Marketing guru Dan Kennedy famously “wrote himself into existence.”
But in a time when AI written content is fast becoming the norm, platforms like Medium and Substack are fiercely competitive, and blogging of any kind in any niche is well beyond saturated, is it still possible to write yourself into existence?
Yes, it is. But your efforts can’t be haphazard. Here’s how to gain some traction with your writing.
Clarity on Your Strategy is the Foundation
You must become known for something, not anything. While you may need to experiment with a few approaches and topics to find resonance, you can’t be jumping all over the place if you want to write yourself into existence.
Top online personal development blogger Steve Pavlina wrote about many topics related to personal development, but he eventually became known as the “30 day” guy, because he documented his experiments around diets, manifesting money, polyphasic sleep, and more.
Look, you can’t be afraid to publish, because this is where many brave writers stall out. But if you can’t think of a niche you want to write about, at least think of a broader category like leadership, entrepreneurship, or digital marketing, and drill down from there.
A Commitment to Being Prolific is Crucial
For anyone looking to write themselves into existence, laziness is not an option. Publishing daily is par for the course and is barely enough for a seat at the table. You will be writing blog posts, guest posts, press releases, and email campaigns. But that’s just the starting point.
Ideally, you’ll begin securing opportunities to write columns, newsletters, magazine articles, and more, in publications where you’ll have more eyeballs on your writing. And you’ll want to do this sooner rather than later.
The number one mistake writers make here is they end up focusing a little too heavily on their own blog instead of building the branches that lead back to their home base. If you want to be known, you can’t wait for people to find you. You’ve got to put your writing where there will be eyeballs on it.
Dominate Your Local Market First
Another mistake writers make in their early going is they attempt to capture the attention of a worldwide audience before establishing themselves locally.
Sure, your writing may reach people from across the world. But don’t become enamored with your blog just because you’re getting a few visitors from Australia, France, Austria, and China.
Instead, hunt down opportunities to be featured in relevant local papers, newsletters, and magazines. Don’t limit yourself to publications either. As you become more confident in your ability to communicate your thoughts, appear on podcasts, community radio, and TV too.
Once you’ve established your local celebrity status and continue to maintain it, you will probably have more opportunity coming at you than you know what to do with. But you can keep expanding outwards using the same process.
Final Thoughts
Much can be communicated through the medium of writing. But you can’t write about anything you want in any way you want and expect to find a hungry audience. You must find a topical focus, relay useful information, and do it all in a compelling way. Whenever in doubt, ask your prospective audience for feedback.