The good thing with being your own boss is that you can manage your time as you like and therefore make time to work on personal projects.

Besides project management and the daily running of the business, I work on a project called Happy Daddy Magazine, which we launched in August this year. It’s got nothing to do with web development. It’s an online magazine/blog for dads and dads-to-be.

And then your question is: as a mum-to-be, why and how do you write a blog for dads?

The answer to “why” is quite straightforward: when I found out I was pregnant, Nic obviously searched for more information, about what to expect during pregnancy and what it’s like to be a dad. And he couldn’t find much. The truth is, there are a tons of mummy blogs out there but very few information sources for dads. We saw it as an opportunity and decided to do our own website.

As to the “how”, well I just follow 5 basic rules:

1. Never forget your target audienceThis is the most important advice I could give to anyone writing a blog. Your audience is your business so never forget who you’re talking to. Any good copywriter must be able to adapt to their client and their audience. Once you’ve got that in mind, you can write anything.So every time I write an article, I remind myself that it’s going to be read by men rather than women. I choose the topics carefully, avoiding all girly stuff, and sometimes use a different tone or expressions.
2. Get a second opinionEven though I can adapt to a male audience, I can’t help the fact that I’m a woman, and pregnant on top of that. So when I’m not sure about a topic or the way I’ve written an article, I discuss it with Nic so he can give me directions.He sometimes proof-reads my posts if I have any doubts. And if I feel, for some reason, that I’m not the best person to write about a certain topic, such as what it feels to find out you’re going to be a dad, then Nic will do it.
3. Do your researchResearch is important. You need to know what’s happening around you if you want to keep up. I read other dads’ blogs, I follow them on Twitter and therefore get a better understanding of what they want and don’t want to talk about. You can’t just write as if you were in a bubble, not paying attention to your readers’ expectations and your competitors’ work.
4. Don’t pretend you’re someone you’re notWhen writing on the blog, I don’t pretend to be a dad. It would be totally wrong and counter-productive. It is clearly indicated that I’m the author of the posts and that we’re working as a couple on this project (even though I have more time to spend on it than Nic).Pretending to be someone you’re not is not sustainable and, more importantly, I think you lose a part of honesty and authenticity, which is essential for such a personal project. The personality of the person writing the blog could be what makes it a success (or a failure).
5. Be aware of your limitationsWhen it comes to communication and promoting the website, I do most of the online stuff – Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc. However, we’ve known all along that I can’t possibly be the face of Happy Daddy Magazine offline. I can and do talk about it, as a project done with my husband. But I can’t appear as the main contributor, it just wouldn’t make sense. So be aware of your own limitations or you are at risk of losing credibility and damaging your business.

These 5 basic rules work for me as a mum-to-be writing a dads blog. But beyond that, they work for any copywriter who wants to produce good and targeted content.