Jade Craven

1. Be willing to invest in your blog.

Mary was one of the first people to purchase a usability report from Skellie. This dramatically improved her blog and Mary benefited from Skellie linking to her.

Investing in your blog can have multiple benefits. Who can you hire to help?

2. Don’t be afraid of asking

Mary became the editor of Write to Done because she asked. I’ve gotten interviews with some of the greatest bloggers because I asked. You wont get anything if your fear gets in the way. If you are really worried, do your research and find out how they like to be pitched.

5. Creating a lending team on Kiva

This is a brilliant way of strengthening your community. I’ve seen it put to use on forums, blogs and also twitter. The only thing I’d recommend is avoid doing this just to make yourself look good. Do it because you want too.

4. Offer an audio version of your free ebook/product

Mary released a free ebook called Overcome Anything. She also offered an audio version. This is a really useful technique. It can help your content be more accessible and spread to a larger audience.

Can you make your content spread by using different versions?

5. Offer product via donation

Her virtual zen retreats are now free, but they used to be available via donation only. This is a very good technique, especially if you are trying to get exposure for a product you want to refine. Depending on the quality, this can be really good for your personal brand.

6. Disconnect your computer from the Net.

On a post on Write to Done, Mary said

It can feel strange for a moment. As if we’ve left the world behind. But it really means re-connecting with ourselves.

Many other bloggers are following suit. They schedule times of disconnection and focus on getting as much done as possible without the distractions. They try to have all research and communication prior to this. I try to do this daily – particular before bed. It helps put my mind at lease and allows me to get back in touch with my creativity.

7.  Remove all adjectives.

This was the advice Mary gave in How to Put Your Writing Under the Knife. She later said that you can ‘readmit a few after careful testing.’

8. Use frequent paragraphs

In her post about who to avoid being a boring writer, she said:

Frequent paragraphs move the reader forward. One way to use frequent paragraphing is to use dialogue. Because each line is really a separate paragraph. While it’s enlivening to use direct dialogue in non-fiction, it’s sometimes difficult to find a way to place it. Another way to use dialogue is as a conversation with your reader.

This paragraph shows what can happen when you use it too often in non-fiction, but its a point worth remembering. Can you increase the number of paragraphs?

9. Become a naked writer

Mary did a fascinating study in her post titled The Naked Writer. Even though its anot about her, she raises some interesting case studies of bloggers who have been personal in their writing. Its definitely worth reading to see ways you could become more personal.

Tips from Copyblogger.

Mary did a guest post on Copyblogger about becoming a better writer and gave the following 3 tips:

10.  Challenge yourself: write in a crowded cafe, write on the toilet, write for 24 hours straight.
11. Deconstruct and analyze books and articles you enjoy.
12. Read your old stuff and acknowledge how far you’ve come – and how far you have to go.

She has dozens more fabulous tips on the post. Make sure to book mark it and find ones you can apply.

13.  Put forward a win-win proposal

In her post about how she became editor of Write To Done, Mary said the following:

At some stage you will get a sense that the time is right for a partnership proposal. Before you start writing a proposal, consider the principles you are going to apply.

If you focus on how it can benefit both of you, you are significantly increasing your chances of it getting accepted.

14.  Earmark possible partners

Later in the post, she said that:

When you feel an affinity for a colleague on the Net, listen to your intuition and add them to a list of possible partners, no matter how remote the chances appear at the moment. I have big bloggers, such as Leo Babauta, as well as writers who are still quite inexperienced on my list.

I do this to. If I feel connected to them, I add them to my twitter favourites. That way I can see when they need help and can work with them when necessary. This occasionally leads to further opportunities.

15. Tap into peoples emotions.

In a post on how to write sticky content, Mary wrote about connecting with peoples emotions.

As a writer I need to make you feel something. That’s not really possible if you relay data. I think there are three things we can do to make the reader feel emotions. Tell stories (that’s the next point), use evocative words, and … [please come up with a third point and share it in the comments]. I’m hoping that asking you to come up with the third option is going to make you feel interested, awake, curious, creative, puzzled, or at least indignant.

Emotion is one of the techniques that will REALLY make your content resonate. If this is a tip you want to explore, check out her post for many more ideas.

16. Use A Mind Map.

Using a mind map is one of many ways you can brainstorm your content. You can get more ideas from her post regarding this genius tool.

17  Trust yourself!

In an interview on Carrie and Danielle, Mary said that:

So often we look to others for approval or for guidance. But actually, each of us has a deep inner wisdom that can help us steer our course through life. The problem is that many people don’t have the confidence to trust in their own wisdom. When you start to believe in yourself, and to trust your own wisdom, life starts to flourish.

This can be one of the hardest things to do. When I was diagnosed with severe anxiety, I lost all trust with myself. I’ve been building up that trust throughout my recovery and have had so many awesome opportunities as a result.

Three tips from a Problogger guest post

This was one of the most comprehensive posts I had read on creating an ebook and is a must read. These were my favourite three tips:

18. Getting help with your title – If you’re not sure about the title, ask a marketing advisor for help. Elance is a good place to find the help your need.
19.Write like a journalist – Journalists learn to write for maximum impact. Instead of introducing the theme with an overview and then focussing in on particulars, journalists take the reverse track. They start with a personal story, and then zoom out to the larger issue.
20 Test your selling system - It’s important to test your selling system. If you use E-junkie, you can set the price to a few cents for testing purposes and buy your book by credit card. This will immediately show up any problems. Remember to change the price before the launch!

21. Examine ways to resurrect boring articles.

Mary did an awesome post called How to Rescue a Piece if you Write Like a Frankenstein.

She gave the following tips:

Take a look at the start of your piece. There are two questions you need to pose:

• Does it introduce your theme?
• Does it grab your readers?

These are very useful tips that apply to all kinds or writing, even emails.

22. Uncopyright your work

This is something that Mary has recently done. I’m not sure how effective it is, but will definitely be keeping a close eye on it.

23. Get up early.

In Why Getting Up Early Enhances Life and How to Beat the Stay-in-Bed Blue, Mary talks about how you can use early morning as one of your creative times. She shares other fascinating tips that may improve your productivity.

2 Final Tips

These two tips cam from her pos.t How to Learn (Almost) Anything and Feel Incredible Doing It

• 24. You’ll need to choose an instructor. This can be an instructor who works with you face-to-face, or it can be a book, articles on the net, or training programs.
• 25. Find one that can teach to beginners

You can interpret these tips in two ways. First, when buying an information product you can hunt for ones targeted to the complete beginner. Secondly, you can create information products to target this audience. I’ll be talking about this in future posts.