As bloggers, we’re constantly told to find our niche; to figure out what differentiates us from our peers and to keep working on how to engage our readers, ensuring they keep coming back to us.

How does one do that exactly?

Along with my duties as a DPCON13 moderator, I also had the privilege to speak during the  “Charge Your Worth” session which was led by the lovely Hannah DeMilta – social media marketing extraordinaire.

I introduced the concept of Mind Mapping, which in essence is having a brain storming session with yourself.

It’s an extremely useful tool that can help gain clarity or direction for anything from a business professional document, to a university essay or a pitch to a PR company.

In regards to blogging, it can help a blogger get a little more specific on how they want to represent themselves to their readers and PR companies or brands.

How do you do it?

The most general way to start is:

–       Get a blank page

–        Draw a square in the middle and write in there “Why?”

–       What your trying to answer is “Why should a PR company work with you?”

–       Why should readers keep coming back or follow your blog?

–       What makes your blog special, unique?

–       What does your blog have to offer its readers and PR companies?

–       Think of what you know, what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about.

–       The answers can branch out into their own boxes from that “Why” question square and you’ll soon find that you’ll be able to make specific categories from your answers.

The idea is to start with a broad outlook, but then whittle those down to more specific, detailed points.

Still stuck?

Think back to a post which didn’t necessarily get high traffic but created an engaging conversation amongst your readers.  Or even a post that took no time at all to write and the words just flowed naturally.  What were those topics? What made it so easy to write about them? What are you most confident writing about and sharing?

Slowly, you’ll find that there are around 3 – 5 aspects that makes your blog unique.

And from this, you can build an elevator pitch, or create a self-introduction when handing your business card and networking.

Here’s an example of a general self-introduction

“Hi, I’m Grace. I blog over at With Some Grace where I write about life as a mum of twins.”

Nice. But there’s nothing there that jumps out at and gets a listener intrigued or wanting to know more.

Also, I have started my pitch with facts that are too ordinary.  I haven’t mentioned anything that has engaged the listener.

So, after a bit of mind mapping, I’ve come up with:

“Hi, I’m Grace. I blog over at With Some Grace.  As an Indonesian-born Australian mother of twin boys,  I write about the challenges and joys in raising a bi-cultural/bi-lingual family. I’m deeply passionate about modern Australia’s developments and progress as a multi-cultural society”

A little more specific but it’s still a short statement. And hopefully, it’s a little more catchy than the first.

Doing some mind mapping can help you become a little prepared or give you that extra “ammunition” in times of networking or talking on the phone with someone who wants to know about you and your blog in the limited time given.

If you’re trying to figure out structure for your blog or want to better portray yourself to peers, PR companies and brands, I’m offering 3 of my readers help with their own mind map.

Interested?

Drop me a line.

I can’t say that it’ll be easy and straightforward but it will help you gain better perspective on where you want to take your blog.

That, I promise.