Blogging clarity – Signs you haven’t got it & how to develop it
Understanding your why & your focus.
Today we’re going to identify your why which will lead into identifying your focus. It’s SUPER SIMPLE and it’s VITAL to the success of your blog. Most people tend to focus on what their blog does at a superficial level, for example, ‘I’m a family blogger. I share our lives with our readers’. But that’s not REALLY how you serve your audience.
Before you can start thinking about increasing your blog traffic. We need to delve into four questions. What’s your why? What’s your blog’s focus? Why do you write? What’s the big picture? This is your blogging clarity. Having this clarity means you will know what to focus on and what type of readers to try to attract.
For example;
My name is ________________ and I blog because ____________. My ideal reader is (your target market)_____________. My blog’s focus is ________________ and I can help my readers by ____________(the value you offer).
Example: My name is Aby. I blog because it’s my passion and I love helping people create blogs they love. The focus of my blog is to provide blogging advice. I can help my readers by sharing my story and advice on how to turn their blog into their business.
Finding your blogging clarity is so important and consists of three factors:
1. How much your business satisfies you. If your blog biz is not fulfilling you will not push it or yourself to the next level.
2. How is your blog biz structured. Does this give you a way to share your talents and help your audience?
3. Are you confident enough in your clarity to stick at things and keep showing up long enough to get traction.
How this plays out;
If you lack clarity you may find yourself endlessly tweaking parts of your website. Finding yourself never quite happy with the results. You might be putting of launching your offer because it doesn’t feel right. The endless quest for more knowledge, more tech and apps which are going to solve all our issues. When the only thing which will solve them is having clarity.
Now, you might be curious why we need to identify all these pieces? If you don’t have clarity, your reader won’t be sure what you stand for, what benefit you can offer them? Why they should invest their time in reading your content?
Clarity is your best way to differentiate yourself from your competition. The clearer you are, the clearer you will be when putting your content out into the world.
Lots of content out there on the web is lacking clarity. Your message will become lost if you’re not clear. If the content doesn’t ‘fit’ with your aims then it’s content for the sake of it. All your content should have an intention. Whether that is to entertain, educate, inspire; it should have an intent.
If you can create easy-to-understand content people will read and digest. Then implement your advice AND get results from it. They will see they got value from you and they will return. They will want to read more great content for you.
Do you lack blogging clarity?
Can you articulate your blog’s purpose? What you offer and how to you differ from your competition? If you don’t know where you differ it will be difficult for you to create purposeful content. Content that resonates with your audience. If you feel unsure, confused, worried or nervous about your blog it is a sign that you lack clarity.
BLOGGING CLARITY WORKBOOK
If you want to join my mailing list and get access to my epic Blogger’s Resource vault of cheatsheets and downloads (INCLUDING THE BLOGGING CLARITY WORKBOOK) as a welcome gift, you can do that here.
Here are some other signs that you lack blogging clarity.
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Unprofessional theme.
We’ve ALL been there! Having themes, logos and design that did NOT show us in the best light. We were learning and we definitely DIDN’T have clarity. At the start I was finding my way and as I gained clarity, my site design smartened up.
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Crazy fonts, tiny images and a mash-up of colours
Quite often a lack of clarity shows itself in a collection of design related poor choices. You might like whacky fonts but think about your readers. What impression do they give and how easy are they to read on a mobile phone? A clear and professional design always wins from a user experience point of view. You can still inject your personality and colour with accents and other elements.
White space is so important to make it as easy as possible for people to consume your content.
Top tip: Are you unsure what designs you like and which direction to go in? Why not create a secret Pinterest board named ‘branding’ or ‘design’. Then spend some time pinning the colours your like, textures, other designs that speak to you. You will have a bank of ideas to come back to and lots of great inspiration to help you create the perfect design for you.
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No monetisation in place
If you lack clarity you might not be confident in what you can offer potential collaborators. So you will not pursue opportunities or do anything to welcome them. Clarity brings with it greater confidence. Confidence to reach out to brands and pitch a partnership.
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No videos of you
Videos of you, even short chatty snippets show you to your audience. Video is a great way to show the real you to your audience and with this comes confidence and clarity. If you’re not clear, your audience will spot it a mile off on video.
I create YouTube videos and do a daily Facebook live show. I can because I have total clarity around what I do, how I serve my audience and the value I offer.
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There’s no evidence of networking.
Meeting people brings up questions about what you do. You could find yourself avoiding these situations. This is because the thought of trying to explain your blog’s purpose to a stranger is too stressful.
Leaving thorough comments on other people’s blogs and sharing other blogger’s work. Both of these actions are signs that you are gaining clarity. When you have clarity you know your value. So you can share the work of others without it feeling as if it’s going to take anything away from you.
SHORT ON TIME? WOULD AN AUDIO VERSION HELP? DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN WHILE YOU’RE ON THE GO!
BLOGGING CLARITY WORKBOOK
If you want to join my mailing list and get access to my epic Blogger’s Resource vault of cheatsheets and downloads (INCLUDING THE BLOGGING CLARITY WORKBOOK) as a welcome gift, you can do that here.
Do you have clarity? Not sure? Think you have some work to do? No worries, read on…
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Why did you start a blog?
Did you start your blog to make money? Is this important but you also have an underlying mission? Do you want to use your voice to raise awareness for a cause? Whatever this is, this is your ‘why’. You can have many aspects to your ‘why’ but you must be clear on them. For me I want my blog to earn money but I also want to help people turn their blogs into businesses. If I won the lottery tomorrow (I’d better start actually playing it!) I would still keep writing my blog as it is a passion and so much more than the money.
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What do your readers want from you?
What are you good at? What do your friends and family always ask you about? What do you do that you find easy, whereas others find it tricky? This is your superpower. Which you could develop into your niche, giving you clarity around your purpose.
Narrow niches mean less competition. Which means you will find it easier to become a leading expert and help your community find you. Never be too general. You will find yourself lost in a sea of other people and ALWAYS give tangible help and advice. What is actually going to help your readers. You need to get them from A to B so they will see a transformation.
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What are the core values for your blog?
What do you want to promise to your readers? You may choose to say that for every paid product you will always offer two free products to your community. Or you will use high quality imagery in you posts and you will only work with brands who are a good fit for your brands.
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What words sum up your blog’s brand?
Having brand words helps you stay on track. They can help you make design choices. Pick appropriate collaborators. Making sure you stay in alignment with your bigger picture, and so retaining your clarity. These words can be anything which you feel sums up your online space;
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Feminine
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Vibrant
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Strong
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Empowering
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Practical
Then you can check in with these words when you make choices and decisions, to make sure you stay ‘on brand’.
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What’s the gap?
What are other people doing in your niche? The content they are creating and the platform they are using? Could you take an idea and take it to the next level or do it on a different platform?
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Staying in my niche, which core topics will I cover?
Try not to spread yourself too thin. If you talk about too many topics you run the risk of distilling your message. Recognition as an authority will be harder to achieve too. So select 3-5 main topics within your niche that you will cover.
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Can you niche down in these core topics?
So if one of your core topics is days out. They could they all be affordable days out for families. This would help give your content cohesion and a stronger message.
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Names
A lot of you reading this will already have your blog name and you don’t want to change it. Your Domain Authority may have built up and you want to stick with it. This is exactly the situation I’m in. So I used my tagline to tell my potential readers more about what to expect. My tagline helped me to create more clarity around my brand.
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Which fonts fit with my brand?
Fonts affect the appearance of your website so much. So take great care when picking to get your selection right. Choose ones which give the right impression of you brand.
Top tip: Choose 1-3 fonts to use on your blog. It is fine if you want to use the same font all over, or you could have different fonts for headers, subheads and body copy.
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Which colours will I pick to represent my brand?
The colours you choose also represent your brand. Colours can be very evocative so make sure the colours you choose represent what you want them too. For example, blue is calming, red powerful, brown earthy and green nature. So make sure the one you choose is in alignment with the feel of your brand.
Top tip: It’s a good idea to pick 1 or 2 main colours and 1-3 accent colours. Coolors.co is a great place to find colour palettes.
BLOGGING CLARITY WORKBOOK
If you want to join my mailing list and get access to my epic Blogger’s Resource vault of cheatsheets and downloads (INCLUDING THE BLOGGING CLARITY WORKBOOK) as a welcome gift, you can do that here.
How to WRITE with clarity
Now you’ve got you blog looking exactly how you want it to. It’s projecting the right vibe to your prospective audience. Now it’s time to make sure the content matches your vision too.
Here are some tips on making sure you always write with clarity.
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Know what you want to say
This should go without saying. When you sit down to write you should know what you want to reader to walk away knowing at the end. What is the intention of your post? What is the lesson? Before you write anything you should know your subject, the point of the post and an outline of your main points.
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Know who your audience is
You wouldn’t write in the same way for a child, a teenager and an adult. You might not even write in the same way for a man and a women. Age also affects your writing. You might use more colloquiums if you are writing for a younger audience. The better you know your audience. The more chance you have of creating content that will resonate with them.
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Keep your sentences short.
Short sentences are easier to understand. They allow the reader to mentally process each nugget of information and move to the next. Full stops give a natural pause and so if you write huge run on sentences your reader has a lot to take in all in one go and your point can lose clarity, distilling your message. (see what I did there….!)
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Define unfamiliar words.
People feel disconnected from your writing if you use unusual words and not explain them. It’s so important to make sure people know what you’re talking about. Be clear and you will take them along with you as you make points through your post.
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Don’t use unnecessary long words.
Often writers will use long words to show they are knowledgable or educated. Yet, in most cases long words can contribute to a lack of clarity. Some people in your audience may not be familiar with that word and so for them the content is unclear. Always think ‘is there a clearer, less ambiguous way I can explain this to my audience’.
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Write one-sentence paragraphs.
A great way to up your clarity stakes if to use one-sentence paragraphs.
This makes your content scannable.
The white space around your content allows it to breathe and people respond by reading it all.
It is also a change to the norm so it disrupts in a good way.
And increases clarity.
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Be consistent.
Consistency gives your brand clarity. Think of high street stores and chain restaurants they have the same layout the same. So when people go into one of these shops you know exactly what you’re going to get. The clarity is there. People will return to your blog if you are predictable and they know that your content will serve them.
The key is to focus on delivering regular content in a consistent style.
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Use tools to help!
There are tools out there that can help you increase your writing clarity. Grammarly and Hemingway Editor are popular choices. These tools help you write in active voice, get rid of filler words and complicated words too.
Wow that was a big one! I hope this post has helped you develop more clarity around your blog and your writing. If you’re still struggling and feel you haven’t quite hit the nail on the head yet on your clarity. Keep going. Keep creating content and write every day (it doesn’t matter what!) keep going and your why will become clear.
You can definitely stand out in our online world by having clarity. Your clarity and confidence will help you rise above the noise. Which will make a big difference to your visibility online.
Do you have crystal clear blogging clarity? What helps you hone your blogging clarity?
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