Do you remember how you used to find things like
recipes, home decor ideas or parenting advice before blogging came around? We
relied on the so-called experts: a popular cooking show chef, home decor
magazines, a best-selling parenting book.
Before blogging became popular, we had fewer options to find ideas, inspiration and education. Now, we have still have all of that… PLUS oodles of content from every day people: bloggers like us.
As someone who creates blog content every week, I’m sure at some point you’ve felt insecure when it comes to doling out tips, advice or tutorials. It’s easy to convince yourself you don’t know your stuff. But whether your experience is from your career or from everyday living, you definitely have knowledge to share that’s useful to others. (Yeah, YOU!)
As an example, confidence-blasting thoughts crept up as I wrote Blog Design for Dummies. I don’t design blogs for a living, but I did have over a decade of design experience in other areas (print, overseeing web re-designs and managing creative teams) when I wrote it. Even with that experience, I still felt insecure at times while writing that book and wondered what I got myself into! And my most popular posts? Some of them I almost didn’t publish because I thought it wasn’t anything revolutionary. But you know what? It doesn’t have to be revolutionary to make it a great blog post.
So I thought I’d pass along a few pieces of confidence-boosting advice for times you’re feeling reluctant and insecure. Next time you’re second-guessing your knowledge, remember this:
NO ONE SHARES THE EXACT SAME PERSPECTIVE.
One of the greatest things about blogging is that you could give five bloggers the same topic and they’d write about it five different ways. People love reading blogs because bloggers share tips, advice or tutorials from a personal perspective. No matter what topics you write about, always infuse a little YOU into your posts.
How do you stand out?
Do you have beautiful photos to go along with your recipes? Do you organize your craft tutorials in a way that’s super easy to follow? Do you share parenting advice that has readers learning and laughing hysterically at the same time? Pinpoint what makes your expertise special and roll with it.
JUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN’T STOP LEARNING.
You might feel like you’re in no position to be
doling out advice or ideas because you’re still learning. Well, remember the
experts still learn new tricks too. We all continue to learn. If we didn’t, the
person with 30 years of experience would be no better off than the person with
two.
No one expects you to know everything so don’t expect yourself to either. Always seek knowledge about the topics you write about: read, practice, go to events, attend seminars, take classes, learn from others. Hone your skills and share new things that you learn with your readers. Chances are that those things are new to them too. Which leads me to my final point…
THERE’S ALWAYS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS MORE THAN YOU. BUT THERE’S ALWAYS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS LESS THAN YOU, TOO.
This is the biggie. Don’t compare yourself to the
big dogs of your niche: the Rachel Ray of food, the HGTV of home decor, the
What to Expect books of parenting. You aren’t them… and you don’t
need to be. As I said before, you don’t need to know everything there is
to know about a topic in order to blog about it.
Sharing ideas or tips that might seem “simple” to you might be exactly what a reader needs to know. Sharing your perspective about a topic might be just what your reader needed to hear from a “real person” to know they aren’t alone.
Instead of worrying that you don’t know as much as the “experts,” remember you probably know more than you realize! And you can help those who don’t know quite as much but are eager to learn.
So next time someone tells you they’re your go-to person for a certain topic or subject, don’t get squeamish and uncomfortable. Just smile, say thanks and virtually pat yourself on the back.
