excerpt: The Month of Invitation – 52 MORE Weeks of Blogging Your Passion

An excerpt from the first chapter – The Month of Invitation – of my new ebook, 52 MORE Weeks of Blogging Your Passion.

Writing a blog is not a solo act. Writing a blog is about forging a community out of passersby. It’s about weaving with people – over, under, through the warp and weft of your common interests.

Writing a blog is not a monologue. It’s a conversation.

But in order to have conversation we have to invite people to join in our journey. We must invite people to walk alongside us as we create opportunities for discovery, inspiration, and purpose. Without fellow journeymen, our blogs are lifeless.

So for this month, consider how you will extend an invitation to those who you will meet along the way.

The easiest way I’ve found to create a sense of invitation is to use shared experience. What do you share with these readers that you seek to find? How will they know that they’re in the right spot once they’ve stumbled upon (perhaps literally) your site?

Once you’ve established shared experience, you must establish a shared problem or need. You may have already worked through this problem. You might be on the other side looking back to help others over the hurdle. But you can relate to the feeling of helplessness that your potential readers feel.

Use that feeling – and the problem it comes from – as an invitation.

If you’re a brand new blogger, you may start with your friends & family. Look to them to help to help send out the invitations. Ask them who they know that shares your experience & has the needs you hope to fulfill.

Even our friends & family have powerful tools – email and Facebook – for recruiting people for your new community.

If you’ve been at this for a bit and are struggling to find more people to invite to your community, consider looking outside your niche & network. Join others communities, participate in new networks, and form new alliances to spread your invitation far & wide.

To create a conversation & community with your blog, you must first send the invitations.

52 MORE Weeks of Blogging Your Passion is now available for preorder! Buy today for a special discount & invite to an exclusive webinar with me. You’ll receive the first 3 chapters today – 14 writing prompts – and receive the full ebook on September 22. To start blogging with intention, engaging your readers, and building a community around your blog, click here!