How to stay relevant in writing

Stats for My Abience Life.

On this day, it is not wordless Wednesday, it is Writing tip Wednesday.  I am starting to become less sporadic in my topics, trying to stay on topic, and trying not to write about the current and sometimes stupidity of topics of today.  Yes, I have had my moments (Black Lives Matter, the current new administration, and so on).  I have not written about Ms. Abby Lee Miller either. I can tell you this, unless you enjoy current topics, writing and arguing about your opinions to others, and other things like this, stay away.

When did I notice that I needed to change the writing of this blog?  There were two things that that alerted me to the problems I was having with this blog. Actually, three, but I will tackle the third on a later date. 

The first was a physical notice.  I was feeling more stressful when I wrote on certain topics.  My body would tense up and I would start to get uncomfortable.  I have often said to write outside your comfort zone, but Black Lives Matter and other topics like that made me so militant, and I am not that type of person.  Yes, I am concerned, and I want what is best for my race of people, but there are other ways of doing this topic without yelling protest and marching (which the next march in my downtown area I plan on going), but not on my writing blog.  If I choose to start a blog on these topics, this is where the platform will lie, and as of this date, I have not plan on starting a blog with that in mind.  (Too stressful)

I was more relaxed when I did topics such as telling a couple that their wedding day is their day and do not listen to anyone else, being a Dutiful Daughter, the fun aunt, or my opinion on a writing prompt from BlogHer. 

Tip #1:  Write on topics that relax you, not stress you out.

Individual blog post
Numbers.

 

The second thing I noticed it is something that I will go more into depth, later on, is a topic called “By the Numbers”.  Blogger is not the best judge with this, nor do I recommend it, but if you are a blogger and you use Blogger as your platform, you can still see the numbers.  There are better programs out there, including Google Analytics, which can track your pageviews better.  If you care about them.  In a later post, I will get into the numbers, and why you should care about them. 

Tip #2:  These numbers will help you monetarize your blog, get sponsorships, and more traffic.

Tip #3:  Reading your favorite blogs and finding out how they make money on their blog will also help inspire you to try their methods, but only try one or two.  All monetarizing techniques do not work for everyone.  Find what works best for you and your situation.

The last thing that I noticed and it goes along with the numbers game is to find out what the trends are for your niche (topic or subject of choice).

I want to pick on my own blog for the moment.  This time it is P. Lynne Designs the blog.  I have not written in it for a while because I am trying to transfer it over to the WordPress platform and make it part of my e-commerce site, which I am in the process of creating, through the teaching of Renae Christine. 

In case you are new to me and my blog/website, P. Lynne Designs is a stationery website, and I also have an Etsy store which I will attach to as well.  In the store, itself, I create greeting and note cards, scrapbook albums and pages, Notebooks and journals, and freelance writing.  Among this is also the wedding, graduation, and birthday invites and party favors.  On the blog, I talk about the subjects that back these products.

With the blog (as well as the website), I need to be on top of what is trending, questions being asked, and address them head on.  Yes, that question has been asked some zillion times on the internet, but a client may like my answer, or they may like a better answer. It is just my opinion, but I may have also answered for my readers, who may not use the search engine for that answer.  They could be thinking about it as they are reading.  I may never know.

This is how you can bring people to your website/blog.  Well, at least one way.  There is still the marketing aspect of bringing people to your blog. It is also another topic to cover soon.

Before I close, I want to point out two websites that will help you answer life’s burning topics for your blog/video/social media platforms.

Answer the Public

The first one is called Answer the Public.  This is geared towards the answers people have when searching on search engine websites like Google.  I am trying it for the first time, and already I love it.  (This is not a sponsored site).  When you go on Answer the Public, you want to type a Keyword.  For this example, I typed in the word, Mini Book, which I am starting to replenish on my Etsy site.

The results look like this:

As you see, it looks pretty much like a brainstorming session.   So, I am sold on it.  You can use this for when you are stuck, need more views, or want to get to the top of a search engine page (#1).

Keyword tool.IO

The next one is called Keyword tool.IO.  If you are familiar with keyword apps, you know that this type of app is also used for getting your post or video top ranking, but if you want to know how to gear your post or video towards a specific problem they are having, click on the tab, Questions, instead of keyword suggestions, and you will know which direction to point your post.   

I will go into more depth on these two at a later time.  There are many more websites that do this sort of work, and you do not need to pay for it too.  In fact, if they want payment or some sort of registration and this is a one-time search, leave.  But so far, there isn’t a charge for these two or two others that I use for my handmade business.  Marmalade, which you can sign up without being charged, a one other keyword tool, which I cannot think of right now.

The bottom line is that these are helpful IF you want to make money off your blogs, writings, videos, and handmade goods.  This is for your information.  I am not an expert on this and I give out information on things that have been helpful to me and what I like. 

If you do find this post helpful, please share, like or comment on this post.

Hate Writing? Try these tips...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I was a little girl, I disliked writing.  In this blog alone, I have mentioned that I was the worst writer in the world throughout my childhood.  I would get tons and tons of red marks, and I would often question the teacher, who made the mark, what did I do wrong.   I would listen, but it would go in one ear and out the other.  Spelling was not my friend, "I" before "e" except after "c" sent a hit man on my future writing career, and I would cry every time the teacher said the phrase, "write an essay about_______."  It is amazing  that I ended up writing not one, but 4 blogs on a variety of subjects.   Do I still have problems?  Oh yes I do.  I have to constantly proofread my work, but I have come to find that writing over the years relaxes me.   I am no longer plagued by deadlines (except my own or if I am freelancing for someone).  If I do have a deadline, I plan ahead.   I love writing.
Today, I received an email from one of newsletters I get on a daily basis.  It is called Copyblogger, and they give you tips on how to become a better blogger.  I came across today's main article titled,  9 Tips on Becoming a More Creative and Productive Writer.   You can read the rest of the article, but I am only going to highlight a couple of tips in the article.   In this article, I came across # 1 which is to take notes. We as writers should know this, but so many of us forget this important step.  At least I do.  This is extremely important if you are doing research.   Taking notes helps formulate your thoughts, give order and clarity to what you want to talk about.   In addition to the first tip, Richard M. Martin, who is the author of this article, gives these other tips:
#2 -Try freewriting.   Freewritng is a style where you just randomly write something.  Mr. Martin says that the writing itself often does not make sense, but you will have something on paper.  For example, if you do not have a subject, you can start by writing, " Today is a sunny day."   Its random, and fortunately, it is the first thing that popped into my head, because where I live is sunny and warm.   "I am bored", is the next thing that popped into my head.  It makes no sense to what I want to write about, nor does it flow from the "Today is a sunny day" sentence but I have on paper (well, the computer screen).  Try this style to see with you can come up with.   You may end up with a well-written article, and drive in traffic.
#4 -  Play with your dog.   You are stressed when you cannot think of a thing to write, and after several hours, it can be frustrating.   Just take a break is what Mr. Martin is trying to say.   If you do not have pets, clean your house, play with your children, or read a book.  Do anything that gets you mind off of the daunting task of deadlines, and endless hours of useless thought patterns.  When you are ready to continue, you will know.  The random thought will come.
#5-Give Thanks.   Thank God that you have a job that gives you the joy and the passion of writing.  Who knows, you may end up writing a gratitude piece that can wow your audience, and may even amaze yourself that you still got it.  Gratitude is the best way to get out your thoughts, like "I am thankful for today", and then explain why you are thankful.   It may also make you more appreciative of the things you have, and not worry about the things you do not have.  
#9- Take a risk.   If you do not take risks, according to Mr. Martin, "you do have a chance to fail."  another quote from the article is "to succeed, people must have the freedom to fail.   Failing is not the only thing of to taking risks, in my opinion.  You may try something new, and not only you love it, but your target audience may like it as well.  You may get a few, "don't likes" in you comments section, but that's Ok, because there is another quote, "Nothing beats a failure but a try."   If you are really not sure of it, try the that piece on a test audience.   If they love it, than the rest will.  You cannot please everyone, only yourself. (And God).
I hope these tips help you and encourage you when you are stuck.  Read the article for more of Mr. Martin's tips on the subject, and I wish you luck in getting out of your "brain fog".    Be blessed.