WHAT MADE ME DECIDE I NEEDED A BLOG MAKEOVER
Our newest Blog Squad client, Annie Dennison sent us this email today...
It’s like that restaurant scene from the movie, “When Harry Met Sally.” You know the one. After Sally loudly demonstrates to Harry how well women can “fake,” the female customer at the next table says to the serving person, I“ll have whatever she’s having!”
So after months of drooling over the well-written, informative, seductive blogs of others, I wanted what they had. Call it a case of Blog Envy.
The blog I had excitedly launched as an adjunct to my commercial site (www.smartatlove.com) quickly fizzled and became, well, a real anti-climax. My interest was waning. I was struggling to post entries. Very little traffic was coming to the blog, and a part of me was okay with that. After all, I knew my blog wasn't sizzling, and I didn’t want too many witnesses.
Plus, over the last year, I’d been spending way too much time reading Internet marketing e-zines and books. The shared message across all these sources was: Your Internet marketing campaign NEEDS a blog. It took a while to convince me, but I finally got the message.
From looking at other peoples’ blogs, I also knew that mine wasn’t going to sizzle unless I changed its look, got a clearer focus on content, and incorporated the newest, coolest blog technologies. That seemed like an extreme makeover to me, and one I couldn’t handle on my own. That’s why I called in the Blog Squad.
WITH THE HELP OF THE BLOG SQUAD, MY GOAL IS TO RE-CREATE, AND THEN ENERGETICALLY MAINTAIN, A BLOG THAT:
-Builds credibility, trust, and relationships with a loyal following of readers
-Reinforces my personal branding as the Smart at Love authority who teaches women how to bring their smarts to matters of the heart
-Creates an appetite for my e-books and writing in general
-Provides the platform for the nationally-syndicated love life advice column and Amazon bestseller love life advice book for women I want to write
-Attracts clients to my singles coaching business, Smart at Love
-Helps me rebel against years of training in dry, academic writing
-Allows me to network with a blogging community of bright, innovative people
-Takes me into the 21st Century of Internet technology
-Makes good use of the numerous love life mistakes I made before getting happily-married at age 40
-Cures my case of Blog Envy
-Proves that a psychologist can have a sense of humor
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE PROCESS SO FAR:
If you’ve ever watched one of those extreme makeover shows on TV, you know that the person undergoing the makeover invites the change, but is nervous about what she’ll have to do to accomplish that.
On the fashion makeover show, “What Not to Wear,” the terrified woman is pushed in front of a 360-degree, “Mirror of Shame,” in her most unflattering outfit. She then has to confront her figure flaws publicly. The two fashionistas stand by, watching this public humiliation, pointing out every unavoidable truth conveyed by the mirror.
Heading into that first coaching phone call with Patsi and Denise, I wondered if I might feel like that poor woman in the unflattering outfit. As it turns out, I’d allowed my imagination to run away with me.
Patsi and Denise “ the Blog Squad” aren’t only smart about blogging. In their writing and on the phone, they inform in an effective and respectful way. During our first phone call, they gently shared their observations about my blog, asked intelligent questions, listened to my answers, and brainstormed before sending me off with reasonable, concrete goals to accomplish.
That's why I hung up after the phone call with Patsi and Denise, thinking, “Hey, I can do this!”
Since that first coaching phone call, they also have responded to my email questions in a timely and useful way. Plus, the e-book ("Build a Better Blog") that comes along with the blog makeover package is an incredible resource.
The bottom line is that I’m feeling re-energized about blogging, more focused, and I’m looking forward to the remainder of the month in this makeover process. At the end of that month, I’m confident that I’ll know how to make my blog sizzle “ and I’ll proudly display that Blog Squad seal of approval!
