How to Make Your Blog Stand Out

How to make your blog or business stand out.

 

So, my husband and I were biking this weekend. We do pretty long rides – at least 30 or 40 miles when we ride on Sundays.

We were going through this part of town that was a little rough, and we saw this garage sale sign, nestled among the others:

At first, we didn’t really pay that much attention to it, because there were just so many garage sale signs.

But then when we crossed the intersection, my husband and I started joking about all of the things you would find at a divorce garage sale: a PS 3? leftovers from a man-cave? half drank wine bottles?

This is actually really good marketing.

There were a lot of garage sale signs, and while I doubt they were being as intentional as it seems like they might’ve been – that’s really great marketing.

The reason why I will never forget this garage sale sign is because it was really unique. The fact that they labeled their sign divorce garage sale painted a picture for us. My husband and I were also joking about how the sign was basically a three-word story – divorce garage sale. We couldn’t stop thinking about all these things, all this meaning that came out of this really simple sign, that they probably didn’t even really think about.

The sign got me thinking about how to make a blog stand out.

First, getting very specific is helpful is because it makes it memorable. Days later, we are still talking about this funny garage sale sign. It was just so quaint. It was silly, but we remembered it.

The other reason why that sign, this divorce garage sale sign, was so effective is because it gave us a really clear idea on what might be at the garage sale. We know that there might be kids’ things, but probably not a lot.

If you’re getting divorced from someone and you’re moving and selling the house, you’re probably getting rid of a lot of adult things. You’re probably getting rid of furniture, a TV, other shared items that you either were arguing about or don’t need anymore.

Maybe someone cheated on the other person. And so they’re moving into a different house or maybe they’re both moving their own separate ways. Someone’s moving in with their parents. Someone’s moving in with a new girlfriend or boyfriend.

And so maybe they’re just getting rid of…everything?

So when you make things really specific, you can give people an idea of what’s inside, but you can also give people an idea of whether if it’s for them.

I.e., if all I’m looking for is baby clothes, I’m probably not going to find a lot of baby clothes at this divorce garage sale. (I could be wrong about that. Full disclosure, I didn’t go to the garage sale.)

How to make your blog stand out.

Regardless, that’s why you have to make your messaging stand out – so people remember you, and have an idea what’s inside, what’s in your world, what you’re trying to do. People will know if it’s for them or not.

Take, for example, recipe blogs. Recipe blogs are a very saturated niche. There’s a LOT of recipe blogs, and there’s lots and lots of people who are looking for recipes. Right? There is a lot of demand, a lot of interest, and thousands and thousands of food blogs.

So – how do you make your recipe blog stand out?

If you just start a recipe blog and you just post, “My grilled cheese sandwich is the best grilled cheese I ever had, and I’m going to post a recipe for it,” nobody is going to really care. People need to know why your blog as a whole is unique from the many, many other blogs that are similar to it.

So, you have to make your recipe blog memorable.

You have to make sure people know what’s going to be on the inside.

And, you have to help people to know right away if this recipe blog is for them.

Here’s some examples of how to make your recipe blog more specific:

You can have a recipe blog for frozen meals.

I have a client who does that – she’s just focusing on freezer recipes, and then what she sells are meal plans and meal planning templates and things like that.

Meals using your home grown garden.

I heard from someone recently who was starting a recipe blog that’s going to be focused on gardening. The recipes are going to utilize items that you can grow at home, that she’s teaching you to grow in your garden. That’s really unique. That helps it to be memorable, and helps you to know what’s on the inside. It helps you to know if it’s for you or not.

An extreme budget-friendly blog.

We have someone in my Facebook group, Jamie Bacon, who does lifestyle and budget content.

But her huge thing that she’s been growing really big on YouTube for is not just budget-friendly meal planning, but extreme budget friendly meal planning.

She’s going to the dollar store looking for healthy food. It’s unique and memorable. You know if it’s for you or not. If you’re not interested in extremely budgeted meal planning, it may not be for you.

But because it’s such a unique idea, and because it really stands out among other recipe blogs, you might still  watch her videos even if you aren’t going to buy her mean plans, because you’re like, “How does this woman spend $17 on groceries for the entire week?” So that’s another benefit of making yourself unique.

Farm life recipes.

This is similar to the gardening idea.

For for farm life, you’re raising animals, you might be planting crops or at least small gardens, and you’re doing recipes and gardening and farm life. All those things tie together.

Right? That’s really unique.

And sure, if you have a farm life recipe blog, you’re not going to be applicable to everybody in the universe, but that’s not the goal.

I know it’s scary to niche down and be specific, because we don’t want to exclude anyone.

But, normally, the more specific you are (within reason), the more your ad costs are going to go down. Your conversions are going to go up. People are going to opt into your lead magnet, your free offers at a higher rate. These are all things that can happen when you get more specific.

Briefly, a few more ideas for really specific recipe blogs. Things like vegan, keto, gluten-free, diets in general, having a blog revolve around something like that would be a really good idea. Or also having a blog revolving around intermittent fasting. That’s something I haven’t seen. What if you had a blog that was based around recipes that were really focused on intermittent fasting, then you’re making meals probably have a little bit higher calorie content, but they also have to be really balanced meals because you’re just eating once or twice a day. That could be an interesting idea.

How do you hone in on what’s unique about you and your blog?

A lot of how you’re going to make your blog stand out is similar to how you would make yourself unique as a person.

Do market research to see what’s missing.

That’s what I feel like I did with the Monetization Accelerator Program – part of why it’s unique is because after I bought a lot of other programs over the course of my life, this is the thing I’ve felt was missing.

You, personally, can stand out by dressing your own way.

The equivalent in your business? Making your blog stand out visually; making sure that you have a loose visual identity.

That doesn’t mean hiring a really expensive brand designer right now, but it can be really helpful to have a visual identity that people remember. Thinking about incorporating video with your blog? Read about video for beginners.

Be authentic.

If you’re trying to be like someone else, whose idea you really liked, you’re going to have a hard time making your blog stand out, because it’s not going to be true to who you are. It’s not going to be centered on who you are.

One example of this: I used to have an evergreen webinar – evergreen meaning there’s like five times a day, and you can register whenever you want.

But then, the whole funnel pretends that’s live. The rest of the funnel also pretends the cart is closing for the offer, when really, you could buy it, but you might miss out on certain bonuses.

So I restructured the webinar to where I do it live, and to where the expirations that happen are forever, they expire, they are gone. And then people can buy at another time but they just miss out on that.

Other ways that you can make an evergreen webinar authentic are just by saying, “This is an evergreen webinar. We’re not really live, but I do respond to all the chats. I’m making you register for this webinar, even though it’s not live because I want you committed and I want you to show up, I don’t want you to registering for this and then forgetting about it. That’s why you have to register instead of just opt in.”

So, you can have an evergreen webinar and be still be authentic. I don’t like webinars that say that they’re live when they’re not. It doesn’t feel honest or authentic to me. I changed it to make it authentic and real, because I perform better that way, and because it makes me stand out.

Show off your talent, anything that you’re unique or skilled at.

People forget this, but your actual personality in real life can be a really important part of your personality in your brand.

I write music and sing. I play the guitar, and I didn’t really mean for this to be a part of my brand, but I think it is interesting that this is something that’s different or memorable about me. You may not think to yourself, “Oh, Alison’s the girl with the guitars on her wall in all her videos,” but it is something that’s unique, that becomes a part of what you associate me with that just sets me apart a little bit.

Try new things.

Trying new things, combining things that you’ve learned can set you apart.

Once you complete a course or a program, think about, “How can I make this my own? How can I do this my way?” That will make you unique.

Say no to the wrong things.

Saying no to the wrong client, saying no to the wrong way to sell things, saying no to video if it’s not right for you.

Video is a very popular way to market yourself. And obviously, I feel pretty comfortable on video. I like doing video. However, I don’t always want to do video.

Video production and editing takes a lot of energy for me. Going live and teaching doesn’t take that much energy for me.

I’ve been wanting to be on TikTok forever, because I enjoy the platform, I enjoy watching it. And finally, last week I was like, “I’m going to post to TikTok. I’m just going to look for some inspiration and post something. And I’m not going to work on that that hard. I just want to finally get it done.”

I created a video in Canva, and it didn’t have my face in it. It was just a video on some tips. And I finally did it – my own way.

So if you want to do video, make your own, but video is not a requirement of your success. So say no to the wrong things.

How to make your blog stand out? Give yourself spaciousness.

This is probably the hardest lesson for me, and it’s something that I’m actively working on.

I can’t create a new program and do it well without creating spaciousness in my calendar, in my brain, and in my schedule. So resting for me is becoming increasingly important.

I’m still really, really busy. My calendar is crazy. I’m working on that. But on Mondays and Fridays, I don’t take client meetings anymore. All my meetings are on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, so that Monday and Friday I can create new programs for you, figure out what you guys actually need.

How can I stand out?

How can I be authentic?

I can create more training content.

Creating spaciousness, and creating time for you to actually think will help you to have a more unique brand and blog that stands out and is memorable, gives people an idea on what’s on the inside and helps people to know if it’s for them or not.

NEED MORE SUPPORT?

If you need some help deciding how to make you blog stand out and making more money with YOUR business, feel free to drop me a comment below.

And, if you are interested in working with me, book a chat at: https://AlisonReeves.Co/strategy-call