Shiny Object Syndrome and How to Stop the Wobble

Hard, Heart-Centered Facts by Sonia Self-Care

I've gotten more done in the last 2 weeks at WA than I was able to accomplish in 4 months trying to create my own Wordpress website having no clue what I was doing and falling a victim to shiny object syndrome.

Maybe I'll create a website on mindfulness...no, NLP!...no, holistic health!...no, nutrition!...no, the law of attraction!...no, healthy aging!...no, home safety!...no, connecting seniors to contractors...

Many members told me to follow the modules step by step in order to save me time, energy, and frustration from having to redo things later, and I am so happy to have that insight reinforced! Very grateful for WA and this community :).

Now it is time to share some of my wisdom to save you all some of the struggle I had to go through too.

1) Find ONE specific niche topic and roll with that.

Post as much as can/want to on that ONE topic in order to establish yourself as an expert as it is actually a lot more work than you might think.

If you pick more than that, your message will be scattered and all over the place. No one will take you seriously. You may be an expert in 20 topics but you will appear as a novice in all of them if you try to tackle them all at once.

Your audience will lose attention and move to a different site and more than likely will never return.

Ever spend 1 hour randomly surfing the web? I bet you can't recall how many sites you clicked on and immediately left because it did not "speak to you," "grab your attention" or sent it somewhere else.

When you are satisfied and blue in the face over that 1 topic and get decent reviews on that 1 website from other members, you can change topic. This is also why Kyle tells us to pick a topic we REALLY love.

Don't be in a rush to add more topics or worry about not including a broad enough topic to capture a broad enough audience...the web is so full of information that being specific is what will grab their attention and what actually grabs yours.

Be clear who your niche is...the opinions of your friends and family mean little if they are not in the niche you are trying to attract and will only distract you.

2) Create a 10 post Content Outline...for consistency and structure.

This really helped me with my shiny object syndrome after I created my clear problem and solution I wanted to solve with my website.

After that, I will be more flexible as I will use the feedback from my niche audience to improve my content, but the body is nothing without a healthy spine.

3) Be consistent in your main message, your voice, your expression, and your tone.

Think of who you follow on Instagram. For example, if you follow a fitness enthusiast, you enjoy following him/her because you like that topic and want to learn more exercises, nutrition, and get motivation from their posts.

If one week they started only posting booty photos, started talking in a Southern accent when they are from Boston, and how they had just binge watched Grey's Anatomy for 72 hours and didn't feel like exercising, you would unfollow them, right? They would lose not only you but probably 99.9% of their followers.

That's fine if you want to change it up, just use a different outlet for that...conversations with friends, listen to podcasts on that subject on your commute, ect.

4) Be clear and authentic in your message. If you aren't clear, then do more research and self-discovery.

Your tagline should echo in every post you make, especially when starting out.

Bring YOU into website...not telling us your whole life story (unless that is what your blog is about) but bring elements of your personality...are you calm or energetic? Are you proper or do you like to cuss?

Bring that s*** into your writing unless you are writing about crafts for children or something...in which case, you might have better luck choosing a different topic if you cuss like a sailor like ax throwing or hard rock concerts.

People want connection with what they are reading, and they want authenticity. What will make you stand apart is being genuine in your voice. If you don't believe in what you are saying or selling, no one else will either.

If it doesn't feel right to sell that product, DON'T! You are your brand, and it will be hard to recover or grow an audience that starts to view you as spammy and inauthentic as well as repelling your actual real life friends.

5) Speak WITH your niche audience, not AT them..especially when it comes to social media.

Remove the fluff. Be direct. Ask them questions. Speak to their wants/needs more than your own. This is how you add VALUE and increase your engagement that will also increase your sales.

How turned off are you when you walk down a mall kiosk and someone tries to grab your hand, squirts lotion into it, and tries to sell you something you never even asked for...this is why engagement and interaction with your audience is extremely important and understanding your niche audience.

DO NOT TRY TO SELL TO THOSE NOT IN YOUR TARGETED NICHE! It will cause wobble, self-doubt, and confusion.

You will miss the target every time and have a harder time creating value if you do not engage and interact with them. Sales and money might seem more important for you, but you will repel your audience if you are disconnected to their thoughts, wants, and desires.

Think of people that have "sold" you on their product or service that you actually liked and did not regret later. What was their approach?

Most likely, they were providing something you actually wanted because they engaged with you enough to know what it is you wanted and how they could provide it.

6) Lastly, do not be afraid of sales. I know. I used to be one of them. "I hate sales. I suck at sales. Ugh..can I skip this part?"

A business coach offered this advice that was a total game changer for me: We have all sold something.

There may have not been an exchange of money, but you "sold" someone on trying that new restaurant, that new flavor of gum, or trying a new diet...something at one point or another.

If you engage your potential customer in a way that is sincere and genuine in a natural way to you so you can discover if their need matches your solution, the fear goes away.

What is the worst that can happen? They say "No." Who cares? You teach people how to treat you. If they are rude, walk way.

The more you interact and get to know more about your niche audience through engagement to learn their wants, wishes, and desires, the better you will be able to actually help them and the sales will come...at least, that's what I've heard, believe and sounds true to me.

I'm not saying I'm an expert..yet. I know only what holds true to my heart.

I soak up as much information and positivity as I can from successful entrepreneurs because I get to choose how I want to show up in the world every day.

Bye for now WA fam!