Confident Writing

7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Ask Your Readers Questions: Part V Of Purposeful Questions

Questions don't work in isolation: they work in context. 

You need to pay as much (if not more) attention to the framework for your question as you do the question itself.

Here are 7 things to think about before you add your questions to the bottom of the page:

#1 Have you left room for your readers to add value?

People like to be helpful, to feel as though they're adding something.  If a post is beautifully polished and constructed it doesn't leave much room for your reader to add anything in, even if they want to. Thinking about the space you're leaving for your readers can make a big difference to the way you write, and the way you ask questions. 

# 2 How much work do people need to do in order to answer?

Take a quick flick through your post.  Are you hoping your readers will invest time reading a long article of yours, or some links you're pointing them to elsewhere? 

If your readers feel they need to 'work' in order to answer your question you're less likely to get a response.  (Of course you might want to get them to do the work anyway for a particular teaching reason... but that would be linked to a different purpose)

# 3 Who will be able to answer your question?

Again: take a look at your post.  Are you assuming that people will have specialised knowledge or use a particular trade jargon?  Do they need to have read a particular book or watched a particular film?  Perhaps you're talking about quite a specific incident or experience: this might make it hard for them to answer.  Could you make it more general in order to include a wider number of people in the response? 

This is also a good point to check how easy it is to comment: if there are barriers (like captcha) can you get rid of them?  The sky probably won't fall in as a result.

# 4 How can you make it easier for people to answer your question?

Unless you're an exceptionally gifted teacher, writer or coach people will prefer the easy way round.  If you're looking for more conversation, if you're looking for people to be able to answer your question (and if not, why ask?), look for ways to make it as easy as possible. 

Try making the post / question less specific, more universal.  Reduce the amount of extra reading or link clicking your reader needs to do.  Remove technical barriers to leaving a comment.  Use plain English, as plain as you can, and the plainer the better!

# 5 What will you do with the responses you get?

Think about what you're going to do with the responses.  Will you respond to each and everyone in the comment box - with care and attention?  Will you listen closely to what your readers are replying? 

How will you thank or reward people who take the time to answer your questions.  (For example you can highlight answers in round up posts - I do this a lot - it shares some link love...though of course it might scare some people off!) 

There are other less visible things you can do with the responses: you might learn from them, frame new posts from them, thicken and develop your blog as a consequence.  How you answer this question will relate to your intention, and that intention will change the way you ask the question.  It will also change the kind of answers you get.

# 6 What's the positive intention behind your question?

Don't stick with the answer "to get more comments".  What will "getting more comments" allow you to do?  How will it help you to learn, to write, to teach, to inspire, to connect, to help others with marketing, to provide career advice, to show people how beautiful your country is, to make the world a little more human...? 

Find the positive. 

Find the purpose that goes beyond you and your blog.  It'll help the words to flow.

# 7 What will your readers get from answering your question?

This is probably my killer question for you.  Switch your focus from your need to ask a question and "get" comments. 

Think about your reader.  Focus on them. 

What difference will your question make to them?  How can you phrase the question to help them tap into positive resources,  see things in a new light, awaken happy memories, share their expertise, enjoy talking story with you?

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Asking Questions With A Purpose

This concludes the series. To recap

Part I: How To Ask Purposeful Questions

Part II: Creating The Space To Ask Questions

Part III: The Purpose That's Driving Your Question

Part IV: Asking Questions For A Change

Part V: 7 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Ask Your Readers A Question

If you want the series to have legs... please do bookmark, stumble, tweet, e-mail and share.  Thanks.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Asking Questions For A Change: Part IV of the Questions Series

“A person needs new experiences.  They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens.  The sleeper must awaken." (Dune)

There are times when we write or ask questions without any expectation of getting an answer. 

These questions are asked with a different intention in mind: to expose the reader to a new idea, to create an emotional shift, or to jar something deep inside.

Powerful Coaching Questions

These are the type of questions that coaches tend to use: questions that might help someone

• reframe a problem, so they see it in a different way
• access positive states or
• tap into their inner resources

These powerful questions have certain recognisable characteristics.  You'd expect to find:

• open questions, starting with a 'what' or a 'how' (and avoiding a 'why')
• questions that only the client / reader can answer: the person asking genuinely doesn't know the answer
• questions that are based on positive presuppositions

A presupposition is something you hold to be true.  Something that underpins the question.  The question doesn't make sense without the presupposition.

For example, if I ask:

What inner resources will you draw upon to achieve your writing goals?

I'm presupposing that:

• You have the inner resources that will help you
• You know what they are
• You know how to access them
• I don't know what they are, but I believe / know that you do
• My question might help you to tap into them

Some Questions To Get You Thinking About Questions

Have a look at these questions... ask yourself the questions and notice the different reaction you get inside.

1. What can you learn from this post?
2. Why have you learned from this post?
3. What have you learned from this post?
4. What 5 things have you learned from this post?
5. What was the most surprising thing you learnt from this post?

You'll have your own reactions and responses.  Some things to flag up:

They all presuppose that you can learn something from this experience.  The first presupposes that you haven't learned your lesson yet... (maybe implying a negative).  Question 2 uses 'why' which tends to throw us backwards to justify or defend our position.  Best used with care. 

Questions 3 - 5 open things up for a conversation by leading with an open 'what', presupposing you've already learned interesting things (and that you might want share them).  Question 3 is very open but a little vague; there's no hook to hang it on.  Questions 4 and 5 get our mind racing to find the answer: to construct a list of five, or to filter the learning for the most surprising thing. 

What kind of reaction do you notice when you run the questions?  Where do you notice the reaction: in your mind, in  your stomach, in the back of your head?

Asking A Question For A Change

It won't surprise you that I'm going to bring this back to purpose.  Here are some things to think about if your purpose is to ask a question that will lead to a (positive) change.

First: think about your reader (just one).  Think about where they're at.  What kind of state they're in.

That might be: bored, Monday morning-ish, worried about how to do sales and marketing, bogged down in the minutiae of running their own business, lacking in confidence in the power of their own words, disbelieving that they're creative, convinced they can't take photographs.

Now: think about the state they'd like to be in.

That might be: energised, Friday morning-ish, confident in writing sales copy, relishing their creativity... and so on.

So now you've created a story.  A journey.  A distance your hero needs to travel from one point to another.  To get from A to B.

The purpose of your question is to help your reader do just that.  To get from A to B. 

Hold on to the belief that they already have all the resources they need.  Focus on asking the question that will help your reader to tap into, to access, to make use of those resources.  Trust your instinct that you'll find the right answer.

Then: ask yourself this.

What's the most useful question you can ask that will help you reader get from where they are to where they want to be?

You don't need to share your answers here... but I look forward to reading your questions

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This is the fourth instalment of a 5 part series.  Previous entries:

How To Ask Purposeful Questions

Creating the Space to Ask Questions

The Purpose That's Driving Your Question

Coming next: 7 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Ask Your Readers Questions

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Photo Credit: Questions by oberazzi (Tim O'Brien) on flickr

The Purpose That's Driving Your Question: Asking Questions With A Purpose Part III

"Please don't interrupt me when I'm asking rhetorical questions" (Mission Impossible III)

Not all questions demand an answer. 

There are lots of different reasons why we ask questions, and getting clear on your reasons - getting clear on the purpose that's driving your questions - will help you phrase them to get the response that you're looking for.

Writing With A Clear Purpose In Mind

Sometimes we write questions quite naturally, without thinking about it all.  Think for a moment about the questions you ask when you genuinely need to know the answer.  You're not asking to prompt a conversation but because you need help to do something (and you probably need it now).

The words come tumbling out, quick and fast:

• Does anyone know someone who can help me make the transition from Typepad to Wordpress? 
• Is there a way that I can transfer a blog from one to the other without losing all my links?
• What's the best free software that I can use to edit my photos for flickr?

We focus on the end result: what we want to do, what we want help with, how to phrase the question so we're most likely to get a helpful response, and so we don't waste people's time.  (Side note: Twitter is a great training ground to help you phrase your question both fully and concisely.)

What's interesting is how keen people are to respond to these direct and specific requests.  Why might that be?  It's probably because people:

• Like to be helpful
• Can see how they can add value
• Enjoy sharing resources or expertise
• Aren't wasting time waiting for you to get to the point
• Connect with the genuine request for help

It's the purpose or the intention that they're responding to.  The words might make it easier or more difficult for them to do so, but that's what drives the response.

How Do Readers Identify The Purpose?

Drafting this series on questions got me thinking harder about how readers treat questions.  As we're all readers as well as writers this is something we can all learn from: the clues and signals that we use as readers to inform and influence our response to the questions writers put.

When I thought about my own recent reading on the web I came up with 10 different types of purpose, and the clues I was using to interpret the intention behind the question.  (I'm sure there are more: this is really to illustrate how we 'read' the question to get the purpose.)

The writer is asking in order to:

• Get some help (question is specific, direct, practical)

• Learn from feedback (expressing interest in learning, indicating an intention to share findings)

• Make connections (question phrased in human, conversational style; refers to previous conversations)

• Get comments (question is tacked on at the end, with no obvious connection to the rest of the post)

• Encourage conversation (question is deliberately open, leaving as much room as possible for readers)

• Stretch our minds (question has hallmarks of great brain teasers or puzzles, requiring our brains to go chasing after the answer)

• Stimulate thought (question suggests reflection over period of time, not immediate response)

• Think deeply (question might be rhetorical, leading to reflection for reader, or indeed the author)

• Wake us up (question is personal & direct with powerful simple language)

• Inspire change (question is aimed at changing mindset or emotional state: a call to action, not asking for a written response)

The last four examples aren't looking for a conversational response, or expecting a comment to be written in the box.  They're written with the intention of creating a different kind of reaction. 

Any one of these could be explored more fully (I can see this turning into a book never mind a series!) but I am going to cover one in depth: the next instalment is on questions that lead to positive change.

How Do You Get The Words To Match The Intention?

I don't have an easy answer to this.

You can learn more about the principles of effective communication and how we use language.  If you're interested in language patterns and their effect I'd encourage you to find out more about NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming).  Joseph O'Connor's NLP Workbook is a great place to start.

You can keep reflecting on questions that you read: how they're phrased, how you respond, what kind of words act as triggers for you.

You can watch your own reactions and think about why you respond to some questions (even if you're busy and don't want to) when others leave you cold (even if you like the person you're reading and want to try and respond).

Focus On The Positive Intention

But the simplest and most positive thing you can to is focus on your own positive intention.  Get clear on the positive purpose behind your question.  Try expanding the purpose till it becomes more compelling.  Not just to 'get comments' or 'be conversational' but to have a conversation in order to... make human connections, change hearts and minds, teach someone about what you do.

Then focus on that.  Focus on that intention.  Narrow it down to thinking about one person you'd like to... connect with, learn from, inspire, teach, encourage.

And last but not least: trust.  Trust your writing mind to find the words that will match the intention.

You've already got all the words you'll ever need.  You're a human: you've been listening to, reading, absorbing, asking questions all your life. 

You know what works.  You've already got all the resources you'll ever need.

Focus on the positive intention.  Then allow the words to flow.

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This is the third instalment of a 5 part series:

How To Ask Purposeful Questions: Introducing the Series

Part II: Creating the Space to Ask Questions

Coming next: Asking Questions For A Change

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Photo Credit: Questions by oberazzi (Tim O'Brien) on flickr

Creating The Space To Ask Questions: Asking Questions With A Purpose Part II

I've realised this series on questions is going to turn into a 5 parter, never mind a 3 or a 4. Here's a quick addition before I get into the purposeful part of the questions. 

I've decided to add this one in because:

• I was stuck, and realised this bit was getting in the way
• I'm aware that many of you are interested in the role of questions in prompting blog conversations, and I want to help you achieve that... but
• I don't want this series to focus on how to generate blog conversation, because there's already lots of great stuff been written on that

So before I get started with the series proper I wanted to share these three simple reminders:

1. Clear some space so there's more room for your readers.  You might be squeezing them out with too many words, too many questions, too much expertise

Here are two great posts that have really helped me with this:

The 4 Keys to Reader Comments and Conversation from the queen of blog conversations Liz Strauss

Give Your Readers Room To Participate On Your Blog from Darren Rowse

2. Get clear on your purpose: to have a conversation, person to person, human to human.  Think about how you'd do that in real life.  Focus on one person you're talking to.  How would you open the conversation?  How could you show them that you were interested in what they had to say?

3. Think about the bigger purpose, beyond 'to get comments' or 'it's what bloggers do'. What will those comments and conversation, those responses to your questions help you to do?  More importantly: how will it change things for your readers?  What difference will your questions make to them?

That's where I'm going next: asking questions with a purpose.  It was going to be a post from hell without this preamble.

Writing this has helped me clear the space for the rest of the series.  I hope it'll help you get into the questioning frame of mind too.

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This is the second in what's now a 5 part series: How To Ask Purposeful Questions.

Coming next: The Purpose That's Driving Your Questions

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Photo Credit: Questions by oberazzi (Tim O'Brien) on flickr

How To Ask Purposeful Questions: Introducing a 3 Part Series

"The important thing is not to stop questioning" (Albert Einstein)

Asking questions is seen as an important part of a blog writers' toolbox.  You'll find plenty of advice 'out there' on asking questions as part of a strategy to generate comments and conversation.  You'll also find lots of posts that finish by asking a question to get the conversational ball rolling.

The Blogging Benefits Of Questions

There are well documented blog benefits to asking questions.  By that I mean, benefits that will help you to achieve some of your blog related goals.  Questions can help you:

• generate more comments
• start a conversation going
• engage with your readers
• find out more about your readers (and then delight them )
• add an additional dimension to your content

But is there more to it than that?  What is it about some questions that leaves us thinking so hard about them afterwards?  What makes readers respond to some questions... and ignore others completely?

Are there things you can change about the way you ask questions that will change the kind of response that you get? 

And what other benefits might there be in asking questions...? That have nothing to do with proving your skill as a blogger.

Asking Questions With A Purpose

I think purpose is the key to unlocking these questions and I'll be explaining why (and how) over the next few days.  I was really pleased to be asked to write something on questions as I was leading into the 'purpose' theme because it provides just the right framework for exploring the issue in a bit of depth. 

Hence the 3 part series.  (By the way I couldn't decide if it was 3 or 4 parts.  It's 4 if I include this intro... but the intro is leading to the 3 parts.  What do you think?!) [UPDATE: I've added another one in, so it's now a 5 parter]

Over the next few days I'm going to cover:

1. Creating The Space To Ask Questions: making room for your readers
2. The Purpose That's Driving Your Question: how purpose changes your questions
3. Asking Questions For A Change: how to frame questions that lead to positive change
4. 7 Killer Questions: 7 questions to ask yourself before you ask your readers questions

I'm not promising to have all the answers here: I'm still learning myself about which kind of questions will work (and which ones won't) but I think the series will get you thinking about when, how and why you ask your readers questions.

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Linked articles:

One Simple Way To Generate More Comments On Your Blog: Copyblogger

Getting To Know Your Audience: ChrisG

5 Ways To Get The Opinions Of Others And Add Dimensions To Your Blogs: Problogger

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Photo Credit: Questions by oberazzi (Tim O'Brien) on flickr

70 Million Definitions of "Blog" And Counting

Do you have a definition of a "blog"? Or a simple expression that you can substitute for "blogging"?

Maybe you do.  (Feel free to share it!)

And maybe you don't.  Perhaps, like me, you've a number of different definitions and explanations, depending on who you're talking to, or which blog you're talking about.

Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business got me thinking about blog definitions at the weekend, when she hosted a fascinating conversation at the Writers' Cafe on whether the term "blog" was on its way out.  It proved hard for us to have this kind of conversation without first articulating what it means (to us) to "blog".  Some of the definitions that emerged were:

• A means for businesses to develop relationships (Susanna, Great Adaptations)

• A constant stream of communication that lets customers know you're on top of your niche (Gayla, Mom Gadget)

• Citizen publishing (Rosa Say, Managing With Aloha Coaching)

• Frequently updated content in a strong informal voice (Sonia Simone, Remarkable Communication)

• I’ll define a blog with a simple “to publish” and I doubt that the word will fade. Publishing text on regular basis on a blogging platform will remain blogging. (Mig, Online Public Relations)

• Interactive web pages you can use to have meaningful conversations with customers, prospects, and stakeholders (Brad Shorr, Word Sell)

• An easy and affordable way to tell your story on the web, and to let other people share in the telling of it (that was my effort)

But as the conversation developed it became clear that our definitions all depended on our style, approach and experience.  Here's a flavour of the conversation:

The richness of all the descriptions shared here lies in the fact that each speaks as much of the person explaining it, as about the blogging process itself. It’s also about the purpose of the particular blog and the nature of the client’s business. (Yvonne Russell)

It seems there are different kinds of blogs for different purposes. Maybe that’s another reason the word blog will fade away - maybe new words will be coined to reflect the different kinds of blogs or maybe they’ll just be called Web sites Lillie Ammann, A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye

A blog can have myriad definitions. It all depends on what the publisher and the readers want to accomplish... [And] the objectives of the publisher and the readers tends to change over time. A lot of traditional marketing tools such as newsletters and direct mail have a quality of sameness, whereas blogs are really organic. Blogs grow and are influenced by their environment (not only individual readers but the aggregate character of conversations). (Brad Shorr)

As I reflected on this conversation the more I figured we'd never come up with one single definition because we all use blogs in different ways.  They're a means to an end, not an end in themselves.  They're written, published, designed, nurtured, loved with a different purpose in mind.

And with 70 million blogs out there (and counting) that's a lot of different definitions.

You notice this when people take time to reflect on the purpose of their blog, or adjust their focus or direction.  They share what it is their blog means to them: how it supports or fulfills their bigger purpose.  Some recent examples from blogging friends of mine:

No matter what I end up writing about, my blog HAS to continue to be a “forum for joy” - an upbeat expression of “Me” that can spread that joy as wide and as far as possible. I want to be “joyfully banal” if I want to, even right after I hit Starbucks in the solar plexus, or wax poetic about John Adams and the Declaration of Independence. (Terry Starbucker)

It is my hope that Lives Less Ordinary will help you to recognize and accept just how special, how unique you truly are... This blog is the place where I share my own journey of discovery, and this is your invitation to join me. (Amy Palko)

[My blog] provides an outlet for creative expression, a venue for professional reflection, and a connective conduit to people from around the globe. (Diane Cordell)

I'm still mulling over the question of blog definitions: whether it's important to have one, whether it matters what mine is, whether we could ever narrow it down to something we could all agree on. 

And I'm still wondering if there are elements we'd call defining features of blogs - and if so, what would we choose?  Is it the regular updates, the informal voice, the linking out, the readability of the content, the conversation and community... and does that mean we dismiss some things as 'not' being blogs if they don't have them?

I guess if I had to pick one it would be the human dimension of blogging:

Content shaped by the blogger's perspective, values, history, experience, personality. Purpose driven by the bigger picture of their hopes, ambitions, goals.

I think that's why purpose is so important to the blogging endeavour.  That purpose can be as broad or as narrow as you want to make it - but you need to know why you're writing, or publishing, or blogging what you do, and how it fits with that bigger picture of what you're trying to achieve, and who you are.

Do you have a single definition of blogging - or more than one?  Does it vary according to the purpose of the blogs you write, edit, manage, read?

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This piece is a contribution to the theme of writing with purpose.

Post inspired by the conversation started by Yvonne Russell:

Is The Word Blog On The Way Out? How Do You Explain A Blog To Non-bloggers?

The writers' cafe is open each weekend for great conversation amongst writers and bloggers (plus virtual coffee and cakes!)

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

P.S. While you're here and I've got your attention... would you mind taking part in this reader survey?  It's to find out the main focus for your writing.  There's only one question so it'll only take a minute.  Here's the link to the survey - thanks!

How To Plan A Month’s Worth Of Posts In 30 Minutes Flat

Working to a monthly theme helps me to plan ahead – and planning ahead helps me to write with a greater sense of purpose.

I tried a new planning technique this month, using one of Chris Garrett’s productive blogging tips: using a mind map to generate ideas and topics for posts.  His suggestion was to brain-storm or mind map around the focus of your blog (starting with a circle in the middle, and working outwards).  I applied this to the theme of writing with purpose and started to doodle ideas.

Within 30  minutes (tops) I had 18 posts mapped out – more than enough for the month ahead, given that I don’t want to blog every day, and other things are bound to pop up as I go along.

I then ran through the list of topics and made some notes about the sort of posts they might turn into.  I haven’t done this before but it’s a natural extension of writing with a greater sense of purpose, and tying my blog writing more tightly into my coaching and business purpose (one of the key messages to come out of SobCon08).

My overall purpose is to help people realise the power of their words.  To convey my belief that our words count.

But I realised as I did this exercise that there are sub-plots going on in terms of my blog writing purpose:

• To use a variety of methods to keep readers engaged and interested
• To establish myself as a credible, authority blogger
• To generate material that I can use for some books I’m working on
• To create some audio content that I can transfer to courses I’m setting up
• To have some posts that I can write quickly, without too much time and effort

Getting clear on those sub-plots helped me to plan the month ahead – working out what kind of material I was going to produce and why; how much time I was willing to put into it (or not) and why; how to discount some things that looked like ‘good ideas’ because they don’t fit into the bigger picture of what I’m trying to do.

I’m not claiming to have cracked it, but this is the most purposeful approach to planning the month ahead that I’ve tried so far.  I’ll let you know how it pans out, but meantime I thought you might be interested to see the results of the mind-mapping exercise:

The code at the bottom was how I mapped out the type of posts:

*material with a  shelf life – pillar content, or material to use in courses or books

W writing tips

A audio material

P popular and linking out – popular might be the wrong word here! I was thinking of posts that are more explicitly linked to blogging, that link to other bloggers and attract people back here

check: short and easy to write ( I think the "check" signals I want and need some more of them!)

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What other methods could I use to plan my writing? Have you got any tried and tested techniques that have worked for you?

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Blog Writing Tips from 100 Successful Bloggers

As you might expect there were a whole lot of tips on blog writing from the gathering of 100+ successful and outstanding bloggers in Chicago at the weekend.

Here are some that stuck out for me - not direct quotes but close enough for me to attribute them to the speakers.

They're structured around some key questions to ask yourself before you start to write.

Why

Write to get attention - but make sure it's the right kind of attention
Brian Clark @copyblogger

What

Add value - don't just repeat what others have said
Chris Garrett @chrisgarrett

How you do your job or your business - makes for an interesting story and might be the thing that helps you to stand out

Chris Garrett @chrisgarrett

Your successes - don't be shy of letting people know about the good stuff
David Bullock @davidbullock

What's going on - the good stuff and the challenges, let go a bit of control and allow your readers to identify with you - and be inspired by what you've done
Wendy Piersall, @emom

How

Take ownership and responsibility; check your sources; correct any mistakes instantly
Anita Bruzzese

Don't write for your teacher - chances are they're not reading your blog
Liz Strauss @lizstrauss

Use powerful questions to get feedback or stimulate a response

Say what you mean, don't worry about getting it perfect but do make it attractive and easy to read

Use techniques to break through your barriers: start writing by penning an e-mail (not to be sent, just to draft the material), using voice recognition software, talking to a rubber duck.
What do you want to say, why, what difference does it make, "so what"?

Those last three were all from Chris Garrett.  I've included a lot of his because he had so many useful, practical suggestions on productive blogging (getting more bang for your blog.)  If you don't already follow his work, check out ChrisG.com. Chris is also the co-author with Darren Rowse of the Problogger book - I got a copy at the weekend which I've just started and will share more of later.

When

Think about your schedule; how often to post; days of the week readers are around (varies from market to market)

Be aware of your own time and energy; use it wisely; watch drains on your energy and focus on what matters

Anticipate periods when you won't be able to write - holidays, times when you're ill; have a backlog of posts, collaborate with others so you can cover for each other

Again, these three are all from Chris Garrett.  Cheers Chris for giving us so much practical advice.

Thinking about 'when' is the most important one for me: when I draft (trying to do them in one sitting), when I post, getting a mix of short and long, anticipating periods when I won't have time to write so much.

What about you? Have you picked up a tip recently that has helped you be more productive in your blogging?

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This is one in a series of posts on learning points from SobCon08.  I've also posted some ideas on blogging and business for those of you that are interested in that.

If you want to talk through how to apply these and other principles and learning points you can book an hour of my coaching time - find out  more here, including how to book.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Photo Credit: Gentoo Book by Gunnar Wrobel

The Secret: 20 Ways To Attract More Comments On Your Blog

What can you do to generate more comments on your blog? 

Here are the things that have worked for me over the last 12 months.

20 Ways To Attract More Comments On Your Blog

1. Make it easy for people to comment (no captcha, no sign in)

2. Link out to other people in your posts (you'll encourage them to visit you)

3. Ask open questions

4. Ask for help

5. Make it clear what you’re asking for

6. Leave your posts slightly undone (leave room for your readers to add something of value)

7. Use conversational language

8. Share something of yourself in your post

9. Be curious about your readers

10. Mean your curiosity: it’ll shape your questions,  your replies, your conversation

11. Reply to every comment

12. Get into your readers' shoes when you reply: what did it take for them to leave you a comment?

13. Model Liz Strauss (pay attention to the detail of what she does)

14. Highlight comments and learning points in round-up posts

15. Visit the blogs of your commenters and comment on their blogs if you can

16. Send a welcome e-mail to first-time commenters

17. Write about blog comments (not all the time! But it helps to break the ice and everyone can join in)

18. Value every comment you receive

19. Love your readers

20. Don’t expect people to come to you: go and visit other blogs

If I had to pick just one it would be the last.  If comments matter to you, invest time and energy in commenting elsewhere rather than agonizing over the the tone, pitch and style of your own posts.

What about you?  What’s your secret?

Share your tips and help me celebrate

Please do call in and share your success, tell us what's worked (and what's not), and find out the secrets of other people's comment-attraction strategies.

You'll get the chance to meet the best kind of bloggers: those who take time to comment.

You can help me get to 2,000 comments (and if you hit the 2,000 mark you'll win your choice of books from the Confident Writing Book Store)

And you can help  me celebrate my first year of blogging at Confident Writing. 

It has been a wonderful year with too many highlights to mention here, except to thank everyone who has supported and encouraged me over the last 12 months, not least through your generous, funny, inspired and inspiring comments.

Here's the roll call of top commenters during the year:

Outstanding Commenters (30 - 80 comments)

Brad Shorr, Robert Hruzek, Rosa Say, Jeanne Dinnini, Amy Palko, Emma Bird, Karen Swim, Robyn McMaster

Major Commenters (10 - 29 comments)

--Deb, Lillie Ammann, Laura, Cath Lawson, Debbie Yost, Yvonne Russell, Jim Murdoch, Cat Morley, Karen Wallace, Liz Strauss, Lis Garrettt, Jon Swanson, Sylvia C.

Significant Commenters (3 - 9 comments)

J Erik Potter, Terinea Weblog, Lisa, Jean Browman, pelf, Ria Kennedy, Alina Popescu, Bob Younce, Carol, Damien Riley, Mervi, Michele Tune, Sarah Stewart, Valeria Maltoni, April Groves, Vernon Lunn, Ariane Benefit, David Bowman, Dawud Miracle, DebMc, Glenn, Rick Mahn, tim, Steve Sherlock, Vaidy, Adam Kayce, Ann Michael, Catherine@SharpWords, Chris Brogan, Daz Cox, Em Dy, Jackie Cameron, Lea Woodward, Lorna Doone, Monika, Shari, Terry Heath

And thanks too to the 150 or so people who have left one or two comments over the last year.  Believe me, they are all valued, and they all count.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Photo Credit: Metaphors at Flickr

How to Write a Blog with 5 Straight As

               

You’d think with all the advice on how to write a blog out there we’d have it cracked by now, but of course we keep on learning, improving, inspiring and experimenting... Which is just as it should be.

I’ve been on the look out this month for posts, articles and resources that will help us write with greater impact.

As the first two ingredients I found both started with “A” I decided to add an extra filter to my search and see if I could come up with 5 of them.  Which of course I did, because the blogosphere always provides (with a little bit of creative adaptation).

Here’s the list of ingredients I came up with, together with some coaching questions about how you could apply them to your own blog writing.

Authority

I have to admit, I do enjoy reading Lorelle’s stuff when she rants.  This was a piece about the rubbish she was reading from wannabe bloggers on SEO.  Her point was simple: don’t blog about that which you understand not

I don’t care what you are an expert in, blog about that. Make your blog the source for your expertise. Share your opinion, your experiences, but tell folks you aren’t an expert if you are not. Let the experts handle the expert stuff and let you handle your expert stuff.

There is so much clutter on the web, why add useless information you honestly know nothing about to the trash pile. I know you want the link juice. I know you want to be dug by Digg. I know you crave getting StumbleUponed or Twittered about, but let’s stop the nonsense and get down to the meaningful, original content.

This doesn’t mean you need to be the authority, or even an authority.  (Once you start worrying about that you’ll clam up all together.) You just need to be clear with your readers where it is that you’re coming from, what perspective you offer, what meaningful, original content you can add. 

And of course your writing will be even more powerful when you’re clear on the source of your authority. 

So the question is:

Are you writing about the things where you know you can add meaningful, original content?  If you are – how do you know? Where do you feel it?  How can you tap into that feeling more often to add power to your writing?

And if you’re not sure… what would it be like if you did?  What would you find yourself writing about?

Attraction

You’ll catch a lot more flies with honey

The post at Drew’s Marketing Minute is worth a read (of course), but the headline gives you the message in 8 words (and there’s another clue.)  If copywriting seems like an alien art form to you (and you wouldn't be alone in that) I’ll leave you with this simple question:

How could you dabble some honey on your copy?

Authenticity

Our old friend, authentic writing.  Though Robert Hruzek (the author) didn’t call it that, but gave it the title it deserved: a guaranteed, sure-fire,  never-fail formula for successful blogging.

You know what constitutes success in blogging? It’s when you can take what you pick up from other writers, and springboard it into something unique; something only you can produce.

This is the challenge we face in relation to all the blogging (and writing) advice you’ll ever read.  At some point you need to take what you’ve learned and turn it back into something new, and unique. 

Something that only you can produce.

Authenticity can’t be copied – of course.  But I think we can learn how to develop our own authentic style, by recognising what it means to us. 

So if I asked you about the bloggers who, for you, had an authentic voice – what would you tell me about them?  About the way they write, the language they use, the things they say (and don’t say)?

What can you learn from that for your own writing?

Audience

This post wasn’t about blog writing at all.  It was thoughts from Seth Godin on how the music business should respond to the challenges of the digital world.  But there was a paragraph in there that really struck home – and has equal relevance to writers who might worry about their copy being stolen or scraped.   It was about the inimitable power of your audience.

Interactivity can’t be copied... The winners in the [music] business of tomorrow are individuals and organizations that create communities, connect people, spread ideas and act as the hub of the wheel... indispensable and well-compensated.

Think about the blogs you visit where you feel part of the audience. What are the things that make you feel engaged?  Which could you start to use in your own blog?

Approachability

Writing with impact doesn’t mean we’re looking for a collision.  Yes, there might be times when you want to make a “forceful contact”, to grab people’s attention, to wake someone up.  But it also means to have an impact on, to influence.  And that suggests altogether softer, quieter writing skills.  It means listening as well as talking.  It means leaving room for your reader to be.

This is a challenge for many writers who are making the adjustment from ‘finished’ articles to the more open ended and conversational style of blogs.  I found this piece from Darren Rowse one of the best explanations of and introductions to the idea of leaving space for your readers. 

Maybe it’s the picture that helps to illustrate the point – what do you think?

His post has some great suggestions (as usual) about practical ways that you can create more space for your reader, and a sound conclusion that

None of these things mean you can’t write comprehensive posts that show off your expertise. To me it is more of an attitude or an issue of the ‘voice’ that you use in blogging. Some bloggers come across as being more closed and unapproachable than others.

Which takes me to my last question…

Think about a blogger that you’d say was ‘approachable’.  What is it about what they do - what they write, how they engage with readers, the words and phrases they use – that makes them approachable to you?

And in reverse, are there any bloggers you think are more closed?  What specific things do they say or do that makes you think that?

What have you learned from your answers?  And how could you apply that learning to your own blog?

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I've included more coaching questions than I normally do in a post - they're designed to encourage reflection, to help you work out your own writing solutions rather than just taking a spoonful of advice from me. 

I'm not expecting an answer to all the questions here  - unless you want to - but I hope you find them a useful way of reflecting on your writing - and coaching yourself to writing with even greater impact. 

But I've other questions too - of course - like... if you had to pick just one of these, which would it be?  Are there other 'As' I should add to the list?  Or should I be exploring another part of the alphabet entirely...?

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

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Resources

Links to the posts I've highlighted:

Don't blog about that which you understand not from Lorelle writing at the Blog Herald

You'll catch more flies with honey from Drew's Marketing Minute

A guaranteed, sure-fire, never-fail formula for successful blogging from Robert Hruzek

Music lessons from Seth Godin

Give your readers room to participate on your blog from Problogger

You might also enjoy:

Writing with hospitality: leaving space for your readers to be

To thine own self be true: 12 steps to authentic blogging

The courage to hear yourself sing: 5 takes on authentic writing (free e-book, click to download)

Photo credit: spell with flickr