Top 5 Tips for Tarot Bloggers Going Pro

Are you a Tarot blogger thinking about going pro with your Tarot? Many Tarot readers are also writers and natural ‘Hermit’ types. It is in our nature to be curious and want to write down what we learn as well as to make notes of our daily Tarot musings and readings that we do.

Being a blogger is a natural, organic way of establishing yourself as a trusted adviser, which is of course what any Tarot reader strives to be. After being a blogger for about five years or so and realising that I badly wanted to do what loved most in life for a living (yes, Tarot!), I took the plunge and set up my own business with tarotize.com blog as the platform from which I offered my professional services. I have since moved – Twice – and all of that could have been avoided if I had known the advice I’m about to share with you below…

As someone who has had to learn a lot about this trade the hard way, I would like to share some of my biggest mistakes with you and the top tips that will help you avoid them. Essentially, this is what I wish someone had told me back in 2011 when I first started thinking about going pro:

• Don’t do it until you are self-hosted! If you are still on WordPress.com or another blogging platform that doesn’t give you full creative control, you should ideally move to self-hosted WordPress.org before you launch your business. Some web hosts demand a yearly fee upfront but hosts like TsoHost charge a low, monthly fee and also have excellent customer support. If you move from WP.com they even help move your site for you, free of charge. This is something I was told by a colleague a few months after I had started my business. In spite of doing everything all wrong, I had still managed to become one of the top Tarot blogs internationally. I sometimes wonder where I’d be today if I had done right – from the start… but the truth is, knowing how to manage a self-hosted blog is only the first step and not much help unless you also know about marketing, which brings us to my next biggest mistake.
• Decide if you are ready to be in business for yourself. Being a professional Tarot reader means making the shift from Tarotist to Tarotpreneur, with the ‘preneur’ portion being vital to financial success. Do you really want to do this for a living? Then you need to add some marketing and biz study materials to your vast collection of Tarot books. I have to admit, I wasn’t in love with the marketing side of things and have had to play catch-up rather a lot because of it. It is way better if you get things right from the day you launch instead of making lots of changes later that may give people mixed messages about what you are here to do.
• Writing for yourself isn’t the same as writing for an audience. When you are in business for yourself, you become a content writer rather than just someone keeping an online journal or blogging about whatever interests you. Just like the Hermit, you are a servant of the mankind, as well as the Divine, and here to shine your Light on the Paths of people you have been called to help. However, rather than trying to think about all the people who may (more or less accidentally) come across your blog online and strive to write something that appeals to all of them, you need to find your niche. ‘How do I do that?,’ I hear you asking. Glad you asked because it is really quite simple! You need to know yourself and your strengths, to create a ‘client avatar’ in your mind. Think about your ideal client, whom nobody is better able to help than you. Imagine what she might look like, what her age might be, what her family life is like, where she shops… Heck, even give her a name. When you write, you do so to help her solve real life problems. You address her dreams and fears and provide solutions for both.
• Have a strong call to action, clearly visible on your site. BAM! OK, this is tough. Most of us intuitive types aren’t natural sales people. We want people to come to us but at the same time we often complicate things and make it difficult for people to figure out how… The thing is, you want to help people… right? And you agree that you provide a valuable service? Don’t make people have to pay hide and seek to find your services! The best placement for a call to action is the upper right-hand corner of your website.
• Don’t be afraid to get personal. Show your face. Dare to be vulnerable. Share your struggles and how you have overcome them. Most people will be drawn to work with you as a trusted advisor because of feeling as if they already know you through your content. They identify with your struggles and have the desire to achieve what you have achieved in terms of overcoming them.

Ready to take the leap?! Get some 1-2-1 mentoring first!

I can help with…

• feedback on your website
• what records you need to keep, ethics and privacy etc
• tips on SEO for Tarot websites
• help you find your big WHY
• eliminate the competition in a ‘saturated’ market without competing with anyone
• identify your ideal type of client
• find your strengths as a content writer
• coming up with a realistic action plan
• help avoid some of the most common traps