Why Your Blog Posts Need A Recipe
This post is Day 11 in the 31 Days to a Super-Purposeful Schedule series.
Sorry to disappoint you right away but this post is not about food. But on the bright side, we'll cover cooking and meals tomorrow. So hopefully you can hang on till then. (Don't get #hangry on me. Haha.)
Today's advice is especially for bloggers and content creators. So if you're 100% sure that you will never write a blog post, an article, a book or create content for speaking, podcasts, and video, you are totally off the hook for today.
Alright content creators, I'm lookin' at you. (And in the mirror because I need this for myself.)
We’ve all been there.
What started out as an amazing post idea to help your audience is morphing into a time suck. A couple hours in, the following thoughts might go through your head... "What am I even saying? Is anyone actually going to care about this?"
It’s getting a little bit wordy, but you can’t seem to figure out where to cut it off since you have so much more to say. You’ve revamped it a few times, but you’re still not sure which point to emphasize. You think there's a good chance your readers will probably just read it and forget it, making these hours you’ve spent all for nothing.
Obviously not every post can be a home run. But if this happens to you often and you KNOW your posts are taking way too long to prepare, there's a chance you need a secret recipe.
A blog recipe helps you get it right every time without spending extra time to get it right.
We use recipes, formulas, or outlines in other areas of life for a reason. We're more prepared when we have all of our key ingredients on the table. These helps us save time and find the perfect solution without all of the revamps.
(Photo by Rachel Wakefield)
My Go-To Blog Recipe
To ensure you give it a try, I'm going to share my super easy blog recipe to batch process all of my posts. It goes like this: Why + What + Steps + Call-To-Action. (I put it together after watching this video on great communication.)
1// WHAT is the one thing they need to know?
This is the BIGGEST reason you thought this post was a good idea for your audience in the first place. If they don't remember anything but this one point, you've done your job. In fact, you can’t wait to get this off your chest because it just might turn their life around or give them massive success. If you're good with phrases, make it a one-liner that's extra memorable. (Last note - If there's more than one main WHAT to your post, it's going to be too long and easier to forget. If you need to say more, create a series.)
2// WHY do they need to know it?
You'll notice I actually put the WHY before the WHAT in my posts because it creates that drive to keep reading for the solution. It's also a bit of reassurance that they're going to actually care about the rest of the post. This is where you could list out any problems they might be having or things they might be missing out on because they don't know about your one thing. This will be your intro.
3// What do they need to do?
What are the STEPS for them to apply that one thing? How can they make your post relevant to their lives in action? If it's not actionable or something they can relate to then maybe you need to go back to WHY. Even if it's not a how-to post, you're probably sharing something of value your audience will want to imitate. So tell them how to do it.
4// Give them a call to action.
To wrap it all up, give them a CTA or homework assignment. Not just for the extra step but to remind them why they should want to do this. Paint a picture of what life could be like if everyone got this one point right. And if you're able, give them a visual project or freebie to help them remember. When they see it, they'll think, "Oh yeah, I need to be doing ______."
(Photo by Rachel Wakefield)
Do your audience a favor.
We have so much overwhelm in our lives. There’s an enormous amount of content coming at us from all directions. So we have the responsibility to make our content super helpful to our readers.
Think of your all-time favorite content creators and why you return to their sites again and again. There’s a good chance you do that because you trust them to make it worth your while. Their memorable content makes you want to take action or be different.
We need to do the same favor for our audiences. Let's give them something worth doing and if it’s possible, a way to remember. What project or freebie can you offer to help them take it one step further? If you have your recipe in hand, there's a good chance you'll get it right every time and they won't be able to forget.
Today's Action Step:
Create your own blog recipe (or use mine). Schedule times to try batch processing all your posts for the week using this one recipe. You can download Part 2 of the workbook to help you work through some of the finer details. (*Note: if you're already subscribed and are having trouble accessing this page, email me for a refresher on the password. xo)
