Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend the Melanie Duncan Workshop. In case you aren’t familiar, Melanie Duncan is a highly successful entrepreneur and founder of the Entrepreneuress Academy, through which she strives to help other women achieve the success in business that she has enjoyed.

By meeting her I got to cross off an item on my Life List but thanks to the workshop I had quite the revelation: I realized that blogging is a love affair but not for the reasons I previously thought.

I have often compared blogging to a relationship and I even have blog dates — times when I go to my favorite coffee shop to work on my blog for hours on end.

But during her presentation Melanie Duncan shared this quote:

Don’t fall in love with your business; fall in love with your customers.

Immediately I thought of See Jane Write. Immediately, I thought of how important it is that I stay focused on the women I seek to serve and not simply get enamored with the idea of building a business.

But days later after the workshop I realized that I need to apply this to blogging as well. I need to fall in love with my readers, not my blog.

This is a hard pill for writers to swallow. We are told again and again to write for ourselves. And I definitely think we should. I definitely believe you should write about the things that stir your passions. But if you’re also blogging in hopes of serving others and especially if you’re hoping to turn your blog into a business, you must keep your reader’s needs in mind.

Another quote from the conference that stuck with me:

And in blogging the most important thing is your ideal reader’s loyalty.

Blogging is a love affair, a love affair with your ideal reader. And here are a few ways to rekindle the romance.

Don’t get lazy with her love. If you’ve been blogging for a long time chances are you have a loyal following and chances are you have an ideal reader — that reader who not only reads every post but also shares each one with her network and friends. Don’t ever take her for granted. Don’t get lazy and post content just for the sake of posting content. Stay creative, even when you’re writing sponsored posts. For example, Jessie of Style & Pepper, one of my table mates at the conference does a fantastic job of this. When she was asked by Glade to write about a new candle she didn’t just write a post saying over and over again “Oh, this candle smells so good!” Who wants to read that?! Instead she wrote a post about what to put on the nightstand of your guest bedroom to be a good host to your visitors. And she included the candle. Brilliant!

Talk to her, not at her. We all love Facebook, but don’t rely solely on your blog’s Facebook fan page to communicate with your ideal reader. Not only does she probably not see your posts thanks to Facebook’s current algorithm, but your Facebook fan page doesn’t really foster conversation. Instead, consider starting a Facebook group. This is something I’ve been encouraging my clients to do and when Devin Duncan, Melanie Duncan’s husband who also presented at the conference, suggested this too, I knew I was on to something!

Ask her what she needs and give her what she wants. If you’re having blogger’s block simply ask your readers what they need and want to read about. This is why it’s so important to build an email list — so you can ask your readers important questions like this directly through their inboxes. If you need help building your list, use this as yet another opportunity to give your reader what she wants and needs by embedding a newsletter opt-in with an opt-in freebie in your blog posts. For example, let’s say you wrote a blog post on why everyone needs a blog. Your opt-in freebie could then be a guide on how to set up a blog. If you’re thinking about offering a product or service to your readers to help monetize your blog you can use the conversion rates of different opt-in freebies to determine what interests your readers most.

KISS and move slowly. For everyone ready to launch a new product or service, Devin reminded us of the KISS principle — Keep it simple, stupid! Start with a product or program you can launch quickly (without sacrificing quality, of course) and promote it through webinars, email, your blog, your social media networks and Facebook groups.

Here’s what I plan to do within the next 60 days to better show my love for my ideal reader:

– Be more creative with sponsored posts for SeeJaneWriteBham.com.

– Take steps to make the See Jane Write Facebook group more vibrant and valuable.

– Create a new opt-in freebie.

– Complete and launch a blogging e-course.

 

What will you do to rekindle the romance with your ideal reader?