Experts tell us that “content is king” on social media, but it can be a challenge to stay on track with blog posts, Facebook posts or new Tweets. Use the following tips to stay consistent in your blogging efforts:
1. Join a group that holds you accountable
I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge this month. The challenge provides a great reason to add content to your blog and just as importantly, establish a consistent pattern for creating content.
A tip for the Blog Challenge and your blog in general is to write a series of posts – i.e. part one, part two and so on. These types of posts give your readers a reason to come back and a definite plan for your writing schedule.
Join me on the Ultimate Blog Challenge this month! It’s free, your blog gets exposure to a large group (over 500 participants this month) and you are motivated by your peers. [Update: you can join the Ultimate Blog Challenge each January, April, July and October. Just visit their website for details!]
Even if your “accountability” group is offline, just sharing your goals with someone else who will support and encourage you is a tremendous help.
2. Create an editorial calendar
If you use WordPress there are some plug-ins that help with scheduling your blogs; some people prefer a Google doc, Excel spreadsheet or even a dry-erase board.
Decide what categories you will be blogging about (start with 3-4). For each category choose topics (or keywords) for your posts, and fill in the days you will be blogging.
If you start out posting to your blog twice a week, that’s 8 posts (2 each week, 4 weeks in a month) for the next month. It probably won’t take much time to come up with 8 blog ideas – think of 8 questions or problems your target audience needs help with.
Having a plan and specific schedule for your posts makes it so much easier to stay on track.
3. Make a theme for your posts
Create “theme” days on your blog or social media sites and give your readers several weeks to get accustomed to the schedule. For example, since we started our “Weekly Social Media Wrap Up” posts on Friday, it gives our audience a reason to check back with us, plus it makes it easier to know what we’ll be posting to the blog each Friday.
Once you’ve come up with a theme for different days of the week, it doesn’t take long to fill out your editorial calendar. Just make sure you choose themes that fit your industry or niche.
You’ll find it much easier to stay consistent in your blogging because you know what you need to do every Friday (or whatever days you make a theme for).
Try any (or all) of these tips this month and let us know which works best for you!
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitialPhotos.net
About Terry League