Today I want to give you a writing challenge – one of many we’ve done during the life of this podcast. We’ve tackled list posts, link posts, opinion posts, calls to action, review posts, and “how I do it” posts, and now it’s time to crack open our vulnerabilities with posts about making mistakes.
As usual, you are welcome to link up the post you’ve written at the show notes for this episode here.
I want you to think about some mistakes you’ve made, or that you see people in your niche or industry making. Write about what these mistakes are and offer solutions to and preventions for them. These types of posts do well for several reasons: people often wonder if they are making the mistakes, then they’ll want to know how to fix it if they do, and where to get help when they realise they’ve done wrong. It also helps keep you relatable to show that you’ve made errors in the past.
In today’s episode I also have six tips to help you write a great “mistakes” post – everything from ideas for content angles, how to personalise the story, and of course, what not to do!
Don’t forget to link up your post at the show notes and browse around other listener’s efforts.
Its really an informative article and I think it will help new bloggers who have just started writing.
Hi Darren,
Hands down, these posts do the best for me. And it’s not even close. People want to see where you messed up so they need not mess up too. My selling point; I struggled for 5 years blogging because I made a set of mistakes, over and over, so you may cut your learning curve by 5 or 10 years or hell, more, if you honestly see whether or not you’re making these mistakes in your blogging career. I literally save folk’s time by the years as does anybody who writes mistakes posts because we bring truth to the blogging world; we share our screw ups so other bloggers can identify their mess ups.
My mistakes posts regularly get the most social shares and comments. We have all been there. From blogging only for money, to picking topics I felt not passionate about, to avoiding blog commenting, to avoiding social media, to not networking or to publishing average content way too frequently, I have done it all…OK…most of it ;) Knowing these mistakes, readers can assess if they are flubbing up in the same regard, to correct the error of their ways.
Humorous add on; I am self deprecating a bit when sharing my dumb dumb errors. By making fun of me and my dingbatish ways I lighten up SO much and have freaking fun with this ride. More enjoyable, more entertaining and I feel more detached from my work when I simply make fun of where I mucked up in the past. NOT taking myself seriously has opened so many doors for me and it’s boosted my creativity too. What a wonderful 1-2 punch which has helped me spread the word, which has helped my audience quite a bit too.
Thanks Darren ;)
Ryan
glad they work for you too Ryan!
These tips are really worth listing, I would like to recommend everyone please listen, there are some useful tips you should know.
Here is my attempt at my first “mistakes” post and second official post on my website. Thanks for all of the support and advice you offer on ProBlogger
http://www.samuelgreenjr.com/new-blog/2015/11/21/t7shikon2j79r6czu5t0i6rogk6ils
Hi Darren,
Yea, these kind of posts always work me both on my own blog and other blogs where I usually guest post.
People can learn a lot from you and the headlines become clickbait instantly. Thanks for remainding me again :)