journalist. essayist. educator.
On July 1, 2015 I decided to abandon my blog WriteousBabe.com and begin posting regularly here at my portfolio site.
But I’ve changed my mind.
Go here to find out why.
P.S. — I will now be posting to this blog on the first of each month with updates in life and literature.
When I started See Jane Write in 2011 it was just a small women’s writing group and a simple Blogger blog. Now it is an award-winning business. In my latest e-course Lady Blogger to Boss Lady I share all my secrets as to how I’ve grown See Jane Write and used blogging to land paid freelance writing gigs and speaking engagements.
Here are the seven steps I took to turn my blog into a business.
In my new e-course I will walk you through all seven of these steps in great detail, focusing on one step per week. Lady Blogger to Boss Lady is a seven-week course that has a value of $497, but I’m offering a beta version for only $75. Enrollment closes Sept. 21. Learn more and sign up at https://coursecraft.net/c/ladybloggertobosslady.
“Little girls with dreams become women with vision.”
The quote above is on a print on the wall of my home office. The quote above speaks a truth that drives so much of what I do. I believe that if you train up a girl in the way she should go, when she is old she will not depart from it. That’s why I created a Women and Media elective at the high school where I teach — I want girls to know about feminism and the women’s rights movements and to be smart enough to examine representations of women in the media. That’s why I dream of one day starting a feminist blogging camp for teen girls through See Jane Write. And that’s why I was honored to team up with B-Metro last week to help promote the new STEM program at Highlands School in Birmingham.
Dubbed Highlands 21, this new program is a strategic school-wide effort to implement 21st century learning techniques by building enhanced facilities, increasing classroom resources and improving faculty development. The school has launched a 4K-8th grade initiative to integrate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) throughout the Highlands School curriculum with the support of two state-of-the-art STEM labs designed by PITSCO.
Here’s a fun fact about me: Even though I’m writer and English teacher today I attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts for its Math/Science program, not creative writing. Because of my amazing English classes (and a love for writing that I had since I was 7), I left ASFA eager to pursue a career in journalism, not science, technology, engineering, or math. But because of ASFA’s Math/Science program I also left with a great deal of confidence and never for one second considered STEM classes or careers off-limits for women and girls. (In fact, my freshman year of college I took a senior-level calculus class, made 100s on every test and tutored many of the upperclassmen also taking the course.)
A recent survey of educators revealed that only 30 percent of teachers feel equipped to properly encourage girls in math and science classes. The programs and professional development of Highlands School’s STEM initiative and others like it can help change that.
Also STEM programs teach students how to find answers in informational text and thus can help them in their language arts classes, too. Perhaps that’s why I liked English so much that I wound up teaching it!
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?
My plan for July was to publish a new blog post every day in hopes of falling in love with blogging again by the end of the month. But I was head over heels with my blog by day 5. Then I attended the Melanie Duncan workshop in New York (more on that to come) and Devin Duncan reminded me that in blogging less is more.
I do believe there are benefits to challenging yourself to blog daily for a month, which is why the ladies of See Jane Write and I #BlogLikeCrazy every November. Blogging daily can not only help you fall for blogging again but also can also teach you how to make time for blogging.
But there can be a downside, too. I often warn my clients against blogging too much as it can cause burnout, and Devin Duncan reminded me of another reason not to blog daily — people won’t have time to read all your stuff!
Blogging gurus like Derek Halpern follow the 80/20 rule. He believes you should only spend 20 percent of your time creating content and 80 percent marketing it. Therefore, following that rule you should post new content just once a week and spend the rest of the time promoting that post.
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to follow that rule. Now that blogging and I are in love again I have so much to say! But I’ve decided I won’t be posting daily this month.
Many lifestyle blogs update three times a week.
How often will I post? I would actually love for you to help me decide.
How often does your favorite blog post new content? Do you actually read most of the posts? Let me know in the comments.
On July 19, 2014 I decided to start taking myself seriously as a businesswoman. I decided I wanted to transition from lady blogger to boss lady. As so I did just that. And seven months later on February 19, 2015 I was being honored by the Birmingham Business Journal as one of the city’s Top 40 Under 40 in business all because of See Jane Write, the website and local membership organization for women writers, bloggers, entrepreneurs that I run.
But there was just one problem: In the midst of building my business, I abandoned my blog.
Sure, I kept blogging for the See Jane Write website, but my posts for WriteousBabe.com were few and far between and the blog for my portfolio site became a ghost town.
I realized I had become a blogger who doesn’t blog.
But that changes today. I am committing to blogging every day for the next 31 days in order to get back into the swing of things (I have an extreme personality, so for me it’s either go hard or go home). After this month I’ll decide on a schedule that I can maintain and stick to that.
Here’s how I plan to keep myself motivated and how you can stay motivated to maintain your blog too:
Allow your blog to evolve with you. Because I’ve been so business-minded lately it’s been hard to write about anything else. So I’ve been quiet on my personal blogs. But that’s silly. Why not use my personal blog as a way to give folks a behind-the-scenes look into my life as a businesswoman so they can get tips on how to make that transition from lady blogger to boss lady, too?!
Set a long-term goal and vision for your blog and stay focused on that. Keeping the See Jane Write website updated was easy because I had clear goals and plenty of programs and events to promote. With my personal blog I lost my sense of purpose and thus my drive to write. But now I know I want to use my personal blog to build a platform for myself beyond Birmingham. I’m dreaming of calls from Essence Magazine and Black Girls Rock and being recognized by Forbes.
Have fun! My blog won’t be all business all the time. I’ll write about fashion, fitness, and feminism, too. Plus, I hope to show you just how much fun running a business can be. I also plan to have more fun on social media. I’m especially focused on building my Instagram following right now so be sure to follow me @writeousbabe. And I’m obsessed with Periscope so follow me there, too, please.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated to blog?