Blogging Tips, Part Two: Keep Going!
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU BLOG?
You’ve just started a new blog, you’re posting every day, and you’re having a great time! You’ve conquered the world of blogging! Then it happens — the first week is over, and you’re thinking you’re maybe not loving this blogging business so much.
That’s a little tongue-in-cheek, but when it comes to writing, a funny little thing called burnout happens…and it happens to almost everyone. But don’t despair — there are a few things you can do when the honeymoon feelings start to wane:
Make sure you’re writing about what you know. If you’re having to do a ton of research just to write a blog post, other ventures are going to start to look more interesting. Much more interesting. But if you know you know what you know, the words will flow freely from your noggin right down to your fingertips. And when that happens, you’re going to enjoy posting about your subject a whole lot more.
Spend one or two days a week marathon writing. This works really well for a lot of bloggers. Obviously, if you’re blogging about current events, you can’t do that, but if your topic allows it, give it a try. You can actually knock out a week’s worth of posts in just a few hours this way. If your blog host has a scheduling capability like WordPress does, that will make your job even easier. You can write and schedule the following week’s posts all on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
The scheduling function also works well if you’re importing posts from one of your old blogs or are wanting to use articles you’ve written in the past.
DRAWING A BLANK
You know it’s bound to happen: The day will come when you will have absolutely no idea what to write about. Here are a few idea getters:
Take a poll. Ask your readers, whether in a blog post or in an actual survey, what they think about a certain issue, or what really matters to them regarding (fill in the blank). This works very well because people like to give their opinions, as you’ll know if you’ve had a blog for any real length of time. If these people keep coming back to your blog, they obviously like you, so you might as well take advantage of that.
Go where the info is. Search through magazines, books, and the Internet to get ideas for your topic. Notice I said ideas. We’re not copying what’s been written — just getting those thinking juices flowing.
Get a guest blogger. Find someone who has a blog in the same genre as yours (preferably someone who writes well) who might like to sub for you once in a while. It’s a win-win situation: you’re able to provide something for your readers, you get a bit of a break, and your guest blogger will — hopefully — get more readers (because you will, of course, let her include a link to her blog in her bio at the end of the post).
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Stay tuned for Part Three!
Again great tips for novice-bloggers like myself, and thank you Sally for helping us out. As for the “blanks”: You’re right, we all get them.
I’ve bookmarked your blog and I’m eagerly awaiting what the next entry will be. Keep them coming:)