Mark Twain once stated, “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” I am fond of something similar. Everybody wants to be a writer, but nobody wants to write.
Many new members come to Wealthy Affiliate with hopes and dreams, only to feel deflated when they realize blogging requires writing content… lots and lots of content. (P.S. This training was inspired by new WA member, @Cherry21. Give her a follow; she’s an amazing person with a bright future.)
Fear not, friends. It is not a scary as it sounds. In fact, in this training, I’m going to show you how even if you have no experience writing, you can still create content that will knock reader’s socks off.
You will:
- Overcome your fear of writing once and for all
- Learn why being an “expert” is actually the worst thing you can do
- Discover the three biggest killers when it comes to writing consistently
- Stop worrying about grammar and still write something great
- Find inspiration even when you’ve got nothing to write about
- And much more
So, if you’re ready, let’s get started…
Join the Discussion
This was a great read .. ya know.. I had a niche I made it to lesson 7 of 10 and totally freaked myself out and decided to change it ,
OK .. so I went through the whole process again and even
wrote my about me Intro page and then i went off to bed feeling
confident.
I wake up Eagar to start ! and out of no where panic stricken
i buckled.
I actually deleted my website , erased my niche , not that I was really comfortable writing it to begin with but I tried , and thought it was great .
But the more I thought about it and the more I read from others , the more I started to think I had this all wrong.. my first thoughts when starting out here was that I was selling things by driving traffic somehow , How ? I have no clue , to be honest , the more I did the less confident I was becoming in what I was doing . so here is my problem..
I can pretty much guide any one , I'm the go to for relationship advice , advice on handling kids , teens dealing with there parents advice on raising ourselves, advice about motivating ourselves and believing in ourselves, dealing with a loved one whose an addict of any kind , I just give great advice apparently ..
But ya know that saying , It's easier said than done , or I'm the pot calling the kettle black , which I never understood by the the way , regaurdless . let me see if I've got this all finally
so when picking a niche it can be anything , that people are going to want to read! anything that is relatable and realistically useful to a group of people to initially get them to your websight, and while catching there attention and keeping them intregued enough to read and come back and or to interact allowing them to tell me there needs .
if I'm doing my job and listening my next post should be fulfilling there needs by offering suggestions to sites they unknowingly told me they want or need thus allowing me to collect the benefits of of sending traffic to those sites allowing me to be an affiliate also? or am I completly wrong again? I'll be stuck between lesson 7 and 2 for ever! please help me..
OK .. so I went through the whole process again and even
wrote my about me Intro page and then i went off to bed feeling
confident.
I wake up Eagar to start ! and out of no where panic stricken
i buckled.
I actually deleted my website , erased my niche , not that I was really comfortable writing it to begin with but I tried , and thought it was great .
But the more I thought about it and the more I read from others , the more I started to think I had this all wrong.. my first thoughts when starting out here was that I was selling things by driving traffic somehow , How ? I have no clue , to be honest , the more I did the less confident I was becoming in what I was doing . so here is my problem..
I can pretty much guide any one , I'm the go to for relationship advice , advice on handling kids , teens dealing with there parents advice on raising ourselves, advice about motivating ourselves and believing in ourselves, dealing with a loved one whose an addict of any kind , I just give great advice apparently ..
But ya know that saying , It's easier said than done , or I'm the pot calling the kettle black , which I never understood by the the way , regaurdless . let me see if I've got this all finally
so when picking a niche it can be anything , that people are going to want to read! anything that is relatable and realistically useful to a group of people to initially get them to your websight, and while catching there attention and keeping them intregued enough to read and come back and or to interact allowing them to tell me there needs .
if I'm doing my job and listening my next post should be fulfilling there needs by offering suggestions to sites they unknowingly told me they want or need thus allowing me to collect the benefits of of sending traffic to those sites allowing me to be an affiliate also? or am I completly wrong again? I'll be stuck between lesson 7 and 2 for ever! please help me..
Reply
DaisyK78
Premium
Hi looking at your profile you havnt done any of the training.
It is so crucial that it is followed and completed step by step.
Decide what you are most passionate about and choose a niche.
Dont get caught up thinking about what people might want to read, think more about making sure you have lots to say about your niche
You will learn all about traffic etc in the training.
For now you have mentioned a number of possible niches, motivation, parenting, addiction etc.
Now pick one eg parenting teenager's or parenting preschoolers, etc
Follow the lessons one by one.
Take your time, good things take time to flourish.
Good luck
Daisy
It is so crucial that it is followed and completed step by step.
Decide what you are most passionate about and choose a niche.
Dont get caught up thinking about what people might want to read, think more about making sure you have lots to say about your niche
You will learn all about traffic etc in the training.
For now you have mentioned a number of possible niches, motivation, parenting, addiction etc.
Now pick one eg parenting teenager's or parenting preschoolers, etc
Follow the lessons one by one.
Take your time, good things take time to flourish.
Good luck
Daisy
AJTrimble1
Premium
No worries. It sounds like you are just being hyper-critical of yourself and it's causing you to panic a bit. Nothing in this business is worth that. lol
First things first, take a look at this article. It may help with selecting a niche idea: The Only Two Questions That Matter Next, do not for one second believe you must know "everything" before you start... you're much smarter than you are giving yourself credit for. Check this out: How You Can Be An Expert in Any Niche And finally, in terms of "success" -- whatever that loaded word means -- ignore any other site you see out there. It's easy to look at a great site and thing, "I could never do that." But it's not apples to apples; often what you are doing is comparing you beginnings with someone else's middles or ends. Forget the competition -- it doesn't really exist: How Much Competition Do You REALLY Have? Hopefully this, combined with this training, will help you out.
Remember, It's always about the relationship. You don't have to be the smartest and you don't have to be the best. You just have to be honest and "talk" to your readers like they are your friends... because they are :-)
First things first, take a look at this article. It may help with selecting a niche idea: The Only Two Questions That Matter Next, do not for one second believe you must know "everything" before you start... you're much smarter than you are giving yourself credit for. Check this out: How You Can Be An Expert in Any Niche And finally, in terms of "success" -- whatever that loaded word means -- ignore any other site you see out there. It's easy to look at a great site and thing, "I could never do that." But it's not apples to apples; often what you are doing is comparing you beginnings with someone else's middles or ends. Forget the competition -- it doesn't really exist: How Much Competition Do You REALLY Have? Hopefully this, combined with this training, will help you out.
Remember, It's always about the relationship. You don't have to be the smartest and you don't have to be the best. You just have to be honest and "talk" to your readers like they are your friends... because they are :-)
thanks for the great advice I think I'm going to take it.. and read through everything and then relax.. breath and as you said , just do it!!
hi ..well if I have done any of the train then why when I look at the top of my page where the green circle is almost complete and in the middle says 7/10 above that and to the right it reads
, your next lesson
creating your initial website content
and then says continue to your training ? if I've not been doing any of my training than what have I been doing and how did I get to 7/10 and if it's because I've not published on my webite nore have a website name ect is because as I've said above ..I deleted everything I did twice because I thought I was doing it all wrong to begin with.. I appreciate your feed back so please I've been watching training videos am I watching and following step to the wrong thing?
, your next lesson
creating your initial website content
and then says continue to your training ? if I've not been doing any of my training than what have I been doing and how did I get to 7/10 and if it's because I've not published on my webite nore have a website name ect is because as I've said above ..I deleted everything I did twice because I thought I was doing it all wrong to begin with.. I appreciate your feed back so please I've been watching training videos am I watching and following step to the wrong thing?
AJTrimble1
Premium
At the risk of sounding harsh, it is impossible to be that far along and not have the things you say you don't have unless you are not following the training.
The "tracker" is dumb, meaning it cannot track you by itself. It only reflects on the lessons and actions you have told it you completed.
If you are showing 7/10, but not accomplished any of that, it means that you are just checking off the task checklist and not actually completing the actions.
If it were me, here's what I would do...
Go back to lesson one and start from the beginning. You don't necessarily have to watch the videos again, although it will likely help.
Then scroll down to the bottom and find the Task Checklist. If something is already checked, then uncheck it (remember, we're starting over.) Complete each task, one at a time, and then -- and only then -- check of that task.
Do NOT move on to the next lesson until each task is complete. This is super important, as later lessons all build on what you have accomplished earlier. By the time you get back to 7/10 you will have corrected all of the lingering issues.
Hope this helps :-)
The "tracker" is dumb, meaning it cannot track you by itself. It only reflects on the lessons and actions you have told it you completed.
If you are showing 7/10, but not accomplished any of that, it means that you are just checking off the task checklist and not actually completing the actions.
If it were me, here's what I would do...
Go back to lesson one and start from the beginning. You don't necessarily have to watch the videos again, although it will likely help.
Then scroll down to the bottom and find the Task Checklist. If something is already checked, then uncheck it (remember, we're starting over.) Complete each task, one at a time, and then -- and only then -- check of that task.
Do NOT move on to the next lesson until each task is complete. This is super important, as later lessons all build on what you have accomplished earlier. By the time you get back to 7/10 you will have corrected all of the lingering issues.
Hope this helps :-)
ShihTzuSteve
Premium
A very valuable piece of training, AJ. I’m sure a lot of members are going to benefit from this. Content writing training usually consists of what to write and how much, this is the first one I’ve seen that covers the “how to”.
Steve.
Steve.
AJTrimble1
Premium
Awww... Thanks, Steve. That means a lot. I don't consider myself a "great" writer, and I'm certainly no guru, but I have been teaching writing for a bit now so hopefully people can get something out of it.
APachowko1
Premium
Hi AJ
A great introduction to how to write for beginners. People just get caught in the details of what to include, spelling and grammar. The longer a document is, the more likely it will have mistakes. Our brains work faster than we type. We are so critical of our own work and we think it is never good, but guess what some people will be impressed, others not much so. That's life.
The only difference I would make is that I wouldn't recommend that the first draft is made in front of a computer. The computer will mock you. Instead write the first draft using pen and paper. In that way, when you transcribe it to the computer you will make changes and therefore your second draft.
Thank you for this great training.
Antonio
A great introduction to how to write for beginners. People just get caught in the details of what to include, spelling and grammar. The longer a document is, the more likely it will have mistakes. Our brains work faster than we type. We are so critical of our own work and we think it is never good, but guess what some people will be impressed, others not much so. That's life.
The only difference I would make is that I wouldn't recommend that the first draft is made in front of a computer. The computer will mock you. Instead write the first draft using pen and paper. In that way, when you transcribe it to the computer you will make changes and therefore your second draft.
Thank you for this great training.
Antonio
AJTrimble1
Premium
Thanks for the suggestion, Antonio.
I agree with your thoughts on the first draft, but only in the sense that one must find what works for them.
For example, with my first drafts, I tend to "vomit" on the page, meaning I just want to get everything out as fast as I can. And since I can type a LOT faster than I can physically write, I actually have the exact opposite experience... it is the pen and paper that wind up mocking me with the cold stare of the blank page.
After all that typing, I tend to print out my writing where I can go through it, taking my time, correcting mistakes and editing for style.
As you can see, we both seem to follow the same process, only in a different order. And that's the beauty of writing: there's no one right way to do it. :-)
I agree with your thoughts on the first draft, but only in the sense that one must find what works for them.
For example, with my first drafts, I tend to "vomit" on the page, meaning I just want to get everything out as fast as I can. And since I can type a LOT faster than I can physically write, I actually have the exact opposite experience... it is the pen and paper that wind up mocking me with the cold stare of the blank page.
After all that typing, I tend to print out my writing where I can go through it, taking my time, correcting mistakes and editing for style.
As you can see, we both seem to follow the same process, only in a different order. And that's the beauty of writing: there's no one right way to do it. :-)
AJTrimble1
Premium
Try not to worry about it as you write. The act of "writing" actually involves two stages: the creative and the logical. Interestingly, each requires a separate part of the brain.
When we are writing the first draft, we are in the creative mode. Here we are just trying to get our ideas down. This creative act comes from the right side of the brain. This is where things like creativity and emotion live.
The logical mode is where we do all of our editing. We are using the left side of our brain. This is where things like logic, math, grammar, etc. live.
As you can see, since each requires a different part of the brain, the absolute worst thing you can do is the try and do both at the same time. The constant back and forth hinders your writing, slows you down, and simply wears your brain out; it's just too much to handle.
So, when it's time to write, write. When it's time to edit, edit. And, to quote Kipling, never shall the twain meet :-)
When we are writing the first draft, we are in the creative mode. Here we are just trying to get our ideas down. This creative act comes from the right side of the brain. This is where things like creativity and emotion live.
The logical mode is where we do all of our editing. We are using the left side of our brain. This is where things like logic, math, grammar, etc. live.
As you can see, since each requires a different part of the brain, the absolute worst thing you can do is the try and do both at the same time. The constant back and forth hinders your writing, slows you down, and simply wears your brain out; it's just too much to handle.
So, when it's time to write, write. When it's time to edit, edit. And, to quote Kipling, never shall the twain meet :-)
Nauna
Premium
Yes, it sure does wear the brain out. I'm always so ecstatic with a new post but it takes so much more time to get on with the next one because as you said the constant back and forth drives me crazy.
Now I feel motivated to JUST WRITE cause its actually easier and enjoyable.
Here's to Progress, not Perfection (well not just as yet hehe).
Thank you again. :-)
Now I feel motivated to JUST WRITE cause its actually easier and enjoyable.
Here's to Progress, not Perfection (well not just as yet hehe).
Thank you again. :-)
