Yes, YOU CAN Write a BETTER BLOG! Here's how...

Hey are you writing or thinking of writing a BLOG? (BTW-This works for ANY KIND of Blog)

(Got this GREAT #BLOG How To from my friend Simon Sanders at SVT Media...thank you!)  

DeDe in-studio writing her Music Stuff Blog, while mixing her #NewAlbum "Dream of You"! 

Do you want to write better?

If the answer is “hec yeah“, then I’ve got some great tips for you.

 When you are writing a piece of content, it needs to trigger the right emotions and persuade the reader to continue to read your content and not hit the “back button”.

Sometimes, this is difficult to accomplish.

In this article, I will show you some proven copywriting techniques which will help you to become a better writer, boost your conversion rates, increase search traffic, sales and turn fleeting visitors into fans.

Let’s get started!

1. Write Epic Content

If you want to build a passionate audience, it begins with writing epic content. Period.

If you are writing something to inspire people, to stir emotions, you need to provide value and most importantly, you need to blow them away with your words.

Even with all the promotion in the world, if your content is average, your site content will never become popular.

Have you heard of Ramit Sethi?

He receives over 300,000 visitors every month, but the truth, which no one really talks about, is the amount of time he spends writing his blog posts. Every single blog post takes him 12 to 18 hours to write, and this is why he has grown 99.9% of blogs out there because his content is epic.

Are you spending that much time on your content?

You may already know there are thousands of sites and blogs who rewrite the same content repeatedly. Believe me, it’s difficult to stand out when using these tactics.

On the other hand, if you have great content, you have a huge advantage and can push your site to a whole new level and stand out from the crowd.

2. You have 15 seconds

According to a study, you only have 15 seconds to grab your audience’s attention. If within 15 seconds you are able to convince them that they need something badly, they will continue to read.

Make your audience desire your product, service, article or other in 15 seconds, that is all the time you have.

3. Find your quiet place

Sounds like a strange piece of advice, right?

This is one of the best pieces of advice you will ever receive as a writer. I always stress out when I have to write every day. I even do this thing whereby I set myself a limit of writing 500 words a day. I can’t remember how many times I have started and never actually followed through and completed it.

Instead of worrying about the daily word count or page count, concentrate by going to your quiet place and focusing for one hour on your writing without distractions. Don’t set any goals for yourself. No word counts, no pages. Just one hour of writing; good or bad.

By continuing this simple habit, your writing will improve more than you can imagine.

4. Kill Fear with accountability

When I started off, I was always terrified of what people thought of my writing. What if my writing is bad? What if people judge me? Some days I just couldn’t write and I postponed the writing until “tomorrow”. You know the feeling, right?

One of the ways you can overcome this fear is to find an accountability partner. It could be your spouse, friend, coworker, anyone – simply anyone who is willing to help you for 30 seconds a day. Every day, report to your partner via email, and include a) how long the writing process lasted. b) What you wrote about c) How it made you feel?

Try this technique. The benefits are great and your fear will disappear.

5. Make your text skimmable


The majority of people who come to a website, leave within 10 to 20 seconds and that’s why you need to quickly grab their attention.

Here is an image of two different posts:

You can probably tell already that you would press the “back” button if you saw a post similar to what were on the right side.

One of the ways to do this is to format your text in such a way that people can quickly understand the message you’re trying to convey. You can use few different methods to make your content digestible with few glances.

1. Break up long paragraphs into shorter ones
2. When using a subheading, describe a benefit
3. Use bulleted and numbered lists
4. When writing important sentences and facts, make sure to bold them
5. Use images to bring clarity to your message
6. Remove any elements from the webpage, which may distract the reader

6. Bucket Brigades

As with the last point, the attention span of people is short and that’s why we need to keep the reader engaged from the beginning.

Bucket Brigades are words and phrases that keep people on your page. 


Backlinkto author, Brian Dean, uses this technique often and almost every piece of content he writes starts with a short bucket brigade followed by a colon.

Here’s an example:

It can be used to keep the reader on your site even when the content is long (1500+ words). It’s a technique, which was originally used to keep the target audience reading a sales letter.

It works well, and the average time spent on a page will drastically increase after implementing this technique.

You can simply use Budget brigades at the beginning of your blog posts or even in the middle. The most effective way to find where to place it is to consider at what point in the text your reader might hit the browser’s “back” button.

Here are some effective Bucket brigade classics:

• Here’s the deal:
• This is crazy:
• What’s the bottom line?
• You might be wondering:
• Now:
• It gets better/worse:
• But here’s the kicker:
• Want to know the best part?

Just pick a few and add them to your blog post. I’m confident that the average time people spend reading your content will increase.

7. Make amazing
 headlines

You probably spend many hours writing your content, but how much time do you spend crafting your headlines? Probably not enough.

A headline is important because 8 out of 10 people will read your headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will continue to read.

ViralNova and Buzzfeed are most famous for their “clickbait” headlines, but even though they receive a lot of hate, their meteoric growth speaks for itself.

You have probably seen these headlines:

Obviously, some headlines are too much and slightly over the top, but they catch the attention of readers.

Here are some examples to draw inspiration from.

15 ___ That Will Change The Way You ___

This ___ Makes ___ 3x Better

Use These 3 Simple Hacks For More ____. #2 Is Awesome

When You Learn About ___ You’ll Never ____ Again

Here Are 6 ___ That ____. And They’re Backed By Science

I Tried ___. And Even I Was Surprised About What Happened Next

When you have crafted your headline, you may want to test it with Headline Analyzer. It’s really simple and accurate.

8. Use the word “you”

You should get rid of every line of copy that begins with “we”. Whether it is on your website or in an email newsletter.

Instead, begin with “you”.

Why?

People don’t want to hear about others, they want to hear about themselves. They have enough problems and questions on their own and they are looking for answers.

If you want to start conversions and write copy, which gets results then you need to start thinking of the word “we” as a word to never use.

9. Write conversationally


The act of writing is a conversation between the author and the reader. We have so much information from all mediums that if we don’t feel connected with the content, we will search for something else and click away to better content.

If you want to get your message across, then keep your copy as conversational as possible. Try using words and phrases that you use in everyday conversations and try writing in the same way, as you would talk to a friend. If you can do that, your copy won’t end up being dull and uninteresting.

10. Use power words to trigger emotions


You have definitely read articles or books from writers who have written with a magical ability to toy with your emotions. This kind of writing takes us on an emotional roller coaster ride, making us feel a certain way about that information.

You might want to consider doing the same thing. The easiest way is to use power words. The 20 most influential words, via David Ogilvy.

Suddenly

Now

Announcing

Introducing

Improvement

Amazing

Sensational

Remarkable

Revolutionary

Startling

Miracle

Magic

Offer

Quick

Easy

Wanted

Challenge

Compare

Bargain

Hurry

You can try using these words in your headlines, bullet points and subject lines. Of course, it takes time to get used to using “new” words, but try adding a few to your existing posts right now.

11. Use simple language


If you went to college, you were probably taught how to write using complex sentence structures and a use of vocabulary that a 7th grader couldn’t understand.

READ MORE...

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How to Write Really Great Songs...by DeDe

Okay, now that I have your attention, my name is DeDe, and I'm a singer songwriter from Texas.  However, (as you may have guessed!) I 'm certainly NOT going to be able to tell you how to write great songs in one blog, no matter how experienced a songwriter I am!  However, I can give you some basics, so here they are:

First of all, you have to write songs that other people can relate to, and that will move people. They also should be about things you've experienced yourself.  For example, real life experiences like:  love, breaking up, having fun, friendship, a certain relationship, learning lessons, etc.  You should be carrying and jotting down ideas daily in a notepad, notebook PC, or phone for this very purpose.  For example, I went to a class on relationships and they said that love is really about giving.  So I jotted down "It's All About Giving" as a potential song title/idea.  Here are 5 questions to ask yourself:  Do people or can people relate to this song idea/title?  Do people want to hear about this song idea/title?  Can I write enough interesting things about this song idea to make it into a complete song?  Am I able to use this song idea/title to tell a story?  Will it illicit emotions in the listener?  If you answered "YES" to all the above, congratulations, you have the start of a great song!

For example, "I lost my Jimmy Choo shoe, and now I'm hoppin' mad"-Get it? Hoppin!...Well.  Sadly, that's not really an interesting story to most people, sorry!  We just don't care about your shoe, (even if it was really gorgeous and/or overpriced)! You also just can't write that much about an inanimate object, I'm sorry to say, unless it's like the moon or something really poetic. So stick to emotions and experiences that you can tell a great story about.  It is okay to talk about the girl or guy you lost- or even your mother or father...but again, keep it interesting and relatable as to why you are talking about something like that.  And please, please DON'T be depressing! (a BIG pitfall of teen songwriters in angst!)  Also try to find unique ways of saying things and avoid cliches like: "she was like the sun"or "he was the love of my life", etc.  Saying "she had a smile that could outshine the sun", or "I belonged to him, from the moment our eyes met" is much more interesting for example...(These are some actual examples from some of my songs, so please don't steal my stuff!)

Also, you have to have a story that builds on itself. You can't write one line about that great girl you lost last year, and the next line about what you love about your new job.  It has to make sense, and also needs to tell the listener a story that makes them want to stick around to hear what happened next! Also, keep it as simple as possible (stick to one short story that you can tell in 1 song!).  A bad topic for a song story idea would be World War II or something, it's just too broad!  And I have a favor to ask: please also use words that rhyme- whatever scheme you use.  I like them to rhyme, most of the time- at least every other line (okay so that was an example of a rhyme!), but also so true.  Your song should rhyme, and tell a story, stay simple, and what else?  It should also be in matching meter.

Besides not telling a story at all, (or maybe a boring and not real cohesive story) with their songs, this is where a lot of new songwriters totally jump ship- thereby sending their songs permanently to a deep salty ocean grave.  Meter is something you need to use, and if you don't know what it is, you have to learn it correctly and apply it, or frankly, your songs will stink. All it requires is the discipline to put the same number of syllables in line 1 that you have in line 2, or line 3, or whatever your meter is.  For example: "She sells sea shells by the sea shore" has 8 syllables.  So your next line would have 8 syllables (or you can do every other line with 8 and the other 2 lines with another meter scheme, like 9 which I used below for example):

She sells sea shells by the sea shore (8 syllable meter)
Is she a saint or is she a bore?  (9 syllable meter) And wasn't I nice to use the word "bore"?! :)
I've only seen her once before  (8 syllable meter)
But I sure wish she'd knock on my door.  (9 syllable meter)

It can be whatever meter length you have in mind, but all the verses and lines, should at least "match", and not be random in length.  Plus as an experienced songwriter, a shorter meter is less complex and easier to use, and usually sounds better.

Lastly, song structure is another important feature of songwriting. You should have the same (or very similar) meter between all of your verses, and also for each chorus that comes around (the chorus can be in a different meter from the verses, but all chorus's should probably be the same!)  Likewise, you should also have the same (or very similar) melody too each time a verse (or chorus) rolls around, otherwise you risk losing the listener.  This is because with music it's all about the repetition. Our minds like repetition and are drawn towards it -think "It's a Small World After All"...I rest my case. However, as a general rule, the chorus should also have a different melody from the verses; this is just good songwriting and creates some variety for the listener. The typical structure of songs has changed a lot during the years, but today there's one structure (and a few variations of this structure) that like 90% of all pop & country songs you hear on the radio use:
Intro
Verse 1
Chorus
Verse 2
Chorus
Verse 3
Bridge
Chorus
(Tag) Optional

There are variations of course, like omitting the first chorus and doing verses 1 and 2 in a row, but this is the basic way to write today's popular music.  There also needs to be a hook which is at home in and anchors the chorus. The average time the hook repeats should be around 5-7 times minimum throughout the song. For example, if my hook is: "I'm so glad he's mine", I'd repeat this hook 7 times or more throughout the song, mainly in the chorus, and at the end of each chorus to get listeners "hooked" on what I'm trying to say. You can also repeat the hook in the tag at the very end:
Chorus: He's got a smile like a ray of sun
Reminds me of when we'd just begun
And I'm so glad he's mine.  (Hook)
His sparkling eyes so full of sunshine
His heart of gold and his skin so fine
And I'm so glad he's mine, (Hook)
Yeah, I'm so glad he's mine. (Tag/Hook)

So, in review: first you need a good story, keep it simple, avoid cliches, use a consistent rhyme scheme and meter scheme, use proper song structure with a verse, chorus and bridge, and a be sure you have a great "hook" in your chorus.  Now that you have all the basics, let's get out there and write some really great new songs, okay??  And, please feel free to send me a sample of your writing in the "comments" below, and I'll help you with any areas that may need attention, okay?

Also, I would appreciate it if you would Subscribe /go to to my Music Stuff Blog, scroll down, and hit the "Join this Site" button on the lower left hand side of the page so you can get updates, okay?
Take care and all the best music to you!
DeDe :)
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