You spent four hours crafting a fantastic blog post. You share it on all your social media channels. Afterward, you pull up your stats every hour to see how many people clicked your link.
You’re greeted with a big fat zero – zero reads, zero shares, and zero signs anyone cares.
If you’re lucky, that number soon rises to a single-digit celebration.
How do you react when that happens?
Do you:
- beat yourself up for failing?
- brush yourself off, forget the pain, and try harder next time?
- give up writing, since no one cares?
Photo Credit: Rachel.Adams Flickr via Compfight cc Rejection hurts. When you put your heart into something, you want people to like it. And statically, if you’re one in a million, aren’t there 7,000 other people just like you?
Before you let rejection torment you any longer, here are three points to consider before you write another blog post.
1) Don’t Take it Personally
Everybody won’t like your work.
That’s okay.
You do need to look at yourself, though.
Is the problem with you?
It’s all about the audience.
When you hit publish, you offer your words to others. Will they like what they see?
They won’t care if it’s all about you.
People don’t care what you need. They read (and buy) when there’s something in it for them.
- Donate your car and you get a vacation voucher and a tax write-off.
- Learn six powerful ways to market your business if you give us your email.
- Give us twenty minutes and we’ll give you free tickets to Disney World.
(The last one is dangerous, so watch out.)
The point is your audience doesn’t want to waste time any more than you do. They want entertainment, help, and confirmation.
Does your writing do that? If it doesn’t, change your focus. Ask yourself:
- Why would anyone want to read this?
- What helpful content can I share?
- What do I want the reader to do, think, or believe after he reads this?
Your writing will engage readers if you help them solve their problems. Click To Tweet
Discover your Voice
How do you describe yourself?
How would your friends and family describe you?
If you want a quick response, post this on Facebook:
“Friends, I need your help. Describe me in just three words. Any words. Thanks!”
I posted this and got 12 responses in an hour or so.
When the results are in, take an average of the most common words to get your three.
This is your voice. This is how you sound to your friends.
These three words show your best writing style.
Want to go deeper? Jeff Goins has an awesome post on the topic.
Now that you know your voice, it’s time to decide what you’ll write about.
What are you passionate about?
What keeps you up at night?
Can you solve someone’s biggest problem?
How can you teach it to others?
Answer these questions with this thought in mind.
“Above all else, be helpful.”
Above all else, serve your reader. Click To Tweet
Use Your Gifts
You exist to solve someone’s problem.
You have abilities. Use them.
Does this seem selfish?
Not if you want happiness.
When you’re strong, your contribution is strong. When you use your talent, you do your best work. Why settle for less?
Maybe you’ve heard the Parable of the Talents.
In this parable, a talent is money. The master leaves to take a trip. He leaves three servants with talents to invest. The first gets five. The second, two. The third, one.
The first servant took his five talents and invested them. He doubled his master’s money.
The second servant invested his two talents and doubled his money, too.
The third servant trembled. He took the talent and hid it under a mattress.
When the master returned, he greeted his servants.
To the first he said, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
The second he said, “Well done. You have used your talents well.”
To the third, he said, “You wicked and lazy servant. Couldn’t you have deposited my money at the bank and drawn interest?”
Which of these would you rather be like?
Will you use your talents for good? Will you use your gifts to help others?
You’ll be happy and helpful when you use your talents. Click To Tweet
Now Do This
If you haven’t gotten as many readers as you hoped for, do this now.
Decide who you’re writing for.
Here are some questions to get you thinking.
What is your reader’s biggest challenge?
If you don’t know, go to the places they go – websites, forums, Facebook groups. Another source of useful information is Quora.
Write for other bloggers in your niche.
Some of the biggest sites accept guest posts. Offer a unique solution to a big challenge. You’ll converse with the people most likely to become your customers.
Make every post helpful.
This is so important you need to print it out and post it in your writing space. Follow this rule and you’ll always do your best work.
Like what you just read?
- Use what you learned and share your experience in the comments.
- Share this post with your network.
- Subscribe to this blog for more tips to help you engage readers, sell your ideas, and build your tribe!
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