Finding your own writing voice is tough. Should you write how you speak, or use the language your audience uses? How do you identify the voice they want to hear?

So many questions. So much frustration. And so much work to be done with a subject you know rather well — yourself.

But finding the voice of your client? Put me in a straight-jacket and leave me to struggle, because that right there? Sounds like it’s near-on impossible.

But what if your dream clients made it remarkably easy for you to figure out exactly who they are? What if the knowledge of THEIR clients was right under your nose? And what if you could use this to write expertly for both?

This Brave New World exists, folks. And it’s yours for the taking.

In today’s post, we dive into 4 different ways you can get closer to nailing the voice of your client. You’ll know exactly what to research to define the words they use. You’ll also be able to get under the skin of the language their audience will respond to best.

And by the time you’ve written your masterpiece? Your client will read it and feel like they wrote it themselves.  [Read more…]

Psst! Want to know a secret?

If I said you could get read and retweeted globally, find a whole new audience for your work and increase your published clips by doing nothing would you believe me?

I thought not. But you can.

Being published on a globally read blog can take some effort. Pitch after pitch, ideas lost in the ether, courting editors, seeking approval — it’s a hard slog. But we do it to build an audience, showcase authority and make the world know we’re here, right?

Let me share with you something that happened to me this month, and what I learned about going viral without the legwork.  [Read more…]

The Spice Girls may not be as “in” as Miley Cyrus, One Direction, or whoever the kids are listening to these days, but you have to admit, their all-time hits such as “Wannabe” and “Stop” are timeless and can still get people up on their feet.

Not to mention, the Spice Girls taught the world a lot about good times and girl power. [And about dancing in platform wedge shoes.]

But they can also school us about guest blogging. From how to approach bloggers correctly, to what to do after your article is published, here are a few guest posting lessons we can learn from this all-girl group that took the world by storm way back in 1996. [Read more…]

You know you nailed your pitch because you just opened an email asking you to send over your first draft of your guest post.

You give a little fist pump, take a moment to let the glory of your success sink in, and then take a breath and open a blank word document.

Now what?

You know what you want to say, but how exactly can you say it so that you can deliver the awesome content you promised in your pitch? Start with these five tips to help you rock your guest post and please the blog owner (and their readers).  [Read more…]

If you’re anything like me, sometimes you want to punch the so-called “blogging gurus” in the face.

This is probably because you’ve done everything they’ve told you to do. You’ve implemented their social media strategies, and tweaked them for your own blog. You’ve written about controversial topics with a strong, original voice, and you’ve made your blog look clean and spiffy.

Yet no matter what you try, it always seems like a failure.

But guess what?

There’s something very important about all that work you’re doing, a blogging success secret that no one wants to talk about. And it all has to do with that ever-so-frustrating word: failure. [Read more…]