How do you post to your blog every day?
By Mike Moran. Filed in Monthly Newsletter, Social Media Marketing |Tags: Blog, blogging
Image by churl via Flickr
One of my colleagues calls me “committed.” Others think I should be committed. But one way or the other, I post an entry to my blog every work day. How do I do it? Often, it’s a labor of love, but sometimes it feels like a chore. I find something I think is worth saying every day, but I admit that it is not always easy. Today, it was easy, because I can tell you all of the things that I do to post every day.
First, I cheat by asking other people to post to my blog. It might strike you as the easiest way to fill the days, and in some ways it is. We have a great staff of Biznology bloggers, ranging Chris Angus, who posted his first one yesterday to Frank Reed, our most prolific blogger, posting each Friday. But it took a few years to create a popular enough blog for others to want to contribute. And I still must be constantly talking to bloggers and getting new ones or cajoling veterans for another post. It’s important, but it isn’t always easy.
Despite these great contributions from others, I still write more of the posts than anyone, and people want to know how I pull that off. I have a few methods that keep those posts coming, some obvious, but I hope a few are new to you:
- Save ideas. Keep a running list of every idea that occurs to you that might be a post. Don’t judge them. I have ideas that have sat around for a year before I felt like writing them, but waking up to several dozen ideas on a list to pick from is a lot better than a blank page. I also write part of the post when I jot the idea down. That way, I feel like I am off to a running start and just need to finish it. For some reason, it feels much easier that way. (I jotted down the bullet points in this post two weeks ago.)
- Schedule a post each day. Scheduling is important in two ways. First, you must schedule the time that you will write the post—block an hour on your calendar if you have to. But I go further and actually plan which post I will write each day. That way, some big decisions have already been made for me when the appointed hour arrives.
- Write for other venues. Even that schedule isn’t enough pf a prod for me. I write for other sites on a regular basis because I promised that I would. When one of my posts runs on another site, I can link to it from Biznology and my post for that day is done.
- Write down questions. If you are like me, you can’t go 20 minutes without someone asking you a question. Sometimes, like yesterday, it’s in a formal setting, such as after I present a Webinar. Most times, it is informal, such as with co-workers, clients, or just over e-mail. Every time someone asks you a question that you know the answer to, it’s a possible blog post. Usually others have the same question.
- Take breaks. This might seem counter-intuitive, but it’s easy to burn out on something you do every day, so give yourself some time off. I don’t write when I am on vacation, and I take a lot of vacation. Hey, I am taking one now–a long one. I will see you again on April 12. Frank Reed’s got tomorrow and then we’ll be back later.
Perhaps I’m leaving out the most important reason I post every day. I like to write and the writing helps my business. I get more consulting and speaking engagements from my writing than from any other source. If you like to write and you want an easier way of making a name for yourself, you might find that writing a blog is not as tough as a lot of other ways to spend your time. Good luck.
Friday, April 2nd 2010 at 12:46 pm |
I love the idea on this post. Well, you know, blog posting comes easy of you have a lot of ideas but it doesn’t come it this way. So we should need to make a list of ideas that you want to talk. Talk on experiences that were successful and always leave a question also to get the attention of readers and even react.
Saturday, April 3rd 2010 at 5:16 pm |
Blogging is now part time. I really love doing it. It allows to share what I’m thinking and also pouring what’s inside me. Thanks for this post. This makes my blogging easy.
Sunday, April 4th 2010 at 3:33 pm |
Personally I use FutureRSS so I can “pre-post”. I generally make a bunch of posts ahead of time so that one releases each day.
Monday, April 5th 2010 at 3:41 am |
Yes, after I finish my studies, wrote in a blog is one activity that I enjoy doing. Even the writing on the blog to get a decent income. I confess myself still many shortcomings of the writing, because I was not trained in the world of writing. But I will try to fix it.
Monday, April 5th 2010 at 11:20 am |
wow you can really manage to post every work day that’s brilliant of you to have so many ideas running in your head. I guess have to try your advices and perhaps I can post at least 2 each week. Thanks for sharing.
Friday, April 9th 2010 at 8:40 pm |
Loved this post, Mike. Especially as I will start to do some regular blogging myself (finally!). Great advice.
Friday, April 16th 2010 at 2:41 pm |
yes thats right. Try submitting your RSS feed to some RSS directorys too
Thursday, April 29th 2010 at 9:32 am |
I love the idea on this post. Well, you know, blog posting comes easy of you have a lot of ideas but it doesn’t come it this way. So we should need to make a list of ideas that you want to talk. Talk on experiences that were successful and always leave a question also to get the attention of readers and even react.
Tuesday, June 29th 2010 at 2:55 am |
It’s brilliant that you can manage to post every work day I guess you must have so many ideas running in your head. I guess have to try your advice and perhaps when I setup my blog, I can post at least twice each week, or maybe more. Thanks for sharing.
Wednesday, July 21st 2010 at 9:48 am |
You can really manage to post every work day that’s brilliant of you to have so many ideas running in your head. I guess have to try your advices and perhaps I can post at least 2 each week.
Sunday, March 6th 2011 at 5:13 am |
Hey—thanks for the good tips. I liked the one about writing a list of notes…I try to do that, though what once was a text file has shifted over to my using the Press This function of WordPress, which is a little link installed in my bookmarks bar. Basically, it lets me highlight some text (or images) from a webpage and quickly be able to throw that (plus a link to the original site) into my blog post drafts folder, for finishing up, writing, polishing and posting later.
—Joe Kawano