While I am obviously partial to blogging, I am told by many “wannabe” bloggers how hard it is to get started. The reasons for not blogging are many and include a lack of big ideas to write about, too little time to write, and an extreme distaste for writing.
In my opinion, blogs may be best suited for little ideas rather than big ideas. Increasingly, popular blogs are shorter and typically devoted to one idea or topic. Save the big ideas for your first novel. Instead, write about things that will be interesting or useful to your reader. As for the availability of topics, I keep a file folder on my PC desktop with saved articles, phrases, websites, and photos that strike me as interesting. When I see something that is interesting, I simply save it for later. When it is time for me to blog, I go back to the file and search for something that strikes my fancy. My current file folder has hundreds of potential blog topics. None of them have an expiration date and nor will they save the world. Yet, one of these saved ideas will be fodder for my next blog.
Time is in short supply for most of us. My suggestion is simple: set a goal to blog and schedule it. There are many schools of thought about how many blogs should be written to create a following, but if you only write one blog a week you will end up with 52 blogs a year. This blog volume will make you a certified blogger by most standards. Now that you have a goal of one blog per week, schedule it at a time when you will do your best work. That might be early in the morning or late at night or on a weekend. Allow up to one hour to research, write, edit, and post the blog. This one hour time constraint will cap your blog’s word length and that will be appreciated by most of your readers.
Finally, it may be difficult for me to convince you that writing is actually fun, but it does not need to be a grind. Of all the mediums for a writer, blogging may be the most forgiving. Bloggers are “allowed” to write conversationally and are even expected to do so. If you like footnotes, go buy a textbook. To be a conversational writer means that you write with short sentences, create bullets or lists when possible, and avoid the lawyer words. Visualize someone having a cup of coffee at Starbucks rather than making an important speech before a big crowd.
Blogging: go get started.
John Bradley Jackson
Entrepreneur, Professor, Author
Deja New Marketing
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