Feeling like nobody cares about what you have to say?
Every time you publish something in your blog (or elsewhere), do you get nothing but tumbleweeds and crickets?
It's frustrating. It's depressing. It's a mystery.
Where is everyone?
Or maybe you're getting plenty of traffic, you see people arriving, but they never seem to read your stuff. They check out the first few lines and whoosh! - they're gone.
What happened?
Some online marketers (the worst, spammy kind) will tell you that you just need traffic. It's just a numbers game! 0.0001% of 10 million people is Quite A Lot Of People Reading Your Stuff! You have to game your way to the top!
Utter rubbish.
What you need is better storytelling - aka. "knowing how to make people care".
Here's why.
1. Without a great story driving it, your blog will probably fail.
Around 95% of blogs lie abandoned because their owners never worked out what to do with them.
Do you want to be one of the 5% that did?
2. Great storytelling makes people read to the end and come back for more.
Do you want a blog that engages people, grabbing them by the [redacted] so they can't stop reading?
Do you want people to love your work?
Do you want them to trust you & be persuaded by you - enough to subscribe to all your stuff, and to sing your praises to complete strangers?
Do you eventually want them to buy from you?
Then you need to tell stories that make people care.
Simple (and powerful) as that.
(Oh, and going back to the numbers for a second - 0.0001% of 10 million readers and 50% of 2,000 readers is exactly the same number. You don't need insane traffic. You just need to make more people care.)
3. The better you tell your own story, the more you'll stand out from the crowd.
Great stories travel far and get lots of attention. They're the key to media mentions, social media referrals and truly engaged visitors by the bucketload.
This means storytelling for bloggers is incredibly important.
Do you want your story (or the story of your blog, your creative work or your online business) to be on everyone's lips right now?
Were any of your answers
If so, this is the course for you.
Engage! is an 8-week course on storytelling for bloggers, teaching you the skills you need in & around your blog, including:
I took Mike's course when I'd already been blogging for five years and was making a full-time income doing so, but during that time, something had always been missing: my story. My blog didn't stand out because I myself wasn't certain what it was all about, until I took this course. Mike makes you answer the hard questions and guides you while you construct your story from scratch. I'd recommend this course to anyone struggling with finding their voice and defining their brand."
Sofie Couwenburgh, Wonderful Wanderings
OK, where are the wild promises of "seven-figure incomes" and blah blah?
Ha. No. It's not that kind of course.
Yes, there are plenty of people making crazy money by using great storytelling in their blogs - but I'm not one of them.
(However, I am a full-time writer, thanks to mine.)
This isn't a "Get Rich Quick" course in any way whatsoever - but it's grounded in practical techniques that have helped me (moderately successfully) and others (sometimes far more successfully) build sustainable creative lifestyles for ourselves.
And as any good salesman will tell you, it all starts with telling a good story.
Other Awkward Questions
"Will this make me famous?"
Hard nope on that one. Let's be blunt: if I knew that, I'd be famous myself, and I'd be sailing round the world in an expensive yacht and all that stuff. Ain't so.
(Never trust a course that sells something its author clearly has never achieved themself.)
But look: you don't want to be famous - you want to be successful, however you want to define success (and I suggest you define it sensibly, without using the word "famous" anywhere in that definition.)
This course has now helped writers win awards, get paid for their storytelling, and most of all, get some kind of direction with their own story, so they know where they're going with their work, and why.
"Are you really a published writer?"
Ayup. From 2011-2014 I was writing for major travel websites, magazines and newspapers. Here's a piece I did on bivvy bagging (don't get me started on that topic, it's so much fun) for the San Francisco Chronicle. And here's something on remote islands I did for CNN.
(I stepped back in 2015 to deal with family stuff, hence the half-decade gap. Now all's back to what I laughing call "normal" and I'm writing for folk again. It's nice to be back. )
"Will this course make me more attractive?"
Oh for...
Fine. Yes, yes it will. It's like catnip for humans. It's better than Tinder for finding your other half. You are GUARANTEED to become devastatingly hot if you take this course.
See you in court.
How Does It Work?
The course takes 8 weeks. You'll get:
- E-mail lessons three times a week, including weekly challenges to put into practice what you've learned
- [NEW] Optional audio versions of all lessons (downloadable mp3 format), so you can listen offline
- PDF guides, including "The Blogger's Guide To Story Structure" and "How To Edit The S#!t Out Of Your Writing"
- 1-to-1 support and access to the course's private Facebook Group for feedback and exclusive supplementary material
- Work entirely at your own pace. If you can't commit the time immediately, you can delay working through the lessons - and if you need longer than 8 weeks to complete the course, support will always be available.
- A final exam that will audit your story, giving you a strategy to implement everything you've learnt
- A free 30-minute Skype consultation, taken at any time, to discuss the future of your blog
- LIFETIME ACCESS! You can retake the course any time - and you'll have access to extra material coming in the future, including interviews, webinars and more!
I'm currently adapting this course into something new!
Want details on when it's ready? Drop me an e-mail here.
"Mike's storytelling course helped me to take a step back from my writing and analyze if it was written in a way that would resonate with readers and -- most importantly -- get them to keep reading. He was also generous with his feedback pertaining to my own website, which helped me rework my blog strategy and layout to better tell its overall story."
Gina Tarnacki, One Day In A City
"Mike made blogging exciting again! I was feeling lost in my own story, but after going through Mike’s course, I was able to recognize and manage important themes and stimulating story threads. I’ve never felt so organized and thrilled about blogging! His guidance has been indispensable and I highly recommend his course for anyone who wants to write a better story."
Erin Morris, De La Pura Vida
About Your Teacher
Mike Sowden is a travel writer and storytelling consultant from England. He's written for publications including CNN Travel, Problogger and the San Francisco Chronicle, and has talked about storytelling at conferences across Europe.
Learn more here.
"This course was what I had been searching for - it really helps you get to the heart of why you're writing and what exactly you are writing about. It's changed the way I approach my blog and business. Taking this course improved my writing, editing and focus, which has landed me more opportunities and income than any quick-fix alternative ever could. Take this course!"
Carly Hulls, Austrian Adaptation