Let’s talk about your blog.

I know. It’s a painful topic for many of you. You don’t know what to write, you don’t feel confident about what you DO write, and frankly, you’d rather not be blogging at all. It’s nerve-wracking, stressful and not as much fun as you thought it would be when you started it. You’re behind on your blogging schedule… and it’s been a while since you’ve written a post.

It’s been even longer since you’ve actually ENJOYED writing a post.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Writing a blog post shouldn’t take days. It shouldn’t be stressful. And there are fun, easy writing techniques that can help you feel inspired, motivated and even electrified to blog.

One good blog post? It can bring in serious business results: More sales. More customers. More sign-ups.

That is… if you’re actually writing those posts.

Now, the Damn Fine Words writing course gives you plenty of writing techniques that help turn you into that confident writer. They’re insider secrets that probloggers like me use all the time – and we’ve been using them for years.

But today, I want to take a few quick tips from course lessons and share them with you, because I want to help you get back to stress-free, electrified blogging. Try these:

Capture your ideas. Many people have great ideas… and they don’t jot them down. They blame the idea for coming to them at the worst time, like when they’re in the shower or driving their car and nowhere near a computer.

15 minutes later? That idea is gone. Forgotten. Wasted.

Don’t be that way. Don’t make shower excuses. Use technology to your benefit: record a quick voice memo on your smartphone. Write yourself a text message or an email. Grab a pen and scribble your idea on the back of a receipt.

Yes, even if you’re all wet and dripping water on the floor.

Then when you have time, settle into your writing routine – the one you’ve built to train your brain so that it gets ready to write on demand.

Wait. You do have this routine established, right? You’re not coming to your writing cold, are you? That’s a common mistake many bloggers make – sitting down without a plan thinking they’ll smash out awesome posts just like magic.

Nuh-uh. You can’t build a house without a plan, and you can’t sit down to write without a plan either – one that goes beyond, “Hey, I think I’ll write about this today.” You could, but that blog post will be as shaky as that slap-together house.

So don’t do that. Plan your posts, and then…

Write a shitty first draft. I’m not kidding – forget perfection out of the gate. Shitty first drafts rule. You can edit and polish up your writing another time, but right now, get your idea down in a rough draft form so that you can improve on it later.

Start writing for the future, too. Write a bunch of shitty first drafts and build a collection of drafts for later. The more you have of these on hand, the more you’ll be able to grab your draft in a pinch, polish it up and scheduling it for posting.

Imagine having a year’s worth of blog posts, all ready to go. It’s an easy goal to achieve… with the right techniques guiding your way, of course.

If you want to learn more about those techniques, then it’s time for you to get into Damn Fine Words, the writing course that helps you build the confidence you need to blog your way to better results. You’ll learn how to collect ideas and expand them into better posts, you’ll learn how to blog in a way that helps you earn business, and you’ll kickstart your blog back into life again.

And you’ll enjoy blogging – maybe for the first time in your life.

Registration for Damn Fine Words is open right now – and it closes in just a few days, so grab your seat now. Click here to learn more on how this course could electrify your blog, or click here to register now.

Soon you’ll be blogging like there’s no tomorrow!

Leave a Comment!

Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
How to Get Your Blog Back On Track first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

You’ve probably heard that guest posting is a valuable marketing strategy for your blog or business. One guest post published on the right site can bring you new readers, new clients and more sales – fast.

And not just for the day your guest post takes the spotlight, but for months (even years!) to come.

I know guest posting works. I used the strategy heavily in my early years, and I even wrote an ebook about it. Men with Pens become a popular Top Ten Blog for Writers faster than the speed of light. Guest posting on major blogs set my business squarely in the spotlight of success.

It can do the same for yours.

Today, Men with Pens is one of those big-name blogs accepting guest post submissions, and getting a yes is often considered a prized achievement for many writers. I receive so many guest post submissions that some days I can’t keep up with demand!

But here’s the problem: Unfortunately, I have to turn most guest posts down. They just don’t cut it.

That’s the cold, hard truth about guest blogging.

Which begs the question, what makes for a great guest post? How can you get that coveted yes from major blogs? How can you write a guest post that stands out like a shining star from the hundreds of hum-drum hopefuls?

You’re about to find out.

Jon Morrow is THE authority on guest blogging. He has carte blanche publication rights on major sites, earns serious money for his writing talents, built an entire course around guest blogging and is renowned for his brilliant posts – the kind that go viral in a heartbeat.

Jon’s compelling guest posts are so valuable, people just can’t afford him.

Everyone wants to know Jon’s secrets – even me! So I asked – no, I demanded – that Jon join me in a casual conversation and share his personal secrets and insider info with you. We’ll hook up on a call and talk for 45 minutes… and you get to listen in.

Find Out How to Write a Great Guest Post (and Get the Yes!)

Join me and Jon Morrow on March 28 at 12:30pm Eastern for a very special casual conversation between two top writers and probloggers as we discuss:

• Why so many guest posts get turned down – and how to avoid that happening to you
• The tricks Jon uses to create ultra-compelling posts that go viral every time
• The 3 most valuable elements to make a guest post stand out from the rest
• How Jon managed to learn to write so well – and how you can do the same
• The biggest mistake amateur guest posters make, and how you can avoid it
• Tricks to improve your posts immediately for instant impact and praise
• What top bloggers really look for in guest posts (so you can give it to them!)
• Valuable insider secrets you can use to write great guest posts… like magic!
• How to approach a top blogger with your guest post – and I mean, the right way.

This conversation is going to be spectacular: Jon is a genius writing master with a leading reputation for powerful guest posts that hit you in the gut. You’ll benefit from listening in as we go head to head on how to write a stellar guest post and get the yes from major sites.

Dial in on March 28 at 12.30 Eastern and listen we tell it to you straight. It’s a life-changing event you won’t want to miss.

How to Get In On the Call

To get call-in details so you can dial and listen in on this exclusive conversation, just sign up for the Damn Fine Words newsletter. In a few days, I’ll send you all the details you need to join us for this special call on how to write a great guest post.

You’ll also be signed up to receive extra special invitations and powerful writing tips from Damn Fine Words. It’s the best online writing course that helps you succeed in business… through words alone.

Sign up for the Damn Fine Words newsletter now.

And book your calendar for March 28, 12:30pm Eastern. You’ll receive call-in details when you sign up below. Don’t miss it!

Leave a Comment!

Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
Jon Morrow Tells You Exactly How to Write a Great Guest Post first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Guest posting is a great way to get known and gain exposure for your business. I know, because I used guest posting as a marketing strategy for years. I still guest post when the mood strikes me.

Heck, I even wrote an ebook about it.

But most days, I’m on the other end of the spectrum. This place is a popular blog, and I get hit with guest post requests at least ten times a week. (Sometimes more.)

Now in a perfect world, that’d be great news. I’d have lots of luscious content full of smart advice from rockin’ writers with something valuable to share.

Last time I checked, though, the world isn’t perfect.

In fact, if the average guest post I receive is any indicator of where perfection is going these days, I’d say it’s headed straight to hell in a hand basket.

And luscious content? She checked out about half a year ago.

That means it’s time for some cold, hard truth. I may get flack for saying it, but… most guest posts are terrible.

I don’t want to be mean or unkind, but most guest posts my peers and I receive these days are so slap-together bad that NO comes out of my mouth so fast I nearly burn my tongue.

The writing is low level, the grammar is awful grammar, typos are having a party, and it would be easier to let the post die than trying some serious CPR editing.

And I’m not even being a stickler, here. In fact, I’m pretty darned tolerant about those typos and awkward sentences.

But for the most part, guest posts these days are just flat-out bad. They’re poorly researched. The assumptions and claims are frequently downright wrong – even dangerous to the point that following the advice would probably cause some fast business failure.

This blog’s mission is about helping you get ahead, not get you dead.

Here’s my personal pet peeve: Incredibly scattered writing. It’s like writers submit thoughts that have been riffed off without any consideration to organization, structure or flow. They’re so full of tangents, irrelevant points and straying focus that they read like splatter from a smashed pumpkin.

I know everyone likes to joke about ADD, but some guest posters take it to mass epidemic extremes.

These posts aren’t coming from people who feel they don’t have the skills, by the way. Most guest posts I receive are from writers for hire, freelancers and people who actually want business exposure so they can charge people money.

Sad. Really, really sad.

Even sadder? The people who can write, the ones who really know how to work their words, the folk who may not have all the skills but who can pen a good piece nonetheless… well, they think they’re no good at it.

Despite all their talent and ability to write well, the good writers lack confidence and never guest post at all. What’s the world coming to?

Here’s another cold, hard truth: the average guest post isn’t a gift. It’s a burden. It lands in your inbox out of the blue, and it needs to be read, reviewed, edited, approved, formatted, scheduled, and distributed, not to mention commented on and moderated once it gets published.

And that doesn’t even include the back and forth emails between the hopeful writer and the blog owner.

This takes time, people.

Valuable time. And contrary to popular belief, successful blog owners aren’t lounging about on their recliners while beautiful servants feed them frosted grapes. They’re busy people with jam-packed schedules and businesses to run.

And time is money. Deny it as much as you’d like, but it’s true.

Here’s what really knocks me for a loop, though: Let’s say a blog owner spends his valuable time and reviews the post. The final verdict comes through, and it’s not looking good. The guest poster gets a “thanks but no thanks”. What happens then?

Surprisingly, in many cases the guest post gets published – warts and all – on another blog.

Now sometimes, that’s okay. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and we’re all well aware that what makes for good writing is often highly subjective to personal preference. It’s fine for a ‘no thanks’ guest post to find a good home.

But I’m not talking about a good post, here. I’m not talking personal preference or the wrong fit for the blog’s focus.

I’m talking about a bad guest post. A substandard, poorly-written piece that got turned down because it just wasn’t very good. You could say the guest poster didn’t know the piece was that bad, but I’ve seen writers who are well aware of the fact turn around and shop the piece out to someone else.

That’s a little like saying, “Well, looks like Aunt Nancy didn’t like this natty purple sweater… I guess I might as well give it to Gramma Wilson. She’ll take anything.”

How about taking a good, hard look at that natty sweater and realizing that maybe Aunt Nancy is giving you a big, fat hint that you need some help in the fashion department? Or how about having some respect for Gramma Wilson, who really deserves better than questionable castoffs that make people wonder about her sanity behind her back?

Here’s the big clincher, though… the strategy works. Gramma Wilson will wear the laughable sweater and other blog owners will publish the badly written post. I see them end up on all sorts of blogs, blogs with quality reputations and big readerships.

It stuns me. It shocks me. And it actually makes me wonder what’s going on out there.

Have we all given up on good, solid, well-written posts in favour of just having something to fill up Tuesday’s empty slot?

I haven’t. And other blogs – the smart blogs – haven’t either. They’re accepting less guest posts and tightening up standards, just like I have.

Because here’s the thing: Getting a yes on a guest post submitted to a reputable blog should be an honour, not a given. It should be a goal we strive for, something to work towards. An achievement that helps us learn and improve.

Don’t you think so?

So for guest posters and blog owners alike, here’s what I suggest: Stop lowering your standards. Stop saying yes to fill empty spots. People are tired of it. Start getting critical and picky. Demand more from what you read and what you write. Stick with what’s solid, what’s well-written and what’s clearly worth reading.

It’s the only way we’ll make this crazy blog world a better place, after all.

Leave a Comment!

Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
The Cold, Hard Truth About Guest Posts first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Want to learn a cool trick? It lets you cast a spell that makes folk soak up each word on your blog. And I’ll show you how to do it right now.

But first, let me tell you why you need to learn how to cast this spell:

• Your blog will be a snap to read.
• Each point you make sinks straight into your fan’s brain.
• Your words will hit so hard that folk ask how on earth you do it.

Best of all, when you cast this spell on your blog, there’s next to no chance that you’ll get caught. Most folk are blind to this trick.

Here’s the spell:

Write with one-syllable words as much as you can.

Words that have just one sound don’t need to be read. Your eyes see them and soak them up. And one-syllable words make blog posts a breeze to read.

When I show this spell to my friends, they tell me that I’m mad. They say that short words and sounds rob a post of its clout and make it weak, dumb or slow.

They’re wrong. The truth is that most folk don’t care how you write. They don’t judge your work like your peers do.

All they know is: “Does this piece feel hard to read? Is it work? Or does it light up my brain when I look at it?”

Short words do that. Most of the time, long words don’t.

Need more proof? Go back and read this post again. You’ll find that – save for the word ‘syllable’ – no word has more than one sound.

Now go grab your wand and make some magic of your own.

Leave a Comment!

Post by Ian Harris

Ian Harris runs Rockstar Comms, a blog about internal communication that helps companies talk to their staff. He also sometimes uses more than one syllable, with no apologies.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
How to Cast a Spell On Your Next Blog Post first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

“Could you tell me what I could do better for next time?”

I hear that question all the time. And by all the time, I mean ALL the time. It’s the invariable response when I have to (sadly) tell someone that their guest post just doesn’t cut it.

They get the “Sorry, I’ll have to take a pass,” and then – sure enough – they ask me for my advice. They want my suggestions. They clearly state (in writing, no less) that they’d like to become better writers and would appreciate my counsel.

Fantastic. I’m right there for those people. I’m willing to help. At least I used to be.

I’ve actually stopped answering the question.

You see, no matter whether I send people my thoughts on how they can improve their writing or comparative edits they can learn from or bullet points on what to change and how to change it, it’s the same old story every time:

Nothing happens.

I hated saying, “No, I can’t accept your guest post.” (And believe me, I wasn’t that much of a stickler about acceptance standards either.) Sometimes I’d sit on the post for days, putting off the inevitable because I felt bad. I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or come off like a pretentious artist who only approved of the finest material.

So when I finally did say no and got a reply email thanking me and asking for my advice, I felt better. I felt I could do right by these people. Help them improve their writing. Quickly. Easily. Free of charge.

And I’d gently tell them where they went wrong, what they could work on and how to do better next time.

They rarely used the advice.

I’d say things like, “This is a great concept and I like the style of your writing, but it seems that you have three topics meshing together into one by accident, so it was a bit difficult to figure out the main point. I edited it down, though, and I think without the extra fluff it’s really honed and concise. See the difference?”

Or maybe this: “I like this idea and you write well, but the post seems a bit scattered. An outline would really help you focus on exactly what you want to say. And try to keep asking yourself, “Is this relevant?” with each sentence you write. I think you’ll see a huge difference!”

I’d wrap that all in some extra encouragement and quietly hit ‘send’.

But most didn’t want to improve.

Hardly anyone wanted the advice. They asked for it, but no one wanted the honest feedback – not really. Very few actually wanted to do the work and put in the practice they need to do to become better writers. Even if it was easy. Even if it was simple.

Even if all it took was paying a little more attention towards doing a better job.

It’s like that famous Pareto Principle, only in this case, it’s more like a 99/1 ratio. 99% of the people that ask for advice do nothing about it.

Only 1% actually gives a damn.

The 99% neglect the good, solid writing advice they get – the advice they asked for. They turn around send their guest post to a blog that doesn’t care as much as I do about posting material that’s worth reading. (And very often, they publish it too.)

Or worse, they shrug and publish to their own blog, as if their blog and their readers didn’t matter enough for them to polish up the work and deliver a better piece.

Do me a favor: Don’t be like that. If someone you’ve asked for advice takes time out of their busy day and gives you good counsel on how to improve, don’t ignore it. Don’t waste their time.

Don’t waste yours.

Use the advice. Benefit from it. Learn from it. Reap the rewards of doing a better job than you were yesterday, each day of your life.

I want to hear from you: Have you ever ignored good advice and regretted it? (I have – and I’ve learned not to do that!) Have you ever applied smart counsel that changed your whole game? Where else have you noticed people ignoring good advice?

Leave a Comment!

Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
Do You Really Care About Good Writing Advice? first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

For several years now, you’ve been given advice from probloggers (and not-so-probloggers) that just wasn’t very good advice at all. The advice made sense. The analogies were understandable.

But the theory was wrong.

I know, because I dished out that advice and followed it strictly for years. I was convinced it was good advice and that if I didn’t follow it, all hell would break loose. Lightning would strike me dead. All my loyal readers would string me up, tar and feather me and throw rotten food as I pleaded for mercy.

I was wrong too.

After all, the advice made sense: Have a blogging schedule, and stick to it. Be reliable. Dependable. Write blog posts and publish them according to this rigid schedule and provide readers with a steady stream of constant blog posts.

And if you did, if you busted your ass and posted on the days you promised, no matter how you felt, no matter what you’d written, no matter if your kids were sick… you’d reap the benefits.

But no one thought to really examine those benefits closely. How could we? We were all new to this blogging thing. No one had come before us and proven any best-practices principles. We really had no idea what would work.

We made up the rules as we went along – and then we realized they were pretty stupid rules.

Here’s what the rules told us to do: Blog according to a schedule, and you’d be conveying that your blog was reliable, dependable and consistent… like a grocery store with set business hours you knew by heart. You could go in and get bananas because you knew the store would be open. And you knew when it would be closed, too. (Everyone needs sleep, after all.)

Warm fuzzies for everyone. Let’s give a round of applause, shall we? You’ve stuck to your schedule and your readers nod in approval. What a nice, reliable person you are.

But that’s where the benefits stop. In fact, if you stick to your consistent blogging schedule religiously, come hell or high water, you’ll soon fine the warm fuzzies fading away. You may even damage your readership relations, wreck your ability to collect comments, destroy your open rate on hot new posts and generally make your blog a boring mecca of take-it-for-granted production.

You might even neglect your business and forget that blogging should have an ROI.

I know, because that’s what happened to my blog.

And not just my blog, either. My peers and I have been secretly discussing this problem for some time. And we’ve all come to near-unanimous agreement:

Constant, reliable, regular posting sucks the life force out of your blog.

Think about it: When you first sign up to receive new blog posts, you’re excited. You read each one that reaches your inbox, quickly. It’s awesome!

But after a week or two, maybe three… you’re not reading those new posts every day. They slip into your inbox whether you need them or not. They light up in your RSS feed like clockwork.

And those blog posts start to become clutter.

Because hey, you’re busy. You’ll skip reading today. Besides, you probably already know what the blog post will say. So many of them become redundant advice you’ve heard before. Nothing new. Nothing exciting. Same old, same old…

Then you skip another day. And another. And maybe even a full week goes by before you feel guilty and decide to read some of the posts waiting for your attention. You skim the headlines, you scan a few posts… you have no time to waste – there are a LOT of posts to read!

Ah, to hell with it. You’ve read five. It’s all the same boring stuff. So you hit the delete button and flush the rest.

And then you go back to whatever you were doing before. No worries – there’ll be more blog posts to read. They’ll just keep coming at a nice, steady, reliable, dependable pace.

I get it. I know how it goes. I’ve flushed plenty of great blog posts in my time (and probably without much regret). Inbox zero, right?

But I’m not just a reader – I’m a writer. I know exactly how much thought, time, and effort goes into every post I write. I’ve spent hours writing great material – days. And that’s just for one or two posts! There are over one thousand articles here at Men with Pens.

That, my friend, took me years to create.

And knowing that only a fraction of my readership avidly opens those articles, only a small minority actually reads my hard work – slowly, carefully, with the intention of learning something new… well.

Makes one question what the hell we’re all doing with this blogging thing, right?

Because we all know the truth: Beyond adding to the social proof of your sum total readership, blog readers don’t do much for anyone. They won’t make you rich. They aren’t buyers. They prefer (and sometimes even feel strongly entitled to) free-of-charge articles that took time and effort to create.

Provided with a smile. On a steady, regular basis. And rarely a penny (or even a thanks!) shall change hands.

And the more articles that writers produce (because hey, everyone and their gramma has a blog these days), the less readers care. There’s content everywhere. Everywhere. On any subject in the world written from at least 68 different perspectives. And that’s just in a single day, within a small, specific niche.

With all that content going around, with all those people caring less and less, readers get blasé. They read less. They comment less. They ignore massive amounts of blog posts because there’s just too much of them. It’s a little like eating cheap Chinese buffet every day for a month.

After a while, you’re sick of it. And you just want a really good steak for once, dammit.

So here’s a thought: Let’s forget the cheap Chinese buffet rule of having consistent blogging schedule and ditch it in favour of an occasional steak dinner. The kind you save up for and enjoy. The kind you really savour. The kind you look forward to because it’s rare. And because it’s that good.

I’d much rather sit down and write a great article when a profound idea strikes me or when I’m feeling particularly excited or have something significant to say. If that’s Friday or Tuesday, who cares? If it’s once a week or once a month, who cares?

Wouldn’t you rather get something from me and feel excited? Wouldn’t you prefer that awesome feeling of, “Ooooh, cool, a post from James… I wonder what it’s about this time!”

I would. And so I shall.

It’s time for this blog to become a high-end restaurant. This isn’t a grocery store. It’s not a buffet. It’s a place you come for blog posts you can savour.

So I’m ditching the blogging schedule. And that’s very good for you, my friends, because there’s nothing like reading profound, inspired, motivated posts written because they had something significant to share.

It’s way better than reading posts written out of obligation just to appear reliable, don’t you think?

Leave a Comment!

Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
Why You Should Ditch Your Blogging Schedule first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Years ago, I started this blog with a pretty big mission in mind: to help you succeed.

I wanted to tell you things you didn’t know. I wanted to point you in better directions. I wanted to share lessons I’d learned the hard way so that you didn’t make the same mistakes.

I wanted to give you shortcuts that helped you succeed faster, easier and with a lot less stress than I had to go through to get where I am today.

Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that goal. My business got big. My blog became popular. It was explosive growth. I got busy. I had clients and readers who wanted my attention, and I had responsibilities and obligations to both.

(Oh yeah. And then there was that thing.)

Life got a little crazy, and I got caught up in it, stretching myself to make ends meet.

Then things got a little worse.

Worse was that I spent a lot of time writing for my blog, sharing good solutions, smart advice or better methods… but I wasn’t seeing many readers put the advice I shared to good use. They’d whine about this or that, and when they did, I worked harder to bring them even more ideas and advice.

I poured my heart and precious time into helping them do better. Years later, many of those same readers were still whining. They were still stuck in the same place they started from. They’ll still be reading blogs full of smart advice five years from now.

I’ve since learned that there’s nothing I can do about that. Some people just don’t want to change. They don’t want a better life. They don’t even want to try. (Sorry, people. I can’t help you if you can’t help yourself.)

But until I learned that life lesson… well, blogging was discouraging.  It was disheartening. It felt useless.

But wait – things got even worse.

Worse is that I started to think I’d said it all. That I had nothing left to say. That I’d run out of new material to cover. After all, this blog has well over 1,000 posts, and I’ve been blogging good, smart advice for years.

There’s only so much you can say before it starts to sound redundant.

Pair that with readers who kept whining about being stuck, and I thought this blog was done for. I’d done what I’d could, I’d tried as hard as I could, I’d given it my all… and the well of smart advice had gone dry.

But I had a problem: I couldn’t abandon my blog. So I started doing what everyone was doing: rehashing the same old, boring topics we’ve all read a million times before.

I hated it.

I stuck with my blog out of a sense of obligation, battling nasty bouts of writer’s block (that were really just my mind’s signal that something was wrong and that I should pay attention). I stared at blank pages. I hired a business shrink. I spent frustrated hours trying to cobble together something “good enough”, something that made me feel awesome again. Like I’d nailed it.

Nuttin’.

I started losing my writing voice. It sounded bland and disinterested. It wasn’t the vivacious, bold, brash tone I used to have. I looked back on older posts and wished I could write like that again – but I couldn’t. The spark was gone.

I felt like was just keeping up appearances.

This wasn’t fun anymore.

This dragged on for well over a year, and I shudder at what could’ve happened had it continued. I nearly abandoned this blog to go run off to play in the sunshine of Damn Fine Words, a project that’s always sparked my motivation like a lit blowtorch.

Until the day I realized this blog was completely, utterly, falling apart in tiny little pieces. It was done. Over. Reached its end.

Finished.

Dead.

I was THRILLED!

This blog was burnt toast, and I was absolutely relieved! Now I could finally – finally! – rebuild it to be whatever I wanted it to be. The potential of Everything I Could Do Now was so exciting I actually laughed out loud.

Ideas hit me so hard and fast that I must’ve sounded crazy as I told my friend, hands waving in the air.

“I can go back to my roots! The reason why I started this damned blog in the first place! I can do exactly what I’ve always wanted to do – write about the lessons I learned the hard way so others don’t make the same mistakes.”

This was risky thinking. Admit I blew it? Admit mistakes? In public on my blog? Me, a successful entrepreneur?!

You bet. It might be refreshing to have someone tell it to you straight and say, “Man, it’s hard being successful, and boy, did I ever screw up along the way. Here’s what NOT to do.”

You might be thinking, “Well, why didn’t you just do that years ago, James? I mean, if that’s how you felt… Just… do whatever you want.”

But it’s not that simple. You can easily get away with admitting mistakes when you’re a small blogger or start-up business, but when you reach a certain level of success, your reputation is everything. People expect you to know it all. And you hide the screw-ups. Very few people at my level will admit them.

Me? I’ve got nothing to lose.

I am who I am, and I’ve done well. I’m going to keep on being successful. Admitting mistakes is part of who I am, and I think you appreciate honesty. I think you want to hear that the big guys screw up too.

And I think you’ll appreciate learning how to avoid the pitfalls I dropped straight into.

Oh, and I think you’ll appreciate the fun. It’s good to get my voice back. It’s good to write again. I’m churning out blog posts like there’s no tomorrow.

Kind of like someone lit a blowtorch for me.

Leave a Comment!

Post by James Chartrand

James Chartrand is an entrepreneur, a pro copywriter and the founder and CEO of Men with Pens and Damn Fine Words, the game-changing writing course for business owners. She loves the color blue, her kids, and ice skating.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
What to Do When You Hate Your Blog first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

It’s been done tens of millions of time: a blog post is written. Someone has an idea to share with the world. Someone has a beef and they want to rant. Someone writes an inspiring poem.

Because of the glut of so many posts, blog posts have become boring. When I scroll through my reader, my eyes glaze over. I long for something exciting. Something different. Something that makes me reach to comment, that makes me laugh out loud.

I’m looking for those killer blog posts.

I know they exist.

Start with Better Titles

Only 20% of people ever click on your title, and competition for readers’ eyes is stiff in the blogging world. The old rules of direct advertising remain: headlines make or break your post.

Four-word headlines won’t cut it anymore. You need to expand. Try to up the curiosity factor or fascinate people. Use the ol’ Brian Clark of Copyblogger trick of combining a practical tip with a compelling element, like The Depeche Mode Guide to Gardening. Engage the strange.

Use a Wicked Picture

I have no clue why bloggers generally insist on tiny, bland photos.

With what you can pull off today and with all the endless beauties waiting on the high-end stock photo sites, there’s really no reason to skimp on visual imagery.

I want to see awesome, relevant, cool, sexy pictures popping out when I glance at blog posts. Something that screams, “LOOK AT ME!”

Scare me. Arouse me. Delight me. But please, don’t bore me.

Write Like You Fight

Stop writing like a fearful person scared of stepping up to the plate. Stop rushing through blog posts trying to get them done in 15 minutes.

If you’re churning out half-page junk each week, you’re not giving anyone reason to pay attention.

Write like you care. Write profound things. Write like it was a matter of life or death. Like it was a matter of honor. Of protecting your child. Or a friend.

End with Action

You know this already, but it bears revisiting: Think long and hard about what you want people to do when they stop reading your post.

Should they share it? Bookmark it? Copy it? Leave a comment? Those are all noble action-oriented goals, and I’m sure they’re all good, but how about making them more unique than, “If you like this, share it with a friend or leave a comment.”

Make your calls to action something sexy. Something that isn’t… well, you know. Boring.

How about you? Are you sick and tired of reading wimpy blog posts that do nothing but tell you what you already know? That look like every single other blog post out there? Are you doing anything about it? Let me know.

Leave a Comment!

Post by Demien Farnsworth

Imagine Jakob Nielson as a feisty, flamboyant copywriter - that's about as close as you'll ever get to Demien Farnsworth. He originally set out with a newly-minted Literature BA with a mind for poetry, his boots crisp and clean and his teeth set against all things business... and has come to his senses at The Copybot. Go check him out now.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
How to Stop Writing Boring Blog Posts first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Simple and easy are often used interchangeably, and in many cases they are. But simple and easy are different words with different meanings.

What is simple is not always easy.

This is an important distinction, because we often look for so-called ‘secrets’ the probloggers guard only to find that what they do is fairly simple stuff. And almost straight away, we discredit or downplay those ‘secrets’ because we don’t believe it can be that simple.

What we fail to take into account is that just because it is simple in theory does not mean it will be easy in practice.

To illustrate my point, consider the issue of weight loss.

The Thing About Weight Loss and Blogging Success Is…

Losing weight is simple in theory. You just have to create a negative calorie balance, meaning you have to spend more energy than you ingest. You either eat less food or exercise more, or do both. And you lose weight.

It really is that simple. All the issues around carbs, fats, and the best types of exercise are just details.

Yes getting the details right will allow you to lose weight quicker and more effectively. But at the end of the day, if you exercise 4-5 times a week and eat less food, you become a weight-loss success.

Despite the simplicity, losing weight is one of the hardest things to do. Every day, thousands of people go on a diet… only to be off it in a couple of weeks.

Why? Because the mind is a feeble thing. One minute it’s excited and pumped, the next it’s indifferent and exhausted.

Willpower is temporary. It comes and goes, and with it your ability to do even simple tasks consistently.

Why Succeeding As a Blogger Is Simple but Hard

Becoming a successful blogger is a lot like becoming a successful weight-loss story. They both involve doing things that are simple in theory but hard in practice.

Successful blogging involves writing quality posts on a regular basis and promoting them through methods like guest posting, commenting, social media etc.

It really is that simple.

Yet most bloggers fail because (like dieters) they can’t stick to their resolutions. They can’t stick out the tough times when no one reads their blog and no one accepts their guest posts.

Eventually willpower starts to give way to old habits. Other activities look more attractive. It seems too hard to succeed and too easy to walk away.

What does that mean for those who want to succeed as bloggers?

The lesson is that you should not confuse simple with easy. What is simple is not always easy.

And consequently, most bloggers won’t succeed because they’re unable to do simple things over extended periods of time. Maybe years.

If you just stick it out long enough, you beat most bloggers. Simple – and easy.

Leave a Comment!

Post by Aman Basanti

Aman Basanti is a consumer psychology writer who has worked in sales for years and is currently completing a psychology degree. He's also making the rounds at A-list blogs like ProBlogger, BusinessInsider and MarketingProfs - and now he's here. Check out his website at Age of Marketing now!

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
The Difference between Simple and Easy – And Why It Matters to Bloggers first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.

I know, you guys. I know. I know there are a thousand posts out there with this kind of title. I’ve made fun of them. I have begged whatever internet gods may be to stop people posting topics like this (also, topics like “The X Guide to Such-and-Such” and damned if I didn’t write one of those too.)

The reason people write them, I’ve discovered, is that it’s very easy to get caught up in the online world. To think that everything in the world is contained somewhere between Google and your RSS feed. And when you do reconnect to the real world in a visceral, tangible, thoughtful way, it feels pretty profound.

You start to learn things. You start to apply what you’re learning to what you do the most: blogging.

This is more or less what happened with me and the mushroom hunting.

How’d You Wind Up Mushroom Hunting, Of All Things?

Well, I have a friend. This friend frequently makes me dinner. And those dinners frequently contain the kind of mushrooms that cost upward of $50/pound, so I started to wonder how he was bankrolling these dinners of ours, and if I might happen to owe him, say, a Porsche.

Turns out I don’t owe him a Porsche. I do, however, owe him several tanks of gas. Because what he does is drive three hours up the mountain, to where the elevation is just right for mushrooms to grow. He wanders around the woods for a couple hours at a stretch looking for the edible ones.

My asking him where the mushrooms came from must have been some kind of secret code, because I was immediately invited on an excursion. Which is how I spent about three hours in the woods in utter silence, looking for mushrooms with a distinctive pattern on their tops and discovering some things about blogging.

1. Silence is Good

I have never thought about how much silence I get in the world. It is fairly infrequent and often kind of painful (the silence of the line in the post office is a good example). When I walk, I walk with headphones. If I’m being social, I’m being talkatively social. I’m watching a movie. I’m chatting on the phone. I’m listening to music as I ride in the car. When I work, I’m listening to music, getting distracted by my next-door office neighbor’s voice through the wall, or watching a video trying to distract myself from the work I’m about to do.

It is very, very rare that I am completely quiet.

People. Quiet is amazing for thinking.

Thinking is essential for blogging. It is not essential for work. When you work, you have a task at hand: a sales page to write, a product to create, a phone call to make. You can pretty much hold off thinking until you begin the task.

With blogging, you not only have to do the task: write the post. You have to decide what the task is: the topic of the post.

Almost every blogger I know tries to dive headlong into the post without thinking about it. They think of it like a job whose parameters are already determined. A blog post is almost pure thought. It has to be considered first. You have to find, and reject, a hundred possibilities before settling on a scant few you actually want to talk about.

Being alone in the woods for three hours gives you plenty of time to do that. By the time I got out of there, I had a basket full of edible mushrooms and about a dozen new things I wanted to write about. And a blister, which I believe could have been avoided if I’d just sat in my chair for three hours thinking of new topics instead of trying to shlep up a mountain.

2. Some of Those Things Are Poisonous

Actually, lots of those things are poisonous. Official warning: should you ever get it into your head to go mushroom-hunting, take someone along who knows which ones are edible, because you would not believe how many of the incredibly tasty-looking ones will kill you.

That’s mushrooms, though. Surely blog posts aren’t poisonous.

Well, yeah. A lot of them are.

There are blog posts that involve link-baiting your favorite famous bloggers. There are blog posts that will get you a lot of traffic, but all of it angry, controversial traffic, not good, loyal-fan traffic. There are blog posts that will absolutely alienate your entire audience, even if you really want to jump in on the latest controversy surrounding a politician. There are blog posts that will make you seem boring, inarticulate, misguided, ill-informed.

There are a lot of poisonous blog posts out there. And if you’re in a hurry, you’re far more likely to accidentally wind up choosing one of them instead of a post that will sustain you and enrich your readers.

Know what you’re looking for. Know what kinds of posts your readers enjoy and which ones are going to truly help them. Know which posts are nourishing your blog and helping it thrive.

And keep an eye out for those poisonous ones. Some of them look remarkably like the good ones.

3. You Only Have Today

When we’d picked a giant basket heaping full of mushrooms, I’d thought we were done. I was excited about all my succulent finds and ready to go get a burger and celebrate. But the picking was good that day. There were mushrooms everywhere and they were easy to hand. We put our basket in the back of the truck and went back out for more.

This was unusual, he told me. It’s not often you get a day like this. You don’t want to waste it. They won’t be here tomorrow. They won’t be here, definitely, the week after that. You only have today.

For bloggers, sometimes you’ll write a post that truly inspires you. Your mind will be on fire with ideas. You’ll be humming, practically vibrating with that urge to create. You’ll write out a full post and you’ll know you have so much more, that you could write a whole book, you could write a whole shelf of books.

But you’ll stop. You’ll stop because you did what you needed to do that day. You wrote one post.

You’ll stop thinking you pick it up again tomorrow.

You can’t. You only have today.

When you have a good day, a truly magical day, you have to ride it out. Write down everything you can. Write all night long if you have to. Write until your fingers hurt. Write and write and write and write and when you honestly can’t do anymore, then you can stop.

Those days are rare and far between. You don’t have to post everything you create in that time. But you have to pick while the pickin’s good. There’s time to enjoy what you’ve harvested later. Right now, there’s today. Get everything you can out of it.

4. There Are Bad Days

There’s a corollary to the above, and it’s this: Sometimes today is not your day.

The weekend I went up with my friend happened to be a good weekend. There were good mushrooms everywhere. We got two huge heaping baskets-ful. But the eight weekends before that, he hadn’t had such a good time. It was a strange year weather-wise and the factors that make for thriving mushroom colonies weren’t there. This was the first weekend that had been good.

In that situation, it’s okay to pack it in because it’s not a good weekend. But here’s the trick: you still have to show up.

Every weekend. You can’t skip one because the last one wasn’t good. You have to show up every single time hoping for one of the magic times, one of the ones where everything goes your way.

If he’d given up six weekends before, we never would have had those two baskets of mushrooms to tide us over all the weekends to come with none.

Same for you and your blogging. You show up every time. You show up every day. And you try like hell to reap enough good work to tide you over when it’s a lousy day, when you have no ideas, when there’s absolutely nothing left.

If you don’t show up for the bad days, you will miss the good days entirely. You’ll never know they could have happened. Because you weren’t there.

So yes. There are bad days. Not every day is a magic day. But it’s by showing up for the bad days that you get to those glorious days.

What I Learned

There’s a reason for all the many posts about what non-blogging activities have taught us about blogging. It’s because it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. It’s hard to get new insight into blogging simply by blogging more.

Sometimes you have to get offline. Sometimes you have to get out in the woods. Sometimes you have to try something new to get better at this thing you enjoy doing, this thing that sustains your business and your life.

Mushrooms aren’t any good by themselves. Mushrooms are amazing in butter, with herbs, as part of a larger dish. A plain, raw mushroom is no fun to eat.

Blogging is the same. Blogging by itself doesn’t sustain you. You have to mix it up with other things. You have to learn what it works with. You have to experiment. You have to find new ways to add to the base.

Try it. Try something new, and see if you can glean anything that helps you become a better blogger.

Then take half an hour to think. Choose a post that’s right for you. And have one of the good days.

Leave a Comment!

Post by Taylor Lindstrom

Taylor is a freelancer working out of Boulder, CO, and she blogs for people who are too good to fail over at... well, Too Good to Fail. Go check out her beautiful stories and words of encouragement - and remember that while you may not be good enough right now, being great is definitely part of your potential.

Another rockin' post from Men with Pens!
What Mushroom Hunting Taught Me About Blogging first appeared on Men with Pens
Copyright 2006 - 2011, All Rights Reserved.