A lot of brands do it and it seems to work.

Influencerscan be a very profitable way to promote your product or service.

The socials are their element, they are used to public exposure and have cultivated a close relationship with their followers over a period of time.

These factors don’t necessarily apply to you as the mind behind your brand. Remember, you don’t have to do it all yourself.

Letting influencersuse their power of appeal to advertise your brand can be a very smart strategy.

But as every time you consider investing in a new advertising medium, you need to take several factors into account to ensure that your investment pays off.

Many brands have done it really well and without investing lots of money; but for that you need first a good strategy, and that’s what I’m going to explain here.

Shall we start?

Choose your influencers wisely so your campaign makes sense.

Influencers are now also called “content creators”, because that’s what they do.

They create content that entertains, informs and engages their followers.

Some people don’t value this type of activity but the reality is that creating consistent, quality content is a full-time job.

Whether we like it or not, this type of character has gained unparalleled prominence and you as a business owner that wants to grow can gain a lot by working with them.

The key is to know how to choose the right content creator for you and the type of content you want them to produce.

There are several factors to consider when researching which content creators you’d like to collaborate with:

• Type of content: their content is in line with your brand and what you sell.
• Demographic group: the profile of your buyer persona matches that of their followers. This applies not only to age and economic level, but also to tastes and interests.  
• Brand image: their communication style matches your brand values and personality.
• Engagement: there’s genuine interaction with your followers, rather than just lots of likes, which could be from fake accounts..
• Frequency of publication: Do they publish often? Or only occasionally?

How many followers should the influencer have?

There’s a common misconception that the more followers an influencer has, the more profitable their campaigns will be.

This is not always the case.

Before explaining why, let’s first look at the different types of influencer based on their number of followers.

1. Macro influencers

They’re basically celebrities. We’re talking about influencers who have amassed between 100,000 and one million followers.

They’re content creators who appear in mainstream media and run campaigns for well-known brands, which are the only ones that can afford their fees. They’re often known to the general public because they are talked about outside their own communities of followers.

• Micro influencers

These are content creators with between 5,000 and 100,000 followers. While they may not have celebrity status, they are considered celebrities within their community.

They are often authorities in their field (fashion, marketing, entertainment, etc.), but are not well-known to the general public. They can charge affordable fees for promotional campaigns.

• Nano influencers

These are content creators with up to 1000 followers. These influencers often have higher engagement than macro influencers because they are more real and feel closer to their followers.

This is why nano-influencers can be very profitable.

Their followers trust them and when they recommend a product or a service, they throw themselves into the campaign, taking great care of their audience.

As creating content isn’t their day job, they can run campaigns in exchange for products or very affordable fees.

How to work with and how to pay influencers?

Content creators want to develop long-term relationships with brands, rather than just earning 200 euros here and there.

The more you involve them as partners in a campaign or initiative, the better. Greater collaboration has advantages for both parties and can be more cost-effective for your brand.

You can work with content creators to cover events, test products, collaborate on promotions or create discount codes.

Alternatively, you can run campaigns to promote each other through temporary actions, such as managing each other’s Instagram accounts for a while.

In the latter two cases, remuneration is not necessarily required; it all depends on the conditions negotiated with the influencer.

Influencers will often be willing to collaborate in exchange for free products or to gain more visibility, particularly if your socials have a considerable number of followers.

Your influencers may ask for any of these different forms of payment:

• by CPA (cost per action) – every time a person performs a certain action, be it a purchase, or hitting the subscribe button.
• by CPC (cost per click) or traffic – the number of people who click on the link that leads to the page you want to reach
• fixed price – regardless of clicks or conversions, you are charged a fixed price per post, reel or story.

Make sure that the price you pay makes sense for the type of campaign you want to run and that it is within your budget.

For example, if what you are doing is a brand awareness campaign, it makes more sense to pay them a fixed price per publication, or depending on the traffic they bring to your website.

Analyse the profitability of your influencer campaigns

Make sure their fees make sense for your strategy and that the investment pays off. On most platforms like Instagram or TikTok you can analyse the number of clicks and engagement on your posts.

Analyse periodically whether your investment in influencer marketing is paying off in the short, medium or long term.

You can ask influencers for such reports, or collaborate with them to see these reports directly in your Instagram or TikTok account.

Instagram collaborations work like this:

1. Before sharing a post, tap the ‘Tag people’ option.

2. Click on ‘Invite collaborator’.

3. Find the account you want to add and click on its name.

4. Tap ‘Done’ to confirm.

Oversee the entire process

To ensure that your influencer campaigns align with your brand and objectives, maintain clear communication and agree on every detail of their publications.

While it is important to give them freedom as they are the experts in content creation, if you feel that something is not right, you have the right and the obligation to discuss it — after all, it is your brand image.

This is why it is so important to work with influencers who share your vision and whom you trust to represent your brand.

You should agree in advance:

1. Number of publications
2. Format
3. Date of publication
4. Proposed content (text, location, visuals, duration)
5. Price and method of payment

Where the influencer makes the video or takes the photo is very important. The background can either enhance or ruin a post.

Use a ghostwriter

While there are influencers who are very good with images, such as those specialising in fashion, beauty products and travel, many of them struggle with words.

As we know, the message is as important as the image. If you’re working with influencers who struggle with words, hire a ghostwriter to write the post texts and video scripts.

You’d be surprised at how many famous influencers don’t write their own content, even though they give the impression that they do.

The aim is to make it seem as if what they say has occurred to them.

A ghostwriter adapts to the influencer’s personality and their audience to determine the type of content that will generate the most engagement.

Many copywriters write for influencers and celebrities behind the scenes — I do it too; it’s common in our profession.

Where to start

Finding the right influencers to collaborate with can be time-consuming.

You have to search and compare, and make sure that the audience is real and not bots.

This is where platforms that simplify the process of finding the ideal content creators for your brand come in.

One such platform is Upfluence, which uses software that indexes and updates influencers’ profiles in real time, analysing all their content to determine their reach and level of interaction.

Its Live Capture tool finds the best influencers for your brand.

Another such platform is Later.

A different alternative: Organic ads – what are they?

They are going viral with well-known brands such as North Face.

Organic ads are ads created by real customers.

Brands find customers who are already fans and encourage them to create a post recommending the brand’s products.

They don’t have to be professional publications with expensive effects or graphic design; the simpler, the better.

The truth is that we are all a little overwhelmed by the constant stream of beautiful and seemingly perfect influencers.

That’s why organic ads from ordinary people work: they’re honest and relatable.

So go out there, find creators who are authentic and share your vision, and let them be themselves!

In most cases, B2B sales take a little longer because there is no impulse buying as there is with consumer products such as clothes or gadgets.

B2B sales involve a more rational choice, taking into account various factors such as functionality, price or a company’s reputation.

Different offers are usually compared and a decision is made in a face-to-face or online meeting.

But in order to get to that meeting, you must first attract the interest of the person or persons who will make the decision to hire your service or buy your product.

And to capture the interest of your target audience, there is nothing better than content marketing.

While in the case of consumer products, advertising on platforms like Instagram or TikTok and influencer marketing work best, in the case of B2B, content and media are very different.

And that is what we are going to look at here.

Stay with me for a few minutes if you want to learn what content you need to create for your B2B business.

First step: educate and inform

Owning a business or running a department means having a lot of knowledge in different areas, and this can lead to feeling overwhelmed by all the information that is out there.

In addition, the speed at which technology is advancing forces business owners and managers to keep abreast of technological developments in their industries.

So one of your goals when creating valuable content for your B2B audience is to provide them with the information they need to be up to date, chewed and digestible.

There is nothing people value more than content that helps them quickly understand complex issues that they need to do their jobs.

Your target audience spends at least an hour a day consuming content related to their industry that provides them with valuable insights for their work.

Having a blog with informative articles is a very powerful weapon when it comes to making your brand known to your potential customers.

A well-written and well-researched blog will keep people reading, and the longer people stay on your website the higher up Google will place it on the results page.

Recommended reading How to increase organic traffic to your website

As well as raising awareness of your brand, you have the opportunity to educate your target audience about your solution.

Your prospects may not even know that a solution like yours exists for their problem, and when they read about it, they may realise that they need your solution.

But maybe they didn’t even know they had a problem!

Therefore, you need to know what stage of awareness your target audience is at and write a variety of articles targeting each stage.

For example, if your prospect has not identified a problem or need, talk to them about the consequences of that problem and the benefits of meeting that need.

Let me give you a real-life example.

I write content for a global pest control company.

It’s called Anticimex and it’s the first company in its sector to develop pest control solutions that minimize the use of toxic substances that harm the environment.

Most organisations today are very aware of the importance of sustainability in their operations, not only because customers demand it, but also because of increasingly stringent legislation.

Many companies are unaware that there is such a thing as “Integrated Pest Management” (IPM), which is a way of effectively managing pests by maximising new technologies to minimise the use of toxic substances.

For Anticimex I’m creating assets like eBooks, customer stories, LinkedIn posts and blog articles that talk about the existence of this system and the advantages of applying it, not only to protect the environment, but also to avoid loss of materials, product contamination or loss of reputation, which has an enormous economic impact.

In short, we are educating and informing our target audience about the options available when it comes to pest control, which is a huge and growing problem for many, many companies.

But not only can you provide information in the form of articles or e-books, you can also create videos.

Ann Hadley is the mind behind Marketing Profs, one of the longest running and most experienced B2B marketing platforms.

These are the findings of a recent study into the best formats for sharing B2B content.

So concentrate mainly on these 4 formats.

In the next point, we will focus on customer success stories, as these are the ones that will really help you differentiate your company.

Step 2: Differentiate

As well as informing and educating, you need to be able to differentiate your solution.

Once your prospects are aware that they have a problem and need a solution, they will compare several options before choosing one, so it’s at this point that you need to give them compelling reasons to choose your solution.

And a great way to demonstrate that your solution works is to create customer success stories.

You can create them in video or slideshow format.

The most important thing is the content, which needs to convey the transformation your client has experienced by working with you.

The structure is always the same and is very similar to those used in film scripts:

• Situation – who the customer is (sometimes you may not be able to mention the name, but you can mention their industry and size. “A pharmaceutical company with 5,000 employees“).
• Problem – Describe the problem they had in their own words. Don’t forget to mention if worked with other companies and they couldn’t help solve the problem.
• Your Solution – How you helped them solve the problem. Describe the key steps and progress if it was a long project.
• Results – Compare where they were at the start and where they are now. Make sure these results are desirable and relatable without exaggerating their benefits.

This structure is very similar to the transformation experienced by the protagonists in most commercial films.

In this article I explain in detail what elements should not be missing from your success story and analyse several real-life examples, so you can learn what to emphasise when creating yours.

Customers might not want to appear on video, even if that’s one of the best success story formats since we can hear and see the customer explaining that change.

If they don’t want to appear in the video, but don’t mind their company appearing, it’s also ok. You can use pictures of the workplace and a voice-over.

Another way to highlight your solution is to create posts on LinkedIn that gradually convince your target audience about your difference.

Keep in mind that this is a lengthy process, as posts that are directly sales-oriented will not normally get a lot of traction.

On LinkedIn, you need to gradually build your audience and gain their trust by showing them that they have a lot of good reasons to trust your company.

These are some of the posts that work best on LinkedIn:

• Presentations that explain a specific topic
• How-to videos that show how your tool or process works
• Fun videos from your workplace to show your company culture
• Longer articles to explain more complex issues that need clarification
• Images of you and your staff to show you are real people
• Success story presentations or videos

Do’s and don’ts of targeting B2B audiences

The person who watches your video or reads your e-book is just that, a person, not an entity.

Therefore, just as we do when creating B2C content, we have to imagine a specific person with a specific problem if we want to be convincing.

Imagine that vendor, HR or IT manager and talk to him or her.

To make sure that the message you want to convey reaches that person and is relevant, imagine your prospect asking you these three questions:

• What do you mean by this?
• Why should I choose your solution and not another?
• How does it benefit me?
• Really…?

Answering these 4 questions is crucial to differentiate your solution and gain your prospect’s trust.

Before you hit the “publish” button, stop for a moment and ask yourself if what you are writing is: clear, differentiates you, puts the customer at the centre and is credible.

Be transparent

Exaggerating benefits and talking only about successes is not going to bring people closer to your company.

Most of us don’t believe in meaningless miracles, but in coherent solutions.

Humility and honesty have been shown to be more appreciated than that business jargon that only talks about triumphs and say things like “we are proud to announce…”.

Communicate in a simple way, without resorting to those hip business jargon that ultimately say nothing and make messages sound empty.

Avoid overused expressions like:

“Holistic service tailored to our customers’ needs”.

“Market leader”.

“Customer satisfaction is our priority”

Surely you have much more interesting messages to convey than these clichés that do nothing to differentiate your brand.

Understand what your customers need and what they value most about your service and communicate it clearly and persuasively.

One example of a company that does it very well is Miro, a collaboration platform.

They do an excellent job of explaining the benefits of using their platform, and the advantages are clear from the moment

you start reading.

Give priority to clarity over originality.

Yes, you need to differentiate your business, but not at any price.

Let me explain.

If you’re thinking about a headline and you want it to grab people’s attention so they read on, don’t use a weird phrase that people will struggle to understand.

All content needs to promise value.

So that the investment of people’s time will bear fruit.

Either because they learn something new or because they satisfy their curiosity.

It’s true that the unusual attracts more attention, but people don’t have time to try to decipher riddles.

Clarity, above all.

Don’t forget the human component

The most common problem with B2B content is that there’s a palpable fear of being unprofessional and a preference to stick to the boring and trite.

Just take a look at LinkedIn and see what most companies are posting.

They robotically repeat formulas a thousand times over, business jargon and insincerity that make their content boring as hell.

So never forget that you are writing and creating for a real person, not an inanimate entity.

Most of us want human connection, emotion and entertainment.

And these 3 things aren’t necessarily at odds with professionalism.

As long as you use correct language, show that you know what you’re talking about and don’t lapse into cheesiness, your content will come across as professional without boring people to death.

The digital media that works best for B2B

LinkedIn is the quintessential B2B social network.

A company without a profile on it is a nobody.

If you don’t already have one, create a profile and publish regular posts that educate, inform, differentiate and entertain.

Your website also needs to be well maintained, as it’s your digital identity and the trustworthiness of your brand depends on it.

Keep it up to date and make sure the landing pages where you sell your product or service are really well written and designed.

These landing pages are extremely important for giving your prospects that final push they need to schedule a meeting or download a demo.

These pages give you the time and space to present all your sales arguments that explain why your solution is what your prospect needs.

You can include explanatory videos, customer testimonials, features, etc.

Finally, if you have an email list of prospects, you can gradually educate, inform and persuade them.

To grow your contact list, you need to create valuable downloadable content in exchange for an email address, or what we also call lead magnets.

If you need help with your B2B content strategy contact me and we will look at what kind of content works best for your business so you can finally start to see tangible results.

You don’t see yourself uploading posts every single day proclaiming how great you are and how much you know.

It’s a way of being exposed and that’s not fun for many of us.

It seems to me that social media has become an annoying hubbub where the presumption reigns that she who makes the most noise is the most right.

When this isn’t the case at all.

Often the opposite is true.

Those who seem more sure of themselves and of what they say, either only state the obvious, or simply repeat what others have said before, only louder.

You might be thinking… Not everything in the socials is negative.

I do use them to find out about events happening near me, have a good laugh or read a post from those people who really have something interesting to say (they’re often the least loud).

When you’re a freelancer – or have your own business – you feel obliged to use social media for promotion.

Everyone says you should be there, adding your voice to the constant chatter.

But you procrastinate and grudgingly post something once in a blue moon that only your friends and family ‘like’.

You don’t want to think too much about it, still, you feel that daily burden on your shoulders…

But there’s something they never say in the socials and it’s that…

There are better ways to get clients without social media.

And you can do great. I’m a living proof!

In fact, I’m convinced that for most small businesses the socials are a waste of time that could be better spent on more effective techniques to find new projects.

Let’s take a look at what techniques work when it comes to finding clients for those businesses that hate don’t like social media.

5 ways to find customers without social media

1.      Blogging and SEO

When I started my copywriting business I decided to invest time and energy on my blog.

I wrote 4 articles per month and searched for the keywords my prospects used in their Google searches.

After 8 months my website was in the top 10 on the Google results page for keywords such as “copywriting examples” or “freelance copywriter“.

And I keep writing articles because it works for me.

80% of the clients I work with have found me on Google.

And I’ve never paid for ads.

Now I don’t have so much time to write 4 posts a month because I’ve got more work than when I started (thank goodness!!!) so I write 1 or 2 posts a month.

Even so, my website is still very well-placed.

Once Google places you in the top search results, you just need to keep your website active by refreshing it with new content and updating the existing one.

Is it an investment of time (or money if you pay someone to write the articles for you)?

Yes, it is.

But one that delivers real results in the medium term.

I read a lot about SEO and keep up to date with Google’s algorithm changes by reading blogs from people who are experts.

And so I apply what I learn to my website to make sure it’s always up to date.

If you want to learn how to place your website in Google’s top results, in this post I explain several SEO techniques. Although I wrote it in 2020, all of them still work today. Check it out!

5 ways of finding clients when you don’t like social media. #marketing #blogging #SmallBiz
Share on X

A lot of people are now using AI with tools like ChatGPT to create content, and I think that’s great because it saves a lot of time.

But you shouldn’t just upload the content ChatGPT has come up with because it will lack personality.

ChatGPT is great for giving you ideas on what to write about and finding structure, but you need to add your personal vision to make your content original and interesting.

Uploading poor quality, duplicated or boring content won’t rank well on Google because people won’t stay to read it and then your bounce rate will be too high.

The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your website as soon as they land on it because they don’t see anything interesting.

Use ChatGPT to generate many different headline options, new ideas for articles or service pages, but then add your vision with examples, anecdotes or references, so it’s not just a robot spitting out content that already exists somewhere else.

If you manage to be consistent and write engaging articles on your blog, Google will reward you by ranking you high on the search results page and customers will be knocking at your door without you having to go looking for them.

Recommended reading: 5 straight-forward ways of attracting organic traffic to your website

2.      Build a mailing list

When I started blogging I also created a lead magnet to get more subscribers to my mailing list.

My lead magnet is a free guide with some basic copywriting techniques to attract international customers to your business.

If visitors want it they need to leave their email address and subscribe to my list. Then they receive an email every 2 weeks with relevant and useful copywriting tips.

Email is a way to reach out to those prospects who haven’t yet taken the decision to hire you or buy your product.

These prospects need more information since they’re still not ready to buy. (Warm audience = they’re interested in your offer but are still on the fence).

Maybe that subscriber won’t hire you right away, but you show up in their mailbox on a regular basis and if someone asks them for a therapist they’ll recommend you, or if one day they decide it’s time to invest in the future of their business, they’ll hire you.

Besides, sending emails is cheap.

Much cheaper than paying for SM ads. And it tends to work better because it creates a closer and more personal relationship.

Your prospect decides to open your email because they’re interested in your content, it’s not like when we feel interrupted with an unsolicited ad on our feeds.

Further reading: How to write an email that won’t be sent directly to the trash folder

5 ways of finding clients when you don’t like social media. #marketing #blogging #SmallBiz
Share on X

3.      Networking

We are human and therefore we like to relate to each other.

If you’re introverted you may not always feel like it.

But the truth is that meeting people in the professional sphere opens up more doors and new projects come along.

If you don’t like big events where everyone seems to be a PR expert, there are other ways.

Join coworking groups, or sign up for trainings where you can meet other freelancers or small business owners.

I consider myself a fake extrovert.

When I’m around other people I seem sociable. I talk a lot and I joke around.

But socialising eats up a lot of my energy.

I’m actually quite introverted and most of the time I like to be alone enjoying my own company.

Often my best plan is to stay home reading a book or watching a film.

But I also feel the need to be among other people from time to time. You learn a lot by talking to others.

Some of the clients I work with have met me through other acquaintances or we’ve connected at an event.

Showing your face from time to time at events for entrepreneurs, freelancers, coaches, designers, copywriters, health professionals, whatever it is you do, will bring you business opportunities and also facilitate interesting collaborations.

Although I love working alone and don’t want to be part of a team on a permanent basis, collaborating from time to time on a project with other people fills me with great energy because it’s an opportunity to grow and learn from others.

4.      Send reminders to clients you’ve worked with

Don’t be shy.

Sending a timely email or WhatsApp to your list of clients you’ve already worked with can save your month or quarter.

For instance at Christmas, to wish them happy holidays.

Your email can be the pinch they needed to remind them they want you for a new project.

But you don’t have to wait for Christmas.

Any time is a good time to send them an email asking how they’re doing and reminding them that if they need help again you are their person.

This kind of emails has brought me a lot of joy.

As well as bringing you new projects, they boost your morale since you realise that people value your work and want to work with you again.

But remember the golden rule when writing anything:

Time is precious. Don’t waste anyone’s.

Don’t talk too much about yourself and how great you are.

Better ask them how they’re doing. Personalise the email or WhatsApp so they don’t notice you’ve sent it to 50 others!

Tell them a funny story that will make them smile or give them an interesting piece of information.

5 ways of finding clients when you don’t like social media. #marketing #blogging #SmallBiz
Share on X

5.      Cold emails

Instead of blasting messages left and right to an intangible mass of followers on social media who are often not even your ideal customer because they aren’t ready to buy, spend that time and energy on companies or individuals who are more likely to hire you.

First search for those companies or freelancers who may need your services or your product and send them a personalised email.

This kind of email is called a cold email because you’re pitching to people who don’t know you at all, so you need to gain their trust in just one email.

Cold emailing isn’t easy but with practice, it can work really well.

Go through these 5 steps:

1. Make them open the email with an interesting subject line
2. Use the PAS formula
3. Clear up any doubts
4. Prove your arguments
5. Close in style

Let’s look at these steps one by one.

An interesting subject line

We all receive tens of unsolicited emails from brands every day. So to make sure prospects open your email, the subject line has to be interesting enough.

A subject line is interesting when it:

• Promises a benefit
• Arouses curiosity
• It’s fun and different

In this article I break down the formula for writing attention-grabbing headlines and subject lines.

Some of the brands I’m subscribed to use a technique that works great for subject lines and that’s asking questions. For example:

• Are you there?
• Can Spotify make you more productive?
• Do you use WordPress? You need this

Asking questions nudges people to open an email to find an answer.

Nobody likes to leave a question unanswered!

PAS Formula

As soon as readers open the email they should find something of benefit to them. They need to quickly find the answer to the question “Why should I bother to read this email?”

And the PAS formula is an easy way to make sure you answer that question.

The PAS formula work like this:

1. Problem
2. Agitation
3. Solution

You agitate the problem when you describe in detail all the issues that person (or company) is suffering that stem from the main problem.

For example, if you think their website looks shabby and old-fashioned and you’re a web designer you can start by saying:

“Your website is like your business’s shop window. If it looks untidy, cluttered and it’s not clear what you’re selling, no one will come inside.”

Always personalise the email, find a couple of specific problems you’ve found on their website and explain why these problems are causing them to lose money.

Then offer a solution to that problem and list everything that your solution will achieve:

• Your page will load faster and people will stay on page longer
• The design will look modern, intuitive and much more attractive.
• Contacting you will be much easier with a live chat and a direct call button.

Clear up doubts

Doubt it’s only human, especially when dealing with an unknown company.

Convince them why they won’t regret hiring you, and write in a personal, kind and approachable way.

Invite them to take a look at your portfolio, offer them a free demo, invite them to a video call.

The goal here is to get them to trust you.

Prove your arguments

The best way to convince your prospects about how good you are is letting others bolster your arguments.

Add customer testimonials, surveys, a success story of a specific customer, comments from other people in your niche.

These are great ways to prove you’re just not talking b*llocks.

Close in style

At the end of the email, you want prospects to contact you or click on a link to buy a product.

And for that, you need to remind them of all the benefits they get if they do it.

Summarise them in points in a clear and compelling way.

People are eager to know how what you offer can solve their problem.

Be honest. Be clear. And be yourself.

To sum up

Social media can be very useful, I don’t deny that. A lot of people are making tons of money thanks to it.

But it isn’t the only way.

Many businesses are doing really well without having to upload posts or videos all day long.

The 5 ways of getting clients without SM we’ve seen before can also help you sell more.

You don’t need to say goodbye to SM forever.

You can try some of these techniques I showed you and continue using SM if it’s helping you.

When it comes to promoting your business, only you know which techniques work best for your business.

Don’t be too influenced by what others do (not even by what I’m telling you in this post 😋) and choose your own way of doing things.

Any way of promoting your business is good if it’s getting you results and doesn’t make you feel like you’re selling your soul to the devil.

Because being true to yourself is very important!

See you around!

5 ways of finding clients when you don’t like social media. #marketing #blogging #SmallBiz
Share on X

If you want to convince your prospects your offer is exactly what they need, generalities won’t work.

Every word plays a crucial role.

You should calculate the space to the inch to say everything you need to say in as little space as possible.

People are in a hurry and only read what entails a promise.

In this copy mini-class, we’ll learn how to be specific and concise to sell more.

I’ll give you a hint, stories are very useful. But they can’t be too long!

So let’s get to the point!

Decide what’s the main message you want to convey

We talked about the Rule of One in this post.

Whether you’re writing a product page or a post for social media, you need to clarify in your mind what’s the main message you want the reader to take away.

And only one.

For example, with this mini class I want to share the keys to being specific and concise when writing for the web.

And here Michal Eisikowitz, an NYC copywriter wants readers to buy her guide to pricing.

Check her sales page, it’s super well-written. It’s a copy class in itself.

When you have your main message clear in your mind, writing becomes easier and more convincing.

How to write for the web with examples. #copywriting #contentwriting #blogging
Share on X

Share statistics and research

Most people who land on your website don’t know you at all.

At some point they’ll ask themselves, “Why should I trust what this person says?”

By adding information about relevant statistics or studies we increase readers’ trust.

“Oh, ok. She’s not the only one who says this. There are studies to back it up”.

Articulate Marketing offers inbound marketing and website design services to tech companies.

Their home page includes several statistics that help to sound more convincing.

You should always get to the point, so when quoting studies or statistics, just state the most important conclusion that supports your sales arguments, without beating around the bush or adding chaff.

Describe situations that are real and familiar to your prospects

The best way for the reader to retain the main message you want to convey is by describing situations they can relate to.

Use storytelling techniques to maintain readers’ interest.

If humour is your thing, use it.

If you are more serious, that’s fine.

Not everyone wants a laugh when it comes to business.

Let’s take a look at some examples.

Lemon.io is a platform that brings together developers and start-ups.

I love the copy and design of their website, it’s super effective and fun.

Be sure to stop by and take a look.

In just two paragraphs Lemon copywriters make their prospects feel understood through a specific message.

They describe how start-ups feel about hiring developers, the pain points as well as the objections.

“How do I know the developer will do a good job?”

Because Lemon puts them through 4 levels of judgement and out of 1000 applicants they only keep 300.

By adding figures the message becomes more precise and tangible because it’s super specific.

How to write for the web with examples. #copywriting #contentwriting #blogging
Share on X

Let’s look at another example.

Pip&Nut is a British peanut butter brand.

Pip is its creator and here she tells how the idea came about:

Pip, (or better said, the copywriter she hired), describes how she came to this idea.

But she also doesn’t miss the opportunity to tell us about the benefits of peanut butter and present it as a healthy product.

Here again, the message is specific and relatable.

No eureka moments.

No entrepreneurial miracles.

A girl who makes peanut butter at home and decides to turn her hobby into a business.

Every word should have a mission

When editing your copy ask yourself how you can make it more concise.

Cut where you can: where you see that the message doesn’t lose its meaning and persuasion power.

Do this:

Remove those sentences you think don’t add any value and reread the copy.

Has it lost its force?

Is the message unclear?

If so, add them back, but if the answer to these questions is a No, you’ve then succeeded in shortening the copy without losing any of its strength and clarity.

Then go over the long sentences.

Could you say the same thing with fewer words?

Give it a try.

Your copy should include all the necessary arguments to convince your prospects to buy in the shortest possible way.

Let’s look at some examples.

“The other day, when I met my neighbour in the lift, he said something that made me very happy.  He said that the neighbourhood association fee was going to be cut down because instead of hiring a managing company the neighbour in 4B had offered to take care of the administration himself for half of what the management company charges us.”

I will now highlight in bold the most important ideas in this paragraph.

“The other day, when I met my neighbour in the lift, he said something that made me very happy.  He said that the neighbourhood association fee was going to be cut down because instead of hiring a managing company the neighbour in 4B had offered to take care of the administration himself for half of what the management company charges us.”

Let’s see how we can shorten it without the message losing its force or meaning.

“The neighbour association fee is going to be cut down because a neighbour will take care of the admin for half of what the management company charges us”.

55 words reduced to 28 and the important message is the same.

Try this exercise.

When editing, think about how to remove the chaff from the main ideas.

With practice, you’ll see it faster.

I hope I’ve helped you learn to write in a more specific and concise way.

See you around!

How to write for the web with examples. #copywriting #contentwriting #blogging
Share on X

Or rather with Facebook.

According to several articles like this one, Facebook lost percentage of daily usage this past year, even in the midst of a pandemic, when most of us have been glued to our screens more than ever.

The fact is that other platforms are rapidly gaining traction, such as TikTok, which came out of nowhere and already has over 1 billion active users. 

So if you concentrate your marketing strategy on a couple of social platforms you run the risk of your efforts fading away as those networks lose popularity.

However, what is not going to disappear, at least not for a good number of years, are searches on Google or any other search engine.

Because in the end when we are interested in finding quick information about a service or a product we google it. 

That is why it’s in your interest to work on your SEO and get your website to appear at the top of the results pages without having to pay a penny in ads.

What has changed in terms of SEO in recent months?

Search engine crawler bots (those little bits of software that navigate the vast sea of the internet to find relevant information) are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Google’s BERT algorithm update at the end of 2019 showed us that Google is getting much better at understanding (through natural language processing) the context of users’ searches and the intent behind them.

This means that websites that publish content that matches what users are actually searching for rank higher in the results pages.

The key is to focus on the intent behind your prospects’ search, not on how often a specific keyword appears in the content.

In other words, bots know how to recognise phrases that respond to a search even if the words don’t exactly match the keyword in question.

Look at a random example. I typed the words “program to recognise faces”.

However, the first result, which is also a featured snippet (I talk more about these snippets in this article) doesn’t mention the word “program” or “recognise” but the bots know that my intention is to find face detection software.

If you create content that naturally answers the questions your target audience is asking, you will have a much better chance of the bots finding your content and rewarding you by showing your page before others.

It’s no longer a question of repeating a keyword many times throughout a text as in the past, but rather that the information you offer is useful and provides answers.

It’s easier to rank for descriptive keywords that appeal to a wider audience.

For example, broad terms like “digital marketing techniques” or “tips for curly hair” may be very competitive, but they also receive a higher number of searches per month.

Let’s remember what Google’s bots like to keep them happy.

What is a #bot and how to win the #SEO battle. #contentmarketing
Share on X

The importance of content structure

You have to make “life” easy for the bots. If they find it too complicated, they will go somewhere else.

Take care of those broken links on your website, the loading speed, your website’ structure needs to be simple, with as few sections as possible and with headlines and meta information that respond to your target  audience’s searches.

This article I wrote last year on meta titles and meta descriptions and this other one on web structure are still totally relevant today.

Take a look at them to make sure you follow the basic principles of good SEO.

Translations done by humans

Machine translators are getting better and better. I use DeepL a lot.

But be careful, because they aren’t perfect. There are always words that are translated literally and lose all meaning, making the reading less enjoyable.

And what happens when what we read doesn’t make sense?

We get bored, leave it and go somewhere else where the information we are looking for is clear and pleasant to read.

And what happens when our page has a very high bounce rate?

(Bounce rate = people who land and leave the page too quickly)

Google bots think “OK, this page must be pretty bad because people don’t stay to read it. Then, we’ll leave it at the bottom”.

Copywriters specialised in localisation not only translate content correctly, but they use those terms that resonate better with the target audience.

The same goes for chatbots: they can be a great help, but they can also be the most frustrating thing in the world.

Who hasn’t ever encountered a chatbot that incessantly repeats a nonsense message and doesn’t answer our question at all?

If you decide to include a chatbot on your website, make sure it’s helpful and doesn’t cause friction.

And speaking of bots…

What is a #bot and how to win the #SEO battle. #contentmarketing
Share on X

What is a bot?

A bot is a software program that operates on the Internet and performs repetitive tasks.

While some bot traffic comes from good bots, bad bots can have a huge negative impact on a website.

More than half of the traffic on the Internet are bots that scan content, interact with web pages, chat with users or look for victims to attack…

Some bots are useful, such as search engine bots that index content for search or customer service bots that help users.

This technology, which is being developed with a natural language processing (NLP) algorithm, allows the chatbot to understand the users’ intent and respond accordingly.

Don’t robotise your chatbot

Personalisation is critical if you want your message to be compelling, so your chatbot also needs to have its own personality.

Design your bot to converse in a style and form that fits your buyer persona.

In case your brand voice is not too serious, this is the time to get creative. For example, there are websites that create characters for their chatbot with light-hearted dialogues that provoke a smile.

Animals, cartoon characters, anything goes to start a conversation with your prospects.

What you shouldn’t do is to leave all the weight of customer service in the hands of a chatbot.

These are used to answer easy and repetitive questions, but when a customer needs more specific assistance, make it easy for them to talk to a person right away and avoid episodes of frustration.

Types of bots

We have talk about the good bots but there are also other bots that are bad and scan the Internet for victims.

They are programmed to log into user accounts, scan the web for contact information to send spam or perform other malicious activities.

These bots duplicate content, spread spam content or carry out credential-stealing attacks.

Content duplication bots are often used to repurpose content for malicious purposes, such as duplicating content for SEO on websites that the attacker owns, violating copyrights, and stealing organic traffic.

To prevent these bad bots from attacking your website, make sure you always have up-to-date plugins and check which are the best security plugins for these cases. Here a list with some of them.

Conclusion

The human factor continues to win the battle against artificial intelligence when it comes to content and real conversations.
Share on X

This is not to say that all AI should be rejected, far from it.

As we have seen there are bots that perform beneficial tasks that simplify work and help us find information faster and others that seek to do evil, after all bots have been created by humans…

Bots mimic human behaviour even if they cannot replicate it exactly.

They cannot (for the moment) get double meanings, sense of humour, emotion, irony, nor can they resolve specific incidents with customers on their own, etc…

That’s why in order to win the battle against search engines and get a lot of traffic your content needs to be above all human, designed for your audience, answers specific questions and is translated correctly with all the different registers a language has.

Having a quality blog with interesting articles is what will ensure you a steady stream of leads who will be already interested in your product or service.

What’s the point of having a cool website with great copy if no one finds you on Google?

Social media ads can help you sell your product, however, they only have a limited attention span.

Your target customer will look at your ad for a thousandth of a second and although she may click on it and buy, only with quality content will you turn that customer into a fan who will come back.

Social media ads are becoming more expensive, moreover, with the boycott that some brands and consumers are doing to Facebook and Instagram, we are going to see changes in advertising.

One thing is certain, if a lot of traffic goes directly to your website through organic search, it doesn’t matter anymore if social networks change and something else comes into play, you will still get quality leads who can become customers.

Okay, we are clear now that having a blog is very important, but how do we know what to talk about to make it interesting?

In this post, we will see how to find topics for your blog which will grab your target audience’s attention.

So you can never go blank.

How to find topics for your blog. #blogging #copywriting #digitalmarketing #smallbiz
Share on X

What is your target audience interested in?

Every blog needs to have a main theme and from there small topics will emerge.

The main theme can be, copywriting, healthy food, yoga, motorbikes, etc.

From those topics many questions that pass through your target customer’s mind will come up, and your blog’s ultimate goal is to answer each of them.

Which recipes are healthy and simple to make?

Do you have to be super flexible to practice yoga?

Better if they are concrete questions.

You shouldn’t cover a lot in a single post, your main goal with each post is to answer that initial question in a clear way.

Keep in mind that the ultimate objective of your blog is to help and educate your audience.

If you want to know what kind of questions go through your target customer’s mind you need to know them very well.

Find out what kind of issues concern them and what they need help with.

Each of your blog posts should be the result of your audience’s concerns plus your own curiosity.

I don’t write thinking only about what interests my audience, but also about what interests me personally.

As I grow with my business and learn more about selling with words I discover new topics that I like to investigate and talk about later in my blog.

This way, I explore and grow with my audience.

If the topics you write about don’t interest you, it’s going to be hard to keep up with your blog over time, plus it will show in the way you write that there is no real passion.

The only exception to this is us copywriters. We can write about topics that were not our passion at first but that can become our obsession.

Let me explain.

A true copywriter gets immersed in the topic she has to write about and researches it thoroughly, always looking for ways to find what makes a product or service special.

In this way, even talking about mattresses becomes a passion.

If you don’t write for others but only for your own business, I assume you are passionate about your thing.

So explore what interests you and what can be also interesting for your target audience.

Recommended Reading How to get to know your buyer persona

How to find topics for your blog. #blogging #copywriting #digitalmarketing #smallbiz
Share on X

Are keywords important?

Yes, but don’t get obsessed about them.

What’s more important is that your posts are written in a conversational way. Write as if you were at a dinner party and the person next to you asks you a question.

Is green tea as good for you as they say?

And you start talking about it with passion because it’s your thing.

In that conversation at the dinner table, would you repeat at the beginning of each sentence “the properties of green tea are…”?

I’m sure you wouldn’t because if you would, the person next to you would switch places to stay away from you.

Yes, it’s important to find out which terms people search for in Google when they want to know more about a particular topic, but that doesn’t mean you must repeat those same terms over and over again to get more organic traffic.

What you need to focus on is into writing in an engaging way so visitors who have landed on your blog keep reading because they find it thought-inspiring.

Recommended reading How to write in a clear and engaging way

To find out what keywords people are using you can use Ubersuggest which is free and works really good.

How to find topics for your blog. #blogging #copywriting #digitalmarketing #smallbiz
Share on X

Keep the reader’s attention

Google’s algorithms have become very sophisticated and they can identify which blogs are useful and which ones are not.

They measure the time each person spends reading your blog once they decide to click on your link.

They also measure how many times people go from one post to another within the same blog. That’s why internal links are so important.

All this can’t happen if your post is deadly dull.

So you need to bring your writing to life.

Surprise the reader, use analogies to help them understand complex concepts and use humour if appropriate and you feel comfortable with it.

Attracting people’s attention has become a real art.

There’s so much content out there competing for people’s attention that you really need to do it right.

It all comes with practice and if you put all your soul in there.

Recommended Reading Don’t bore people to tears

I’ve gone blank, I don’t know what to write about

It happens to all of us, there are days when you have no idea what to talk about in your next post.

The best thing you can do is to read lots of books and other people’s blogs to find interesting topics that you can relate to your main topic.

Every time you read or hear something and a little light pops up in your head with an idea to talk about, write it down quickly on your Microsoft Notes section (or whatever app you prefer).

Better to have a dedicated section on the app called “topics for my blog”, so you know where to look when you want to find a new topic to write about.

If you still can’t think of anything this week and you’ve run out of topics in the “pantry”, read your past posts and identify points you’ve touched in some of them but haven’t gone deep and you think it’s worth talking about them in more detail.

I’m sure you’ll find good ideas that you can develop in a new post.

How to find topics for your blog. #blogging #copywriting #digitalmarketing #smallbiz
Share on X

Conclusion

Having a blog and writing periodically about topics that interest your audience will bring organic traffic to your website on a constant basis.

It’s a way for customers to come to you so you don’t have to go and look for them.

A blog is an investment of time, but if you like to research and write, you’ll enjoy doing it.

Remember, it’s an effort with medium-term results, don’t expect to have a thousand visits a week after 3 months of starting your blog.

You won’t see substantial results until a year or so.

If you don’t like to write or don’t have the time, hire someone to do it for you.

It’s an investment that will give you a big advantage over your competition and will help you build a solid business.

How to find topics for your blog. #blogging #copywriting #digitalmarketing #smallbiz How to find topics for your blog
Share on X

If you have set out the goal of writing a blog to attract organic traffic and establish yourself as an authority in your field, you need to write in a clear and engaging way to keep the reader’s attention.

It’s super important that visits who land on your article stay. And they’ll stay if they find your article helpful and entertaining.

You also need to show Google that you publish quality content, that’s why people spend time reading it, so Google makes a good move sending more traffic to your blog.

Today, there are millions of blogs (about 600 million, to be precise) and the day has only 24 hours, so Internet users are increasingly choosing what’s worth reading.

If your article has attracted the reader’s attention with the headline, don’t make him leave right after reading the first paragraph because your explanations are too vague or too complicated.

Help him focus on reading by going straight to the point and maintaining his interest.

Easy to say, huh?

But how do you write in a clear and engaging way?

How do you make the reader stay and, moreover, go and read more articles?

If you stay (wink, wink) we’ll see how.

Here we go.

Tell little and big stories

I’m referring to the technique of zooming in and out. Henneke Duistermaat explains it really well in this post.

This technique refers to combining data and conclusions you have reached by studying the topic you are writing about, with little stories about you or other people that serve as examples to illustrate those points.

Imagine one of those movies that start with the camera flying over a neighbourhood of houses with a front yard. This shot places the spectator in a specific place and time.

For example, from the type of houses and cars parked at the entrance, we guess the setting is in the US sometime around the 50s and since it’s sunny and there aren’t any lush forests we think it’s probably LA or any other southern city.

That camera which flies over the neighbourhood of houses with front yards descends over a single house and gets in a room through the window where we see a teenager getting ready to leave.

We see a grimace of annoyance on her face as she looks to herself in the mirror. She doesn’t like her reflection, sighs heatedly and heads to the closet to change her clothes for the umpteenth time.

This is the zooming in and out technique.

When you are explaining a topic you zoom out by talking about concepts or data and zoom in when you give a concrete example.
Share on X

And speaking of examples, let’s see one.

Susan David in her book Emotional Agility talks about how controlling our thoughts can help us live the life we really want. Basically, emotional agility refers to the skill of moving on to something else and not being tormented by negative thoughts.

In one part of the book she tells us (I’m not writing her exact words, by the way):

“We can’t read the instructions when we’re locked inside the jar. Mindfulness helps us to be more emotionally agile by making us observe the person who is thinking the thoughts”.

This statement brings us closer to their meaning by telling us about a specific person:

“Okay, I’m having the thought that I’m a loser. As it happens to many people at some point. That’s my wounded child talking. I have a lot of thoughts every day. I can notice them and accept them all, the bad ones and the good ones, but I reserve myself the right to act only on those who are going to help me live the life I want to live”.

With the zooming in and out technique you establish your authority in your field since you explain important concepts that show you know what you are talking about. You are also able to explain these concepts in a simple way by telling a specific story.

Sharing personal experiences brings you closer to the reader who sees you as the person of flesh and blood you are.
Share on X

You also help them to apply what you teach to their lives since they can relate to your story.

Let’s look at other ways of writing in a clear way to keep the reader’s attention.

The power of appealing to the senses

There is nothing that brings the reader closer than feeling she can taste, see, hear, smell or touch your words.

Sometimes adding metaphors and slowing down to explain a feeling can help a reader feel that same sensation and become more engaged.

Describe how something made you or the character you want to talk about feel:

“When my client saw that her website had been hacked, she told me that she felt as if someone had broken into her house. You open the door and find the whole house upside down, you hardly recognize it. It’s your territory, the centre of your business, and someone has snuck in to make it theirs. It was a horrible feeling of helplessness”.

With this little story, you help the reader imagine the situation and even feel it in their own skin, in the case he’s never experienced before.

If the reader has already been through this same situation, he will trust you more since you perfectly know how it feels.

Diana Athill gives us precious life lessons in her memoir Somewhere Towards the End:

“A broken heart recovers much faster from a blast than from progressive strangulation.”

A delightful metaphor that makes us feel, remember and agree with her.

Let us continue to see more ways to write in a clear and entertaining way.

Short sentences

We are all very busy and want to get the information we need quickly.

If we see that the article where we have landed has long sentences with commas and smart words that embellish but say nothing, we will lose the will to continue reading.

You have to make the words flow, make them alive. People want action.

You achieve action by building short sentences where the main characters are the subject and the verb.

Forget about the passive voice where the subject is unclear. Passivity is the opposite of action and the number one enemy of zesty writing.

When you edit your text, look at your sentences’ structure. How many verbs and adverbs are there?

Have I added too many adjectives, and can I remove some parts to make the message crisp and straightforward?

Let’s look at an example:

Our new mums’ group will help you fight loneliness and insecurity related to your baby’s first months and will provide you with the right environment to clear up your doubts more quickly so that you feel more secure and can live this special moment with joy.

Words highlighted in bold are the important ones:

Our new mums’ group will help you fight loneliness and insecurity related to your baby’s first months and will provide you with the right environment to clear your doubts more quickly so that you feel more secure and can live this special moment with joy.

Clear and concise version:

Our new mums’ group will help you fight loneliness and insecurity. We help each other by clearing up doubts so that you can live this special moment with joy.

Remember:

Who does what? The most important thing is the subject and the action verb. Don’t get lost in pompous adjectives and adverbs.

These are some of the main action verbs:

• Progress
• Improve
• Reach
• Grab
• Dazzle
• Create
• Support
• Grow
• Savour
• Imagine
• Galvanize
• Flourish
• Talk
• Win…

Write the way you speak

Do you remember the books you were assigned to read at school?

Well, don’t write like that.

I know, you still hear Margaret’s voice, your English teacher, instructing you to write long sentences with a lot of description and to use smart words.

Forget about Margaret. She wasn’t in marketing and sales.

We are not here to win the Booker Prize but to communicate in a clear and simple way the message we want to be engraved in the reader’s mind.

Be careful not to neglect the spelling and avoid swearing.

Just because you have to write in a conversational way doesn’t mean you can swear or write like in a teenager’s WhatsApp.

Always read aloud when you are editing your text.

It will help you to break long sentences and identify repetitions.

You know, practice is what will take you from writing more or less well to nailing it.

See you around!

Sometimes it can give you the impression that SM is a waste of time since it’s not providing you with the results you expected.

And it’s true, SM can be a dangerous way to waste lots of precious time without getting anything of value in return.

If you don’t want this to happen to you, you need first, a good strategy, and second, to craft posts that add value to your audience.

I know what you’re thinking: everyone talks about the importance of having a strategy, but no one tells you how to do it.

In this post I’m going to give you some essential clues not to waste time on SM and to create content that provide results.

In other words, content that boosts sales.

Shall we see these clues?

Let’s start.

How to create a social media strategy for small businesses

First of all, you need to choose which channels you want to be active on.

I know that digital marketeers like my dear Neil Patel advise you to be omnichannel.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the time, nor do I have a dedicated community manager, so being everywhere is impossible for me.

If this is your case too, you will have no choice but to choose.

3 or 4 platforms maximum.

And how do you choose these SM platforms?

This graph shows the most used SM channels worldwide.

The first thing you need to do is to analyse where your ideal customer is and make sure you’re there, too.

This brings me to remind you once again of the importance of knowing your buyer persona (ideal customer).

Talk to your current customers and do further research on what your ideal customer is like by reading comments and joining related groups on Facebook.

Check Twitter’s trending topics and be up to date with what people are talking about.

Your product or service is not going to interest everyone but a certain group of people.

It’s your job to get to know those people better.

The next step to make sure your SM efforts give you results and are not just a useless pastime is to define your objectives.

These can be:

• Build brand awareness
• Create a sense of community by adding value
• Get prospects into a sales funnel
• Inform about special offers
• Increase organic traffic to your website

Let’s see what kind of publications work best for each of these objectives.

Build brand awareness

Apple doesn’t need to invest a lot of resources to get people to know them, but you probably do.

These types of publications don’t have to actively sell, it’s what’s known in marketing as indirect selling.

Many businesses get this goal completely wrong and think that in order to build brand awareness they just need to talk about themselves.
Share on X

Huge mistake.

Nobody cares if your product is new in the market or you’ve been in business more than 10 years.

People are basically only interested in:

• Being loved
• Not making a fool of themselves
• Succeeding in what they do
• Feeling important
• Being attractive
• Having power
• Feeling safe

These are the core emotions that move people to exchange their precious money for a product or service.

So there is no point in talking exclusively about you and your business. You need to talk about your ideal customer and her desires, fears and dreams.

The copy of your SM posts need to appeal to one of these core emotions in a subtle way.

Depending on the type of product or service you offer, you have to think about which core emotion you’re going to stimulate with your copy.

For example, if you sell fashion products, you’ll appeal to people’s need of being attractive to others.

If you are a coach, you’ll appeal to the need of feeling safe and/or being successful.

Building brand awareness is to tell the world through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter: Hello I’m here to make you happier and this is how I’m going to do it.

I follow FuckUp nights’ account on Facebook because it makes me feel better.

This group has branches in most big cities, they organise events for entrepreneurs or those who are thinking about starting a business.

During these events, different people share their fuck-ups and what they have learnt about these mistakes.

This is excellent because, on one hand, you learn from others’ mistakes and at the same time it makes you feel better since you understand that everyone can make mistakes and it’s not the end of the world.

You also feel more energetic to continue working on your own project knowing that if you fuck it up you can always get up and start again.

Their posts always share some funny and optimistic quotes.

Create a community by adding value

People are tired of businesses trying to sell them something all the time, so they won’t follow your FB or IG account unless these add something of value to their lives.

If you want to create a community of followers who interact with you and with each other you need to provide value.

But real value.

As we saw in my article on how to write texts for Instagram that boost sales and not just followers, both Facebook and Instagram give greater visibility to those posts that have more engagement.

What does this mean?

That these platforms no longer reward only posts with many likes (they know these can be bought) but those that have more comments and where people stay reading (or viewing, if it’s a video) for more time.

That’s why Instagram’s captions are getting longer with more focus on adding value.

There are several ways to provide value to your followers:

– Writing articles on your blog

That provide useful information to your target audience. Because they talk about a solution to a problem they are experiencing, or because it teaches them something handy.

You can craft posts which build up curiosity and encourage people to read the post on your blog.

On Instagram you cannot add a link directly on each post but you can add it in your bio.

– Sharing an experience, a tip, or asking a question to your followers

These types of posts encourage people to leave comments and to share, so FB, LinkedIn, IG or YouTube will give you more visibility.

Get prospects into a sales funnel

Social media is the ideal tool to get prospects into a sales funnel.

If you want to know more about how to create a sales funnel read this article.

The best way to get people into your funnel is to create a post with a lead magnet.

A lead magnet is a form of valuable content that you offer for free when people subscribe to your mailing list.

Once they are part of your mailing list you can send them a sequence of emails with the ultimate goal of selling them a specific product or service.

This lead magnet has to be attractive enough for your target audience to give you their emails addresses.

No one wants to receive more spam so they’ll think carefully about it.

If you create a compelling post that includes a big promise which interests your ideal customer she will have no other option but to click to subscribe.

Once again, it’s a question of how accurately you’re going to appeal to that core emotion so that your prospect can only click to find out more.

Inform about special offers

Do you know what the term FOMO mean? It stands for Fear Of Missing Out.

When we are on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter we find out what’s happening not only around the world, but particularly in our neighbourhood.

I know a lot of people who have not deleted their FB accounts only because it’s a way to keep themselves up to date with events happening near them.

They are simply afraid of missing out great stuff if they are not on SM.

Take advantage of FOMO by informing your target audience about your special offers and events.

They will gladly continue following you if you also inform them about events organised by other people that may interest them.

Talking about other people’s businesses is a great way to show generosity and that you really care about people and not just about their money.

Increase organic traffic to your website

This should be a primary goal of your social media strategy.

Think for a moment what would happen if Facebook and Instagram disappear one day for whatever reason.

You will then lose all your followers in the blink of an eye.

Besides, posts you share on these platforms don’t belong to you, they belong to Zuckerberg.

But if you direct traffic to your website and encourage people to subscribe to your mailing list, you will have greater control over what you share and, moreover, you won’t lose those contacts even if social platforms disappear or are no longer a trend.

Because today it’s Instagram but tomorrow it can be something else.

So keep this in mind when working on your SM content and try, whenever possible, to encourage people to visit your website, either to read a post, to download a free eBook or to watch a video.

If you have a business you should seriously think about your strategy on Instagram.

This social platform is gaining ground to others, although it’s still far behind Facebook and YouTube.

The fact is that we can’t ignore it.

Instagram is above all a visual platform where images are most important. In fact most people check Instagram to look at photos of friends and celebrities.

Many brands like yours are there because their ideal customer is also there.

People are willing to follow these accounts if they bring something of value to their life.

Although images are critical, you must not let pass the opportunity to sell your product or service with the help of some juicy copy.

Good copy enhances good photos. As simple as that.

Instagram’s algorithm is designed to show first those posts that have a lot of interaction with their followers.

Posts that not only have likes, but where people also leave comments.

There are many accounts that buy false followers, as well as likes, and Instagram knows it.

Your Instagram captions need therefore to be strategically designed in order to produce that interaction you are looking for.

To be honest, I haven’t used much Instagram as a marketing tool.

I have an account, obviously, but I rather use it to post cool photos, since I like photography.

However, I’m studying lately a lot to see if I can also get some results for my business.

I have done experiments and read a lot about the subject and I have come to the conclusion that Instagram captures are increasingly important to achieve good results.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to spend hours on Instagram to have only likes that won’t serve me at all.

I want my efforts to be rewarded; to just pass the time I rather read a good novel.

If you also want your time on Instagram to be profitable let’s see how you should write your captions so they bring you more sales, which in the end is what we all want, right?

How To Write Instagram Captions That Boost Sales. #copywriting #instagram #socialmediamarketing
Share on X

Short or long Instagram Captions?

The old belief was that Instagram was purely visual and therefore you didn’t have to take much care of the text.

This has proved wrong.

Many accounts such as the iconic National Geographic are writing real books on their captions.

And you know what?

People do read them.

There’s this other old belief that people don’t read, but nothing could be further from the truth.

People read if they’re interested in the text and accounts like this one show it.

How To Write Instagram Captions That Boost Sales. #copywriting #instagram #socialmediamarketing
Share on X

Instagram not only rewards posts with comments but also those in which people spend more time reading.

With this, I don’t mean that you should write a book every time if you don’t have anything to say.

Make sure the text you write is interesting to your buyer persona.

And how do you make sure of that?

If you have done your homework, you will already have a fairly clear picture of who your ideal customer is and what kind of desires and problems they have.

Your caption adds value when it answers those questions that are on your ideal customer’s mind.

If he feels identified with what you write he will read it with great interest.

Having many followers doesn’t necessarily translate into sales, but if you do it well, this little window to the world can convert more followers into customers.

Add always a link to your website to increase traffic

If your followers stay on Instagram and don’t go to visit your website you won’t be able to increase the organic traffic and therefore you won’t improve your ranking on Google.

Organic traffic is the most valuable thing you have, these are prospects who visit your site already with an interest.

Either because they have done a Google search with a few keywords and you have appeared in the top positions, or because you have prompted them to visit your site from your Instagram account.

On paid ads, you can add a call to action button that directs prospects to a page on your website, such as View more, book now, etc.

You can’t add a call to action button on organic publications so you have to direct people to click on the link on your bio.

Create curiosity, talk about your latest blog post, or about a new service you offer so people will want to know more by visiting your website.

Think always about your audience and how you can help them.

How To Write Instagram Captions That Boost Sales. #copywriting #instagram #socialmediamarketing
Share on X

The types of Instagram posts that work best

Sharing useful advice

Sharing practical advice or teaching something to your audience that you have recently learned through experience raises your profile, gives you credibility and authority in your field.

Create a tutorial or share something you’ve recently found that you don’t think others know, talk about the results of something you’ve been testing, or new applications you’ve found, etc.

All these things help your ideal customer solve her own problems and she will thank you by reaching to you when she needs a product or service like the one you offer.

Testimonials

Share with the world the great things other people are saying about your work.

Use quote formats you can find for free on platforms like Canva, or even better, share a picture of the person who praised you and include his words.

Don’t forget to add information about how someone can contact you if they also want to get what that person has achieved with your help.

Behind the scenes

People like to see what’s going on behind the scenes. Sharing photos from your day to day, in your studio or workshop will be like letting them look through a little window at how you work.

If you work in a team, post photos of your colleagues working together on a project.

These types of posts bring your audience closer; in the end people want to buy from brands they identify with and can trust.

Community

To bring your audience even closer together think about creating a sense of community.

Share something you are struggling with, something you have observed, ask for help, reposition someone in your community, share a victory with your followers and always speak in a modest and honest way.

Inspiration

This is the most popular of all Instagram publications.

These inspiring posts provoke an emotional response in the audience, suggesting them to imagine themselves enjoying your product or service.

“Can you imagine…?”

“Have you ever tried….?”

Quotes

Create quotes that share wisdom with your audience and serve as inspiration too.

How To Write Instagram Captions That Boost Sales. #copywriting #instagram #socialmediamarketing
Share on X

Write on a different platform and then copy the text

Don’t ever skip this step!

Typing directly on your phone can be disastrous.

To make sure you don’t include spelling mistakes and the text is well structured, you can simply write it on OneNote or Evernote on your computer first and then copy it from that same application on your phone and paste it onto Instagram.

Nobody wants to read a messy text with grammar mistakes.

Call to an action

As we have seen before only paid posts can include a CTA (call to action) but you can bring traffic to your website by encouraging people to click on the link on your bio.

You can also encourage people to leave comments in order to increase your visibility.

These are ways to encourage people to take action:

Asking questions

Those people are encouraged to answer because they feel the topic touches them emotionally.

A conversation takes place, not only between you and that person but also with others.

These posts work really good.

Inviting people to tag a friend

This technique is very common and serves to attract more visits to your profile.

Things like: “Tag that friend who needs coffee in the mornings.”

“Tag that friend who wants to travel alone.”

Include captions that match the wishes and concerns of your target audience and that you know will be followed up.

Encouraging people to comment or share

If your text adds value, if they appeal to people’s emotions, you will encourage people to leave comments and share.

It’s important to create a sense of community:

“those who like to travel alone” “People who like animals more than people” “solo entrepreneurs”.

It’s important to define yourself in order to create a community.

Let me explain.

Define your personal brand

Instagram is a very powerful tool that can help you to create your personal brand.

It allows you to spread the message; that WHY which defines your entire strategy.

If you are able to establish your personal brand, your ideal customer will feel identified with your WHY and will be part of your community.

You can’t be liked by everyone and there will be always people who think you’re a pain in the neck.

It’s okay.

Those people are not your ideal customer.

Your ideal customer is that person who appreciates the value you bring to her life with your publications.

What’s more, when she is on Instagram she looks forward to seeing your posts.

And if she doesn’t see any, she wonders why and feels like she’s missing something.

These are the kinds of posts you want to share.

How To Write Instagram Captions That Boost Sales. #copywriting #instagram #socialmediamarketing
Share on X

Tell a story

The best way to reach that group of people who will identify with you is by telling compelling stories.

Use the power of narrative (in this article I tell you in more detail how to use storytelling) to get the attention of your target audience and bring them closer to you.

Nowadays people buy brands they feel a certain connection with.

Not only do they like the product itself, but even more what that brand stands for.

Empowered women, people who respect the environment, athletes, people who love travelling, entrepreneurs.

If you tell stories that resonate with the desires of your target audience, they will respond.

Emoticons? Yes, but not too many

People use too many emoticons.

Ok, sometimes they help us to express an emotion or to add some humour.

But when you use them too much, 3 things happen:

• It gives the impression that you can’t express yourself properly and that’s why you need emoticons
• The text is too busy and makes it difficult to read
• You don’t sound serious

Being funny is ok, after all, most people are on SM to distract themselves from their problems.

This aspect could also be part of your personal brand.

If you’ve decided to be that funny brand that makes people laugh all the time you may NEVER need to sound serious.

But if you’re a brand that doesn’t just want to be entertaining, and from time to time you wish to sound serious, you shouldn’t make too much use of emoticons.

Improve your written language instead.

Express with words what you want the reader to feel instead of using – out of laziness – an emoticon.

How To Write Instagram Captions That Boost Sales. #copywriting #instagram #socialmediamarketing
Share on X

Don’t be a pain

There are people who publish something, not just every day, but even several times a day.

This seems excessive to me.

But it depends on you and above all on your buyer persona.

If your ideal customer is continuously on Instagram and doesn’t have a life of his own, well, maybe you should publish several times a day.

But I think the tendency is for people to worry more and more about not spending too much time on SM.

I firmly believe that the opposite effect will occur and that spending too many hours glued to the phone screen will be a reason to be ashamed of.

Be a pioneer on this and use SM with moderation, even incite your followers to do the same.

You don’t have to tell people constantly what you’re eating or how you’ve been served that coffee, which is by the way, just average.

How To Write Instagram Captions That Boost Sales. #copywriting #instagram #socialmediamarketing
Share on X

Reply to people’s comments

It seems obvious and still many people don’t do it.

Show respect for your audience by responding to people’s genuine comments.

Sometimes you will get criticism, but if it comes from a person who has expressed it in a correct way, it’s better to reply.

When we expose ourselves to the public eye we run the risk of being criticized, not everything is going to be compliments.

People like to express their opinion and sometimes they may not agree with us.

We must receive these criticisms with an open heart and see if they have any constructive feedback we can use to improve ourselves.

It’s an exercise of self-reflection.

If the comments are rude, or even offensive, then that person is not worth your time.

Conclusion

Instagram is a very useful tool to promote your brand and increase traffic to your website.

In this article, we have talked about the importance of captions and how we should write them in order to engage our followers.

I must add as a final note, although I think it’s obvious, that images are vital, so you must take care of them if you want to be successful on Instagram.

A cool image accompanied by a text that appeals to emotions is the perfect combination.

See you around!   

Featured Image by ijmaki from Pixabay       

When you think about it, it makes you shiver and in the end you find a thousand excuses not do it.

I don’t have time, I don’t know what to write about, I don’t write well.

But, if you have a business, you need to have a blog, unless you have a huge budget to invest in advertising.

If your budget is quite anaemic like mine, and after paying bills and continuing to invest in education, you don’t have much money left to pay for ads, you’re going to have no choice but to write a blog.

Creating excellent and frequent content will give you the visibility you need on the Internet to get more customers.

There is no other way.

Content marketing is becoming more and more relevant as customers opt for brands they already trust.

If you offer quality content, prospects will find you because your blog will be in the first positions of Google, and they will trust you since your content offers valuable help.

And who will they think of when they’re ready to buy?

Exactly, you.

Writing a blog takes time and effort but it’s worth it because it will bring you great results.

If you publish with certain frequency and offer quality you will see them, little by little.

To achieve your goals and not fail you need to create a writing habit, because, otherwise, it’ll be easy to opt for the inaction and not publish anything for weeks and weeks, and then publish 2 articles in a day.

This way you won’t go far.

Ideally, you should publish a new post at least twice a month.

There are several tactics for turning writing into a habit, like brushing your teeth.

I don’t think anyone loves brushing their teeth, but it’s an activity that’s so engraved in our routines that we do it without thinking.

This is how writing can become, just one more part of your daily life.

But to write, you need to think!

What I mean here is that you shouldn’t think too much about doing it.

As Stephen King says in his wonderful book “On writing”:

“The scariest moment is always before you start. After that, things can only get better”.

So let’s get on with it.

Let’s look at all those tips to create a writing habit.

1. Create a space in your calendar for writing

The best way to create a habit and not procrastinate on that activity is to reserve a space in your calendar.

Seeing that block dedicated only to writing will drive you to comply.

The ideal is to write first thing in the morning when your mind is fresh and you’re not thinking about a thousand other things yet.

Many books about writing recommend you to start straight away after you got up, without having breakfast or anything, just a cup of coffee if you like coffee.

I can’t do that.

I need breakfast in the mornings in order to wake up.

But writing is the first thing I do after breakfast.

I even only take a shower after I’ve finished the time I’ve set to write.

You can decide what works best for you, what I want you to remember is that you need to book writing time in your calendar and stick to it.

2. The importance of creating a ritual

I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of football players who, before entering the pitch, tap their shoes or do the sign of the cross.

Rafael Nadal usually puts his hair behind his ears before he serves, even when he wears it short…

They’re little rituals that trigger a habit.

Ok, some sportsmen and women do it out of superstition, but the truth is that these little gestures prepare them psychologically to win.

You can create your own little ritual that you will repeat every morning before sitting down to write.

It’s a way of preparing your mind and nudge it to perform that activity.

This little ritual can consist of making yourself a coffee and turning on the computer with your favourite mug in the other hand.

Or you might do some small exercises to stretch your back just before you sit down.

Or even a couple of yoga sun salutations.

This little ritual shouldn’t be too long, otherwise, it can distract us from what we really have to do.

Writing.

3. Avoid distractions

It’s very important that while you write you don’t check your emails or social media.

These distractions cause our minds to travel to hundreds of destinations instead of concentrating on writing.

Set in your calendar some time to respond to emails and to check social media.

It must always be after you have achieved your daily writing goals so that an email or a post on Facebook doesn’t change your mood.

If the temptation to check WhatsApp is too strong, leave your mobile phone in another room in silence mode.

If this is not the case, it may be enough to place your phone face down on your desk, but always set in silence mode.

If you need to search for some information for your article, don't do it in your writing time but at another time of the day.
Share on X

If you open Google you run the risk of going into a dead-end spiral and when you will finally realize you’ve been reading articles for half an hour.

You started reading statistics about how many people live alone and you don’t know how you ended up watching a video of a guy who makes soap bubbles through his nose.

This is very dangerous, so don’t open Google!

If you need to check a piece of information while you’re writing include a note to look at it later when editing.

4. Set a daily goal and stick to it. No excuses

Some people work better with a minimum of words a day. It can be 500 or 1000 words.

Set yourself an achievable goal and don’t aim too high, 100, 200 words to start with.

You can always increase this number over time.

If you set yourself a word goal, you won’t be able to stop until you’ve written that amount.

Other people, like me, prefer to set time goals.

Half an hour, an hour, two hours of writing. It’s up to you.

And you can’t leave it until you’ve completed that time.

With practice, the number of words you write in a given time will increase.

But I also tell you that there are better days than others.

There are days when it will take you ages to write 2 lines, but the important thing is that you have shown up.

You’ll see that the next day you’ll write more.

Try it.

But during your writing time you don’t look at your phone, you don’t trim your eyebrows and you don’t clean the windows either.

You just write.

5. The old Pomodoro technique

It’s old but it’s still valid because it works. As simple as that.

Francesco Cirillo came up with this technique, which is why it’s called Pomodoro, which means tomato in Italian.

The name refers to those tomato-shaped kitchen timers our mothers used.

Well, mine never used it, but I believe many others did since they didn’t have iPhones with electronic timers.

This technique consists of setting a timer and write non-stop at 25-minute intervals.

At the end of those 25 minutes, when the alarm goes off, you stop writing. And it doesn’t matter if you’re in the middle of a sentence, you just stop.

Then you rest for 5 minutes, or 10 minutes, depending on your writing goals, and after that break, you reset again the 25-minute timer, where you only write non-stop.

You don’t go to the toilet or the kitchen to get another coffee.

You just write.

I use this digital pomodoro and it helps me a lot.

The Pomodoro technique facilitates concentration and increases productivity.

The brain’s ability to concentrate when it knows it has a limited time is incredible.

How to build a writing habit for your blog #blogging #contentmarketing #SEO
Share on X

6. Write without correcting

The best way to let ideas flow is to write without correcting or rereading what you have just typed.

The part of the brain we use when we create something out of nothing is not the same as the one we use when we are correcting a document.

If you start correcting as you write, first you will affect your creative part since you interrupt it all the time and second you will not correct effectively, since your brain is in creative mode, and you won’t see mistakes so easily.

When writing, do it without stopping and without judging too much what you are spitting on the page.

The process of writing is something like spitting out everything you have inside of you that you think can help others.

Let those ideas come out and let even more ideas emerge with the process of correlating.

Correlating is what we actually do when we write an article, an essay and even a novel.

Ideas are already there, what we do is bring them together by creating new combinations.

So don’t be scared to write about something that has already been written about a thousand times before.

You may have a different combination of those ideas that results in a new and revealing point of view.

If you don’t write about it, you may never reach that conclusion.

But you need to let your mind create those combinations as freely as possible.

7. Make peace with your inner critic

It’s going to happen to you too.

As you write you’ll hear a voice, with a cynical timbre, that will whisper to you (or even scream, sometimes) that what you are writing is rubbish and that you are wasting your time.

It’s your inner critic.

That voice has been formed over the years and is a result of all your insecurities.

That voice, sometimes deafening, is partly that teacher who put you in the spot in the middle of the third-grade class.

It’s also that parent who yelled at you at games saying you weren’t running fast enough.

And it’s also that parent who wouldn’t let you climb the sledge because he was afraid you’d fall.

That voice is formed by all the fears and frustrations acquired in your childhood and it’s simply a shield that tries to protect you from yet another disappointment.

The problem is that your inner critic’ voice can impoverish your life if you listen to it, and not let you do the things you really want to do.

If you listen to what she tells you, you will never work hard to get what you want.

So you shouldn’t pay attention to it.

At least not when you’re writing.

But don’t try to shut her up. That’s not going to work.

Your inner critic is very persevering and will speak to you again and again to try to bring you back to a stage of inaction.

Don’t get mad at him.

Try to reassure him telling him not to be afraid, perhaps what you’re doing might be s**t, but you want to do it anyways and you’ll see tomorrow when it’s time to review it if you can improve it.

Some time ago I did the online course Write it, Don’t fight it, by Henneke Duistermaat. She is an important reference for me.

I recommend you to do this course, especially if you’re serious about writing, whether it’s a blog or a book.

This course helps you overcome all those mental barriers we come up with when we want to create anything.

It also teaches you how to be a more prolific writer and to be more efficient.

In one of the sections of the course, Henneke asks you to draw your inner critic.

This is to help you to come to terms with her.

I did draw her, even if I draw really badly…

My inner critic looks a bit like me but has a different hair colour and sharper teeth.

Her name is Maria.

Once we’ve drawn our inner critic, she asked us to write 3 or 4 things on the side that your inner critic tells you when you’re creating something.

Maria tells me:

– You’ll never get anywhere with your writing

– There are hundreds of better writers than you

– You started taking this seriously too late

And other jewels like these.

So what Hanneke advises us to do is to comfort our inner critic and pass an arm around her shoulders while inviting her for a coffee.

Your inner critic tells you all these things because she’s really scared and doesn’t want you to suffer.

So what you have to do is to tell her that it’s ok, that you’re not going to suffer and that you really want to write.

Write next to the things she tells you, your replies. I wrote these:

– Okay, maybe I won’t get anywhere with my writing but I do it because I like it and because I can’t conceive my life without writing.

– There will always be better writers than me but that’s no reason to stop writing. Besides, the more I write the better I’ll become at it.

– It’s never too late to do what you really like. Yes, you’re right, I could have taken this seriously years ago and I never dared, but now it’s my time and I plan to make up for all the lost time practising as much as I can.

These are my answers to her concerns.

Don’t try to argue with her because she’ll get mad, just tell her that you’re ready and that she doesn’t have to be scared.

In reality, your inner critic fulfils its function since you also need a critical part to judge what you have written.

Although you don’t need her when writing, but later, when you need to edit your draft.

How to build a writing habit for your blog #blogging #contentmarketing #SEO
Share on X

8. Reserve enough time to edit with your inner critic

Don’t look at your draft during the next 24 hours and edit it the next day or even 2 days later.

Leaving at least 24 hours will help you to read it with a fresh and somewhat more objective look.

It’s at this point when your inner critic can help you see grammatical errors or phrases that are not well structured.

Also, fuzzy ideas that are not clear and need some depth, such as statistics, studies or quotes.

Being specific is important to show credibility.

It’s at this precise moment when your inner critic can be of use to you.

Because she will see unclear ideas and mistakes and will help you transform your average draft into a great piece.

You will be surprised at how many times, having finished your draft the day before thinking it was rubbish, when editing it you will think that it isn’t that bad at all.

You will find very good ideas that perhaps you should simply polish so that they shine in all their splendour.

Yes, there will also be parts that you think, god, this is awful.

It’s here where you can add some depth, by including information you have read from another article or including a personal story, and so on.

All this will turn your mediocre paragraph into an important part of the article.

Take your time editing and try to cut your draft in order to leave only those words that are essential for your message.

Check out for those clichés that don’t add anything interesting, for boring repetitions, cut those monstrous paragraphs and simplify the language.

Delete adverbs that make the text too dense and add action verbs that endow the text with energy.

After all, your inner critic sometimes knows what she is doing.

How to build a writing habit for your blog #blogging #contentmarketing #SEO
Share on X

9. Make your life easier with an editorial calendar

Instead of thinking every week about what you want to write, reserve an afternoon each quarter to create an editorial calendar with the topics you’re going to talk about in the next 3 months.

Research the web, read books, talk to clients and colleagues, write down ideas whenever they come to mind, and then spend a couple of hours every 3 months creating your editorial calendar for the coming months.

You can also include a column with the keywords you’ll use on each post so you don’t waste time doing keyword research once you start writing.

This way, you let the part of your brain that creates phrases and relates ideas flow freely so you get the best out of yourself in every draft.

Having an editorial calendar is a way to avoid writer’s block

Because every morning you’ll know what you’re going to write about.

There are writers who don’t follow this technique and prefer to decide the night before on what they are going to write the next day.

They also organize their calendar the day before with tasks for the next day.

I prefer to do my weekly planning first thing each Monday and the editorial calendar once a quarter.

Choose what works best for you.

Ideas for posts come to me at any time, so I always have my OneNote app open on my laptop or on my phone. Then I can write them down and don’t let them blow away with the wind.

What happens is that very often when I sit down to create my quarterly editorial calendar, I already have much of the work done and I just have to search for keywords.

Conclusion

If you put these 9 tips into practice you will be able to write a blog that attracts more prospects to your website.

I stick to these techniques (almost always, I’m not a Buddhist monk either) and they are helping me to write in a more efficient way and to be disciplined.

Some time ago I read an article that was revealing for me.

It said that willpower is an emotion, and as such, it comes and goes, so we can’t always count on it.

You can’t practice willpower like a muscle either so if you do certain things just out of obligation there’ll be a moment where you feel overwhelmed and won’t be able to stick to it.

The first thing you have to ask yourself is if writing is important to you

If the answer is yes, you need to turn it into a habit not to depend solely on willpower.

Habits are done almost without thinking and therefore we don’t need to use willpower to stick to them.

This way we don’t spend those “willpower reserves” we need to do other things that cost us a lot of effort, such as cleaning the windows or completing the income tax return.

Featured image Hemingway by Il Tonotto