![8 Benefits of journaling for writers]()
Authors, write |
Journaling has been the leader of the “self-care movement”, just behind maybe yoga or meditation. Writing a journal helps not only to help our emotional and mental well-being but also helps us become better writers.
Benefits of journaling for writers
“I spend most of my day writing and the last thing I want to do after my working hours is write.” Yes, I can hear you say that.
I am not making these things up. Here are eight benefits of journaling for writers.
[toc]
1) Cultivates the habit of writing regularly
Even though journaling is an informal mode of writing, it gets you started. What better way to start a day or end one whichever you prefer, by churning out a few hundred words on a paper?
It is well known that famous writers like Virginia Woolf, R W Emerson, and Anaïs Nin swore by their regular journaling or diary habits.
In fact, one of my favorite writers Slyvia Plath kept her diary since she was eleven years old and often used it as a tool to “warm-up” her formal writing.
2) Get creative
The freewriting form of journaling helps to break the rules and pressure of formal and result-oriented writing.
If you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you.
Madeleine L’Engle of A Wrinkle in Time
Just let yourself loose and just write whatever you want to share with, with no judgment. You can even add poems or haikus if your mood fancies.
Related: Bullet journal ideas for books and reading
3) Record ideas on your journal
You have no idea when the metaphorical idea bulb might switch on. But when they do, you should not be caught unprepared.
I often use my journal as a place to dump my ideas for future posts. Of course, it can be a digital diary, like I have, or a physical notebook.
Either way, just pouring those somewhere before they permanently vanish into thin air is a good way to ensure you have a repository and never having to get caught thinking about what to write about.
4) Slay the writer’s block
That brings me up to my next point.
As writers, we are constantly looking for ways to better our craft. Yet, we know that the only way to become a better writer is to write more.
Journaling would keep your writer’s block away because you are writing regularly. And you have a repository of ideas or prompts to go back to if you ever get stuck.
Writing a journal can offer a way to switch your style by writing from what you do for a living, say being a website content writer or a novelist, and ensures you have a variety to choose from.
Related: How do you manage your writing slump? (& ten tips to survive)
5) Get into your characters’ head
Whether you are working on your next crime thriller or a witty play, journaling can help you get into your characters’ heads and discover their voice.
Developing their personality and eccentricity would make their characters more interesting and help you understand their motivations for what they do.
There are several sassy dialogues that I have written in my journal, that I might someday use in my book in the not so near future.
6) Research the details
I write quite a bit of business articles and white papers and I do a lot of research and collect data. Guess where I write them down, so that they will be available when I need them?
Yes, on my digital notebook/journal! You can do this even on a Google Doc.
Even if you are in the business of writing fiction, you will need details about places, history, or even famous people. Overprepare than the opposite is my motto.
7) Challenge your self-doubt
Artists often suffer the case of self-doubt, and a writer is no stranger to that as well.
But writing a journal can help you tackle the signs of self-doubt because you getting some writing done each day.
Related: Self Doubts: How To Overcome The Impostor Syndrome
And just a flash-through of how much you have written down day after day will give you the booster of confidence you need.
Even Nobel laureate Steinbeck had his moments of doubts. But he trudged through it with the help of his diary, which was eventually published under the name Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath.
In writing, habit seems to be a much stronger force than either willpower or inspiration. Consequently, there must be some little quality of fierceness until the habit pattern of a certain number of words is established. There is no possibility, in me at least, of saying, “I’ll do it if I feel like it.” One never feels like waking day after day. In fact, given the smallest excuse, one will not work at all. The rest is nonsense. Perhaps there are people who can work that way, but I cannot. I must get my words down every day whether they are any good or not.
John Steinbeck, Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath.
8) Up your self-care game
Writing a journal can often help us to stop and reflect on our actions and intentions. Journaling can also help you unbury your emotions and dump your anxieties and fears. It clears your mind and improves your mood drastically.
It even can help you understand your triggers and help to avoid or tackle them by identifying the pattern.
A happier mind is a sharper mind and helps to improve your writing craft, doesn’t it?
Final word
Journaling may not be for everyone. There are so many benefits of journaling, especially for writers. But it is not the only way to improve your writing or practice self-care.
Many writers swear by writing a journal and so many more who love journaling as a self-care practice. But some people can’t get into it or keep up with the journaling habit.
So do what works for you, do not add in more pressure than it already is!
Similar posts you might like
Pin me!
Let’s talk
Do you like writing a journal? Or have you given up journaling because of the pressure? What are your methods to become a better writer? Let us chat.
![8 Benefits of journaling for writers]()
Bloggers, Featured |
Instagram stories business are a great way to communicate to your customers and share with them glimpse of your world. But coming up with those Instagram story ideas for your business is harder than you thought, right?
Do not worry, here I am with more than 50 Instagram story ideas for your business, and now you can keep your customers hooked and even convert them into warm leads easily.
[toc]
Why Instagram stories are important than ever?
I know everyone is talking about Instagram stories, reels and live again and again. But have you ever given a thought on why are they so critical?
Keeps your account active
Instagram stories puts your account on top and there is more chance that your followers see your stories than you feed.
As the stories are arranged chronologically, the more often you post, the higher the chances of your story to be viewed by others.
Helps competing with bigger brands
While the Instagram stories are shown chronologically, the feed is not. And unless you have a very strong following, your post on your feed can get lost.
And as a creative entrepreneur and a small business, it can be harder for you to compete with the big brands.
They are more natural and authentic
We all know the amount of effort and planning that goes into creating your Instagram feed to look the way it is. And your audience will love you for that.
But Instagram stories are little more spontaneous and thus, real. Given that they last for just 24 hours, you can afford to be little “on the go” and be creative about your posts.
Better engagement with your followers
Instagram stories are often the gateway to beginning conversations with your followers and warm leads.
By asking them to answer a poll or your questions, they are giving you a space to speak to them via DM (Direct Messages). Utilize this power responsibly to cultivate relationships with them.
Instagram story ideas for business
Now that you know how critical Instagram stories are for your business, let me show you some story ideas that you can adapt as your own.
- Show your wins, even if they are small.
- Show what you are working on for the day
- Show your working process – Behind the screen
- Show your workspace
- Show off your packaging style
- Get your customers to post the unboxing of your products
- Capture the before and after of your work in progress
- Share educational guides and tutorials relevant to your prodcuts
- Share the screenshots of testimonials and reviews received
- Help your customers know your products better
- Teach your customers how to use your products
- Share DIY tips related to your products
- Answer relevant FAQs
- Offer a behind-the-scenes look at your unpacked products
- Teasers for your new product/service launch
- Count down for a new product launch
- Collaborate with related accounts for a takeover
- Share your failures and lessons learned
- Share productivity tips
- Talk about role models whom your audience could relate to
- Run a trivia contest
- Ask questions about your products and offer a discount to the winner
- Play games with your followers
- Run quizzes with AR effects
- Create This or that templates and ask them to tag you with answers
- Share seasonal updates, if relevant to your products
- Reward your loyal customers with “followers only” deals
- Run a customer spotlight
- Share experience of a customer (only with their consent)
- Ask your followers what they want to see on your story
- Run an “ask me anything” question
- Share user generated content
- Show us your morning routine
- Show us how you plan your day
- Introduce your team
- Ask your employee’s to takeover your story for a day
- Take a tour of your office
- Create your own hashtag and challenges
- Create a regular series on Instagram stories (#sundayfunday #Mondayplans #tuesdaytips etc)
- Preview an upcoming post or video
- Share your latest post from your feed
- Share your posts from your other platforms (blog, Tiktok, Twitter etc)
- Share latest posts from accounts you love
- Recommend a service or a product you loved
- Post about your giveaway/contest
- Share Shout-outs or press features
- Share your favorite quote
- Repurpose and update your old content from your feed post into a new story
- Go live on Instagram live and share about your day
- Share your daily update with a location
- Show off skills (cooking, art etc)
- Follow a meme/trend
- Share inspirational content
- Share what inspires you to create
- Share valuable and relevant DMs
- Share your top 5 lists of ….
- Share your favorite tool or tip that you recently learnt
- Show your night time routine.
Do’s and don’ts for Instagram stories for business
But before I conclude, I just want to share a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to Instagram stories for your business.
- Don’t Just Promote Things
Use your story feature to create relationships, rather just using them to promote your product.
Make your stories fun and creative. Pepper in a bit of your personality, rather than copying others idea.
Did you know that you can use hashtags on your stories as well?
Don’t forget to add important and relevant stories to your highlights as well. A highlight can act as a menu for your Instagram.
Last but not the least, avoid posting many stories at a time. Your followers might get bored/annoyed and ignore your posts.
Bottom-line
There you have it, an extensive list of story ideas that would keep your Instagram account active and kicking. So what are you waiting for? Start posting on your Instagram stories right today. Feel free to tag me elgeewrites, for an extra bump for your business.
Similar posts you might like
Pin me!
Let’s talk
Do you ever get stuck for want of Instagram story ideas for business? How often do you post on Instagram stories? Let us talk.
![8 Benefits of journaling for writers]()
Bloggers, Featured |
Opening the Google Analytics dashboard for the first time can be intimidating for most of us. But let me talk about a few important Google Analytics metrics to track. These Key Performance Indicators or KPIs are a great place to begin with.
What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a powerful tool for measuring your website or blog’s performance and it also shows insights on how to improve it. Whatever may be your goal (improve traffic, get more leads and conversions, etc), installing Google Analytics could help you achieve it.
I know it has so many options and reports that it might overwhelm that you are putting off deep-diving into Google Analytics.
Important Google Analytics Metrics to track
But here I am to make things easy for you and help you get the best of this powerful tool. What are the Google Analytics metrics (KPIs) and numbers that you should watch out for on your dashboard, and why?
[toc]
Bounce rate
Bounce rate refers to the percentage of your visitors who leave your site without interacting with it. They bounce out of your site, get it?
A high bounce rate shows that the content was
- not relevant – You are attracting the wrong audience
- not convincing enough for the visitor to convert or interact. – Improve your writing skills or engage a content writer.
Where to look for this KPI on Google Analytics?
Audience> Overview
You can also view the bounce rates of an individual page at Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.
Benchmark:
- Blog/content sites – 65% to 90%
- Lead generation sites – 30% to 55%
- B2B sites – 25% to 55%
- Retail sites – 20% to 40%
Source: CXL
How can you improve it?
- Add more CTAs (call to actions) to your posts,
- Create more internal links to your other posts.
Average Session duration
This metric shows how much time a visitor spends per session (30 minutes of inactivity, usually) or visit, on your site on an average.
It is an aggregate time spent on multiple pages on your site. It includes the time they spend reading your content, leaving a comment, scrolling down, etc.
Obviously the longer they spend, the better it is. The higher average session duration indicates your content is engaging and holds attention.
This metric is very important if you are displaying ads on your site. It also shows the quality of the traffic you generate.
Where to look for this KPI on Google Analytics?
Audience> Overview
Benchmark:
2 – 3 min
Source: databox
How can you improve it?
- Long-form content that holds the attention
- Videos and infographics
- Interlinking relevant content pages
Pages per session
This metric shows the average number of pages a visitor clicks per visit.
The goal here is to keep the content engaging and relevant so that the visitor keeps clicking another page. The higher the number of pages per session, the higher the content writing quality is.
Where to look for this KPI on Google Analytics?
Behavior> Overview
Benchmark:
1 to 3
How can you improve it?
- Focus on your content pillar and link to relevant pages.
- Use a “related post” widget.
- Hub and spoke model of content marketing can be helpful
Source
This is one of my favorite metrics to look at. This report shows where your traffic comes in from. You can find not only which channel sends you traffic but also which sends good quality traffic (= convertible leads).
Knowing which channel brings you good quality traffic can help you make marketing decisions like where you can spend more ad budgets.
Where to look for this KPI on Google Analytics?
Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium
Benchmark:
None.
But it is always better to have diversified sources for your traffic.
How can you improve it?
- Focus on where you get good quality traffic, even if they are low in number.
Referrals
The referral report shows who links and sends traffic to your site. You know backlinks are great for sites, and this report will show where your quality backlinks are.
You can find out which guest post you wrote brings in the most traffic or find out which pin on Pinterest is most effective. Determine where your next collaboration should be by using this report.
Where to look for this KPI on Google Analytics?
Acquisition > All Traffic > Referrals
How can you improve it?
- Collaborate with relevant and quality blogs and sites
Popular posts
This report shows what are your most popular pages. It is super interesting to look at because it helps you choose the type of content that works best for you.
Where to look for this KPI on Google Analytics?
Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
How can you improve it?
- Create topics related to the top-performing posts
- Add affiliate links on those posts
- Create an opt-in freebie on those pages
Bottom-line
Again, these may seem intimidating but once you get the hang of it these Google analytics metrics and KPIs are your best friends. It will help you understand your audience better and to tailor content to their tastes.
If you have any questions on how to understand any of these metrics, feel free to ask me in the comments or send me an email right away!
Similar posts that you might like
Pin me!
Let’s talk
Do you know of these important Google Analytics metrics to track? What are some KPIs and numbers that you watch out for on your dashboard? Which is your favorite? Let us talk.
![8 Benefits of journaling for writers]()
Featured, write |
Fewer than 50% of small businesses and start-ups survive the first year. And with the global pandemic throwing a curveball, things are not going to be any easier soon. It is high time to rethink some of your marketing strategies for small businesses to improve your lead conversion and brand visibility.
Creating a Small Business Marketing Strategy
Small businesses often start with a limited budget – money and time, especially when it comes to marketing and strategy. In fact, we spend most of our time behind lead generations that we forget to spend time laying the foundation – strategy and planning.
Here are a few marketing techniques and tips to consider, especially if you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur.
[toc]
Creating a brand for your business
A brand is the identity of your business and it defines what your business stands for to yourself, your employees, and your consumers. It is how you differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Identifying your brand identity forms the first step in establishing your marketing strategy. Once you identify what brand is going to be, ensure it is communicated throughout your business practices.
Branding includes everything from your logo to the tone of your social media posts and the presentations you show your clients.
Identifying your audience
Knowing who and where your audience is and catering to them makes a lot of business sense, than just trying to be everywhere at once. Small businesses can thrive on serving niche markets and assert their dominance.
To start with visualize your ideal dream client/customer and understand their behavior.
- Where do they come from?
- How old are they?
- What are their spending patterns?
- What are their trigger points?
Once you know your audience well enough, you can craft your marketing strategy and content to attract them.
Identify your unique selling point
Why should someone buy your product, not your competitors?
What puts you ahead of your competitors?
Is it your economic pricing or discount?
Or are your products more durable than theirs?
Identifying your USP or value proposition helps you to differentiate your brand and product from the hundreds, if not thousands, of other competition.
And then it is just a matter of convincing your customer by explaining why he should get your product.
More videos and images
When it comes to convincing your customer or explaining things to others, a picture is a hundred times better and a video is a thousand times better.
The rise of mediums like Youtube, Instagram stories, reels and posts, and Tiktok videos have proved time and again – most people would prefer visual content.
Of course, that doesn’t mean written content is faded out, but visual and written content supplement each other now, more than ever.
Invest in online advertisements
With the number of posts, stories, and videos being posted on social media rising exponentially, it is not smart to wait for our brand to organically.
Advertising aka boosting your content on social media is a lot cheaper than offline ads. And you get to target your audience based on their demographics and geography as well.
Advertising on social media or any other site is not only time-saving but is also very user-friendly. Anyone can do a promotion in a blink of an eye.
Create your own website
Establish your online presence by creating your own website. Your website can act as the home base for all your online activities. And owning a website is neither time-consuming nor too expensive these days.
Correct Search Engine Optimization techniques and paid advertising like Google ads can put your brand and your website on top of the search results.
Content marketing as a tool
Content marketing is a long-term marketing strategy that works well both for small and large businesses alike. It revolves around sharing as much value and information as possible to your clients to solve their problems and building a last relationship with them.
It includes everything from writing blog posts that translates your product features into desirable benefits to your customers to an Instagram story that you shared. Some of the important types of content are:
- Blog posts
- Podcast
- Infographics
- Images and videos
- White papers and case studies
- eBooks
You can enlist more outside help to handle your content marketing, especially when you have a business to focus on.
Use email marketing to nurture leads
While blog posts and social media posts focus on attracting the attention of your prospective clients, email marketing is how you can convert them into leads and sales.
About 80% of SMBs depend on email marketing customer retention and acquisition, and the numbers are much higher in the current scenario.
A drip marketing campaign or automated email campaigns are a series of email letters sent on a set schedule following a particular event, say an abandoned cart or signing up for a free product.
Such campaigns are more effective if you deliver the right message, based on the demography and interests of your audience, at the right time, say two months before the event, like Christmas or back-to-school season.
In conclusion
There are no one-fit solution when it comes to marketing strategy. You might have to choose a few of these strategies and find out what works for you. Capitalize the short-term wins and double down on what works.
Feel free to contact me if you want to have a chat about your content marketing plan or want me to write a few articles for your site.
Similar posts you may like
Pin me!
Let us talk
Which of these marketing strategies do you focus on as a small business owner or an entrepreneur? What are your pain points when it comes to content writing? Let’s chat.
![8 Benefits of journaling for writers]()
Sunday Musings |
The dreadful summer is here. And I know I have been talking about it for a long time now. But here it is really now. And it has been horrible.
Here is a news article on how it is going to be the hottest summer(50+C or 122+F) in the Middle East. In the last two weeks, UAE had recorded 51C thrice.
Well, we are feeling it already, even though it is barely summer, which is usually around July – August. And even though the temperature says 35- 40C, the feel like has been 48-52C.
Thankfully I live in an apartment that has about 7-8 large trees around, so we don’t feel it all the time. But we have started switching on our air-cons during the day as well.
On other news, as I mentioned in my previous post I have been going on walks in the nights. And I have been posting on photos of my walks on Instagram stories. Do check them out if you want to have a glimpse of my city.
What I read this week
I have been The Cousins by Karen M McManus this week. And it is my last desperate attempt to kick away the reader’s slump. I can see barely working, though.
Fingers crossed.
What I watched this week
We caught up two new movies at the Cinemas this week and it has been almost a year since we went to such close and confined spaces.
But fortunately, the social distancing restrictions were pretty much well maintained and my nervousness eased up quickly.
- Conjuring – 3 – it was a bit of disappointment when you compare it with the other movies in the franchise.
- A quiet place 2 – I liked it. And it was more of a thriller than the Conjuring 3 movie.
On my blog
In case you missed the posts from my blog, last week.
8 Common grammar mistakes to avoid while writing
The Justice by Nikhil Khasnabish – A book review
Hot girl summer and May’21 updates:: Sunday Musings #121 monthly wrap
I will be linking today’s post with Caffeinated reviewer’s Sunday post Meme.
Around the blogosphere
Some of the interesting posts I found recently.
From the Insta-world
Here is what I posted on Instagram during the week. Give me a follow, will you?
Pin me!
Let us chat
How has your week been? What are you doing these summer days? Has the weather been kinder to you? Let’s talk.
