How to Build Rapport with your reader

Building rapport with your reader

rap•port ră-pôr′, rə-
n.
Relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity.
To have relation or reference; relate; refer.
n.
Harmonious relation; correspondence; accord or agreement; affinity; analogy: used as a French word, often in the phrase en rapport, in or into close relation, accord, or harmony.

When I first made my blog, I remember how sharp it was.  I was very proud of the informative articles, and professional formatting.

The problem was, I was treating my blog more like a website than a blog.

Rather than speaking to my reader, I was simply encyclopedic in my writing approach.

I still got good rankings in the search engine, and even good, return traffic.

It wasn’t until I began using the human element that I really found increase in my business.

Now, I need to tell you all something…I am a very private person. What I mean is, I don’t really like revealing too much of my personal life, and really, from a professional stand-point, that is a good stance to take.

I mean, aren’t we always taught to keep our private lives out of the workforce?

I was certainly taught that. But  then, things began to change.

Internet marketing began to take on a much more personal tone.

People began using social media to promote their business.

Businesses which used to be blue chip quality began acting like chimpanzees, and doing all sorts of weird stunts just to get “share” and “likes”.

And it seemed to work for them.  For a while. Until everyone began acting zany, and then the appeal was gone.

Thankfully, many such businesses regained their sanity and quit acting like teenagers, gangstas….anything…just to get attention.

Now that things have calmed down a bit and the smoke has cleared, many businesses are still left wondering,
“How can I seem approachable while not being too casual, or unprofessional”.
“Is it okay to mention what I do in my personal life? Just how personal should I get with my audience base?” And
“which parts of my true self should I actually share”?

I answer all of this in my ebook, “How to build rapport with your blogging base”.

If you have ever found yourself wondering how to reveal just enough without seeming too familiar or forward, then you need to read this.

It’s just a straight forward read on how to connect with your readers without revealing too much.

If you have ever wondered where the  professional “line” is with blogging, then you need to grab a copy.

You’ll learn

1. How to assume the proper tone with your audience so that they instantly connect with you—without seeming too casual or too serious.
2. How to identify with your audience while still positioning yourself as a thought-leader
3. When it’s really okay to let it all hang out, how to do it, and how often.

There’s a special bonus section for information marketers (what can be more stressful than creatively trying to provide daily content without giving away your product?)

By the end of this course, you will know how to wake up each morning and provide fresh, relevant, meaty content that touches the heart of your reader.

The cost? $83

Note: This does not cover the technical aspects of setting up or designing a blog. This is strictly about writing, psychology, and content.

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How to enable the “follow” feature on your blog

Did you know that a lot of people run across your blog on the WordPress platform?

And did you know that a lot of those people would love to “follow” your blog. But they can’t because you haven’t enabled the “following” setting.

Here’s how you do it.

From you dashboard, go to Settings.  Click on it. You should see a drop down menu (it might display on the side of the tab, rather than “dropping down”). Hover your mouse over the Word discussions and left click. A page will display, labeled, “Discussions”. On the left hand column will be a series of choices, with check boxes. Scroll down to find the option that says “Follow Blog”. It must say “Follow Blog” and not something similar.

Click on the check box, and don’t forget to save your settings.

Settings > Discussions> Follow blog.

That’s the sequence you need to click in order to enable your fans, like myself, to follow your blog.

Once you do, we will all be able to follow your blog and read your latest post in our reader.

Happy Blogging!

Why your readers love or hate your blog

People don’t visit your blog to buy something. They read it to

a. Read interesting stories

b. Meet interesting people and then

C. To connect with you. (continue reading)

Shut up and write already

Wow! Doesn’t that seem harsh?  I worded it that way because there’s this little voice I hear when I make a post, and that voice sounds creepy. I sometimes hear it when I’m blogging about (gasp) …God!

So like (valley girl mode) I’ll go on this bunny trail, where I just start letting it flow. And I’ll get this strong impression to write someting. And God comes out because, well, he’s my best friend.; and like I told you, I’m just letting it flow, being myself.

Now some people will tell you that it’s not professional to blog about God. But even these secularists, if they know anything about marketing, will tell you that it is very good to be self-revelatory to a great degree (“real”) if you will, and to occassionally even let it all hang out.

(reader, if you are a liberal then,  trust me…you don’t EVerrr want me to let it ALL hang out) . but as I was saying, there are times when God pops out in my writings.

I post. And cringe. Not because I’m embarrassed about God. No way! God’s my hero. My war buddy. He’s,  well he’s AWESOME> i dig Him, and He likes me back;

He cheers me up when people take me for granted in the family

He has my back when some sociopath is playing some church game and puts me through a smear campaign with my tribe.

When people (used) to rip off my content, He still let traffic come to my website through the ripped off content, see, He’s awesome.

And the main reason I think it’s so professional that I mention Him is because, He absolutely guides me in how i run this blog. Very much so.

I know that withou Him, ranking for major internet marketing search terms would never happen.

As a matter of fact, without a specific word from Him, I never would have continued in this blog, this business,

One day, I may tell you the story of the internet marketer who hires a spiritual woman to give a prophetic word to his people. And how it changed my business. I can’t tell you today because there is a tribe of Christians out there who don’t believe that God can still do miracles today. As though God’s power went away after the resurrection or something. And I really don’t want God’s power attributed to Satan.

Which is another reason I get frustrated….I don’t want readers to mock my God and incur damnation on themselves. And it makes me mad when people made in His image start walking around like He has no right to have a say in who they are or who they say they are….(now don’t get me started, reader).

The reason I do have to mention Him though, is this; I talk to people all day about how to be successful with God. Online, I type about Him. So when people consult with me, or visit my blog, they expect to get the truth.

And the truth is, I feel the Almightyvery specifically guide me into how to run my blog and business… and that’s the secret to my success.

Hey reader, do you know that you can ask the almighty for specific insight into your business?

 

Writing for your audience

“Hey, blogger, do I …know you?”

 

When you write a blog, it is so important that you write just as though you were talking to your reader as a person, not a single mass of humans.

Here’s what I mean: have you ever been on the web and found yourself reading a blog that went something like this:

Search engine optimization.

What is search engine optimization?

Well, search engine optimization is who search engines rank your website. They optimize it. For the search engines.

Another word for Search engine optimization is SEO. Seo stand for search engine optimization.

Okay, other than sounding choppy, did you notice how you had to trip over the word “Search engine Optimization” , like, half a dozen times; and you still had to scan for any info. And the info that you got was something you got already!

Content like this cheapens the web, and is annoying. It is super easy to tell at a glance that these bloggers are NOT interested in content, just in getting rankings.

For what? Ranking well so that others will click off your site? (see how THAT helps your rankings……

–No, a better way is to write to your audience.

What most bloggers don’t know.

One thing that a whole lot of bloggers don’t understand is how their rankings are affected by how long people stay on their site.

So let me explain:

When you optimize to the search engines to the point of sacrificing the user experience, it’s like shooting yourself in the foot.

All of those keywords help your blog rise in the rankings, but everyone clicks off within seconds.

And that will cause your rankings to plummet.

A better way to get rankings is just to write naturally. No one believes this, but it really is the best way to get rankings.

How do I know? Because I’ve done seo. No, reader, I mean I have DONE SEO. Diligently. Thoroughly. I even have an Seo business. And if I told you how well I’ve done on some keywords, you probably wouldn’t believe me. Or think I was bragging. Or be…jealous.

Or, more likely, you would try to emulate my strategies. So here it is (this is for all of you who have found my blog through the search engines).

The very best thing you can do for your blog is to write naturally.

Hode it, hode it (that’s how my kids used to say it) I know what you’re thinking (yes, reader, it’s true…I read minds). No seriously,  I do know that advice like that seems so mamby pam, pie in the sky fake.  It s sounds like something that your competitor would say, to steer you wrong.

But you aren’t my competitor.  You are my partner. Because, if you keep making the web look cruddy by posting SEO rich, content poor dribble, it makes all of us look bad.

Look, you’ve tried everything else.

How about this one?

For one month, instead of using all of the SEO trick, tips and gadget you can think of , how about just writing naturally?

I’m not saying that you can’t push keywords in your copy, in your title, or on you tags. But how about this experiment: for one full month, just write like you talk. And then, let me know how it works for you

Hey, are you looking to build strong connections with your readers? Learn about building rapport with your blogging base.