Elizaveta Friesem
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6 STRATERIES FOR A SUCCESSFUL BLOG

12/27/2019

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How to share your ideas in a compelling way? How to make sure that people will remember them?

There is an easy strategy to achieve these goals. And it is not a secret. Yet for some reason only a few do it properly. How so? 

The strategy was described by Chip and Dan Heath in their super popular book Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

Here is their model:
Picture
And now in my own words:

1) Make sure you have a simple idea to communicate.


2) Have something unexpected to share, otherwise your audience will get bored.

3) Be specific, because vague ideas are difficult to visualize and remember.

4) Make your message credible by using internal logic and external authority.


5) Appeal to people's emotions.

6) Tell stories (human brain loves them!).

It sounds easy enough, right? But I know from my own experience that to use these principles you need to be very determined and disciplined. I used to have a blog here, and I eventually started hating it. Why? I felt that my ideas were not entirely coherent and compelling, but I did not work hard enough to change this. Eventually I deleted everything. I knew that it was my fault. I knew that I need to be concise, to tell more stories. But I was not organized enough to follow through. I think a lot of people who have something interesting to share fall into the same trap.

Now I am giving myself a second chance.

My plan is to practice the SUCCESs model in every blog I write. For example, in this blog:

1) I started with a question to draw my reader's attention. 

2) I mentioned something unexpected (having a successful blog is easy, yet few people do it).

3) I offered a simple idea: there are six strategies for achieving this goal.

4) I described these steps.

5) I increased credibility by appealing to an external authority (famous book).

6) I told a story about my old blog. (Not sure I did very well with this step as my story was not particularly vivid or emotional).

Clearly, there is plenty of room for improvement. But this is just the beginning! 

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  • About
  • Books
    • Media is us >
      • Principles of communication
      • Micro- and macropower
      • ACE model
      • Description of chapters
    • Hypertext projects >
      • Me, looking for meaning >
        • All the pages I have started
        • List of completed pages
        • Human thinking is nonlinear >
          • Verbal vs. nonverbal communication
          • Human thinking
          • What is "natural"?
          • On being a writer >
            • On being a scholar
          • Paradox
          • Make Sense >
            • Interpretation
            • Knowledge
          • Human brain
        • Content and form of this book >
          • Rhizome in philosophy
        • My quest for meaning >
          • Why do people hurt each other? >
            • Good vs. evil
            • Violence in the human nature
            • Mean and stupid >
              • Free will
              • Can I give myself credit for being empathetic?
            • Circumstances
            • Cycle of violence
            • Doing the right thing
            • Norms
            • Everybody is connected
            • We hurt others when we are in pain >
              • Emotional pain
            • (Mis)understanding each other's needs
            • Both sides
            • Self-awareness and empathy of higher order
          • Postmodern philosophy >
            • On being right
            • Truth
            • Reality
            • Binaries
            • Power
            • Cognitive biases
            • Why do misunderstandings happen?
            • Postmodern worldview
            • Us and them
          • Science, religion and art
          • Human nature
          • Meaning >
            • Human needs
            • Meaning of life
            • Where do meanings come from?
            • Ideas
            • Why do everyday objects make sense?
            • Meaningless >
              • Common sense
              • Explain/excuse conflation
              • Choice
              • Subjectivity and objectivity
            • "It is what it is"
            • How much do we understand each other?
            • Meaning wars
            • Communication
            • Objectification
            • Meaning communities
            • Meaning-seeking vs. meaning-making
            • Individual meanings vs. shared meanings
            • Feelings
        • Hypertext books
        • Why am I trying to stay sane? >
          • Coronavirus and me
          • I am an optimist
          • What does it mean to "understand"? >
            • Polarization
            • Understanding ourselves
            • Why is language so unhelpful? >
              • Synesthesia
              • Language
              • Media
            • Empathy >
              • When conflict gets out of control
              • "Little lady" and "differently-abled"
              • Empathy as a matter of self-preservation
              • Self-empathy
            • "I'll never understand!"
          • Everybody has their struggles
          • Privilege
          • "The Death of the Author"
          • What is a text?
          • Literal vs. nonliteral communication
        • What's the point? >
          • Depression
          • Do children ask themselves about the purpose of life?
          • The importance of having a purpose >
            • Knowing your true purpose
            • Self-awareness
            • Inner compass
            • Forgetting about your purpose
        • What will this project become? >
          • Suggested citation format
      • Power of meanings // Meanings of power
      • It's not about "them"
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Workshops
    • Five (easy) steps to become media literate
    • Surviving the polarization vortex
  • Learn more
    • Talks and interviews
    • Poems >
      • Stranger
      • Lonely heart
      • Fairy tales
      • Dreams and nightmares
      • Moon
      • Seasons
      • Muse
      • Sketches
      • Nonsense
    • Educational materials