Stop losing them.
You work hard to come by new and returning readers.
Why chance another ditching visitor, bailing subscriber, or completely missed customer because they have no idea what your blog should be about?
Because your content is more than just each individual post.
It’s about how they all connect together.
And what their connection means for your readers.
If you’re lost in the direction of your blog, not getting far with what you’ve got, or you’re simply wanting to create a solid foundation for your content niche —then this post is for you.
You’re a talented solopreneur.
Now, let’s find your content focus.
The Internal Struggle Of The Multi-Passionate
When you’re blogging, you’re not “writing”, per se.
(I suppose some clarification would be helpful, huh?)
A writer acquaintance of mine once said:
Writing is something you do for yourself. Blogging is something you do for your reader.
Although it’s not 100% accurate from every angle, that paraphrased quote brought me lots of focus every time I began planning out a new blog post.
Now, just because you’re blogging doesn’t mean you’re selling your soul on writing.
Keep writing. Write whatever you want, whenever you feel like it.
Just don’t publish it all on your blog.
SUGGESTED: How To Find Your Content Passion
What You Want To Write About
Make a list.
Brainstorm away for 10 to 25 minutes (set a timer—it’s quite helpful). And when you’re done, you can begin to find cohesive subjects within much of what you want to write.
You can do this by answering some “passion questions” to help refine your content focus.
- What’s a topic you could go on and on about?
- What are you an expert in that you could help others with?
- If you only had one thing you could do for the rest of your life, regardless of the pay, what would you be happy doing?
Find [Or Create] A Connection
Imagine a network of wires.
No, not the expertly wound piles of wires behind your living room entertainment center.
I’m talking about an electrician-bound system of wiring, let’s say, for an entire office building.
Just picture the wires—all powering something different from the other. Yet, in this moment, below the surface, they’re all perfectly lined up and zip-tied together. Stretching across hundreds of feet before they branch off to complete their duties.
Their purpose.
Although the wires all power different devices or areas, they all have a connection.
They all provide unique avenues of power to the office building.
Your blog is the office building.
You can find your network of content cohesion from what you’re passionate about and what interests you, and meld them together in a way that makes sense.
Example: Before I found a focus with my blog, I was unintentionally writing “starter” content for my readers.
- How to start a blog
- How to create a website
- How to get organized
- How to set and achieve goals
- How to start being more productive
- How to get started marketing your content
Do you see the connection?
They all cover starting at a professional level. They all create a foundation for a solopreneur to start a prepared and informed business.
And although I appreciate entrepreneurs in general, I found a natural gravitation toward solo entrepreneurs (or solopreneurs—sole proprietors, “one [wo]man shows”, etc.).
It’s where I am. It’s what I love.
Why not write for them?
And the deeper connection within my blog’s focus stemmed from my coaching and consulting services.
I just took all of these attributes, passions, and interests and zip-tied them together as a uniform collection into one focal journey.
Together, they created my online purpose, job title (Solopreneur Growth Strategist), and blog focus.
Sure, not all bloggers are able to find cohesion in existing content. In that case, you should remove all posts that don’t align with…
What You Want To Accomplish
Although your blog is for your readers, it’s also a platform for your goals.
Without a reason for writing your content, your readers have no desirable call-to-action and therefore no reason to join your community.
So, you should to set a clear goal for what you want people to do on or with your website.
What do you want your readers to do on your blog? With your blog? For your blog?
A third of your blog’s (and website’s) focus is it’s goal.
So, what do you want your blog to do for you and your business?
SUGGESTED: 5 Daily Habits of Highly Successful People
Cut The Outliers And Narrow Your Focus
Once you’ve set your goal, check to make sure that what you actually want to write about aligns with that goal.
Whatever doesn’t fit or connect, eliminate it.
If the topics of interest that you need to eliminate are things you also want to write about, you can always start a different blog later on.
Or, simply, a blog on Medium or Tumblr too.
It’s up to you and how much time you have to write and market that main blog—your focal one.
So, what will your blog’s focus be?
Make that list of any topic of interest or passion you want to write about.
Then, find the connection between them. Whatever doesn’t link up gets the boot.
Just because you have a focused blog, doesn’t mean you’re selling out on other areas of interest.
It just means you’ve provided a valuable, consistent, and streamlined resource for your readers that meets your (and their) goals—and doesn’t lose visitors from confusion.
