What is the difference between a blog, a training and an e-book?

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5 years ago

Here is another update to get writing going and to help you, not make the same mistakes. I'm writing to my future followers and new guys here on WA, who love writing as much as I do.

Being a life coach that overflows with knowledge and just wishes to give ALLLL the information I've got I see myself getting lost in the translation. The other day I was just writing an outline, to 5 other blogs I could link to and deliver the coaching and tools the readers might need and I found myself giving so much content that it turned out to be a whole book or a training...

How do I learn to write more precise, more direct and also deliver the message?

What is the difference between a blog, a training and a e-book?

When you think about writing content, sometimes you just start writing and see where the content takes you. For a person like me, that has a lot of words to say what she wants to say that can be a challenge and it mostly leads to VERY BIG pieces of content. Which I then have to break up in pieces or turn into an e-book or training.

So what is the difference between a blog and a training or e-book?

In an e-book you want to inform a person about a subject you know a lot about and help them get so informed that they can resolve the issue that they were facing. Or feel that they are ready to take this new knowledge and integrate it into their lives.

The e-book has a nice outline and 5 - 10 chapters, getting deeper into the subject. It is also teaching the reader a thing or two about who they are, what they can do to solve a problem. Great way to Help your Readers and you can use e-books as an OPT-IN on your page.

A training goes a lot deeper into a subject. It is made to teach a skill or take a person from A the current situation to B - the desired outcome. It also has a clear outline and gives STEPS to take along a path to get from A to B. It is usually more than just text, it also can contain video's and assignments that help the reader to implement what he is learning right away.

The best example is the training that Kyle has made for all of us here at WA. Really good material, hands on and makes you take the desired actions. Great way to learn a new skill. What

What happens when you write a blog?

So when you are writing a blog it is best to give some restrictions to yourself as you are writing. There are not real rules for writing, but you can take this under consideration.

If you are anything like me than you just write and write and lose yourself in the content, giving so much value and wanting to say EVERYTHING in just a one-pager. That is not what a blog is supposed to be. A blog should be very Clean and Direct and about ONE subject in particular. It should give an answer to one question. For example:

What should a blog structure look like?

Why are my blogs so long and how can I shorten them?

How to give the reader the best experience on your blog page?

Limit yourself to ANSWER this ONE question in your blog and just link to other blogs, when you feel like your reader needs more information about the topic you jotted down. That is much more reader friendly than just giving everything at once.

The reason someone starts to read your blog is most likely the Question and he likes to get to the answer as quick as possible. When he decides he want to take a course on the subject, simply put in a link that directs them to a (free) course or training that you've recorded.

Use headlines first

The thing that has helped me a lot is to do the Headlines exercise first before I start writing and put in the 5 headlines that are leading the reader to the answer they are looking for. This way I keep myself on Topic and don't go over my word count.

The Headline exercise also helps you to choose the headlines that speak to your audience the most. You can play with them and write 20 -30 headlines on the topic. You can ultimately use a few as headlines, some as quotes and some just as you are writing your content (see how it flows). Don't be too strict on yourself though. It's okay as long as you get the message across.

Focus on answering the question

A blog should always be informative, attractive, easy to read and engaging to your reader. When you focus on YOUR READER and the question they have instead of on all the knowledge you want to bring across. That will completely change the way you think.

So just stop writing after 2 pages, read it with the question of your reader in mind and look honestly if you are still focused on answering the question or are you blabbering on about too much information that you want to bring?

I have wasted a lot of my precious hours just writing and writing on and on about a subject that was called 'balance in life' - that is the funny thing. When I see the pages now (7) I really feel lost as a reader and not at all what I was aiming for - to create an overview and balance in the life of my reader. As a blog this one is not suitable anymore, but as a course or an e-book it will come in handy later on. So time was not really lost. I just missed a deadline because I was using too many words to say what I wanted to say.

My advice as I am learning this, is stay on Topic, Use the boundaries of your Headlines and write towards answering the question of your Reader. Your knowledge and other topics will come in handy at a later time. Write them down somewhere if you can, so you'll always have a blog topic to write about.

I hope this blog was helpful to you.

Keep smiling, keep learning and be happy.

Love, Nanda