Blogging Advice

Andy has a simple but effective tip for business bloggers. He writes:

Sign your blog posts with your name, not your credit union’s name.

He’s writing for credit unions since that’s the industry he covers, but any online business would do well to follow his tip.

Basically, he’s reiterating one of the fundamentals to blogging and social media: be a real person not an impersonal, faceless company. It only makes sense to use your name if you’re going to use a personal channel like blogging.

Also, use your name in your other social media interactions like forums and social voting sites. You gain a little bit of friendship by sharing your name. And anyone that feels like they know you will be more likely to visit your blog.

For more social media tips, check out his whole blog post: Joining the Conversation, Being the Conversation.

One thing many business bloggers don’t realize at first is the amount of time blogging can take. While blogging has many great benefits for businesses, it still takes time and hard work to get a blog of the ground. Fortunately, there are some tricks you can do to be more productive with your blogging. The most effective tip I’ve found is writing multiple posts in one sitting. I got this from Ahmed Bilal, who’s had success blogging in the soccer industry.

My last three posts were published on January 11, 13, and 15. I actually wrote those posts on January 10. I would’ve written one or two more posts that day but I had a couple NFL football games to watch. It took me four hours to write all three posts. This saved me two hours because it usually takes me about two hours to write a post if I write them one at a time on different days.

Why was I able to be more productive?

Answer: the momentum factor.

Ahmed writes:

…once your writing juices get flowing, it’s easier for you to write that second and third article…

Let’s face it. It can take some time to get into the writing mood. Or to put in another way, it takes time to break through writer’s block and “get into the flow”. But once you’ve reached that point, the words flow more easily and you write more efficiently.

The trick is leveraging this flow of inspiration by continuing to write that second, third, or even fourth post.

I like what John C. Maxwell says:

The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that’s when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.

We often don’t have the motivation to write blog posts. However, motivation seems to build as we gain momentum in the writing process. Why not leverage that motivation and write as many blog posts as you can while you’re motivated?

Don’t quit too early. Don’t quit while you’re in the flow. Keep writing.

I thought some of you might find it helpful to have a step by step template for writing your blog posts. Here’s what works for me:

1. Find an image that fits your post. Many bloggers don’t use images, but I think images add so much. Most of my pictures come from stock.xchng and Flickr. For more information about using images including copyright issues, check out this post.

2. Write your title. If you don’t have any experience writing headlines, check out Copyblogger’s great series: How to Write Magnetic Headlines. Also, consider using one of these 22 headline templates.

The title, or headline, is by far the most important words in your post, so don’t rush this step.

3. Make a list of your points. I got this from Tim Ferriss. He writes:

Think in lists, even if the post isn’t a list. Separate brainstorming (idea generation) from synthesis (putting it all into a flowing post).

I find it hard to start writing sentences and paragraphs right away, but writing a simple list is easy. This list is rougher than the first draft so I don’t worry about grammar or even writing complete sentences.

4. Take your list and craft your first draft. Create sentences and paragraphs based on the points on your list. Once I’ve written on a point, I cross it out. This gives me a sense of progress as I “use up” each point on the list.

The key to this step is quantity not quality. You’re only writing the first draft so don’t edit while you write. This will slow you down. You can fix any mistakes in the next step. Your goal right now is to write as many words as you can.

5. Edit. Read your whole post once or twice. As you read, make necessary changes to polish up your post. This could mean adding subheadings for easier reading, rewriting clunky sentences, moving sentences and paragraphs around to make your post more organized, fixing grammar mistakes, and cutting out unnecessary words.

6. Click “publish”. Congrats, you’ve given birth to a new post!

If you’ve found this template helpful, feel free to bookmark this post or print it out for reference sake.

Over to You

What does your posting template look like?

Jeff Chandler writes about launching a new business blog:

As I get ready for the launch of my own project, I’ve discovered that there are many people who have been willing to lend me a hand. Many of these individuals operate websites within the same niche that I plan on launching my site in and it struck me as odd to see competitors offer their support. However, it would seem that after spending a year and a half within the community, I’ve developed relationships with key individuals.

Jeff’s experience shows us the effectiveness of turning your competing bloggers into partners and even friends.

What did Jeff do to develop relationships with his competitors? He wrote posts for them. He networked on Skype and Twitter. He emailed bloggers directly. He left many blog comments.

Because of these activities, he predicts that his launch will go well. He continues:

Thanks to these relationships, I’m able to plan out a successful launch of my blog through guest blog posts, articles on high trafficked blogs, and individuals offering to lend me a hand with anything I need help with. I’m in a pretty good position thanks to the year and a half I spent building relationships with notable figures.

Following Jeff’s Example

Even if you’ve already started blogging, you can still benefit from following Jeff’s example. The blogging community is usually open and helpful. As long as you’re willing to take the initiative on building the relationship and then follow through with something of value (like blog comments, guest posts, or links), most bloggers will help you even if you’re both targeting the same audience.

Therefore, don’t be afraid of competitors. Instead, reach out to them and see if they would be willing to partner up with you.

Related Posts:

• Blogging Allows You to Create Profitable Online Partnerships
• 5 Partnership Opportunities for Business Bloggers

Over to You

How do you see your competitors?

Have you ever partnered with another blogger in your industry?

Aaron Wall’s post about books reminded me that books are great sources for content on your blog.

Many blogging experts advise beginner bloggers to follow the popular blogs in their industry. Then, they say you should write about what the other bloggers are saying. The same principle goes for reading the popular books in your niche and writing commentary about them on your blog.

Why should you write about books?

Well, for one thing, it shows that you are well read and are keeping up with the trends and developments in your industry. Also, many people are reading the books. They are searching the web to see what other people think about the books.

What kind of blog posts can you write?

You can write short blog posts commenting on the concepts and ideas you found interesting in the books.

Book reviews can drive traffic to your site since people often search online for reviews before they buy a book. Check out The Simple Dollar’s book review section for great examples of in depth reviews. You don’t have to write super long reviews, but if you call a blog post a review, I think it should be at least 500 words. Most people seem to expect reviews to be longer and more in depth than the typical blog post.

Surprisingly, outlining a book is helpful for many people. If you’re looking for good examples of book outlines, visit this a neat site: bookoutlines.

One fear many business bloggers seem to have is running out of stuff to say. They know blogs are supposed to be updated on a regular basis, so their fear is definitely legitimate.

When blogging expert, Chris Garrett, tackled this issue on Blog Herald, I took notice. He’s a prolific blogger with over 500 blog posts this year so he knows what he’s talking about. He basically gives two principles.

1. Be truly interested in your topic.
2. Talk to other people about your topic.

I’ve found that most business bloggers are passionate about their topic so the number #1 principle doesn’t seem to be a problem. However, many bloggers don’t do the number #2 principle.

Interacting with other people is great idea if you get a bad case of writer’s block. Chris writes:

Most of my best ideas come from just talking to people. I am mainly in niches where I have a real fascination with the subject so I love to discuss them, and inevitably something inspires a post so I note down the ideas I have.

So, where can you interact with others? Chris gives five places:

1. Twitter
2. Forums
3. Chat
4. Real life
5. Skype

There’s another great benefit from talking with others. If you’re writing about something other people are willing to talk about, chances are your blog readers will also be interested in that topic.