Author: Evelyn Mann

Categories
Blogging Basics

A First Time Blogger’s Journey To Success

Evelyn Mann has been blogging for eight years, with over 1 million hits sharing her experience as a special needs mom of a miracle boy who was born with a rare form of dwarfism.

I started blogging after going to a writer’s conference. Encouraged by the feedback, I set out to follow the offered advice. Before searching out a web designer, I had to determine what I wanted to write. What was my passion? What would readers want to read and enjoy?

Your Blogging Topic

What is your passion? For me, it’s writing. Since I could remember, I wrote in a journal. I joined my high school newspaper and published three travel articles in the local newspaper. Now, fast forward several decades, my love for writing had turned into a first draft sharing the story of my son’s miraculous survival from a rare form of dwarfism.

After coming home from my second writer’s conference, I decided to create a blog about raising a miracle. Next step, find a web designer to take the technical work out of creating a home for my blog. After many suggestions and searching, I found a young and upcoming website designer who would hold my hand throughout the process.

Web Designer

We met on a sunny Florida day in my home office. With a pad of paper in his hand, Pavel asked me questions about my book, what I wanted to achieve and then turned to discussions of color and layout. With those questions answered, we talked about pricing and shook hands. That was the start of a beautiful business relationship, one that has served me well over the years.

In today’s tech-savvy world, you could design your website using Wix or a similar site, but choosing to DIY or delegate this rather daunting task, I leave the design (and the work) to the experts.

Do It Yourself

Check out this link for a list of Website Builders for 2020:

For website builders in your area, search Google for website designers in your area. Another resource is an app called Fiverr. This app pairs customers with sellers who work from all over the world. When selecting a seller, note the customer reviews, the location of the seller, seller level, and response time.

As of this writing, Fiverr’s suggested a Seller who is top-rated, six years’ experience, a fifteen day turnaround, has over 500 reviews at 4.9 out of 5, located in Pakistan. With prices ranging from $100 to under $400, you would receive a three to ten-page website depending on the package selected.

Pavel is also available to craft and create a tailor-made website. Click here: 

My First Blog

After my website went live, it was time to post my first blog; an introductory blog to share the reason for my passion. On May 23, 2012, I posted a blog titled Samuel’s Diagnosis. Being new to crafting words in blog form, I made many newbie mistakes.

  1. No pictures
  2. No Headings
  3. No Outbound/Inbound links
  4. No Call To Action
  5. My Category showed as Uncategorized

I did not know what I didn’t know. But, I accomplished the goal of getting my blog started. If you’re in the same spot right now, pat yourself on the back. You can always update an old blog to add the style points I missed above.

For more tips on updating an old blogs.

In my second blog, I added an outbound link. Success. But I still didn’t know that doing this would help with my Search Engine Optimization. Now that I’ve been blogging for several years, I look for a natural opportunity to add an outbound link which fits in with my topic.

Surprise, Your Photo’s Are Gone!

I added a plug-in which placed a watermark on all the photos of my blog. Since I share precious pictures of my son, Samuel, I thought this to be a great addition. That is until I woke up the morning before being interviewed on live television only to find all my blog pictures gone! In a panic, I called Pavel, and he pulled me out of the proverbial frying pan and fixed everything. Lesson learned.

Find tips about popular plugin’s and how to choose them here.

Another Blogging Hurdle

What else could go wrong? Some of my photos were posting sideways.

Has this happened to you?

Frustrated, I scoured the internet to find an answer to this hair pulling problem. I discovered if I uploaded the picture and edited it ever so slightly, and then re-submitted in WordPress, wah-la, all fixed.

The free resource I use to re-size my photo’s is: picresize.com/

If you’d like an easier solution, you can add a plugin called Fix Image Rotation in WordPress.org. This app fixes the mis-orientation images taken using mobile phones which is most of my images.

Marketing Tip

Once my blogs posted, I found a technique to share my heart felt, sweat of my brow words and passion. Posting on social media helped to spread the word and engage new readers. Want to learn how? Read about my secret sauce here.

Over the years I learned through trial and error. And I still have more to learn as the technical landscape continues to change. My blogging journey far from over as I continue to share my passion with others. How about you? Where are you on this journey? Share your thoughts below. I read each one.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Hone Your Craft With A Blogging Challenge

Have you ever participated in a writer’s challenge? Did you know there are writing challenges for bloggers? Here’s how I made this discovery.

I participated in the National Novel Writing Month 2019 (NaNoWriMo). This challenge is open to all writers and happens once a year in November. The premise is to write daily and produce a fifty-thousand-word novel in thirty days. It was a last-minute decision to participate, and I chose to utilize the challenge to write the first draft for my new book, The Handshake.

There are benefits of taking part in a challenge like this one.

  • Developing A Daily Writing Habit

Committing to writing every day helps you carve out time to hone your craft. For my first NaNoWriMo, I opened my laptop after my husband and son were fast asleep. There were a few nights; I was so tired, I typed with my eyes closed and then reviewed what I wrote. It went surprisingly well. During that first challenge, I created my soon to be released devotional called Triumphing Through Your Trials: Devotions of Miracles, Faith & Prayer.

  • Meeting Other Participating Writers

Writing is such a solitary craft. It’s you, your computer, and a cup of your favorite beverage. Your pet may stroll in while you’re creating that perfect sentence, but otherwise, you are alone. In most writing challenges you have the opportunity to meet other writers, often through a Facebook group. You can post questions, celebrate word count successes, and exchange writing tips.

  • Working With A Deadline

Knowing other participants are writing during the same time is motivating. A little voice will say, “Get your words in today.” Like a magnet, I’m drawn to my computer to meet the challenge knowing my fellow writers are also honing their craft during this limited time.

Working with a deadline encourages you to get words on the page. Editing can come later, but there is no editing if there are no words.

At first, I wanted to use NaNoWriMo to write one blog a day. This would create a series of blogs I could use for future posting. No more last minute, what am I going to post writing frenzies. However, with the novel-writing challenge, I could not be sure to find other bloggers like myself. Thus began the search for a blogging challenge.

  • Jeff Goins Blog Challenge

Jeff Goins is the author of Real Artists Don’t Starve, and You Are A Writer. Time Magazine voted his blog as one of the top 50 of 2008. While this free challenge doesn’t have a deadline like NaNoWriMo does, Jeff Goins offers the opportunity to learn the craft of blogging and connect you with other bloggers through a Facebook page.

  • The Ultimate Blog Challenge

Paul Taubman is an international Speaker, Presenter, and Trainer focusing on website strategy and marketing online. His blog challenge is offered once a quarter. For 30 days, he will email a daily topic to use as inspiration for your blog. Then you will post your created blog in the Facebook group and tweet it using #blogboost. The website shares the next challenge will be January 2020.

  • The 21-Day Blog Writing Challenge 2020

This new 21-day blog challenge is designed to help practice the craft of blogging by focusing on content and creating a treasure trove of future blog posts. A daily blog tip will be posted in a dedicated Facebook group, as well as sharing excerpts of your blog on Twitter with the following hashtag: #bloggerchallenge. The Facebook group is free and open to join now. The 21-day blog challenge will be hosted by yours truly and starts on January 1st, 2020.

If you have taken part in a blogging challenge, comment below. If you would like to try it out, join one of the challenges above, and watch your creativity soar and hone your craft.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.

Categories
Blogging Basics

Three Things To Do BEFORE You Start Your Blog

Starting my blog, I had no one to hold my hand. No one to tell me what to do. No guidelines. Fueled by advice I’d received at a writer’s conference, I started my blog to promote my memoir.

On May 23, 2012, I posted my first blog called Samuel’s Diagnosis. It was a 1,111-word document with no pictures, headlines, or photo keywords. I didn’t even add spacing between paragraphs. This first post clearly showed I was a newbie to the blogging world.

Over the years, I have gained experience through continued posting and gaining an audience for my miraclemann.com blog. I even created a training class for first-time bloggers covering topics ranging from technical aspects to social media sharing strategies.

Several of my writer and networking colleagues reach out and wanting to know “How To Blog.” I typically find they focus on the technical side of blogging rather than the creative end. However, just like writing a book, a blog needs a direction. A table of contents, if you will.

Step One

Hash out the theme and direction of your blog. What message do you want to share? Who is your audience? Who is your ideal reader?

A fellow writer colleague, Odell Sauls, asked for assistance in starting her blog. She is crafting a historical fiction book set in 1950’s New Orleans. The tentative title is St. Philips Street. Before creating her blog online, I asked her to send me her first blog as a Word document.

Her response: “Not sure what to say.” As a writer interested in blogging, have you ever felt this way? I shared that a blog needs structure. It requires a theme — a reason for a reader to read your words. Since her book is historical fiction, the blog could be about historical New Orleans. She could pull stories from her book as well as stories from other historical sights and craft her blogs around those topics.

She can then create an Instagram page with pictures from various historical locations around New Orleans with a link back to her blog.

Step Two

Write a Table of Contents, of sorts. Jot down 6–12 titles for your future blogs. In a recent job interview, the prospective employer asked me to share blog titles that I would like to create. Here they are:

  1. How To Connect With Other Solitary Writers

               Headline Analyzer score of 71.

               Audience: Writers

  • How To Create A Tribe To Share Your Blog

                Headline Analyzer score of 73.

                Audience: Bloggers

  • 3 Ways To Reach Out To A Special Needs Mom

                Headline Analyzer score of 75.

                Audience: Moms & Social Media

  • How To Avoid Medical Advice From Dr. Google

                Headline Analyzer score of 76.

Audience: Moms

How To Market Your Book Without Being Pushy

Headline Analyzer score of 75.

                Audience: Authors

Note how I clarified the intended reader or audience for each blog. In creating your titles, the audience should be the same in keeping with the theme of your blog. Another added detail is the Headline Analyzer score. Strive to achieve a score of 70 or above. Click on Coschedule.com/headline-analyzer to craft your blog title and discover your score.

Creating sample titles, takes the sting out of the question, “What am I going to write about?” Having a plan is half the battle. If you write monthly, plan out your first 12 titles. You can always change or move titles around later.

When crafting your blog titles for the year, remember to add in themes for the holiday season. For example, Odell could write a blog about Christmas In New Orleans featuring several historical sights and post the blog in late November or early December.

Step Three

Write three sample blogs in a Word Document. This will help you not only envision the direction of your blog but, you will be able to answer these questions.

  1. Do I have enough content to write blogs for the long-term?
  2. Do I need to change the direction of my blog to produce more posts?

Focusing on content before technicality will help you craft your blog and set you up for success.

First Blog

As you write your first blog, create a document between 500 to 1000 words. If it takes 1200 words to share your topic, check to see if you could split the blog into a two-part series. Or, keep it “as is” if the blog holds your reader’s attention. Have a friend read it for flow. Then ask them the following:

  1. Did they want to stop reading at any point?
  2. Would they prefer reading your topic as two blogs?
  3. Would they want to share your content?

If they say, “Yes,” to number 3, you have a winner.

For more tips on crafting your blog, check out this previous post on blogging.

Do you want to create a blog? What is your motivation? Share what you know and then follow the steps above. If you have questions, share them below. I read each one.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.