Blogging newbies and vets! Attention all you blogging grunts out there, I have a message for you. You run a blog for one reason. Yes, you want to share value and help people. But you really want to tell people to do something. So they take the call to action and both parties prosper.
Like a general. I tell you to do something you do it. Simple. Easy. Makes everything run smoothly. So why should blogging be any different? Study top bloggers: this crowd commands, and readers do.
Generals and Blogging
Sign up for my email list. Buy my product. Pick up my free ebook. Subscribe to my RSS feed. Top bloggers have conviction. They say, you do. Why is this the case? Why do some bloggers tell you to take a call to action, and you take it?
Confidence
Where it starts and ends in the blogging world. Confident bloggers command their readers to do stuff. Like a general. The readers do it. Of course the content before the command must be top shelf. If a wimpy looking, 95 pound, scrawny general weakly uttered a command, you would laugh. You wouldn’t act.
But when a stern looking dude coming in at about 225, 6 foot 2, bellows a command at you, guess what? You’re acting on the command. Yep, size played a role, but as a blogger, you need not be big. It’s all about attitude, energy, and yes, you can create an illusion that you are much bigger, and commanding, by being confident.
The Blogging Issue
Most bloggers fear being “salesy”, or too promotional. I remember before I joined a tribe, I heard from a particular blogger that I was too promotional. This was simply his lack of faith, in his opportunity, being projected on me. I laughed. I knew better. So I ignored him, and continued promoting myself, and my opportunity, barking calls to action like a blogging general, and growing my team, and readership.
I didn’t enter blogging with a wimpy mindset, feebly asking people with lukewarm calls to action. I told them to sign up for free tips to make money online, to share my posts, and I never allowed non confident grunts, who were afraid to command their readers, to get into my head.
[tweet_box design=”box_06″]Focus on your blogging efforts and ignore those who have a negative viewpoint of what you're doing.[/tweet_box]
To heck with 'em.
Not Obnoxious
Quick point here. Commanding does not mean being obnoxious, rude or pushy.
All these tactics use force, and force negates. Commanding like a general means being straight, to the point and bold, making frequent calls to action, peppering these orders throughout your blog, so readers take the call.
How Can You Command with Blogging?
Include 1 to 2 calls to action on your sidebar. Clear, direct, “do this now” type stuff. Include one to two calls within your blog post. Again, clear and direct. Then include a call in your resource box, and a banner, influencing readers to take the call.
Commands should be focused on 1 thing: sign up for my list. Or you can tell people to buy your product.
I swear, unless you ask people to do something they rarely do it. You can’t hide your call to action under layer after layer of your blog and expect people to see, and take the call. You gotta be a blogging general, and tell people to do something, to take the call, so they take it.
Too many bloggers fear telling people to do stuff. The lack faith in their blogging ability, or their offering, on a deeper level. This lack of confidence goes out amplified, scaring off prospects, readers and anybody who could form a prospering relationship with the blogger.
You need to clear this stuff up before you become a successful blogging pro. You need to believe in yourself, and your opportunity, and you need to not fear asking people to do stuff. Sounds simple, and clear, but you'd be stunned at how many bloggers fear asking folks to take a simple call to action, multiple times on their blogs.
Subconscious Stuff
People feel your blogging confidence or lack thereof on a subconscious level and respond accordingly. If you are confident, people listen. If you lack confidence, people don’t listen. All subconscious stuff. How do you get through any subconscious blocks? Put on your stars. Tell people what to do. More people feel your confidence, and take your call.
Congratulations. You are a blogging general. Now drop and give me 50!
Your Turn
Do you act like a blogging general? How clear, direct and frequent are your calls to action?