Write to give not to receive: Top 3 questions to ask yourself

byGail-UK

3.1K followers

4 years ago

Most of us have started an online business because we'd like to make a few more pennies each month.....or if we're really honest, loads and loads of pennies each month, which really equates to a passive income on which we can retire! I know that was what drew me here in the first place, and is still one of my motivating factors. Nothing wrong with that!

There are of course now, many other motivating factors that keep me coming back - not least my friends, the positive nature of this site and the amazing things that I am continuing to learn day in, day out.

The purpose of my post today is not to decry anyone who is motivated by money; money is good and we can do lots of brilliant things with it. But rather I'm hoping to REMIND us all that when we write our posts, 'more money' is not the motivation we need for reaching out to, and serving our audience. For the audiences are not stupid, and they will see through an article that is heavily laden with affiliate links or insincere reviews quicker than it takes for them to hit the back button on their browser and send your bounce rate soaring!

So remember, when you are writing an article, keep your audience in mind and make sure you are writing to give not receive.

Here are 3 questions to ask yourself whenever you write:

1. What problem does my audience have or what does my audience need to know?

When you understand your audience, you will know what there problem is, or what they need to know. THEN, you will be in a position to help them. Remember that they are not coming to your site to make you wealthy by clicking on your affiliate links.....they are coming to your site to find out something that they don't already know, so make sure YOU know what that is, or you won't be any use to them.

2. What advice, insight, experience or knowledge can I offer?

Knowing the problem means you can offer a solution. Your audience might need a new recipe, or learn how-to do something. It could be information or advice or the comfort of reading someone else's thoughts or reviews of something. The thing about creating niche sites is that we can all be experts in one thing. No one in the world knows everything about everything, so value your own experience and uniqueness and offer your insight to others.

3 How am I helping my audience with their problem?

When you have answered the first 2 questions, ask yourself this third question and make sure this is reflected in your writing and your site. Are you actually helping them or is your site/writing still geared towards what you think you will receive from them?

Be honest, be self-critical and if you find that difficult, then ask others to review your writing and give you some feedback. It's you who will benefit in the end, but not always by 'raking in the dollars' first and foremost. Many of us have been burned metaphorically by internet scams or get-rich-quick schemes, so make sure you apply those lessons learned, to your own site and write with honesty and integrity. That's why I say: "Write to give not to receive".

The irony is, that the way to make money online is to give your audience what they want, not just take their hard-earned money. When you do that, and give out first, you add value to your audience and you will be pleasantly surprised at how much the universe returns to you.

No one plants dollar bills in the ground to get rich.....dollar bills don't grow. But planting seeds that grow into the things people really want....that's the way to find the gold at the end of the rainbow!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Gail