If you have given a thought to blogging, there are some things I have learned that might help.
Two years ago, I was seriously blogging, along with my business partner on SAXtreme Magazine. Lisa, my business partner taught me some things about blogging that I’m reminded of as I write my blogs every day. If you have any tips after reading this, please share.
Some of her blogging advice I don’t follow like I should, but it’s with reason, but I digress.
Blogging is a lot of work…if you want to do it right. Yea, anyone can put their thoughts done on electronic paper, but can you get your thoughts read?
Let’s start with the blogging platform. WordPress has proven to be a good platform for me, but there are many out there. Choose a platform that provides a lot of tools and free statistics and has a good companion app. WordPress’ app has come a long way, but it still needs a few tweaks.
One of the key things your blogging service must do is auto post your blogs to your social media sites. As a minimum, you should set up a Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter site and then link your blog to them. This helps get your blogs out to the public for consumption. A few people might stumble across your blog in the blogging site, but in today’s world, people expect things pushed to them versus them having to find it.
When thinking about a blog, you need to consider frequency. If you plan to write two or three times a month, then, as my friend Ved says, “Forget about it.” You should blog every day–yep, you heard me right. You should honestly post a blog every day. This will encourage traffic to your site and keep it fresh. If you blog once in a while, then people won’t be too interested in what you have to say.
Also, you should only post one blog a day. This can be hard, because you might have all kinds of things that you want to say in one day and you just want to get them out there. More than one blog is overload for your readers. Keep your blogs to once a day–no more. You can always save blogs for later and on WordPress, when on the computer (not app), you can pre post blogs to release on future days. Lisa and I used to write blogs so much that we would have up to two weeks of blogs pre-posted and ready to go out. On the WordPress app, you can save your post in draft.
Also, you should either write and post your blog early in the morning or schedule it to release early in the morning. This way, the normal people who get up at 8 and log on with their coffee will see your newly posted blog on the top of their mail. Posting later in the day means it might roll down pretty far on someone’s reading list and not be seen. I don’t always follow this rule, but I try.
Having something interesting to say is one thing, but saying it in the title is another. People want to read interesting blogs, not mindless stuff. Leave your daily activities to Facebook and Twitter and blog about your more interesting thoughts. However, if you want someone to read it, make sure you have a title that catches peoples’ interest. Also, keep the title short–no more than 75 characters. This allows it to show on Twitter. Additionally, make sure the first sentence is catchy too. That will show up on Facebook and LinkedIn, so make it memorable if possible.
Here a two tips that I don’t do very well during the week. Mainly I don’t follow them because I use the app and it’s more difficult. Number one is to add tags to your blog. Tags are key words that search engines will find and make your message a bit easier to find by those not on a social media site. The WordPress app doesn’t have. Tagging feature for blogs that you are writing. Second is to add links to other related material. This makes your blog more interesting and effective. If possible link to content on WordPress, if you are using WordPress. This sends a link to the owner of the content and encourages them to come check out your blog–neat huh? The app allows linking, but it’s not easy to find content and link on your mobile phone.
Spelling, grammar, and sentence structure are important. You should read over what you write before you post. I do this much easier when I’m sitting at my computer, but I try on the phone. I like that the phone has auto correct and it works well most of the time. If you are on your computer blogging, then write out the blog in Word first and read it over and then post it. This helps keep it well written.
If you blog from your computer, create a Word template to write in. Every Saturday, I write a very specific blog on this site about Strategic Planning. It’s part of a bigger storyline called Think Big, Take Small Steps. I have a very specific format I follow and my template allows me to stick to the format. I use links to other blogs in the storyline to broaden reading as well, which works. The opening blog is set as Sticky on my site so it stays on the front page when logging into my site.
Using categories on your site allow readers a way to browse your work that they might be interested in. This blog is posted in my Meandering Genius category, which for me means my basic daily thoughts. I think we all come up with interesting things to say…I’m just trying to say them.
Another thing you should do is add a picture with alternate text to your blog. Keep it small when posting unless it’s a photo you are trying to share. This way when the blog posts on Facebook and LinkedIn, the photo goes with the title and tagline. I don’t do this on the app again because it’s just difficult. I always do this on Saturday.
One trick I also found is that once you post your blog you can promote it to LinkedIn. If you click the LinkedIn button at the bottom of the post (after posting) it allows you to post it to LinkedIn. What I use is the post to groups and the. You can select groups you belong to to share your post. I do this on Saturday with my strategic planning blog. This generates the most publicity around your blog and I recommend it.
Well, the last tip is to encourage in your blog feedback and action. Ask your readers to comment and share their thoughts. What I ask from you is to share your ideas on blogging. Tell me if any of these ideas help you. Also, take the time to follow me on the blogging site and let me know you care. 🙂
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