THE PLAN Gain clarity, focus and momentum to attract your ideal clients online Linda Dessau Wellness Blogging Expert Content Mastery Guide
Congratulations on taking the step to download this workbook and create a plan for your wellness blog. This is a vital step in achieving online marketing success and attracting the clients you were meant to help. If you don t have clarity about your blogging topics, why your blog exists, and how you will be using it, then: You will fail to make a meaningful connection with the ideal clients who are online right now looking for you Those ideal clients will not get the help they need Your business will stay small and you will continue to struggle You will inevitably abandon your blog out of frustration, wasting all of the time, effort, energy and money you have already invested I m Linda Dessau of Content Mastery Guide, and I ve been guiding people through their online writing challenges since 2005. For some, I take the process off their hands with my done-for-you services. For others, I help them build more confidence and competence with my training and editing packages. With the easy-to-use guide that s in front of you, you ll create a blogging plan that fits your health and wellness business, your clients, your topics, and your schedule. Through this process, you ll: Identify and clarify your wellness business s specific blogging goals Gain insights from other wellness blogs Choose relevant categories that will help you and your readers Find 10 title ideas that will generate countless blog post ideas Discover my mix-and-match content options to fuel your blog all month long Plan precisely how and when to fit blogging into your busy schedule Learn a re-usable method for planning several months of blog posts at once A blogging plan will give you and your blog posts more focus, and will keep you on track posting content month after month, more easily than you ever dreamed. Best yet, this well-planned content will cement your credibility as an expert, and attract the ideal clients for your health and wellness business. Sound good? Let s get started! 2 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com
STEP ONE: DEFINE YOUR BLOGGING GOALS Why does your blog exist? Not knowing will cloud the process and make every post a struggle to write. Worst of all, your unfocused efforts will fail to connect with the people who need you. Benefits of blogging Demonstrate your expertise in a specific industry or specialty Educate/motivate/inform your audience Add value to what you offer your clients and broader network Gain wider exposure for your business Develop a trusting, long-term relationship with clients, prospective clients and colleagues/referral partners Keep your website fresh and attractive to readers and search engines Of course you want all of those things, but what are your SPECIFIC blogging goals? Rank your goals in priority order : Gain new clients? How many? : Build subscriber list? How many? : Increase social media contacts? How many? : Increase media appearances? How many? : Gain speaking opportunities? How many? : Sell books or classes? How many? : Create content for a book, learning curriculum, report or other item details? 3 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com
Blogging goals in action Find 4-5 blogs from your industry and browse through them. 1. What are your impressions of these blogs? What did you like/not like? 2. Which goals from the lists on Page One did you see in action on these blogs? 3. What ideas did you take away for your own blog? 4 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com
STEP TWO: CHOOSE YOUR CATEGORIES Planning your blog categories before you write helps you organize your writing and stay on track, so you can achieve the consistency that will attract long-term readers and grow those relationships into sales. 1. Who are your ideal customers and ideal blog readers? 2. How will reading your blog posts help these people improve their lives or businesses? 3. What are the most pressing problems that your ideal clients deal with? 4. What are some broader themes related to those topics? Choose 5-7 categories for your blog. Consider topics that are broad enough to give you some variety and options, but specific enough that they'll be relevant to the exact people who are your ideal clients. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 5 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com
STEP THREE: PLAN YOUR POSTS Center your blog around feature articles that answer key questions, reinforce your areas of expertise, and highlight your knowledge and experience. Feature articles Here are some feature article ideas that are all based on the popular Top 10 list format. Any of these titles could work with lists of 3, 5, 7, or another number. If you want to teach your readers how to do something new or do something better/in a new way, you can offer: Top 10 Ways to Top 10 Steps to If you want to provide motivation or justification to take action, try: Top 10 Reasons Why Top 10 Benefits of Top 10 Mistakes You May Be Making When You If you want to enlighten your readers with more insight into a problem and its impact on their lives, you can provide: Top 10 Signs That You Top 10 Clues That Top 10 Symptoms of If you want to enhance your readers' knowledge or understanding about a topic that is important to them, you can offer: Top 10 Rules of Top 10 Myths About 6 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com
Other types of posts You don't have to write a feature article every week in order to keep your blog fresh. In fact, you can write as little as ONE feature article per month and still post several times a month or even weekly! On the other weeks, you can write shorter posts, create content in other mediums such as audio, video, charts or graphics, or use other people s content as a jumping off point. What types of content will be easiest for you and most valuable for your ideal clients? Live video Behind-the-scenes tour Video "how to" live demonstration Video "how to" screen shots with spoken instructions and/or onscreen notes Book review Product review Interview with an industry expert (video) Interview with an industry expert (audio) Interview with an industry expert (written/transcribed) Personal story combined with a useful lesson for your clients Curated collection of relevant videos from YouTube Curated collection of relevant blog posts Twitter chat highlights or Facebook posts Curated collection of industry or world news that will impact your clients Infographic about a theory or method Research or statistics that reinforce the message of your feature article A more in-depth explanation of points from your Top 10 (3, 5 or 7) article Guest blog post from an expert in a related area Remember: You only need three of these each month to be a weekly blogger! 7 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com
STEP FOUR: GET YOUR BLOGGING DONE What gets scheduled gets done, so if you want to publish blog posts, you must plan for how and when that s going to happen. 1. What times of day are you most productive with these specific tasks: a. Brainstorming and creative thinking: b. Drafting and jotting down ideas: c. Writing, editing and polishing your work: d. Adding finishing touches, links and photos: e. Social networking and sharing content: 2. When will you set aside the time for these tasks each day/week? a. Brainstorming and creative thinking: b. Drafting and jotting down ideas: c. Writing, editing and polishing your work: d. Adding finishing touches, links and photos: e. Social networking and sharing content: 3. Which tasks are you going to give up in order to take this time? 4. Who will support you with your blogging? To whom can you delegate some or all of these blogging tasks? 5. When would you like to publish your blog posts each week (Monday, Tuesday...)? 6. When do you need to complete each part of the process in order to make that happen? Note: If you are using an editor or another support person, you must coordinate with them to factor in their schedule. 8 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com
Editorial Schedule Now let s put it all together and your posts for the month. If you re brand new, or very concerned about time, aim for just two posts per month one feature article and one other type of post. Aim to balance between all of the categories over time, so that each one always has some fresh content. If a posts fits into more than one category, choose the main one. Category of the month (choose from page 5) Feature article (choose from page 6) Other types of posts (choose from page 7) 1) 2) MONTH 1 3) 4) 1) 2) MONTH 2 3) 4) 1) 2) MONTH 3 3) 4) 1) 2) MONTH 4 3) 4) 9 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com
STEP ONE: DEFINE YOUR BLOGGING GOALS Why does your blog exist? Not knowing will cloud the process and make every post a struggle to write. Worst of all, your unfocused efforts will fail to connect with the people who need you. STEP TWO: CHOOSE YOUR CATEGORIES Planning your blog categories before you write helps you organize your writing and stay on track, so you can achieve the consistency that will attract long-term readers and grow those relationships into sales. STEP THREE: PLAN YOUR POSTS Center your blog around feature articles that answer key questions, reinforce your areas of expertise, and highlight your knowledge and experience. STEP FOUR: GET YOUR BLOGGING DONE What gets scheduled gets done, so if you want to publish blog posts, you must plan for how and when that s going to happen. 10 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com
Looking for some built-in accountability for your blogging? How about the confidence of knowing your writing is effective and error-free? Contact me today about my monthly blog editing packages. I love how you always trim out the sh*t and get to the heart of what my higher self wants to say. If I had only myself to be accountable to, writing wouldn t happen at the same volume or at all. - Maripat Abbott, yoga teacher and wellness coach "Linda has been a constant support in my blogging efforts over the years, from helping me clean up my blog for ease of use, to editing my long essays into readable, consumable blog posts for my patients. Thank you Linda!" - Dr. Kerri Fullerton, naturopath 11 Linda Dessau, 2017 www.contentmasteryguide.com