The title of this blog post is both apt and ironic. Ironic because this is the first blog post I’ve published for a month after consistently publishing a new blog post every Thursday for over a year. Apt because it’s a great opportunity to let you know about my new blogging schedule. I believe that it is important to maintain consistency and reliability and these are the reasons I blog regularly.
My new blogging schedule
Every time I feel like I’m getting on top of things I seem to take on a new challenge. So I’ve recently started studying at University. With plenty of juggling balls already in the air I’ve decided to publish a fresh post here on the 17th of each month. You can also read my monthly guest post on SteamFeed on the 11th of each month.
The value of blogging regularly
In August last year I really started to notice the benefits of blogging regularly and I wrote ‘Just keep blogging‘ with my observations. Blogging regularly has advantages for both you and your readers. Whether you post once a day, once a week, or once a month I believe that the consistency and the quality is far more important than the frequency of your posts. A friend of mine from Twitter recently asked me: Why do I blog and how do I blog so consistently? I’ve paraphrased my answers below.
Why do I blog?
The purpose of my blog is to provide reliable, helpful information about social media marketing to support businesses new to the social media space. Blogging is also an important part of my content marketing strategy ~ to serve up reasons for people interested in social media marketing to visit my blog and to contribute to the SEO for my website.
How do I blog so consistently?
I mentioned earlier why I reckon it’s important to blog with consistency and reliability. So every day and every week I am collecting ideas, images and related blog posts for research with my up-coming posts in mind. I use Evernote on my iPhone and my Mac for the collection process and then it’s ready and tagged accordingly for when I’m writing and publishing.
I also write whenever I think of an idea while I’m on the go by dictating to my iPhone. For ideas about what to blog about, I usually write about things that (through my work and conversations) people seem to be wondering about or struggling with. Just like how the questions from my friend from Twitter inspired this post. Things that you do every day and even take for granted can make really helpful content for people who need to learn about that stuff.
The tools
Just like the rest of social media blogging should be fun. Here are few tools that I use for every blog post to make it easier to get to the fun stuff:
Use these blog tools, resources and links for blogging success
Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyser
Flickr Creative Commons image search
Add social sharing buttons to your website
Never stop learning
I’m attending the ProBlogger Training Event on the Gold Coast in August. The tickets have sold out, however I’m sure that closer to the event you will find people who can’t attend that will sell you their ticket (when you find someone just contact ProBlogger to do the transfer through them). Every blog post you write will improve your experience and skills. But just like Salvador Dali said: Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it. Just keep on blogging consistently.
Thanks for reading my blog
My friend Anna recently wrote an excellent post about how most people won’t even read the whole blog post, just the headline and the first little bit (then share it). So if you’re reading this I’d like to say thanks for reading it all. Anna’s post touches on short form communication which I will be experimenting with this year to make it even easier for my readers (or possibly listeners, or viewers) to digest the ever changing world of social media marketing. If you have enjoyed reading this post please consider sharing it to help bloggers achieve consistency and create content that is helpful, interesting, entertaining and shareable. If you would like any ideas about how to make the most of your business blog please CLICK HERE to contact me. I’m here to help. Thanks for reading and sharing. I’ll look forward to seeing you on social media and back here on the 17th each month.
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Image credits [rlopex, Andy Melton]
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