in their blogging. So today I want to emphasise them again. Lets tackle the first two together and then look at the third. Who Are Your Readers? And What Do They Need? Understanding who reads your blog (or at least who you want to read your blog) and what their needs are is so important because it will inform: what kind of content you should create (topics, style of writing etc) how to attract readers to your blog how you can engage with your readers and build community on your blog how you monetise your blog (if this is a goal for you) Understanding your reader also informs things like design, what social media networks you should be engaging in, what subscription methods you should use, how frequently you should publish, and much more. I’ve previously published an exercise in building a reader profile or persona to help you get clarity around this. Ultimately – knowing who is reading enables you to take a big step towards producing a useful blog. Without this clarity you’ll be stumbling around in the dark! How will your reader change as a result of reading your blog? Over the years I’d focused very heavily upon understanding readers needs, but it has only been the last year that I’ve taken things to the next step and doing thinking about how to ‘change‘ readers. Knowing who is reading is one thing, but if you want to build a blog that is epic, your blog needs to leave an impact upon people. I recently spoke about this idea at a conference and shared the following slide. While I didn’t spend a heap of time unpacking the idea, this was the most tweeted quote of the talk I gave. Blogs that change people are blogs that those people will keep returning to. Blogs that change people are blogs that build trust and relationship with their readership. Blogs that change people are blogs that their readers share with their networks. I’ve always know this – it’s not really rocket science – but for some reason I never actually identified the change I wanted to bring to my readers! As a result, some of my blog posts hit the mark with readers – but many did not. Why leave it to chance as to what change we want to bring to our readers? Why not define where they are and where we want to take them? Name the Change and Then Break It Down Lets take a look at my main blog, Digital Photography School, as an example. My answers to the above three questions are not really that complicated: My readers are camera-owners My readers are not using their cameras to their full potential My readers will gain creative control over their cameras as a result of reading dPS I know if dPS can give camera owners creative control over their cameras,  they will start taking images that help create amazing memories for their families, start capturing magical moments in the trips they take, and that they’ll start creating art and ways to express themselves creatively. These are tangible benefits and outcomes of reading our site and enhance the lives of our readers. So once we’ve defined the change we want to bring to readers, then we can begin to make more informed decisions about the content we create by simply breaking that down. What does having creative control over a camera look like? There are many parts of bringing about that change. Some would include: Obviously this is just a few of the things a camera owner needs to grasp, but you can see here that we’ve already identified a number of topics to explore that help to bring about the overarching goal of the site. By doing this exercise, we end up with a content and community strategy that is much more intentional that simply sitting at the keyboard each day and asking what we feel like writing about. By being intentional, we’re creating content that moves people through a process and takes them to an outcome that changes their life in some tangible way. So What Change do You Want to Bring? My challenge today is to answer the three questions above, and then to begin to break down the change that you’re wanting to bring. Who are your readers? What do they need? How will they change as a result of reading your blog? Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger How to Build a Blog that Has Lasting Impact Upon Its Readers

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