Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 29 Landing Pages

In this chapter of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World Michael Hyatt looks at the importance of properly setting up your landing pages. I apologize for not posting for a while on this topic, but the truth is I am still working on getting all my landing pages up to standard. I decided the best way to demonstrate this was to set up a new landing page for a new service I am planning on offering soon, Creative Ministry Coaching.

You can see it gathers all the usual information, plus a few added features. I am fairly new to coaching though I’ve done it unofficially as a pastor for years as well as with folks I’ve met through AMOKArts. Because I am new to coaching professionally, I am looking for what my potential clients might see as an acceptable rate for what I have to offer. I am also including a text block to find out what the person expects from a coaching relationship. This way I can decide whether I can meet their expectations or not.

If you’d like to look into coaching, please feel free to fill out the form and I will get back to you soon.

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 29 Create a Better “About” Page

According to Michael Hyatt in  Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World (and my statistics bear this out) the About page on your blog is one of the most frequently read pages. It is highly important, especially in the  realm of ministry. People want to know your background and whether or not they can trust the orthodoxy of your point of view. They also want to know what your focus is going to be. In short they want to know who you are and what they’re going to be reading.

Hyatt gives ten ways to make a better About page. I decided to compare them to my about page. To be sure it needs some adjustments. He says to write in the first person, mine reads like a press release. He says to write in a conversational style, and once again, mine reads like a press release. He also includes a lot more information than I currently have in mine. What I see is, I have a lot of room for improvement on my About page and I will be highlighting that change in the weeks ahead.

How does your About page look?

Having read the chapter,

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 28 Avoid Common Blogging Mistakes

In this chapter of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World Michael Hyatt looks at the mistakes bloggers make. He has a list of 10. To see them all you’ll have to read the book. I am going to focus on just a few. I think the biggest one is people who don’t post enough. Now I realize I may dance on the edge of posting too much, but the idea is to post on a regular basis so that your readers get a consistent flow of information. This blog goes out daily. Hyatt recommends no more than that. Actually right now I am posting twice in some days (Hyatt would say that is too much) but there is a reason for that. And it has to do with another post on Hyatt’s list…

Keep your posts on brand. I am aware that a lot of my readers come here  for posts about art and arts ministry. Because of this I am taking a risk with some of you by posting these posts on Platform. I am posting them because I believe every one of my readers should be trying to build his or her own platform. I feel it’s crucial to our ministries, but I know some may not agree with that sentiment, so on the days I post on Platform, I try to also post something else. I want all my readers to stay engaged.

The last thing from the chapter I want to highlight is the idea that we need to make sure we grab the reader’s attention. Remember most of the reason for this book and these posts is there are so many things vying for your reader’s attention. It”s important that we develop good headlines and a good lead in paragraph, to draw the reader into the story. I am still working on this but it must be the goal if you want to win your readers’ attentions.

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 27 Protect Your Intellectual Property

This is one of the few places where I part ways with Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. Michael Hyatt has a lot to say about protecting your work. Of course in order to see that you’ll have  to buy the book. I get  where he’s coming from and I even see a need for it and I suppose if someone were to take all my work and make a best seller pout of it I would be pretty upset and want some payment but here is the larger issue.

To me, I want this message to spread. I want it to go far and wide. Seth Godin says “Ideas that spread, win.” (I’ve asked Mr. Godin for permission to use his stuff on several occasions and he has yet to say no. Incidentally he treats everyone like this and it’s hard to argue with his level of success.) Since my goal is to spread the word, I really hope you’ll spread it around, repost it, take it and run with it. It’d be really nice if you’d credit it to me and AMOKArts.com so that you would help draw people into the tribe and if you make a lot of money off of something, remember who fed you and share the wealth. But above all what really matters to me is that the word is spread and this mission goes forward.

These abilities we have are called gifts for a reason. God has given them to us so that  we can give them to others. That doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t get paid, the Bible says, “the workman is worth his hire” but Jesus also said “freely you have received, freely give.” Consider a piece of art, yes one person may pay for it, maybe you’ll license it and 1,000,000 will pay for it, but it’s still a gift because for every person who pays for it. thousands and millions will appreciate it for free. It’s the same with songs on the radio and books in the library. Creating art is a gift given to the world. Part of the purpose of this site is to build a tribe of creatives who are using their gifts to spread the Gospel, serve the Lord and others and glorify God.

Take these posts for example. I am being very careful to not give you much of what Michael Hyatt wrote. I’m doing my best to honor Michael Hyatt’s intellectual property. At the same time I feel he has written a very important book that every member of my tribe must read, so I am going to great lengths to tell you about it. Why do I do this? So you’ll go out and buy it. Yes I have provided the links here on the page and yes if you click through from this site to buy it, a few cents of the purchase will come back to AMOKArts, but my motivation is not those couple of cents, that will never pay back the effort I’ve put into it. I am posting this because I think if you read and apply this book, your creative ministry will spread and grow and that is part of the mission of AMOKArts.

At the end of the day, you need to know how much you want to protect what you’ve created. One way is not more spiritual than the next, I’ll simply say let the Spirit be your guide.

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 26 Don’t Hire a Proofreader

In this chapter of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World Michael Hyatt says something that a lot of writers would view as blasphemy, but I think it’s critical when it comes to blogging. Don’t hire a proofreader. Now of course we want to post the best work we can and we want it to be as clan as possible, but as writers, our perfectionism can keep us from doing what needs to be done. It can keep us tweaking ad infinitum and prevent us from “shipping.”

Remember, a blog is a way of disseminating information quickly. We’re not writing a book, we’re building a platform. It’s more important that we keep our tribes informed and connected that every t is crossed and i dotted. It’s more important that your posts go out when expected than that they be perfect.

The truth of the matter is someone in your tribe will tell you about your errors and unlike printed materials blog posts are easy to correct, and you should correct them. So basically, writer your post, read it, read it again and ship it. Your readers will forgive a typo or help you to correct it. What they may not forgive is spotty, sporadic posting.

Speaking of which, you’ll notice I skipped chapter 25, rest assured I am working on that one too. It is just more involved and I didn’t want to keep my faithful readers waiting.

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 24 Write Faster

In this chapter of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World Michael Hyatt gives 11 ways to write faster, all of which are  very useful. Why do you need to write faster? Well as Hyatt points out, most of us are fitting our blogs in, into the small spaces of available  time in our busy lives. If the process of posting becomes long and drawn out, there is a much smaller chance that we will post consistently.

One of the best tips I can give for this is keep it simple. Hopefully you are communicating important, meaningful ideas. The clearer and more concise you can make these ideas, the more likely your readers will remember them and put them into action, not to mention pass them along. Seth Godin says, “Ideas that spread win!” and he’s right. I would add, “Ideas that spread build platforms.”

How can you speed up your writing process to make your work consistent and shareable?

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 23 Maintain a List of Post Ideas

One of the toughest things about being a daily (or even a regular) blogger is coming up with the ideas. I dealt with ways to come up with ideas in a recent post. In this chapter of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World Michael Hyatt deals with another great idea, maintain a list of ideas. This is a combination of things like recording the ideas you don’t have time to deal with for future reference and then returning to that list when you’re stuck. He also gives 13 different ways to come up with a post when the well is running a little dry. They’re really excellent but you’ll have to read the book to get them.

Instead I want to give you my top five:

Prayer: I know I keep coming back to this but, glory where glory is due, most of my best stuff comes from prayer.

YouTube: As a creative and a visual learner, I am very triggered visually. I feel that videos are great because they touch two senses at once. Also because this is a creative blog, I love to share videos that show artists in action and give insights into technique.

Quotes: I love to share and expand upon a quote from a famous person, especially those related to the creative life and ministry. It shows the thought process of someone who has been successful in an area in which I would like to succeed.

Reviews: I love to share resources that have been helpful to me in the hopes that they might be helpful to you the reader.

Solving problems and changing attitudes: Facebook will often trigger something for me. When I see trends, especially negative ones, among my “friends” I like to try to offer solutions or at least another point of view. This one is especially helpful to me as a cartoonist. My reactions to some of these posts create excellent fodder for snappy one liners that translate into good cartoons. The caution with this one, is it’s easy to take it negative, but don’t. Be a part of the solution.

Those are my top five. What about you? What triggers your best work?

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 22 Using a Blog Format

In this chapter of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World Michael Hyatt gets down to the nitty gritty of writing and formatting your blog posts. This is really helpful information. I’m not going to go into all of it (you need to read the book) but I want to key in on a couple things. First you need to write an intriguing headline-one that will attract the reader’s attention.

Next you need to make sure that the first paragraph is written in suh a way that it makes the reader want to continue. Then of course it comes down to writing  really good, well organized and helpful content.

Finally, and this is where I want to spend my time, Hyatt tells you to end your post with a question. The reason for this is simple. A blog is a dialogue, not a monologue. The question is supposed to get people to comment, start discussions and generally buiild the community. I’ve been trying to do this on all my posts. For the most part, readership of the AMOKArts blog is growing, but I don’t seem to be doing well at getting the conversation going. So I’m going to end this post with a question…

What can I do to generate more conversation on this blog?

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 21 Write Your Own Stuff

This chapter of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World may not seem to apply to most of you at first. Probably none of us feel the need to hire a ghostwriter, but that’s where Michael Hyatt found himself. He relates the story of meeting with a high powered executive who wanted to start blogging. Hyatt was really happy until he found out the guy wanted to use a ghostwriter. Hyatt writes his own stuff and gives reasons why you should  too.

Really it’s this simple, who do your followers follow? (Don’t spiritualize and say Jesus. We’re not going quite that deep yet.) They follow you. They want to hear your voice. Remember we are building a platform, a tribe, a group of people who want to hear the message you bring. This needs to be more than random stuff, it needs to be from your heart for the good of your tribe.

Now that’s not to say it all has to be that way. You know I often share other people’s videos, occasionally repost from someone else’s blog and would love to have the occasional guest blogger, but think about how I handle that content. This is a tribe, a group of people that are all interested in at least part of a broad topic called creative ministry. Think of it as a dinner party. These outside posts are me introducing you to a guest that I think you might enjoy or who might inspire or benefit you in some way. I remain the party host . What I share from others serves to enhance the mission of the blog and benefit the tribe (at least most of the time.)

A blog is more than a book or a place to vent, it’s a benevolent society designed to build friendship and build and benefit a community. If you are called to build that community, they want to hear your voice.

What have you posted lately?

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Journey through Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Post 20 Start or Restart your Blog.

Throughout this chapter of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World Michael Hyatt gives some great information and advice on blogging and getting started with blogging. As you can see with over 800 posts. I have already done this so I thought I would just touch on a few things.

First you need to pick a theme that you will write on. Mine is arts ministry and finding and using  your gifts to the glory of God. Because that is my theme, most of the  posts revolve around that theme. It’s almost either something to do with art, the arts, ministry, giftedness or a combination of the above. It’s important because a blog is more than just a place to rant. It’s an attempt at building a community or tribe based around a common interest or theme. Occasionally I will stray from the theme, but for the most part, I want to be a resource to my tribe of creative believers who want to be used to make a difference in this world.

Next you need hosting. I have tried Blogger and WordPress and WordPress just seems to meet my needs better. At the moment I am on a WordPress.com site this is the free site  that they host. It’s a great place to get started. I recently also downloaded WordPress.org  to my hosting  site. Eventually, I plan  on transitioning everything to that site. There are several advantages to WordPress.org. Mainly it’s a lot more customizable and it seems e-commerce is more readily available but you also have to secure (and pay for) web hosting. I recommend starting with WordPress.com for free until you have your blog up and running.

Lastly post regularly. I post to this site almost daily but I don’t recommend that for the beginning blogger unless you have a lot to say. It took a while to build up to that and it takes a fair  amount of effort to maintain.  Quality is more important than quantity. My goal is to have something worthwhile every time I post otherwise  people will get bored and tune out and that is the last thing one wants who is trying to build a platform.

The book has a lot more great information that will help you get started. Check  it  out.

If you already have a blog, send us a link in the comments. We’d love to check you out.

If you haven’t done it yet, check out Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.