Good Day, Class!

Today we have the privilege of having a substitute teacher (guest writer) who is not only a blogger, but who is a spiritual coach, as well.

Please join me in welcoming Akemi Gaines of Yes To Me to the Blogging Without A Blog “classroom”.

Welcome, Akemi.


Hello, class.

(Is this a déjà vu?  Oh, I WAS a teacher before . . .)

It’s my honor to be here. Thank you, Barbara.

Please take your seats.

Let’s get started.

In marketing, understanding the difference between features vs. benefits is critical.

With a blog, features include the topics, style, visuals of the posts as well as the blogger’s expertise, background and personality.

But the question is: What are the benefits of reading your blog?

Today’s Lesson

For a long time, I thought I was blogging well because I could write clearly and convey my message. I also presented my posts with beautiful photos and spent time and money for my designer theme. (And . . . I am an entrepreneur as spiritual coach, so I have expertise in what I have to say on my blog.)

I was wrong.

A good blog is a blog that says what benefits it delivers and actually delivers them.

All the nice features matter only after the benefits are there.

Case Studies:

The benefit of reading this blog is clear. You learn how to improve your blog. The structure of each post (Introduction – Today’s Lesson – Today’s Assignments) clearly supports this benefit.

The benefit of reading Copyblogger is clear. You learn how to write good copy for your blog. Brian uses the name of his blog itself to neatly express the benefit.

The benefit of reading this post by Steve Pavlina is clear. “How to Make Lots of Money During a Recession” The title says it, and he supports it further in the first paragraph.

If you want to market your blog to larger audience, you need to present the benefits clearly. You may have the good intention to help others, but that intention needs to crystallize as focused benefits

You can do this by plainly pointing out the value it delivers or by asking well-designed questions. (Exception to this rule can be when the benefit is about entertainment rather than specific information.)

This is a rather new epiphany for me, too, and I’m diligently working to implement it on my own blog.

Your questions and comments can help me and other readers learn further.

Today’s Assignment

Review your blog.

• Is the benefit of subscribing to your blog obvious even to the first-time visitors?

• Is the benefit of reading your post clearly stated in the first paragraph of each post?

Go ahead, speak up! I’m excited to hear your input.

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Akemi Gaines is the spiritual coach at Yes to Me – Spiritual Healing and Growth for Greater Success. She is starting a new program to help you develop intuition. You can subscribe to her blog here.

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Photo Credit: Annie Mole

It’s amazing how much information we can find online.

A lot of the data is helpful and accurate.

But what about that which exaggerates the facts, borders on being gossip, or is information the person being written about isn’t aware of – yet?

Today’s Lesson

Whether in blogs, Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace or other social networking sites, we often see stories of spouses, significant others, exes, employers, employees, parents, friends and/or children. Granted, the names are sometimes obscured, but anyone who knows anything about the author, knows whom they’re talking about.

Ann of Vintage Mommy realized how writing about her daughter’s adoption could have repercussions, wrote a post titled “It’s Not My Story To Tell” and changed the direction of her blog. As she put it,

My decision not to tell the whole story here was sealed when a couple of moms from Vintage Girl’s classroom recently found me on Twitter. Suddenly it felt very inappropriate that they could read her story online, perhaps learning things about her adoption that even she doesn’t know yet.

When I announced I was blogging, an important person in my life told me they didn’t want to be written about online. Others in my life never voiced a preference, nor did I ask.

When I think back to what I’ve written thus far, I can’t think of anything I’ve said that could be detrimental to others, but I do realize it would be easy to do. As I’m typing my posts or leaving comments, I’m often reminded of incidents that happened to others I could use an example. Although the stories may be inspiration for a post/comment, I also know I need to carefully pick my words so as not to incriminate, verbally hurt or embarrass another person.

When we share information online, the whole world has access to it. Assuming others can’t figure out whom we’re talking about is foolish thinking.

Knowing where and when to draw the line shows we’re blogging responsibly.

Today’s Assignment

When you share a story online, do you assume “they” will never see the article?

Do you assume others won’t figure out whom you’re talking about?

Have you ever written a story about another person only to regret it later?

If so, what did you do? Delete the post? Reword it? Leave it as is?

Knowing how easy it is for others to figure out whom we’re writing about, feel free to share how you deal with including stories of others, including minor children.

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Photo Credit:WalkingGeek