A good blog can help grow your business and bring new visitors to your website. However, juggling blogging duties with the demands of your daily schedule can often feel overwhelming. Here are 8 useful tips for keeping your priorities in order without sacrificing your goals as a blogger.
1. Find Inspiration
No matter what your niche, you’ll need inspiration. You can draw inspiration from the little every day things in life, like a fascinating story told by a friend, an intricate art piece in a museum, or a commonly unaddressed problem you hope to resolve. Purchase a journal or sketchbook and jot down all ideas as soon as they come to you. You can later develop your thoughts into a publishable subject for your blog.
2. Get Organized
It’s easy to say that you’ll post to your blog five times a week and hope you get around to doing it. Instead, start by constructing a plan of action for the entire month. Designate specific dates and times throughout the week to write on your blog and hold yourself accountable. When planning, make sure you assign times when you’ll be most productive. For instance, Monday evening after a long work day may not be the best time if you know you’ll be exhausted and uninspired.
3. Remember Quality over Quantity
It’s important to post regularly. You should aim for at least two to three posts a week to maintain relevance and keep your readers interested. However, throwing together poorly developed posts all week just for the sake of publishing may put off your subscribers and deter new readers. If you can only post to your site just once a week, make sure your content is strong. Make it the most intriguing and memorable thing your readers will view all week.
4. Take a Little "Me" Time
By overworking yourself, your passion for blogging will dwindle and soon posting will become a joyless chore. You’re not a machine. You’re a human who needs to enjoy the essentials of life. Be sure you’re setting aside a little time each day to do something special just for yourself. If you’re neglecting yourself, your blog will suffer. Staying up late night to compete with the big blogs which have teams of editors and contributors will leave you depleted and frustrated.
5. Network and build relationships
Networking can be very helpful, especially for new blogs. It’s important to get your name out there and work with others to achieve your goals. Actively comment on other blogs and reach out to other bloggers for advice and support. However, make sure you’re not overly eager and you’re respecting their time and experience by keeping emails and phone calls short and sweet. You want to build relationships by being genuine and courteous.
6. Seek Constructive Criticism
Share your blog with the people who care about you the most—your spouse, your family and your friends. Ask them for honest and objective criticism. Even if they know very little about blogging or the topic of your blog, they can still provide intuitive feedback that will allow you to understand an average reader’s response to your work. Also, be sure to pay attention to the comments on your post. Though not all advice is good advice, you can sort through any criticism to find practical tidbits for improvement.
7. Continue to Grow
Pushing yourself to constantly improve your blog can only lead to success. Check out the work of the top bloggers in your niche and ask yourself what they’re doing that you’re not. Are their topics more informative? Do they use higher quality images? Is there less clutter in their site design? Once you’ve figured out how to improve, make strides to transform your weaknesses into strengths. And don’t be discouraged if this process isn’t quick and easy. Practice makes perfect and no one becomes the best overnight.
8. Remain True to Your Voice
It’s easy to get distracted and begin conforming your content based on what’s trending in the blogosphere. But people don’t want to see the same thing over and over again. They rely on you to remain ahead of the trends and write about something fresh that piques their interest. Just think about what you’d want to read and write for yourself. People are interested in your unique voice and they’re more likely to return to your blog if they feel connected to the genuine you.
No matter what your niche, you’ll need inspiration. You can draw inspiration from the little every day things in life, like a fascinating story told by a friend, an intricate art piece in a museum, or a commonly unaddressed problem you hope to resolve. Purchase a journal or sketchbook and jot down all ideas as soon as they come to you. You can later develop your thoughts into a publishable subject for your blog.
2. Get Organized
It’s easy to say that you’ll post to your blog five times a week and hope you get around to doing it. Instead, start by constructing a plan of action for the entire month. Designate specific dates and times throughout the week to write on your blog and hold yourself accountable. When planning, make sure you assign times when you’ll be most productive. For instance, Monday evening after a long work day may not be the best time if you know you’ll be exhausted and uninspired.
3. Remember Quality over Quantity
It’s important to post regularly. You should aim for at least two to three posts a week to maintain relevance and keep your readers interested. However, throwing together poorly developed posts all week just for the sake of publishing may put off your subscribers and deter new readers. If you can only post to your site just once a week, make sure your content is strong. Make it the most intriguing and memorable thing your readers will view all week.
4. Take a Little "Me" Time
By overworking yourself, your passion for blogging will dwindle and soon posting will become a joyless chore. You’re not a machine. You’re a human who needs to enjoy the essentials of life. Be sure you’re setting aside a little time each day to do something special just for yourself. If you’re neglecting yourself, your blog will suffer. Staying up late night to compete with the big blogs which have teams of editors and contributors will leave you depleted and frustrated.
5. Network and build relationships
Networking can be very helpful, especially for new blogs. It’s important to get your name out there and work with others to achieve your goals. Actively comment on other blogs and reach out to other bloggers for advice and support. However, make sure you’re not overly eager and you’re respecting their time and experience by keeping emails and phone calls short and sweet. You want to build relationships by being genuine and courteous.
6. Seek Constructive Criticism
Share your blog with the people who care about you the most—your spouse, your family and your friends. Ask them for honest and objective criticism. Even if they know very little about blogging or the topic of your blog, they can still provide intuitive feedback that will allow you to understand an average reader’s response to your work. Also, be sure to pay attention to the comments on your post. Though not all advice is good advice, you can sort through any criticism to find practical tidbits for improvement.
7. Continue to Grow
Pushing yourself to constantly improve your blog can only lead to success. Check out the work of the top bloggers in your niche and ask yourself what they’re doing that you’re not. Are their topics more informative? Do they use higher quality images? Is there less clutter in their site design? Once you’ve figured out how to improve, make strides to transform your weaknesses into strengths. And don’t be discouraged if this process isn’t quick and easy. Practice makes perfect and no one becomes the best overnight.
8. Remain True to Your Voice
It’s easy to get distracted and begin conforming your content based on what’s trending in the blogosphere. But people don’t want to see the same thing over and over again. They rely on you to remain ahead of the trends and write about something fresh that piques their interest. Just think about what you’d want to read and write for yourself. People are interested in your unique voice and they’re more likely to return to your blog if they feel connected to the genuine you.
Alicia & Geneane Alicia Powell & Geneane Johnson are two sisters combining their creative talents for the ultimate DIY lifestyle. They started SparkandChemistry.com with Weebly.
