I hope you found the "Good Keywords" tool helpful.  Did you get a chance to create a blogger.com account yet?  If not, then go do that now.

Today, I am going to show you how to write a post.  There is nothing magical about writing posts - they can be formal, informal, whatever your style is.  The thing to remember about posting is it’s not about you.  Self-centered blogs rarely last very long.  You are trying to help someone with your vast knowledge and experience - in this case, in "babysitting."

Okay, let’s get started.  The type of post that we are going to write today is like an article - I like articles because they are great way to advertise your blog - more on that another time.  In our next lesson, we will write a shorter post so you can see one of those.

In our last lesson, we used "Good Keywords" to analyze "babysitting" and we were given a list of potential ‘questions’ people were asking about "babysitting" by the search engine keywords that were entered into Ask.com, Yahoo.com and Overture.com.

One of the search keywords typed in was "babysitter jobs".  So, I naturally turn that into a question:

"How do I get babysitter jobs?"

Now, I must confess, I know very little about topic of "babysitting" as a profession, but I’m going to wing it - so I’m asking for a little grace .

I’m going to share with you one of many outlining techniques for writing effectively and persuasively - I used this when I was in sales many years back to write proposals. 

It’s called HIPSA.

H - Heading - This is going to be our blog post title
I - Introduction - this will give an intro to the topic you are going to discuss
P - Problem - this will outline and define the problem
S - Solution - this will outline and define the solution
A - Action - this will be a call to action

So…

Let’s come up with our Heading/Title.  This is perhaps one of the most important parts of your post - the title.  The idea here is to invoke the visitor’s curiosity. 

Often times, a question is a good way to do that.  Here is an example of a question Title:

Here is a sample Question-Type Title:

"Are Great Babysitting Jobs Really That Hard To Find?"

"How to" also invokes curiosity:

"How to Find Quality Babysitting Jobs in Less that 24 Hours!"

Do you get the idea?

Now let’s work on the introduction.  The introduction is simply a way to introduce your topic to your reader.

Here is a sample Introduction:

Babysitting jobs are great ways to make some extra cash.  Think of it, you generally start in the early evening - say 5pm.  You feed the child your watching, play with him/her for about and hour or so and then they are off to bed between 7pm and 8pm.  All of your hard work is done in a couple of hours and you can just monitor the situation after that - what could be easier?

Here is a sample Problem:

Finding the really cherry babysitting gigs can be kind of challenging.  People with kids tend to form bonds with their favorite sitters and that makes it tough to break in.  Another problem you can run into is the ‘low payers’ - they call you on Saturday afternoon asking you to babysit for them Saturday evening and they are paying a whopping $3.50/hour - and you drive your own car to get to their house!!!  Do you see the injustice?  Of course, what else are you doing this Saturday night - hmmm, nothing, so you accept.  So what is the problem - not enough contacts.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to pick and choose?  This is what we are going to try to help you solve.

Here is a sample Solution:

The key to getting the word out is by advertising. Now, you may feel very intimidated by that the sound of that, but let me assure you, it’s not that hard to do.  Here are some ideas for you:

Advertise by:

• Word of mouth - spread the word to all your friends who have young children
• Signs - put on neighborhood metal mailboxes or on telephone poles
• Business cards - put business cards on every car in a parking lot; pass them out door-to-door.
• Working in the childcare at a church - let the parents know when they are dropping off or picking up their kids that you are available for babysitting gigs.

You see, some very easy steps.  Pick the method(s) that is(are) the most comfortable for your to do.  If you follow these techniques, you will have more babysitting jobs offers than you’ll know what to do with.

Here is a sample Call to Action:

It’s time to take action - go out and do it today.  Take a small baby step, like make some signs to put on mailboxes.  Tomorrow, you and a friend go out and put the signs out on mailboxes together.  You can do it.

Well that’s it.  Here’s to profitable babysitting for you!

In summary:

We’ve written a post for our babysitting blog which is structured like an article.  We used the HIPSA method to help us structure  it.  The post is 100% visitor centered and should be of value to someone looking for ways to find babysitting work. 

In my next issue, I’ll demonstrate a short post.

Take Action!

Try your hand at a longer article post.  It may seem intimidating, but you can do it with practice.  Make sure you use the HIPSA method to help you organize your thoughts.