You can’t always write about personal experiences as a blogger unless, of course, you are a personal blogger.

When you write to monetize, earn money online, generate leads via digital marketing, and lure others to your perspective, then here’s the absolute secret:

READ MORE.

When you read more, you write better. I promise you this is true; I know this from direct and hands-on experience. If someone does not read the news, industry publications, leading and cutting-edge blogs, white papers, or other sites where you learn, then when you sit down to write your slate is empty.

There are no new ideas and concepts or angles to blend into your perspective.

You can only revisit old content and hope that it’s fresh with another posting.

What’s worse, you bore your audience.

Who is Your Audience?

YOU!

You are your first critical audience. Present yourself to the world with the freshest perspective you can offer on news of the day or issues of interest. Put yourself on the receiving end of what you write; is it worthy of others? Are you trying your hardest to bring readers in and keep them?

I picked up Bloomberg BusinessWeek tonight to leaf through. I was treated to the first five stories on a variety of global topics that immediately piqued my interest in writing with those inspired angles.

As I was climbing into the car, this title came to me…my mind was not done mulling over its overflow of jumbled ideas, but guess what? My day is jammed with others who demand my attention. When I can open a business publication and let my mind explore the endless possibilities to write for myself, then I’m fulfilled.  

Is that how you are inspired? Do you think like this all the time with your blog?

I have trouble shutting it off, and I have trouble focusing on one arena of topics because I do hybrid PR – I know a little about a lot with a thirst to know more.

How do you write, get inspired, find topics and share them?  

Tell me is there’s a topic you’d like to see written about here. I am happy to accommodate a try!Thank you for reading me; I appreciate you.

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Author information

Jayme Soulati

Business-to-business social media marketing with core PR for clients mid-sized to corporations regionally, nationally or globally. Blogger and on the Interwebz in all the social media channels delivering content marketing and message mapping. Strategic, seasoned and passionate about all thing social marketing.

By Jayme Soulati, Sea World 2013

Hilton Grand Vacations. This is the inspiration for this post because I sat in front of its sales team in Orlando, Florida for two hours. It was a low-pressure to high-pressure meeting; in the end the customer prevailed — I said no twice, much to my chagrin and emotional interest in saying yes.

The techniques used by the sales team at Hilton Grand Vacations began with the very first sales pitch and ended with an offer a customer could not refuse. I am still upset I could not say yes.

Successful Sales Techniques

In booking my hotels in four locations during spring break 2013, I was invited to listen to a sales pitch for 500 Hilton Honors points. I said sure, what harm was there in listening?

When the first customer touch point rep said Orlando, my ears perked up. Orlando was home to Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure in the Universal Theme Park. Kidlet, being 11yo and a Harry Potter freak, had to see it. It was a trip I’d been wanting to plan; yet, who knew when?

For $118 per night for three nights we stayed in a one-bedroom apartment (yes, it was) with washer/dryer, dishwasher and cleaning service, if you attended a two-hour presentation. We added one additional night and attended the presentation. As a reward for attending, there were 15,000 Hilton Honors points and a $100 voucher good for any Hilton property. All good!

The Presentation

A driver picked us up, breakfast was provided, a kids’ room with gaming was convenient, and adults sat down across a nice table with huge monitors.

For two hours, here’s what occurred:

• A credible, elderly (67yo) gentleman who owned five different weeks at various Hilton properties was the lead salesman.
• He asked personal questions about family, work, kids and overall lifestyle. He developed a friendly rapport for about 30 minutes all the while showing the 9000 worldwide properties available to members.
• He offered every other year of travel which reduced maintenance fees in half.
• The life-long deed would pass from generation to generation.
• Financing options were available.
• An additional 12,000 points were added to the deal to allow for travel in off years, too.

An amazing deal! The first no was delivered after 20 minutes of deliberation and a phone call to parents (voices of reason).

Second Level of Selling

The closer came to the table to check me out with this surprising deal:

• Six locations in the country — Hawaii, Park City, UT, Las Vegas.
• $1600 for 7 nights in Hawaii in a 3 bedroom/3 bath property
• For 18 months, the original deal was frozen
• With agreement to enter into the Hilton Grand Vacations program, the $1600 paid to rent the property would be the down payment to enter the program (they don’t call it time share because it’s a flexible week and location any time).

More deliberation and emotional pressure. The deal was too good to pass up; the pressure was intense because the deal was too good to pass up! (I know, I said that already.)

In the end, what it boiled down to for me was purely timing. A single mother with a middle school kidlet and select sports, sole breadwinner running a business, no vacation time ever, does not a good decision make.

The emotions following the experience were surprising. I wanted to do the deal; the Hilton Grand Vacations team is that good. When you tally up the cost per lead generated by Hilton Grand Vacations, it’s exorbitant. When you look at what happens when members get into the program (they continue upgrading and purchasing additional weeks), then Hilton wins.

The hang up becomes the customer because the sale and the technique are perfect.

Author information

Jayme Soulati

Business-to-business social media marketing with core PR for clients mid-sized to corporations regionally, nationally or globally. Blogger and on the Interwebz in all the social media channels delivering content marketing and message mapping. Strategic, seasoned and passionate about all thing social marketing.

Four Corners by Treks West Tours

The search for happiness in life can be an ever-winding road, with many peaks and valleys along the way. Most people know this; it’s no great secret.

Everyone is different. What brings them happiness is totally unique to them. The quest for happiness should be our paramount goal in life, as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of others.

Thanks to Jayme, I get to share the risk I took on a quest for happiness. I gave up a good career in a university to launch my very own adventure travel business, Treks West Tours.

Looking back, the risk was well worth it! Let me tell you my story…

Ever-Winding Road

My life followed a fairly standard path, and I’m sure you can relate — lack of focus as a youth; a quest for girlfriends as a young man; the search for better pay; lack of focus again as a young adult; you get the picture.

The first major step towards happiness was marrying Sheila, an amazing woman who understands the importance of finding happiness. With that achievement I was able to focus on other aspects of finding happiness. My eyes soon opened to travel in the great outdoors.

As my eyes widened toward adventure, they closed on the job where my passion was diminishing with time. Happiness shouldn’t be about money but it often masks other feelings or overrides them awhile.

What Matters

Ample vacation time allowed me to fall in love with the Southwest on a trip to Arizona. I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time, and it spoke to me. Coming from the green state of Maryland, the vast West lured me. I was hooked!

Every free moment we’d return to Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and add another layer to the passion I felt for the region.

National parks and wilderness areas became the focal point of our trips. I learned all I could by hiking the trails and rafting the rivers. I left my heart there each time I returned East to my passion-less career.

I found an affinity for the minutia of trip planning, researching a park and finding the best places to explore. Soon I was planning all the trips for Easterners who wanted to experience the great West.

The joy I felt out there equaled misery on the job. I lost purpose, began to tread water and brought those woes into my home life. Before I could ruin my solid foundation at home, my wife and I discussed the pros and cons of leaving my job.

I wanted to start an adventure travel business, and everyone agreed I’d be foolish not to try.

Taking The Leap

I gave a two-month notice to my employers after 12 years at the university. Money, while important, could not buy my happiness. Life is too short to spend bogged down; my wife and I agreed this was the leap to take.

I jumped into the business of building a website, creating tours, getting insurance and commercial permits along with all the marketing and planning that goes into the tedious parts of starting a business.

I began to network with other outfitters, hotel owners, national park rangers, and others. That was one of the really fun parts of the job; there are a lot of great folks out here!

On May 2011, I launched Treks West Tours, my stab at happiness, hiking, horseback riding, and white water rafting — my vision of what a western adventure should encompass!

It isn’t easy. Things aren’t great for the travel industry at the moment. High fuel prices and a weak economy are a problem, but I’m so much happier!

When I take a group to Moab or Big Bend or any other fabulous destination and see the looks of amazement in their eyes, it’s so fulfilling! I made the right choice. Following one’s passion is never a mistake! What could be better than getting paid to go on vacation all the time?

About The Author

Brian Wrabley is owner of Treks West Tours offering guided adventure tours of western national parks. Hiking, horseback riding, and white water rafting are his favorite featured activities.

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Author information

Jayme Soulati

Business-to-business social media marketing with core PR for clients mid-sized to corporations regionally, nationally or globally. Blogger and on the Interwebz in all the social media channels delivering content marketing and message mapping. Strategic, seasoned and passionate about all thing social marketing.

This marks the occasional blogging tip series inspired by a comment on a blog that warranted a tip series about comments on blogs. Make sense?

While I didn’t read the actual blog post, I did read a comment on the post (not sure how that happened), and it went something like this:

“Thanks for this post about whether I should comment on my own blog when someone comments. I now won’t do it because I think the comment section is for the voice of the reader and not me because they already heard my voice in the post.”

GASP! I AM AGOG!

Please, bloggers, never do this.

• Blogging is NOT a one-way street; that goes for the comment section, too.
• If you want to build community, you have to engage in comments.
• People who comment expect the blogger’s response!
• If you don’t comment, then no one is home; you look dark, curtains drawn, not-welcome sign in the window.

If I comment in your house and you don’t respond? I’m never coming back because that’s rude.

If someone comments and disagrees with what I say and wants me to explain what I’ve written, but I don’t reply in comments…that’s grounds for divorce.

Blogger’s Tip 1: Always respond to comments on your blog.

Jayme Soulati is the Author of Writing with Verve on the Blogging Journey. After more than three years of blogging and writing a ton about blogging, she knows how to build community and responding to all comments is rule numero uno.

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Author information

Jayme Soulati

Business-to-business social media marketing with core PR for clients mid-sized to corporations regionally, nationally or globally. Blogger and on the Interwebz in all the social media channels delivering content marketing and message mapping. Strategic, seasoned and passionate about all thing social marketing.

Do you know that many blog headlines suck? No, seriously, they do, and here’s why… the headline is the single-most important aspect of a blog and writers often stop short by featuring a less-than-pizzazzy headline.

In this era of time constraints, a headline has to describe the gist of the story, draw readers in, and be creative. With that said, here are 12 tips to get you thinkin’ on better headlines to attract and keep readers coming back:

1. Summarize the story in the title. Give readers the low down of the story right on top. A headline provides the gist of the news, content, story angle, etc. Be descriptive in a concise way. Spend the most time writing the headline FIRST; trust me, this is the best way to get it right.
2. Be creative! Can’t stress enough how critical it is to let the creative juices flow like hot lava. It’s your job to draw a reader in and make them click on that title to see what else is being featured. When the headline is the only chance you get… well, spend more time on it!
3. Say no to hashtags. If you think you’re killing two birds with one stone writing a headline for Twitter with a hashtag, think again. A headline with a hash tag is unappealing. Besides, Twitter is not the only channel for sharing; other channels don’t use hashtags to capture topics, so why do it?
4. Reconsider name dropping. You may be in love with that book author, client or peer in your tribe or feed, but guess what? Your readers have no clue who that person is. When you name drop with the @ sign in a headline it diminishes the headline and becomes very promotional.
5. Use more than one or two words! Amazingly, bloggers think a headline with one or two words is acceptable; rather, it’s an immediate signal to run for the hills. While the content may be decent, there’s no way to tell because one-word headlines say and do nothing to entice a reader to open the door.
6. Be tastefully raucous. Some writers never use raucous words in a headline and that’s up to the discretion of the writer; however, if you’re going to use the “sex sells” mantra, do be tasteful about it. Do a test on occasion — add a racier word than you’re used to and see if traffic boosts.
7. K.I.S.S. — Keep it simple! When a headline carries on for three lines, readers’ eyes completely gloss over. It’s so critical to keep a headline short, sweet, simple and to the point! Not satisfied with yours? Ask someone for help; people do like to help others.
8. Keep key words for SEO to a minimum. Never overdo key word littering in a headline. That’s one thing every reader picks up on and every reader then expects the content to be oriented to SEO juicing, too. All bloggers want to boost SERP, but it needs to be done in a minimalistic way.
9. Use action voice. Write a headline that is a “How To” or includes an action verb. Here’s an example, “How To Refinish a Spindle Chair In Half The Time.” Not only does that title tell me I’m going to learn how to do something, it also tells me I can do it more efficiently. (Anyone who has refinished spindle legs knows how challenging it is!)
10. Ignore first-person pronouns. Use of the word, “I” is verboten… that’s German for “forbidden.” Who’s making that rule? Moi, the author of this post. There are no hard or fast rules to blog headline writing, but this one should be set in stone.
11. No selling! Cannot stress enough how horrific it is to read a headline in which the author is sharing coupons, deals on products or dentistry (yes, I saw a woman doing that on Google+ and kindly told her this is not how Google+ is used with a suggestion on how to do it and then deleted her from my stream). There’s no easier way to alienate readers by putting such things in a headline.
12. Know your audience! Who is in your community? Do you have “mommy bloggers” who might like to know which brand of children’s clothing stands up to 10 washings? Are you an author trying to showcase your latest book? Do you write professionally for small businesses? No matter… when you write a post with your community in mind, the headline needs to orient to them and their takeaways.

Overwhelmed with these tips on how to perfect a blog headline? Please don’t be! Review the patterns in your own writing and note a few areas you might consider improving. Then, take a few of the aforementioned tips and change up your style a bit.

What do you think? Is anything missing?

This post originally appeared on 12Most.com January 1, 2013 by Jayme Soulati.

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Author information

Jayme Soulati

Business-to-business social media marketing with core PR for clients mid-sized to corporations regionally, nationally or globally. Blogger and on the Interwebz in all the social media channels delivering content marketing and message mapping. Strategic, seasoned and passionate about all thing social marketing.