Blogging in sheltered places.

Hello, everyone!

Martha Beck and her group recently created a forum only for Martha Beck Certified Coaches. (Oh, yes -- they also changed the name of our certification from North Star Certified to Martha Beck Certified. Either way, I have that certification.)

After a few weeks, I decided to start a thread that collected all the thoughts and actions I took to work on building my practice. Some angst, some whinging, a lot of small details that I expected only coaches to find interesting, some posts that assumed we shared common experience and language, some wins, some celebrations, useful tactics and more.

I've been having a great time. Writing many, many words there.

There is something interesting about writing to a select group. In a way, it's like letting my inner child play in a gated community. I have appreciated both the extra security (at times) and the shared interests.

I read through the Mark Joyner blogging course. It amuses me a bit to find so many people thinking of blogging as the new, hot thing. This blog is approaching its sixth anniversary.

There wasn't much there I didn't know. It was laid out in the usual very organized and logical fashion for a Mark Joyner product. And the daily learning format is very approachable and effective. Also, it did remind me of some things I've known but haven't applied. That's helpful.

I suggest it more for people who have never blogged, or who want to start a business blog, than for personal bloggers or blogging veterans.

Anyway, one principle of building traffic to a blog -- which this blog has always ignored -- is to focus very tightly on a single subject. It increases your visibility in search engines, and lets people who are interested in that subject know they'll find something of interest in the blogs.

I've been focusing on building a coaching practice inside my gated community. It has its points.

So, I've started the process to create another blog, attached to annaparadox.com, that will repost my twice monthly newsletters and other closely related thoughts. I'll let you know when its ready for public consumption.

Have a great month!

:-)

Anna