Post: #1

So I've started a blog for my author pen name, and I'm blogging about a lot of personal development stuff and mindset. Since my fiction contains motivational/philosophical themes, I'm hoping this might lead to some book sales, but even more important, I hope to leverage it in the future to build a long-term readership for non-fiction books about personal development.

I didn't really know the blog would go this direction but that's how it's unfolding. Now I'm getting to the stage where I'm realizing it really needs some focus if I want it to pick up readers, so I'm plotting categories.

What are some topics you guys feel go a bit untouched on personal development blogs? To be clear, this will not be a manosphere blog but will have men and women readers, though I imagine some of my stuff will vibe with guys more. I don't mind expressing my personal views on some of these topics publicly but it won't be manosphere-specific.

One thing I've noticed about self-improvement blogs is they seem cheesy or written for and by people who are square, or straight-edge. I think it would be cool to have a personal development blog for "the rest of us" - people who come from the wrong side of the tracks or had a hard upbringing, etc.

I think a lot of personal development speakers do come from this type of background if you dig deeper, but unfortunately, they seem to lose touch with their audience and forget where they came from. I think it'd be possible to bridge that gap somehow and reach out to people who are still struggling to find themselves, rather than just communicating with middle-aged soccer moms who want to read something that makes them feel warm and fuzzy. lol

Some of my current articles may not be hitting the mark, but I think I want to start bringing it a bit more raw. In a lot of ways, I think I'll be writing to myself when I was in my late teens and early 20s, when I could have used some advice and direction in life.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Category or Topic ideas?

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #2

How do you plan on marketing this blog? Content alone won't bring you an audience.

And have you picked a market you want to serve?
If you try to serve everyone, you'll end up being lost amongst the tens of thousands of PD blogs out there. PD is a multi-billion dollar INDUSTRY.

Pick the audience first, do the research on their needs, then the posts write themselves, as well as you knowing where you can promote yourself.

WIA

Post: #3

(11-09-2013 11:24 AM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  How do you plan on marketing this blog? Content alone won't bring you an audience.

And have you picked a market you want to serve?
If you try to serve everyone, you'll end up being lost amongst the tens of thousands of PD blogs out there. PD is a multi-billion dollar INDUSTRY.

Pick the audience first, do the research on their needs, then the posts write themselves, as well as you knowing where you can promote yourself.

WIA

Thanks for the input, WIA. To answer your questions - main marketing strategies so far will be social marketing, guest blogging on authority blogs, and long-tail SEO. As for the long-tails, I write super long posts on my sites (1500 - 3000 words) and get a lot of natural traffic through long-tails - never have a problem picking up subscribers even if all I do is write and don't market at all, honestly (it would piss some SEOs off, I imagine). And publishing the books on Amazon will be a form of marketing as well, as all books will link back to my site.

I'm narrowing down my audience now. It might be a bass-ackwards way of doing that, but mentioning that I'm writing to myself in my rougher days or to people from the rougher side of the tracks might indicate that I'm getting closer. There are all sorts of ways to brainstorm a website concept - I just chose to start the website first and focus it as I went along.

If you look at a lot of the classic sites online, some of them started before they realized what the hell they were doing and fine-tuned as they went. In certain cases I think this is ideal, and the site can meanwhile be used to pick up writing clients, so in this case I think just doing something was the way to go.

Also, I understand your concern, but hugely competitive niches don't frighten me. Maybe I'm full of myself, but I think my writing is good enough that if I put posts on big sites in the niche, or just about any niche, for that matter, I'll get readers. But yeah, you're right, I do need to hone in on the target reader as I move forward. I'm in the process of creating a spreadsheet for my content marketing plan at the moment and doing just that.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #4

Ways to make money, skills that one should obtain in order to make money, give out more details about the writing business, how to stay productive throughout the day, start reviewing books on your blog, let's say the same reviews that you leave on amazon (if you make it long enough), you can just copy and paste it to your blog, etc etc

Let us know your new website.

Post: #5

(11-09-2013 11:45 AM)pitt Wrote:  Let us know your new website.

Like all my websites in my author name, I won't be linking it back here, Pitt. Not in the near future anyhow - maybe later on. I know it's kind of presumptuous to ask for advice on a site I won't share on the forum, so just ignore me if you guys want. lol I thought the brainstorm might generate some ideas for other bloggers here too though.

You're an established member, so I of course don't mind giving you the link through a pm if you want to check it out. Will not be doing writing biz stuff on this one as I've already got a separate blog for that, but will probably put up a banner for my writing site.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #6

put your website in your signature if you want feedback. Or PM them to the people in this thread who are eager to help. We cant give advice what to write without knowing your writing style and areas of expertise. Any one of us can come up with dozens of ideas for Roosh to write about because we are familiar with his writing, with you thats not the case. PM each person that responded and has 150+ posts, worse that happens is they dont give you any feedback.

Post: #7

So are you introducing more rugged topics to your audience now?

What's the feedback been?

WIA

Post: #8

(11-09-2013 12:24 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  So are you introducing more rugged topics to your audience now?

What's the feedback been?

WIA

No readership on this one yet as I've only been posting for a week and only posted the first keyword-focused post today. Just a couple Facebook likes here and there. I didn't get serious about it until the last day or so - that's why I'm working out the marketing plan and focus now.

It will be a little while before I have enough traffic to get any worthy feedback. I'd say about a month.

My writing is pretty dark though (yet comes with a positive message), and a lot of my fiction even deals with super heavy issues. I've had a small handful of people email me to tell me my books made them cry - all women, of course (gotta be a way to drop some panties there lol). But again, any fiction sales I get off this site will just be a side note. Hoping to build a readership for non-fiction.

I'm leaning towards a focus of not just improving your life but picking yourself up from rock bottom. Something I've got a good deal of experience in.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #9

(11-09-2013 12:31 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  but picking yourself up from rock bottom.

There you go. That's your central organizing idea, that's how you position yourself.

When you're at your absolute worst, at your wits end, when all is dark - my blog is the one you turn to. If you're just dealing with suburban malaise and want to win the lottery, this isn't the blog for you.

And that term, "rock bottom" opens up a lot of things

- weight
- drugs
- disease
- depression
- dating

Post: #10

(11-09-2013 12:45 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 12:31 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  but picking yourself up from rock bottom.

There you go. That's your central organizing idea, that's how you position yourself.

When you're at your absolute worst, at your wits end, when all is dark - my blog is the one you turn to. If you're just dealing with suburban malaise and want to win the lottery, this isn't the blog for you.

And that term, "rock bottom" opens up a lot of things

- weight
- drugs
- disease
- depression
- dating

Thanks, Man. I think you nailed it. That was a big help.

Add broke as a motherfucker to that list.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #11

(11-09-2013 10:56 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  In a lot of ways, I think I'll be writing to myself when I was in my late teens and early 20s, when I could have used some advice and direction in life.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Category or Topic ideas?

Mindfulness
Self awareness
Staying out of debt
Escaping materialism
Body Image/Diet/Fitness
Wisdom from the "Great Books"

Post: #12

Bold and determined