Intro to Anna Barnes, Editor

It’s funny how you can have all the confidence in the world when you write about other people and their work, but when it comes to writing about yourself, you’re full of nerves. But it makes sense: you know yourself best, flaws and all, and if you’re like me, maybe you got raised with a bit too much emphasis on humility and not enough emphasis on self-confidence. (We’re all recovering from something.)

But there are all sorts of reasons for creating a “professional” blog. (Insert “in this essay I will…” line here.)

Here’s a heading about using SEO to become relevant in searches by folks looking to hire a manuscript editor

The top-cited reason for creating a professional blog these days has to be SEO—search engine optimization. Blah, blah, keywords, blah. It gets tiring, but that’s the way of the web these days.

Beyond just garnering views on your posts themselves and hopefully generating follow-up clicks to your portfolio and offerings, a blog also proves to search engines that your website is active. Therefore, it shows Google, DuckDuckGo, etc. that your overall website is still relevant in the worldwide web of results for “manuscript editor for hire.”

But SEO isn’t the only reason to create a blog.

Here’s a heading about how blogs present a personalized view of your own self while encouraging folks to check out your website

More important than SEO, a blog gives you a chance to introduce yourself in your own words—and ramble a bit more than your streamlined home page marketing copy allows. And, look, I spent hours upon hours on my website copy—I’m proud of it! But a blog is allows you to be a bit more personal (or even a bit silly). Heck, it even gives you a chance to show off your headshot fails!

It was windy.

Here’s a heading about the importance of having goals (well of course!) and maybe even aspiring to a writing schedule

Well, I’ve sufficiently embarrassed—er, humanized—myself, so enough of this for now. I’ll be blogging again soon—and likely not as soon as I plan to! (It’s important not to set yourself up to fail—but still set goals to strive for. Or so they tell me.)

In the meantime, enjoy the holidays, and welcome to my plant-loving blog about growing words!