During the past couple of months or so, I’ve been working with Don Purdum who’s helped me define what business I am really in, so I could start attracting more clients, and especially the clients that I really want to work with.
As we worked together during those many weeks, we also had some lengthy conversations that you can only get with him if you’re committed enough to your business and really want to pin point what is missing. In other words, hire him.
I am very committed to my business, whether it’s the copywriting side of it or the life coaching side of it.
One thing we’ve talked about was that many blogs out there, are simply too broad, and thus not speaking to any specific crowd. That’s why they are not doing as great as they should.
The first problem here, is that most bloggers don’t know they are being too broad in their blog content, and the second problem is that they think there are specific.
Frankly, I thought I was specific too, but it turned out that I wasn’t.
Broad Topics are Easy to Write
First, let me say that if you are already very popular and successful, being broad may be OK for you by now.
But if you are still in the phase where your business is open to new clients or customers, then you should pay attention to the content of your blog and understand what business you’re in, to borrow Don’s favorite phrase here.
I’m not going to write a blog post that would belong in Don’s blog, but I’m writing for business owners who are looking to hire the right copywriter for their blogs.
You see, anyone can write broad topic articles.
They are so easy to write!
I can write a 700 word broad article on any subject in under 20 minutes, but what good such article would do to your business?
Wouldn’t you rather hire a copywriter that could write an article that is addressed to a specific person, and that represents a specific facet of your product or service at the time?
I’m sure you would, because I’m sure you understand which one of those two articles would have the strongest impact on your reader.
In this post, I’ve gathered 5 reasons why your blog post is too broad and make you lose clients and money.
So pay close attention…
1 – You don’t Exactly Know what Business you’re Really in
This is the core business of Don. He’s helping his clients figure out what business they are really in, because even though many of us, may think we know, it turns out that often times we don’t.
Actually, without naming names, while talking with Don I realized that some great bloggers that we both know, are way broader in their message than they think they are.
That’s probably because they’ve not sat down long enough trying to figure that out.
What about you?
Do you really know what business you’re in, and does that really show – is it really felt in your blog content?
If you are thinking about hiring a copywriter to write for you, it’s a must that you tell them what business you are specifically in, in order for them to write those knock out blog posts that are going to give that aha moment to your specific target market.
Now, I have to add that a good copywriter is going to ask you some intelligent questions, so he will have enough data about what you and your business are all about to be able to write specific posts for specific people. Hope that you do know.
That’s what I do.
However, if you don’t know what business you’re really in, how are you going to know what specific people you are servicing and how?
That may lead you to the second mistake…
2 – You don’t Exactly Know what Type of People you are Servicing
Each time you write a blog post, it’s a must that you write it for a specific person with a specific problem.
Why?
Because that’s the only way that your article is going to resonate with one specific person with one specific problem at the time.
If you master that skill, you are going to move people who read your blog post, and they will want to take action based on what they’ve read.
Once you’ve figured out what specific problem you are solving in your blog post (one post at the time), the next question you need to ask yourself is; what specific problem does this person have?
But another mistake you’re making is that…
3 – You don’t Specifically Know what Problem you Solve
Now, knowing what business you’re in is not enough to know what specific problem you solve, because chances are you are solving more than just one problem.
Each of your blog posts should be about solving one problem at the time, for one person at the time.
You usually know that you’ve done this well when you get comments that mention things like… “ah you are talking about me, here”.
When that happens, you’re in a better position to turn that potential client into an actual client.
In my case, as a copywriter and a life coach, I need to be very specific for each of my businesses, and I need to be very clear about who I am talking to specifically in each case.
I know that I am clear when I get comments, like the one below which I’ve received through email from someone who signed up for my new coaching free offer:
Thank you so much for doing this for us and giving it for free. Those videos are helpful and open my mind to something I did not know with my relationship with money. May the Universe blesses you more. As you said, if I could have enough money now I could afford to hire a coach.
Now that you know what problem you solve and for whom, what else do you need to know?
What about going deeper?
Is there something else you are not clear about?
What about…
4 – You don’t Know what Specific Qualities you’re Looking for
Now even though you know what business you’re in, what type of people you’re servicing and what are the specific problems you’re solving, the next thing you need to know is what type of specific qualities you’d like your clients to have.
There’s a slight difference between knowing what problem you are solving, and for whom, and knowing what type of person you want to help specifically – How you want them to be like.
I’ll be blunt here, but in my case, if someone hires me to write for their blog, I don’t want them to discuss my fees, my writing style, or my turn around time.
Another thing I don’t want is for them to tell me what to do, when I know better than them what to do.
Why?
Because working with people who challenge my skills and the way I work, are making me lose my time and money, and even my creativity.
So, it’s a valuable asset to have a good idea of what type of clients you want to attract in your business. What qualities you want them to have, and what qualities you want them NOT to have.
If you are selling a product, do you want customers who complain and return the merchandise back all the time, or do you want customers that are satisfied?
Do you want clients that are easy to work with, or do you want complainers that are never happy?
What specific type of person do you want to help, and what qualities you want them to have?
It’s good practice to write down the exact qualities you want your clients or customers have, to be able to be even more specific in your blog posts, and attract people that will match what you’re looking for.
But while you do, here is one more thing that may be destroying your business right now.
5 – You Write too Much about you and Not Enough about your Reader’s Need
If you want to have a serious impact on your potential clients or customers, you must drop the “me, me, me” mentality.
By now, you should know that people don’t really care about you and how well your business is doing, but they do care about what you can do for them, and how your product or service is of advantage to them.
It’s OK to tell about yourself in your about page and when it’s necessary, but don’t mention all your achievements and what your company does in every blog post you write, because people simply don’t care.
Again, instead, address a specific problem to a specific person on each post, and your blog posts will get on fire.
Conclusion
The reason why your blog posts are not successfully bringing you tons of clients is because you are way too broad in your content, even though you’re not aware of doing it.
If you want that to change you need to stop doing any of the five mistakes I’m mentioning in this post.
If you don’t know what you’re doing wrong, you may keep writing the same way you’ve been writing, and see what happens, OR you can hire someone like me to do it for you, and see your blog posts getting your desired results.
Hi Sylviane,
I’m really excited for you and the future of your website, blog, social media, video and especially for the coming growth of your business!!!!!!!
I really enjoyed our time one-on-one and getting to know you. You were a special client that took the time and allowed yourself to go through the process one step at a time. I saw you learn, grow, understand and apply what you were learning as you went along.
Keep up the great work and I look forward to having you in my monthly mastermind for clients at the end of this month as my clients connect with one another and we together move forward learning “what business we are ‘really’ in”.
Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to serve you!!!!!!!!
Have a great week Sylviane!!!!
~ Don Purdum
Don Purdum invites you to read..Two Guaranteed Ways Consultants and Coaches Can Thrive in a Volatile Economy
Hi Don,
I thought I come up with a post that would bring together both your business and my copywriting. For what is worth, I had fun writing it.
Thanks for coming, commenting and sharing. And I’m looking forward to the mastermind group.
~Sylviane
Hey Sylviane,
Well as you know, having worked with Don myself, I can totally relate to what you’re saying.
Granted, I already had a great following so my broadness didn’t hurt me as much either but when you’re not as specific about who you can help and why then you won’t get as many customers and/or clients. So the more specific you can be, the better off you’ll be. That I do know for sure.
The great thing about this for me though was that a lot of those people who were regulars to my blog openly admitted to me they were not really doing well behind the scenes. I already knew that but just waited for them to say that openly. I sympathize with them though, I felt their pain and it’s not a great place to be.
If you want to move forward and stand out among everyone else that does what you do you better be crystal clear on what you do, who you can help and how you address them. It’s been a huge plus for me since having worked with Don as well and I know it’s only going to get better as I continue to move forward.
Awesome share here today and I’m so very happy with you too. So many people don’t realize that they aren’t spot on so I’m hoping they’ll have their own aha moment sooner rather than later. 😉
Enjoy your week young lady.
~Adrienne
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Hi Adrienne,
Indeed, I’ve heard from you and Don that you’re business has increased since you’ve become more clear about what you do. I also felt that in your blog posts for sure. They were always good, but now they are great, because more specific.
I have had a back and forth conversation with someone who opted-in for my free video tutorial about money mindset and she told me that’s just what she needs right now. So that’s the type of comments we get when we get specific. I can’t wait to see how my business will increase as well as I’m getting more specific.
Thanks for coming, Adrienne.
Thanks for sharing another extremely solid blog post Sylviane!
And I’m afraid, on the advice of my counsel, I’m going to
have to plead the fifth!LOL!
Otherwise, I may entrap myself! Because it’s more than obvious, you’ve hit
the nail directly on it’s head!
And while I like and can truly appreciate all five of your incredibly sound suggestions!
Numbers 2 & 4 are without a doubt, extremely huge for me! Especially what you shared in
# four!
Thanks so much, I’m definitely going to share your extremely helpful post!
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Hi Mark,
Well, I very flattered that you really appreciated my post. For me it was my own intro to my upcoming more specific posts, and I can’t wait to see how they are going to do for me and my business.
I feel that many bloggers can take advantage of this advice that I’ve learned myself during my one on one sessions with Don Purdum who really helped me get that specificity down, once for all.
Thank you so much for coming and for your comment.
Hi Sylviane,
I noticed you from your smart comment over on Adrienne Smith’s blog, and I had to just come over and see what you’re about!
It’s clear you have a way with words but you also know what you’re talking about. As you said, “Another thing I don’t want is for them to tell me what to do, when I know better than them what to do.” – wow. Boom.
With #4 you brought up something I think about as a blogger sometimes. One day I was reading a blog post I found on google, and then I got distracted and lost the site. I did a search for the blog and sadly found a forum of people saying lots of nasty and negative things, and I was so disappointed that people could be like that. On the other hand I learned something from it because some of the comments were like “She just regurgitates what I could find in google” or “She’s just copying stuff” – and even though it was unfair, I thought, “what’s the one way to make sure people can’t say that?” and I realized it was “share your own unique experience – be specific – in there, don’t just make a niche wiki site.” And that was where I first started to make certain changes on my blog to keep those things in mind.
Then what you talk about – about specific target audience and who they are, this takes it further to really understanding who you’re talking to, what qualities you want them to have, and why they’d want to read your material.
Thank you for giving me something to think about here and hope you have a wonderful week!
Best~
Maria
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Hi Maria,
Thanks you so much for the compliment, and I’m so glad you found me on Adrienne’s blog. I’ve been commenting on my friend Adrienne’s blog since late 2011 and she has on mine, every single week for that long. I’ve met lots of people that way. They saw me on her blog and came over.
Wow, people can be very mean online, saying things they wouldn’t dare saying in your face, but that’s one of the facets of the internet.
There are so much of that broad information online, that if you get more specific you can only win. You may have less visitors, less comments, but the ones you’ll have will me much more targeted, and ready to buy from you. Or at least investigate you again, and again and eventually become your client or customer.
Thank you for coming and I’ll come over to your place to get to know you more.
I’m guilty about being too broad – blog wise that is:-) Although I’m starting to talk more on a particular area within my niche that topic is bringing in readers who aren’t necessarily interested in the other things I write about. Most posts are aimed at B2B whereas this one has a much wider appeal.
I’m not sure that I want to totally concentrate on this topic and the only way I can think round it is to set up a new site dedicated to it. But, I still have to come up with ways to monetize it.
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Hi Sue,
Nice to see you here today.
I think that it’s a good idea to concentrate on one topic and dedicating a site for that specific niche. I think that being specific is vital in an internet that’s becoming super crowded and full of broad info that interest everyone and no one at the same time.
Glad you came by and thanks for your comment.
~Sylviane
Hi Sylviane,
It’s impossible for me to summarize everything I received from this post. As I was reading I paused several times to ask myself, do I really know what business I’m in?
Like you mentioned I think I know. And if I really wants to learn and grow, I must be willing to ask myself tuff questions like this.
Writing a post for a specific person for a specific problem reminds me of the times I’m asked to share my experience in recovery with an audience.
What I do is find someone in the audience who’s giving me their undivided attention and share as if I’m talking only to them.
It works every time.
Now I must do it with my blog.
I’m so excited to began to practice these wonderful tips that I know will help me grow in understanding what problem I’m solving.
Above everything else, I appreciate your honesty about your experiences and your feelings when it comes to helping others.
Because I know people who will ask for help then tell you how to help them. :D:
Thanks my friend,
Vernon
Hi Vernon,
Well, you’ve said it. Each time that we concentrate on one person when talking (or writing) to a group of people, as if we were talking to that one person, it works.
Why doesn’t it work? Because many people will have the same or similar experience as that person, so they will relate.
I am so, so glad you appreciated my post here, and thank you very much for your comment.
Hi Sylviane!
Well, I’ve definitely been guilty of going far too broad. The first blog I ever created tried to cover the entire technology market. The posts tried to cover massive topics instead of specific problems. Needless to say, it didn’t get very far.
I try to focus on solving specific problems in posts and leave the broad things to the courses where I can create 50+ videos to cover a topic comprehensively. So far the two are doing good at driving traffic to each other.
Feels funny reading the last part because as you know I just published a huge post that was primarily about myself hahaha. I try not to do it very often but I do think there are certain positives to it if you do it sparingly. I want people thinking about me as much as possible, and while it often won’t do good to retain any new visitors, those sort of personal pieces can really help build a connection and demonstrate a point with your regular audience. That’s been my experience anyway. If anything, our stories make us unique so if they can be tied into a lesson I’m all for that.
Great lessons here and hey, I just picked up a copy of your book on Kindle Unlimited. Looking forward to reading through and leaving what I’m sure will be a positive review. 🙂
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Hi James,
I know, I’ve just been to your post yesterday, but that’s perfectly alright to do this at times, if you look at my post few weeks back where I tell all about my European adventure, it’s all about me too, but as we do this, we also have a purpose which is to connect with people as you said. once here and there, it’s perfectly fine.
Thanks so much for getting a copy of my book on Amazon and thank you for sharing your experience with blogging. I know that no matter what mistake you’ve made in the past, you rock now!
~Sylviane
Hi Sylviane,
I’m just totally impressed how you have elaborate the whole thing about broad blog posts. When it comes to attract more clients, one should write exactly what they are looking for. If they find something unnecessary on your work, you’ll definitely lose them as you are not serving what they want!
Thanks for the information! Appreciated!
Hi Hitesh,
I’m so glad you enjoyed this information. Thanks for coming and for your comment.
Hey Sylviane,
After meeting Don over a year ago I started narrowing down my message and my audience. As it turns out it was the wisest thing I have ever done.
Before there were quite a few people who kept asking me what exactly did I do. I assumed many knew but apparently my message wasn’t clear. Yup that clarity thing is very important and on top of that I learned that everything that you do must be cohesive to your message.
Thanks for sharing Sylviane! Have a great day!
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Hi Sherman,
Indeed, when people ask you what is exactly what you are doing, it’s a sign that your message isn’t clear. It’s easy to think that we are clear to ourselves, but not to others. I’m glad that you’ve narrowed down your message and continue learning as you go.
Thanks for your input 🙂
~Sylviane
Hi, Sylviane
Just finished Don’s free webinar yesterday and read his current post as well as Adrienne’s, two points stood out to me: must have clarity in message and solving one problem with one client at a time.
This is particular important to me because I have a multi-niche lifestyle blog.
The message may not be so specific. I appreciate you put in #4 with examples to further illustrate the #3 about the target audience.
I am still deciding what my business model is. I will contact Don after I settle down my direction.
Thanks for your honest insight!
– Stella Chiu
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Hi Stella,
I’m glad you attended Don’s webinar and could learn more about clarity. It’s always tricky when we have multiple niches and I know all about that to, but the golden rule is solving one problem for one person at the time.
Thank you for coming and for your comment.
~Sylviane
Hi Sylviane,
I guess this is a pretty common problem for new bloggers who haven’t quite “found themselves” yet, but also, like you mention, some people are just unsure who their audience is, even after they’ve been out here for a while.
Writing too broadly does open yourself to just too big a crowd, when you really want to focus in on your targeted audience. Your target audience has very specific problems. One of the key purposed for blogging is to demonstrate that you can offers some solutions to those problems. You just don’t get to do that with an overly broad audience, where most people don’t care about those issues.
On the other hand, writing broad-topic post occasionally is a good way to bring some new traffic your way. Not all traffic coming to your blog must be prospects. Many of the broad audience crowd will share your blog and increase your visibility, ranking and overall impact on your marketplace.
So, it’s kind of juggling game, I guess. I’d say to focus on your most targeted audience, but don’t turn your back completely on the broader base readership either.
Nice article, a lot to think about here, my friend 🙂
-Donna
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Hi Donna,
Nice to see you back and well.
Yes, I like what you said about broader posts bringing in a wider crowd to your blog as well, so I it’s OK to do this once in a while, but not all the time of course. I know that in my case I will try to write more and more very specific posts and see how it goes.
Thank you for coming Donna.
Hello Sylviane
This is my first visit to your blog and glad to be here! Thanks for all the great points you raised about writing blog posts that are too broad. It’s easy to do.
I have a couple of blogs that are extremely focused and do quite well. Another is a little more broad and I need to tighten it up for sure.
You gave me some great ideas on where to start.
You brought up some great points in items 4. Most of the time, when I take on a client, they trust that I will do the best for them. In other cases, as you pointed out, they are micromanaging every aspect of the project. I recently had to drop a client for that very reason. It ended up costing me more time than was worth it.
I like that you talked about what specific person do you want to help. As entrepreneurs, we get to choose. That’s one of many reason we do what we do.
Thanks for this food for thought!
Lisa
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Hi Lisa,
So nice to meet you and so glad you found my blog. How did you find me?
I so know what you mean with the type of client that will end up costing you more time and energy than it is worth it. No one has to deal with this type of client, and I hope that no one is that desperate to have to.
I’m so glad if this post helped you in any way and looking forward to get to know you more.
~Sylviane
First time i am visiting your blog. I am happy to see these type of posts for writing great blog posts. I will follow these now.
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Hi Naveen,
I’m glad you enjoyed my information here.
Hi Sylviane
Happy to see you’re getting good results with Don, a top operator.
Your topic is an interesting one for sure.
You are right – we have to drill down and become more tightly focused on the needs and wants of our audience. This could translate to understanding the pain points and hot buttons of our ideal customer.
Of your five points listed, the last one is the standout for me. Often business owners talk too much about themselves and not enough about the real concerns and interests of the reader. Sure, we want to promote our products and services, but there are smarter ways of doing that than simply pitching and doing the hard sell. Hint: Educate, don’t sell.
Case in point. I am working with a client who has a messaging problem on his website (he’s in the health and fitness niche). After reading his About page, it became quite apparent what the problem was. Too much talking about himself and not enough about his prospective customers. He didn’t remind them of their pain (overweight, stressed, unfit, etc.), he didn’t offer a conceptual solution to their problems, and he didn’t persuade them that he is the best man they should be working with.
One technique I have used with great success over the years is to get people excited about the solution. When it happens, they’ll just about take my arm off for my product or service. But it has to be done in a ‘non-sales’, benefit laden way. Getting the balance right is always a juggling act, but when we hit the persuasion sweet spot, magic happens.
Thanks Sylviane for your constructive and helpful blog post
Kim
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Hi Kim,
All you said here is the “secret” that everyone should know about if they are marketing a product online.
We need to understand that the potential buyer is saying “what’s in for me” and not so much “what do you do?” Once we know how to put ourselves in the shoes of the reader it’s a win-win solution.
Thanks for your great input.
~Sylviane
Thanks for that info.
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Hey Sylviane,
I don’t think that such kind of great insights for writing I could read on any other blog on the Internet. However, I do have different views about the point 5.
Readers do care about any company’s achievements if they are in the same industry. Suppose If I am running a Affiliate marketing business, and if I am doing well in my business, then the other marketers will want to see how am i doing this? So, it depends on the kind of audience in my opinion.
When I read a review of any product, then I would love to read the personal views of the blogger.
and in case of general blog posts, if a blogger includes the personal insights in the blog posts then it always helps readers.
What do you say about it?
-Nikhil
(myquickidea.com)
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Hi Sylviane,
Awesome post. You have outlined some very important points to make your blog post targeted towards the audience you want to reach out to.
It about being specific about what your readers want. All the 5 points are very useful.
Thank you for sharing ! 🙂