Thank you for the kind words of encouragement-as usual your participation is greatly appreciated. One of the greatest aspects of blogging is the feedback from readers; feedback is the lifeblood of any blogger’s efforts to understand and solve via information.

With that said, let me take your concerns one at a time:

1. The idea behind the template was to solve what is often one of the ignored first steps in a blog launch: the mission. Blogging to Employment workshop attendees, leading up to the workshops, mentioned transparency as a major fear and barrier to entry. Simply put, most people are afraid to put themselves out their or provide a personal touch to their blogging online.

2. Strategy for Blogging to Employment where the blog is the delivery vehicle for your message of value has not changed. It is our opinion, that your message of value should take front and center in your blog.

3. Strategies for “refocusing your blog as you go along”? If you have your mission completely mapped, then you will not need to refocus anything. If a blogger decides to change direction, then it is up to that writer how they wish to address their readers.

4. Ari as a professional writer you are ahead of most people who are establishing their own blogs. I strongly suggest people use this template as it is a clean, succinct, method to bring forward all the information for each blogger’s mission.

5. Personal Voice: In my opinion this is where people get in trouble. You do not have to be a robot but if you decide to make your thoughts, opinions, and political stances part of your blog writing, prepare to suffer the consequences.

6. Blogging to Employment is a strategy that does NOT emphasize traffic to the blogger’s site. Instead the emphasis is on the job seeker’s ability to strategically target hiring managers and companies to send their message.

If a person is looking for work as a screenwriter or in an industry that is looking for “metaphors that result in memorable reading” then by all means they should write in a style appropriate to their target.

But in the vast majority of cases of people we speak with, both unemployed and hiring managers, the value is in the blogger’s ability to communicate their value, why they have value, and expertise.

The voice you get from the template that screams “cover letter” is your own feelings about style. If you wish to add your personality to your blog writing be aware of how this could work for you and work against you.

As always it is up to the individual blogger; but in my opinion Blogging to Employment bloggers should always stick to business and keep it on a business level.

It’s great that you’re providing this guidance this specific! But I have a question: when you started blogging, did you know that you’d be creating tips, how to guides, lists and other material on the topic of blogging for employment? If your answer is “no,” then what would be a strategy for letting potential readers know that you’re re-focusing your blog as you go along?

Also, as a professional writer, I’d recommend that your clients and readers adapt this template to have a more personal “voice,” that indefinable quality arising from how you organize your ideas, use examples, choose words, and string them together to create metaphors that result in memorable reading. The voice I get from the template screams “cover letter”! Blogging is supposed to reveal a bit of your personality, and some level of informality is expected, even if you’re goal is to demonstrate professional expertise.