Tips – Cossin's Corner

by: Kenneth Cossin

Coming up with topic ideas for your blog can be very frustrating at times. Below, I offer some great storytelling tips to help get your content ideas flowing. If you need more blog ideas, check out this list of 31 types of ideas you can post.

Stories usually tell about a journey, whether it is a personal passage, a conflict, or a challenge. Along this journey, we hope that the hero will transform into a better version of himself. As bloggers we need to capture and translate these same concepts into our blogging to better engage our readers. Here’s what you can do:

Gather Your Raw Materials

Keep a journal of your topics and decide on what categories they fall into whether you are providing tips, tricks, creative ideas, suggestions, or opinions. For example, think about how we categorize films into genres of comedy, drama, thriller, and so on. The categorization process is the same.

Outline your ideas and jot down key words as they come to you. As a rule of thumb, make sure that you can express your ideas in about 800 words or less.

Break Down Your Story into Segments

Create a compelling introduction that grabs your reader’s attention within the first 2-3 sentences. If your reader is not continuing on with your entry after the first few seconds, he will quickly move on to another one. Touch on your key points clearly and concisely. That is, be detailed but brief. While this statement is rather vague, try spicing your reading up with a sprinkling of adjectives – not too many or you’ll lose your reader in the details.

Give your reader a sense of conclusion, a sense of closure. Therefore, briefly summarize your points at the end.

Use Visuals

Relate the concepts you are trying to present to something that people use or do every day. Use photos, videos, and podcasts to help visually draw in your reader. While videos and podcasts take a lot of time in terms of planning, coordinating, setting up, recording, and post-production, there are many simple tools that you can use as an individual to accomplish this goal.

Use Analogies

Telling stories often incorporates complex ideas. Therefore, it is always a good idea if you can relate an everyday task to what you are explaining. Also, you will want to make sure that your analogy relates directly and translates easily to the complex idea. For example, if you are showing someone how to play a grand piano, you may wish to equate it to playing darts or some other simpler task that still requires a keen sense of accuracy.

Leave out the Sub-plots

Note that there is no time for sub-plots to your blog entries. Sub-plots detract from the overall story that you are trying to tell. Be sure to remain brief and to the point.

Build to an Epic Conclusion

What is your reader getting from reading your blog post? Is it knowledge, ideas, solutions, answers to questions… Or is it simply them wishing they got those 10 minutes back in their life? Make your reader feel like it was worth their while to spend time with your post. Make it dazzle them; make it epic.

In summary, your blog posts should always be something that you are proud of. Bring creativity and excitement to your work through storytelling.

Republished with permission from Marko Saric of How to Make My Blog. Original post: http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/writing/storytelling-tips/

By: Kenneth Cossin

We all know someone that seems to continually stand out from everyone else. They make it look completely effortless, and they always seem to be happy. How do they possibly keep up this façade?

People that naturally have a personality that stands out in a crowd have honed skills that many of us have not. Here is a list of seven tools that you can use to be on your way to standing out in the crowd, too!

Confidence
Being able to walk up to anyone and start a conversation is a great test of confidence. Challenge yourself to talk with others about subjects that you know well. You will want to practice many times with friends that you trust. Get feedback on how you did and what you can improve. Pay attention to your gestures, speaking voice, and intonation. Each of these secondary personality traits speaks to your level of confidence.

Comfort
When we’re in a room of people that we do not know, we tend to feel awkward, shy, and a multitude of other uneasy feelings. A simple way to overcome this feeling is to learn to do things alone and to trust that everything will be ok. Try going to the movies or dinner alone. Being around others that you do not know will help you become comfortable in your own skin.

Perception
When observing people that stand out, you will notice that they perceive and record in their minds many personality traits. They gauge conversation direction, tone, and level of formality and respond to the personalities around them accordingly. Listen closely to what people are saying and how they are saying it. Try to use what is being said to your advantage, and try to fit your perceptions of others into your knowledge and experience.

Trust
People tend to judge one another within the first few moments of meeting. Trust is a key element in this judgment process, therefore, be sure that your appearance is appropriate to the situation. Dress in a non-threatening manner, and ensure that you speak in a way that fits those around you. Regional accents and dialects can affect perception and affect how much someone trusts you.

Authority
Everyone loves someone who is knowledgeable, but no one likes a know-it-all. Therefore, even if you do know it all, don’t present yourself in this fashion. Speak and present in a way that you are making others feel like they are your intellectual equal.

The Three “S’s”
Stay informed, stay educated, and stay connected. Always knowing what is happening around you, remaining current on your knowledge, and creating a network not only makes you authoritative but also is a great strategy to successfully standing out.

Happiness
Last but not least, always exhibit a happy personality. People are naturally attracted to happy, upbeat, and positive people. While we’re not happy all of the time, it pays off in many ways to always show others a genuine smile.

Practice these skills whenever you are in public, at work, at school, wherever. Remember that practicing something for 10,000 hours will make you an expert! They take a lot of hard work, but you, too, can stand out in the crowd!

image credit: feedio.net