How to Overcome Your Fear of Blogging

This made me laugh. I was on Facebook and noticed my friend Lisa Whalen's status update read:

She's a wedding photographer who wants to blog but it sounds like the mere thought gives her a brain freeze worse than a 7-Eleven Big Gulp Slurpee.

My impression is that a lot of people suffer from severe and chronic cases of Bloggerphobia. Most cases usually stem from the fear of not knowing what to write and/or confusion about what a blog is supposed to accomplish.

You've probably heard people say that a professional blog can "connect" you to people and help "publicize" your business. That doesn't mean your blog is a straight forward advertisement or sales pitch. It also doesn't mean that you give full disclosure about your company and personal life dumping every single thought, feeling and moment on the people who visit it.

To me, blogging is all about being authentic, and having a conversation with someone as if you were sitting across from them having lunch. There is no magic pill. It's about giving, not just taking or saying "look at me," which is what makes it completely different than a paid advertisement. It requires time and an emotional investment if you want your readers to get to know and connect with you. From my own experience, the blogs I love to read are friendly, informative and very often amusing.

Just remember that blogging should be fun!

What to Write: Focus on the Positive
A lot of blogging newbies seem to think that if they only write about positive or happy things they are somehow being disingenuous, fake and phony. I couldn't disagree more. There are plenty of places people can turn to for negativity in their day to day life and online. I like to think of The Flirty Blog as a little oasis of positive energy that my readers can visit for a pick me up to get away from the nattering-nay-bobs-of-negativity.

An added bonus of staying positive is that you pretty much remove the risk of committing libel by defaming anyone or their company. There are legal ramifications when putting your opinions out there. The way I interpret libel and defamation is: If I can't prove it, I don't say it. To be honest, even if I can prove it I still don't say it. If my blog were strictly a personal or hobby blog I might, but this is the blog that also represents my company and as such, isn't the place for airing my dirty laundry to the world.

I Don't Want to Sound Like I'm Bragging
Equally challenging to blogging newcomers is that the concept of talking about themselves and their companies feels immodest and self serving. While both statements can be true if you don't choose your words carefully, things usually aren't that black and white. There is a lot of grey area where you can write about and share your impressions, thoughts, and knowledge on any given topic while being sincere and helpful rather than immodest and self serving.

The key is to write for your readers benefit sharing information with them that they will find useful, amusing or motivating. Then you aren't writing for yourself, you're writing for them. If you happen to mention yourself in the process that's ok. Even giving yourself a pat on the back for say winning an award or achieving an accomplishment isn't solely self serving. For some of the people who read your blog it may inspire them to pursue their own dream if they see other, everyday people accomplishing similar goals.

I love blogging! It has helped me to improve my writing skills, make new friends and has created many opportunities for myself and my company that probably wouldn't have come about if I weren't a blogger.

The Flirty Blog is all about conveying fun, happiness, kindness, altruism, fearlessness, and hope with my readers. It's really that simple :) If what I write here makes them curious to visit one of my websites, that's just icing on the cake.

Thank you to all of you who read The Flirty Blog. I sincerely appreciate you dropping by!