7 Magical Harry Potter Spells to Build Your Blog
Does your blog have what it takes to be the Harry Potter of your niche? Harry Potter is a powerful fan magnet. Harry Potter enthusiasts dress up to wait in line to get the latest Harry Potter release. Having sold the early Harry Potter books in the late 1990s I’m not surprised. Regardless of where the promotion was buried, the books broke sales records. While I’d like to think it was my stellar marketing, the reality is that the magic was in Harry Potter’s DNA. But you don’t need to be Harry Potter to work this wizardry on your blog. You just need the magical formulas to work his spells.
7 Magical Harry Potter spells to build your blog
To work wizardry on your blog, here are the seven strategies that magically helped build Harry Potter into a fan magnet.
- Find your unique niche. While Harry Potter was brought up by muggles, he found his true calling when he attended Hogwarts and learned he was a wizard with a birthright and related special powers. For bloggers, this means that you must discover what you have that’s unique and has value to an audience. You don’t want to be a me-too blogger echoing others. You want to be a leader in your specialized niche.
- Give your readers magical powers. Just as Harry Potter learned to use his special wizard prowess, as a blogger, you must show your readers how to deal with the challenges of your product, service or topic. By providing your readers with information that educates and entertains, you empower your readers and entice them to keep coming back to your blog for more. Remember to keep the information easy-to-use and quick-to-consume.
- Tell your special story. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowlings epitomizes the classic rags-to-riches story of a single mother on the dole who makes it big. She’s the Cinderella in our midst. For bloggers, this means highlighting what’s special in your background and tell us that story in a way that makes readers want to help you succeed. Don’t overlook the power of your About Page.
- Provide alternative consumption options. While J.K. Rowlings initially conceived of Harry Potter as a series of books, it’s expanded into a variety of formats to appeal to different audiences and consumption methods. Similarly, it’s important for bloggers to think beyond the blog or to add other content formats to your blog to attract new readers.
- Build your tribe. Like Harry Potter who found allies in Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger, you need a small group of core supporters to help build your blog. It helps to have a sounding board for content, brand and technical issues. Additionally, you must develop a social media tribe to help you expand your reach.
- Support your fans. J.K. Rowlings built a world around Harry Potter that’s extended across seven years of his life. As a blogger, you must plan how you’re going to develop content that continues to engage your audience over time unless you want to be a flash in the pan. This means thinking about your marketing personas and extending your editorial calendar beyond the next month. Consider how you’re going to engage with readers offline as well as online.
- Make a time-limited offer. For bloggers looking to develop revenue streams from their blogs, Harry Potter has powerful lessons. J.K. Rowling’s agent gave publishers an extremely short window of time to decide whether to publish the first book of unknown author. Well-known bloggers like John Chow use a drip-method to engage prospects. What’s entailed is creating excitement that if you don’t act now, the offer will vanish. Old-fashioned direct marketing at it’s best. The bottom line is that you have to be able to deliver the goods in terms of amazing content.
While Harry Potter was born with wizardry DNA to accomplish magic, as a blogger, you can learn from his experience and use his strategies to take improve your blog’s magnetism.
Is there any other Harry Potter magic that you’d add to this list to help improve your blog? If so, please add your input in the comment section below.
Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen
Disclaimer: Please note that any links to books are affiliate links.
Here are some related articles that you may find of interest.
Check out the J.K. Rowlings website. It’s a lot of fun.
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