Having consistent, quality content is one of the most
important steps in marketing your business. It’s what keeps your audience—as
well as the search engines—coming back to see what you have to say.
How are you supposed to keep up with your blog when you have
so much else going on with your business? Well, you don’t have to write a
1,500-word opus, at least not every time. I’m talking about a 300 to 500-word
blog that conveys an idea your readers will find useful.
Keep An Idea List
As a blogging business person, ideas are all around you.
Think about the conversations you’ve had through the course of the week. Think
about the trade articles you’ve read, and the ever-changing developments within
your industry. Now write them down. As you come up with these ideas, go ahead
and jot a few sentences down, either starting the post, or describing the type
of post you want to write. You can always go back and develop these later.
Think About Your List
When You’re Not Writing
So you know you want to write your next blog tomorrow. While
your schedule is packed today, it’s ok to be thinking about what you want to
commit to paper. This will make the process for tomorrow a bit easier. Writing
is not a 9 to 5. Sometimes the best ideas come while we’re doing something
else.
Express Your Idea
As you stare at a blank screen, keep a couple thoughts in
mind as you struggle to get started. What’s your own internal deadline? When do
you absolutely want this post published? Sometimes just knowing this will start
the information flowing.
As you write, you are simply laying out your argument. You
can tell the reader what you hope to accomplish in the headline, or first few
paragraphs, and then lay it out in the paragraphs that follow.
Write Short
A blog is not the place for over the top, flowery language.
It’s not the place to show off your stellar vocabulary. Remember, if you send
your readers to the dictionary, there’s a decent chance they may not come back.
Keep it straight and to the point. Don’t use 10 words to complete a thought if
five will do. A blog only needs to be as long as it takes to convey the idea.
Seth Godin often conveys his ideas in 100-200 words. They’re always thoughtful
and well written.
Think Methodically
There’s no need to put yourself under a lot of pressure to
meet this time constraint. As long as you can think methodically and understand
what you want to say in your blog, you should be able to work through it in
less than a half hour. You don’t need to do a full blown outline, but you can
always write down the main points you want to hit before you forget them. This
can help keep you on track.
Don’t Over Do It
Remember not to let the quantity suffer for quality. If 3-5
posts in a week is just too much writing, maybe concentrate on publishing one
really good post. A blog can often be a reader’s first exposure to your
business. You’re not going to hit a home run with every post (Just being
honest.), but every post can still live up to the professional standards that
you’ve set for your business.
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