Let's build that writing confidence
Hello,
My next Blog Confidence course starts next week (Thursday 7 September) and half the spaces are booked. If you’ve been thinking about joining, now is your chance. I’ll be sending out an email tomorrow with all the many reasons you should learn blogging (and wider writing) skills. And why you should definitely learn with me.
This is from Vicky, who did the most recent course:
Now, it is the last time I’ll be running the course this year. So if you’ve been contemplating it, you’ve got a week to decide. Find out the full details here.
Oh and no, you don’t need to complete eight blogs for review in eight weeks. This is the question I get asked the most ;-)
I know you have a life and other things to be getting on with. I’ll review your blogs at any time, no matter how long after you’ve finished the live classes.
A couple of my previous clients will attest that I send out friendly reminders if you don’t use them all up as well.
And you get a 1-1 with me. One of the last cohorts is using this to sort out their content strategy (which is pretty smart as this kind of thing can be about the same price as the course).
Right, enough of that and let’s get onto a few ways you can build confidence in your writing.
Let's build that writing confidence
Over the past year, there’s been a shift in both my business and in me. I’ve done things I didn’t even think were possible when I started out. Maybe it’s getting older and that whole “not giving a shit” thing has kicked in but I also know that working on my confidence has become a rocket up the arse of achieving stuff that normally lives in the realms of daydreams.
Confidence is everything. Not faking it until you make it - a rock-solid belief in your skills and abilities because you can see the evidence.
When you’re having a wobble (and wobbles are normal), you’re subconsciously letting people around you know that you don’t really believe in the thing you’re saying or selling. It’s probably best to sort the wobble first and then put yourself out there. You’ll get better results for it.
Writing is personal
Those of us lucky enough to write for a living don’t have as many emotional ties to what we do because it’s a job. But for the founders - or the marketing execs who are starting out with their first few blogs - writing can be terrifying. Putting your writing out into the world can be absolutely nerve-wracking because you’re emotionally attached to it. It’s like putting out a little piece of yourself.
But how do you build up that confidence when you’re not sure that what you’re doing it right in the first place?
1. Start by writing for yourself
It might seem simple but the best way to get more blogging confidence is to write all the time. The more you write, the easier it will be. The good news is that you’re already writing every day. You send emails, text messages, and social media posts. All of this is writing and it all helps build your confidence.
If you need an extra boost, start with a daily journal. The benefits of journalling are proven. It can help reduce stress, improve your immune system and reduce anxiety. Plus, when you’re writing, it’s just for you. No one else. So you don’t need to worry about what others might think of your words.
This is a great way to warm up before getting into any kind of writing. You’re telling your brain that it needs to get into writing mode but without all the pressure of making it think about what to say next. You’ve already done that when you’re doing the free writing in your journal.
Whether you do a single line, paragraph or page, every time you sit down and write, the process of writing itself becomes more normalised. Then there is less pressure on making writing a performance.
If you do it every day, it becomes a natural part of your life. Writing for an audience is simply taking it to the next step.
In fact, you could always start an anonymous blog first before launching your business blog to get used to publishing work in the wider world. Sometimes, having a bit of a passion project can be really inspiring and bring lots of new skills into a business.
2. Read lots of blogs and analyse them
One of the best ways to get more confidence in writing is to read. Reading often is like a bit of magic. You’re soaking up what works because a piece of writing has captured your attention long enough to sit and read it.
Now, the real benefit here is when you’ve found yourself reading something - even if it’s the side of a plant milk carton - to ask yourself what made you want to read it in the first place. What hooked you in? What does that headline or first sentence look like?
And then how did it get you to keep on reading? Especially if you read all the way to the bottom without getting distracted or bored. If you make a note of this every time you get sucked into some text, you’ll soon have a nice guide on how to make your writing more effective.
It’s easy to read a wonderful article or website and think: “I could never do that so I probably shouldn’t try”. I promise you that the person who did write that copy didn’t wake up one morning with some expert writing superpower.
They will no doubt have a back catalogue of copy that makes them cringe and will never see the light of day again. All they’ve done is keep going, honing and improving their craft through a system of writing and reading.
3. Start with what you know
A blog has to do a lot of hard work: attract someone to your site in the first place, build trust, sell a product without explicitly selling a product, and get someone to spend time reading and take another action as a result of that reading.
It’s no wonder that starting a blog can feel overwhelming and result in a spot of writer’s block. Do you start with the SEO? Or explain part of the problem? Maybe you write about how your product is so flipping life-changing but then all the thoughts get jumbled up in your head that nothing comes out in a coherent order.
Instead, start with what you know. Let’s say that’s how your product works. Lots of businesses don’t write any content on how their product actually works. And that’s a shame because usually, we have three questions:
What is this?
What does it do?
And how much is it?
We might get to a website because we’ve looked for the answer to a question, but when we get there, we’re pretty impatient and just want a quick answer to one of those questions.
Let’s say you make some lovely herbal tea. You know that your tea has a unique drying process that maintains more flavour and that your customers can get more than one mug from the same bag.
You’ve probably put a lot of love and passion into creating your tea. You know loads about it and why this method is better than anything else out there.
Make that into a blog.
That thing you’re passionate about, the reason you started your business or do your work, that’s the seed from which your blogs should grow. Your curiosity and enthusiasm will shine through.
Of course, you’ll need to consider why your reader should care about this but for now, pop that to one side. You don’t want to overthink it, you just need to write.
4. Get some support
Okay, most of our writing is to market a business. So you can’t only write about what you fancy. You also need to answer potential customer questions and consider how you might appear in their world.
If this side of things feels overwhelming, then get some help.
Having someone look over your work and highlight where you might be missing wonderful opportunities is a good start. Asking questions of your customers and talking to the sales team (if you have one) is another.
Finally, if you’re confidence is still struggling, get help with that. I promise that it won’t just change how you feel about writing, it will change your outlook on everything.
5. Get the right kind of feedback
Let’s say you don’t fancy support or don’t have the capacity for it. In this case, get someone to give you feedback on your blogs.
It’s really tempting to get a friend, partner or your mum to have a read-through and tell you what they think.
But these people love you and unless they are:
a. Trained to give proper feedback
b. Your target audience or
c. Have a background in marketing, you’re not going to get what you need to build your blog confidence and write kick-ass blogs.
Instead, you need a trusted person who will give you helpful feedback without just saying everything looks great. Ideally, this should be a trained professional but if you don’t have that budget, get someone who is either likely to buy your product or works in marketing to have a read-through.
They will give you feedback that you can use. As with writing lots, the more you do this the easier it will get. Then before you know it, you’re happily taking on feedback and writing better blogs. And your confidence gets a boost because you can see where you’re going to write as much as where you need to give it another go.
6. Use the tools available to you
One of the main worries I hear founders talk about is the structure of the blog and grammar. You can use tools like Hemingway and Grammarly to help you with your writing. There is nothing wrong with getting AI tools to create that first draft for you either. Just remember these are tools to support you and nothing will create a blog quite like one that is written from the heart.
Making use of writing tools can really help you formulate and improve your ideas. It’s daft to struggle alone when you have some help you can call on. It is simple blog tips and tricks like using tools that are sometimes overlooked.
7. Close your eyes and hit publish
Finally, the hardest part of writing any blog is setting it free into the world. Like ripping off a plaster, it’s best to just get it done. Remember, you can always come back and edit it later.
And I recommend that’s what you do. Publish your blog, come back and improve it. Add some bits and tidy up the language. You’ll find that this way your blog writing process is much faster, less overwhelming and gives you a better end blog in the long run.
If you look back at early blogs and cringe, then simply archive them or rewrite them. As I said before, the more you write, the better your work will be so it makes sense that your blogs from a year or two ago are not as great as the one you wrote last week.
Blogs aren’t permanent. You can update them as often as you want. And you don’t need permission to do so.
Let’s build confidence
Having confidence is most of the hard work for lots of things in life, not least writing a blog for your business. Being at a point where you can write, edit and publish without feeling anxious is essential to any founder who needs to write their own content.
Often this is a stopgap until you have the funds to hire a professional writer but to make the sales to create those funds, blogging is a part of the process. Getting that confidence in what you write is therefore crucial to building up your business.
Blog Confidence
If you want to build up confidence in your writing and learn all the theories behind what makes a good blog (hint: much of this also makes good writing in general), then check out the Blog Confidence course.
Live group classes, a free 1-1 and eight blogs reviewed with a full feedback video to help you feel good about writing.
I am now counting the hours until my children return to the free childcare that is school. It’s been a long but fun six weeks but I’m craving routine again.
See you next Thursday!
Fiona