Lillie Ammann's Blog, page 39

How to Develop and Expand Your Blog Audience: Guest Post from Avery Phillips

In a perfect world, starting out as a blogger would involve you writing the perfect material for an already existing audience. Unfortunately, this is not the case; it takes hard work to start a blog: determining an audience, writing the type of material that interests you as well as engages and builds an audience, and expanding upon your blog and audience while experimenting with new topics.

Below are some tips on finding your niche to craft your writing for the development and the expansion of your blog audience.

Define

To develop an audience to expand on, you must first define your target audience. A blog post without a target audience in mind is like throwing a piece of paper into the wind. Sure, it’ll land, but you don’t know where. Knowing where to direct your blog posts is crucial to your level of readership as well as coming up with blog topics.

Everyone has areas in which they have acquired some level of expertise. Whether it be hobbies, simple interests, your occupation, or problems they have gone through and can lend some tips to ease the trouble for others. Finding a balance between your expertise and level of interest and how often you can write about topics in that field is foundational to defining your audience. If you can persistently write with enthusiasm about a certain topic, you have found your niche. It should also be acknowledged that you may have several niches, which is great!

After you have found your niche(s), you can now begin to pinpoint who you need to direct your posts to. Consider the demographics who are interested in your niche; if your niche is quilting, it’s probably best not to gear your tone, style, and focus toward an eighteen-to-twenty-five-year-old tech audience. To get a good idea of your target audience, look at who are the leaders of your niche. An internet search—or better yet, a search on social media—can illuminate your target audience. Demographic analysis and communication with the people participating in the comments of these social media communities are great ways to ascertain your target audience.

Develop and Expand

Now that you have defined your target audience, you can start gearing your blog and blog posts towards them. Tease out relevant blog post topics by involving yourself in the social media communities in your niche—determining what people would like to know more about, recent news, and discussions. You can now begin writing with enough confidence to establish a blog to advertise your blog posts, since when you begin writing and publishing posts, there will be a known audience who will have an interest. Along with writing these relevant posts and knowing who to publish them for will come a development readership and followers.

Now that you’ve got your blog, topics, and an audience via your social media presence, you can start experimenting with expanding that blog audience. Maybe you’d like to try out some new topics or niches or simply just increase your readership. Your social media reach will prove to be invaluable not only in getting your existing audience to share your posts with potential readers but in gathering opinions on new topics or opinions you are thinking about for the blog. You can explore the idea of new topics to reach a larger audience while retaining your existing audience.

A strong social media presence will allow interaction with your audience to show that you value your readers’ opinions enough as to not quickly change course, but gently expand your horizons to reach a bigger audience. Your social media interactions will also assist in your promotional efforts to maximize the reach of your audience. As this becomes more of a self-governing entity, you have only one thing left to do, the thing you set out to do in the first place—consistently write blog posts to maintain and grow an expansive audience!

What seems like hard work, in reality, just boils down to maintaining constant conversation between yourself and your audience. A good analysis of what you would like to do and how that coincides with your audience will always maintain the interest of both parties, facilitate consistently relevant material, and get your audience to share with other readers. These all play a role in expanding your blog audience.

About the Author:

Avery T. Phillips is a freelance human being with too much to say. She loves nature and examining human interactions with the world. Find her on Twitter; comment or tweet her at @a_taylorian with any questions or suggestions.

Image: © Depositphotos.com/Melpomene

National Child Abuse Prevention Month

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

If you suspect a child is being abused, report it so it can be investigated. We’ve all heard terrible accounts of children who have been abused for years, and no one knew it. No one protected them. Abuse in childhood can affect individuals throughout their whole lives; long after they have left childhood behind, they have not left the abuse behind.

We need good services to care for children who have been abused, but the better solution is to prevent child abuse before it happens. You can find excellent resources about preventing abuse at Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Abuse can happen anywhere—at any socioeconomic level; in any race or ethnic group; in families of all levels of educational achievement; in any city, town, or rural area.

Don’t be ignorant like I was many years ago when I failed to recognize the signs of abuse in a young boy in my Sunday School class.

Devotion for Easter Sunday

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.” ~ Matthew 28:1-10

Jesus had told His followers that He would be killed and rise on the third day, but the concept was so foreign to them that they didn’t expect it when it happened. We are no longer surprised and shocked by the resurrection, but may we never take it for granted!

Lord God, I want to be as amazed and awed by the Resurrection as the disciples were. Never let me take for granted the amazing gift of eternal life. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

He is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Devotion for Holy Saturday

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. ~ John 19:38-42

Joseph and Nicodemus, rich and powerful men who followed Jesus secretly for fear of losing their power, had enough courage to see that Jesus was buried properly in a tomb. Apparently their love for the Lord was stronger than their fear, and even when it seemed that everything was lost, they ensured that Jesus was lovingly prepared and buried. Is our love stronger than our fear of ridicule or whatever we think may come to us if we acknowledge Jesus?

Lord God, I love Jesus more than I fear the opinions of men. Let me always stand for Him. In His holy name. Amen.

Devotion for Good Friday

Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified.

They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.

But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ~ John 19:1-35

This is the saddest day of the year—remembering the most horrific event in human history. Jesus—the pure, holy, sinless, perfect Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity, the incarnate God—became sin on the cross for us. He drank the sour wine of evil and took on all the vileness and degradation and sin of the world. Then He said, “It is finished.” Sin was conquered. Death was conquered. We can now be sanctified and declared righteous because Jesus paid the price. He became sin so we could become righteous. So we call today—the saddest day of the year on which the most horrific event in human history occurred—Good Friday because on that day Jesus gave us the right to become children of God and the ability to be deemed righteous. All we have to do is to say “yes” to Him—to accept Him into our hearts as our Lord and Savior.

Lord God, what Christ suffered for us! The love that led to this sacrifice is beyond human comprehension. Empower me by the Holy Spirit to live for You. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Devotion for Maundy Thursday

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. ~ John 13:1-15

Today, our feet seldom get dirty. We wear shoes and socks most of the time, and even our shoes are usually shiny and clean. But in the time of Jesus, the streets weren’t paved and there was no sewer system. The people wore sandals and walked through the muddy streets, stepping in sewage and animal waste. It was typical for a host to have a servant wash his guests’ feet when they arrived because they would be filthy—and probably smelly, too. Washing of feet was a chore assigned to the lowliest of servants because it was nasty job. Yet Jesus Christ Himself, the Savior of the World, our Lord and Savior, humbled Himself to wash the feet of His disciples. And we are called to act just as humbly as He did.

Almighty God, I want to serve You, but I’m more inclined to want to do so from a clean and comfortable office than on the streets. Yet You call us to serve the lowliest of Your people in the humblest of circumstances. Give me the will and the power to do so. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Devotion for Holy Wednesday

Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus.

Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.’” The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.

Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. As they were eating, He said, “Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me.” Being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to Him, “Surely not I, Lord?” And He answered, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me. The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself.” ~ Matthew 26:14-25

Judas was so arrogant that as he was plotting to betray Jesus, he said, “Surely it is not I?” Of course, Jesus knew all along that Judas would betray Him, and Judas surely should have realized by now that Jesus knew everything. So why did he think he could pretend to be innocent? Yet how often do we do the same thing? We try to hide our evil thoughts and sinful actions from God, when we are fooling no one but ourselves. How much better it is to confess our sins, repent, and beg forgiveness.

Lord God, You know everything I do and everything in my heart. When I sin in thought, word, or deed, may I never try to hide my sin. I want to confess it, turn away from it, and accept Your merciful forgiveness. Help me to do that. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Devotion for Holy Tuesday

When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.

Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’~ John 13:21-33

After Jesus gave Judas a morsel of bread, Satan entered into him. We know Judas had been under the influence of Satan for a long time—perhaps throughout the time he was with Jesus, because elsewhere in Scripture we are told that he was stealing from the treasury. However, John tells us that Jesus Himself specifically did something so Satan would entice Judas to betray his Lord. Jesus didn’t just sit back and let the devil be in control. He was in control the entire time, even when He was physically helpless and dying.

Lord, I can’t express how in awe I am of the love You—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—have for me and for every one of Your children. To our human senses, it seems that the devil and an evil man orchestrated Jesus’ crucifixion, but You were in control of every step. Enable me to show my gratitude by living for You. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Devotion for Holy Monday

Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”

The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus. ~ John 12:1-11

Criminals sometimes kill witnesses to their nefarious deeds so the witnesses can’t testify against them in court. In this case, the religious leaders wanted to kill a man raised from the dead so the miracle might be forgotten or disbelieved. We don’t go around killing people who cause us problems, but we do use them, hurt them, ignore them to protect ourselves or make ourselves look good. Jesus told us we deserve hell for calling our brother a fool—we are no better than the criminals who kill witnesses or the chief priests who planned to kill Lazarus.

Lord God, forgive me for hurting other people for my personal benefit. Let me put others before myself and never inflict anger or callous disregard on someone. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Devotion for Palm Sunday

When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to the daughter of Zion,

‘Behold your King is coming to you,

Gentle, and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David;

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;

Hosanna in the highest!”

When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” ~ Matthew 21:1-11

Jesus was welcomed as a prophet coming in the name of the Lord when He entered Jerusalem for Passover. Yet He was riding on a lowly donkey—the donkey and colt that were waiting for His disciples just when Jesus was ready for them. God had worked out every detail long before this day. He knew the crowd would turn on Him. He knew He would be tortured mercilessly and would die a violent and vicious death. That excruciating pain was nothing compared to the pain of the moment the Father turned His face from Him. Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of the world—sins so vile the Father couldn’t look at Him. Yet He chose to do this for us!

Thank You for Your perfect plan of redemption. Thank You that You loved me so much that Jesus went through the horrific, incomprehensible experience of the Crucifixion to pay the price for my sins. That love is so far from the way I act that I can’t comprehend it. All I can do is love You and trust You and thank You. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.