Summary:
Michelle Shaeffer’s entrepreneurial journey began early in life with experiments in sales from Girl Scout cookies and 4H fundraisers to creating websites for her parents’ friends. It nearly came to a tragic end when she discovered her 6th grade teachers really didn’t like her idea of selling super-tactical test taking strategies and coaching services to other students in the classroom prior to a test. She still maintains the entire class grade could have been lifted with a smarter learning approach but the threat of suspension was quite effective in quieting her down–temporarily.
Her first official business ventures as a teen (which came along with a fancy business license, not-so-fancy tax bill and no threats of suspension) included teaching piano lessons and tutoring students in math, history and science, allowing her to explore our many different learning styles and how to work within them to help students retain information and acquire new skills.
As an adult, free to serve others in ways that help them reach their goals faster and get better results with less stress, Michelle Shaeffer helps entrepreneurs and small business owners discover how simple it can be to get real results from their websites, transforming them from ghost towns into ideal client attracting, lead generating, authority building tools.
Main Questions Asked:
- What fostered your love for blogs?
- What are some of the 3 biggest mistake you and other people make?
- Can you explain what the different parts of attraction are?
- How do you balance optimizing your title for SEO, yet still keep it attractive to hook potential readers?
- What is a lingo dynamics toolset?
- What are some examples of how different words evoke different feelings?
- Have you found any new trends in blogging?
Key Lessons Learned from Michelle Shaeffer:
Blogging
- Creating quality content is only the first step. You need to have a plan to properly promote what you’re publishing.
- Approaching writing your content with the benefit of your audience in mind will not only transform how you write, but how you feel when you’re writing it.
- Understanding who your core audience is makes it easier to format your content in a way that will have the most affect.
- After getting a potential reader to your blog, you again have to grab their attention and give them something that will keep them reading.
- Different words with similar meanings can give a reader a far different emotional experience.
- By identifying what your customers are feeling, and using words that evoke those feelings in your writing, it helps readers relate to the content and feel more engaged.
- By sharing your own personal experiences in your writing you create something original and unique.
- The number one goal is to build trust with your readers.
Reaching Your Audience
- A common problem and misconception most people have when they’re not getting the traffic they desire is that their content is subpar. Usually the issue is that it isn’t being advertised the right way for the audience you’re seeking to reach.
- Your headline is similar to a fishhook in the sense that you utilize it to lure readers in.
- Customize your content dependent on which platform you’re going to be posting it on.
- When meeting a person for the first time you most likely wouldn’t ask them to marry you. Take this train of thought into how you write for your first time readers.
- When trying to gain potential customers it’s best to give them part of the answer to their problem for free before trying to sell them the entire solution.
Final Tips
- Understand what you’re writing, who you’re writing it for, why you’re writing it for them, how your content can enrich their lives, and last but not least, where and how you can you reach as many people as possible.
- Words evoke emotions. Be aware of what your writing is actually saying to the reader.
- Try to look at your content and how you approach writing and advertising it through the eyes of your readers.
- Don’t forget the importance of the headline. It’s the welcome mat to the rest of your content so make sure it’s compelling.
Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast with Michelle Shaeffer, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!
