Tuesday, July 22, 2008

What is this blog anyway?

Tuesdays with Tiffany
by Tiffany Colter

For those of you fairly new to writer's rest you may not be sure why exactly you want to spend your Tuesday with Tiff. In fact, I couldn't even get my beautiful graphic to load to today so why should you care what I have to say?

Well, it's because this is where I market myself, My Writing Career Coaching products, my homeschooling lessons that will be released July 27th, and my upcoming books.

That's why you came, right?

Oh, it isn't?

Well, how about this. You came because you were told by someone else that I share from my heart tips to build your writing business?

Is that closer to the truth? I hope it is. Otherwise, I'm failing miserably.

My point in that opening was two fold.

First, no one wants to come to your blog to be manhandled. They don't want to be forced in to buying a product or service. They don't want to feel like they've stumbled on to an infomercial.

They also want to know WIIFM!! What's in it for me!! That's because ALL of us, myself included, won't stop at a blog-or if we do stop, we won't stay long, if the blog doesn't provide us with SOMETHING. That may be as small as a small laugh or as big as a life changing principle.

The SECOND is if people find something in your blogs or articles that give them something they will develop a RELATIONSHIP with you. They will see you as someone they can go to and they will trust you. Don't violate that trust by throwing every imaginable option at them. Treat them like a friend. Tell them what you've found that helps, and what doesn't. Then, as a friend, they will recommend you to others when your book releases.

So focus your conversations, blogs and articles on the needs of others. Seek to fill that need by developing relationships. That is how you grow as a person and as a marketer.

Check out my other blog to find out how I learned a great deal about marketing by reading a ketchup bottle and watching a horror flick.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

1 comment:

Eileen Astels Watson said...

Thanks, Tiff! This is sound advice. I find it difficult and slow going when it comes to gaining readers. Maybe I should be rethinking the purpose of my blog, and what I offer. Food for thought, that's for sure.