Why your blog doesn’t have to be perfect.

Do you cringe anytime someone reads your writing out loud? Does this thought sit in the back of your mind as you are blogging? (or does it stop you from blogging at all?) Blogs can be daunting, but the benefits should outweigh any uncomfortable feelings that you have about writing. For me, speaking comes more naturally than writing. When I write I tend to use too many words trying to assure my message has been conveyed loud and clear and I feel awkward when I hear people reading my words out loud. I push past all my apprehensive thoughts because blogs are a FABULOUS business tool. They are an innovative way to promote yourself or your business and even help boost your search engine ranking. The best part is they are shareable, people are more likely to share a blog they find relatable over a website which gets your brand out to more people.

Critically for me though I keep two things in mind. 1. If I help one person with my blog, whatever the topic that is a win for me and I am amazed at the comments I get from people around the world who appreciate the insights and thoughts that I put into blogs. 2. I journal every day, there is scientific proof this helps stress and I know use blogging as a mechanism to ‘use’ my journal time effectively. Once a week I write a few blogs. It helps me!

I remember the feeling of uncertainty and doubt when I began to write my first blog. I was confident with the content and would have no apprehension speaking to a group of people on the topic, but when it came to writing I had no idea where to start. Over time I developed a system to writing which I use to guide me through each blog, I don’t use it exclusively, but I refer to it to break down a blog when I am spending too much time starting at a blank page.

Know your audience
We are all targeting a different demographic of clients so before you write anything, ensure you have a clear image of your ideal client or customer in your head and write your blog as though you are speaking to them. For me, my ideal client isn’t reading my blog for entertainment. My audience are professionals who are often time poor, they dedicate as certain amount of time each week to expand their thoughts and skills outside of a standard professional development. So as much as I could spend more time adding entertainment to my writing, I know my audience aren’t going to value it as much as the direct, hard facts.

Heading
People will decide whether to read your blog based on your heading, so if there is one area to devote your creativity to, this is it! Workshop a couple of titles both before and after writing your blog. It is important to revisit the title at the end because your blog may have taken a different direction than you initially anticipate so you want the title to fit.

Image
A lot of experts discourage the use of stock photos and I understand that you need to be unique to stand out. However, I don’t have the time or energy to source or create innovative images for every blog or post I do. I prefer to use a stock image and make it unique by adding my brand colours, logo, boarders, backgrounds and graphics. This process only takes a few minutes on an application such as Canva.

Subheading
If your title and image haven’t convinced them, this is the final chance to hook them in. Use 1-2 sentences maximum describing what they will get out of reading your blog.

Body
It is a lot easier for you to write, and a lot easier for other people to read if you write the same way as you speak. Avoid long sentences, complicated words, and break up large bodies of text with subheadings. Remember blogs are supposed to be easy to read and comprehend.

Summary
Briefly summarise the main points of the article.

Call to Action
Alternate your call to action. It doesn’t always have to be ‘booking a call’ or ‘like and share’. Use the opportunity to direct them to free resources, related articles, your website or shop.

When used correctly blogs are an engaging way promote yourself and your services. Your blogs make you relatable so prospective clients will get to know, like and trust you, making them more likely to buy from you. Regular blogging is also an effective tool to boost your search engine rankings, getting more eyeballs on your offer. Write as often as you’re inspired, write the way you speak, it makes your more relatable, put the thesaurus down and just be you!

Love Life, Love YOUR Life

Ferne Eliz King

Practice what you Preach

Living by your own advice enables you to be the type of person that you admire.

Giving advice is a lot easier than receiving it, even when the advice has come directly from your own mouth. People tend to give advice to lift their own self-worth and sense of importance. Being on the receiving end generally has the opposite affect, and we must decide whether we accept the advice from others. There are tips we should all follow.

When someone comes to you with a problem, take a strong look in the mirror and consider whether you have the knowledge and experience to have an opinion, and if it is advice that you follow yourself, before offering any counsel.

People often confuse hearing someone venting a frustration with asking for advice, and we are quick to jump to solution mode when sometimes all the other person wants is for someone to hear them.

We could all work on being a better listener.

When someone offers you advice in your personal life, do not be so quick to dismiss it. We are often too emotionally entwined with our own problems and it is a lot easier for others to see the big picture. You ultimately have the power of choice, and not every piece of advice is going to be right for you but take some time to self-reflect before you make that decision.

If you are a leader or manager of a corporation. Practice what you preach!

It seems so obvious but all too often I see managers who have forgotten where they have come from and forgotten their role. Your role is to lead and support, not to direct and delegate. The way you conduct yourself in the workplace will have a direct impact on how those under you will behave.

Hypocritical is unfortunately a word that describes some managers, and it is both frustrating and disrespectful to the employees who look up to them. I’m not stating that these managers have chosen to behave this way- ultimately, I believe it’s a question self-awareness. Here are some examples of the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ approach to management.

The manager that:

• Disciplines employees for coming to work late, but they arrive late for most meetings
• Promotes strong customer service, only to be hostile towards a customer with a complaint themselves
• Limits coffee breaks, but takes an hour and a half for lunch most days
• Reminds employees not to spend work time on personal tasks, but then takes a 45minute personal call later that day
• Insists on continual improvement yet never seeks to develop their own professional knowledge
• Promotes teamwork and unity, but frequently puts individuals or other divisions down

As you can see some of these are quite subtle and easily things you may not notice in yourself but see clearly in other people. They are all quite common mistakes. But these mistakes can be cancerous to the overall work culture.

They good news is, owning your mistakes will restore some credit with your employees. If you begin to actively take your own advice you will begin to rebuild trust which will cause your employees to work harder and begin to take the initiative needed to grow a successful company.

So when you offer someone advice or direction, consider how the words can be applied to your own practices. There is a strong chance it is something you need to hear too!

Love Life  Love YOUR Life

Ferne Eliz King

Effective Ways To Communicate

We are all aware of why effective communication is critical. Employees know their role and work more efficiently, less time spent in meetings with more time achieving outcomes, higher retention and the list goes on and on! But did you know the way you convey your message is more important than the message itself?

These insights highlight the problems with communications.

• The average employee receives 150+ emails each day and spends 25% of their time at work on emails. 62% of those emails are NOT important (Source: SaneBox)
• The average employee spends 2.5hrs per day searching for information (Source: IDC)
• 72% of employees don’t have a complete understanding of their company’s strategy (Source: Tribal Impact)
• 74% of employees don’t feel up to date with company news (Source: IBM)3

One of the few silver linings from the COVID-19 pandemic is that leaders have had to find new ways to connect and business have started trending towards collaborative communication. As stated there are too many emails going out, they are often impersonal and employees are spending too long sifting through them, often missing important information. The good news is some corporations have adopted techniques during the COVID pandemic that could revolutionise the way we communicate in business.

• Implementing new communications tools and apps for instant contact between employees working apart, there are many examples where companies have dropped the use of email altogether!
• Redefining target audiences so information is only reaching employees it is intended for (reducing the time employees spend ‘sifting’ through irrelevant news).
• When communicating with text, using personalised messages in the subject line to attract attention
• Using diversity in applications ranging from high priority to low. For example, push notifications for high priority communication, email for low priority and others in between.
• Getting creative with the way content is shared by using videos, podcasts and infographics- Employees are 75% more likely to watch a video than read text (Source: Ragan); Particularly if it is an informal video recording from the boss to start the week off rather than the dry email that is hard to read.
• Use employee feedback about their preferred way to receive messages and communicate within their team
• Devising a way to measure success of internal communications -60% of communication professionals do not measure internal communications. (Source: Workforce)
• Implement dedicated Flow Time; company wide.  No meetings, no emails and flow time does not equate to catch up on admin. It is Flow Time to work on the stuff that needs prioritisation, creativity, curiosity, inspiration and innovation to solve for.  Get people to work in small teams for Flow Time or individually .. Watch the dial move …. 

Implementing an overhaul to the whole communication system is a daunting concept! The good news is the transformation doesn’t have to happen all at once- it can be taken in steps. You could start by asking employees for feedback on how they would like to see communications operate in the future. You can start sending shorter, and more personalised emails with a catchy subject line to grab attention (and stop sending bulk emails). You can change your weekly newsletter to a weekly podcast or video. The possibilities are endless!  And dont, ever, every send important communications on a Friday.

Corporations with a strong communication system experience the long term advantage of a healthier work atmosphere where employees are more motivated, loyal and engaged. Organisations with effective communication are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their peers (Source: ThinkTalent)

Think of the changes you can implement today!

Love Life, Love YOUR life

Ferne Eliz King