Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

How to Remove the Technical Obstacles of Business Blogging

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© taramara78 - Fotolia.com
© taramara78 – Fotolia.com

Even people who are accomplished writers and influential leaders in their fields sometimes feel intimidated by business blogging. There is a lot of confusion about the term, and the mechanics of posting and promoting can be another hurdle to jump.

If you know you have valuable ideas to share, but you’re getting stonewalled by technology, here are seven ways to step away from the computer and still post regularly to your business blog:

  1. Mental blogging – In a previous post, I described a process of mental writing you can do anywhere, anytime. The key is to have a plan in place, so you can let your thoughts drift naturally to your blogging topics even while you’re doing other things.
  1. Working with pen and paper – Whether you’re a graphic thinker who uses mind mapping, a list maker, a long-form journal writer, or some combination, take your blogging off-screen to unleash your creativity without any digital distractions.
  1. Catching ideas on the fly – Just because you’re away from your computer or other devices, doesn’t mean you can’t make progress on your business blogging. Use a notepad, journal, or a small slip of paper to record your thoughts; write on the back of a receipt or a napkin if you have no other options!
  1. Getting out into the world – In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron recommends taking your inner artist out for a date where you can fully immerse yourself in creative thinking. You can use the same premise to schedule blogging dates, visiting the people and surroundings that most inspire you and fuel your excitement for your business and the topics your ideal customers care about.
  1. Asking real people real questions – Since the best blog post ideas come from customer questions, that means that when you’re clocking face time at a networking event, client meeting, seminar, or even a personal outing, you can be working on future blog posts. Find out what matters to your customers and prospective customers, then address those issues on your blog.
  1. Reading – Books, magazines and blog posts all offer unique opportunities to learn, grow your awareness, expand your vocabulary, and make new connections – especially when you venture beyond your own industry. As a bonus, you can share some of this content with your audience as a way of being more visible on social media.
  1. Outsourcing – Is there a better way for you to be spending your time than fussing with the technical aspects of publishing and promoting blog posts? Is your time worth more than what you will pay someone else to do those things? Even for those of us who do enjoy technical challenges, it can sometimes turn into a sneaky form of procrastination.

Have you been letting the technical elements of blogging stall your progress? See what happens when you remove this barrier to your unique expertise, by trying a low-tech approach to business blogging.

How to Balance Blog Research and Writing Time

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© Monkey Business - Fotolia.com
© Monkey Business – Fotolia.com

In a recent SteamFeed interview, Darin L. Hammond wrote that research strengthens the quality of your blog posts because it “shows your readers that you have done your homework, you thoroughly understand the topic, and you are writing something new in the context of the information already written.”

Aside from the research tips he generously shared on SteamFeed, I wanted to know how Darin structures his research time to keep himself from falling down any rabbit holes or losing focus on his writing.

Here are his research productivity secrets:

“Given the reality of writing daily on a blog, it is unrealistic to require too much researching. Many times I fall in love with the ideas and over-research, which can be a form of procrastination. I put off writing, telling myself that I am working on it by doing further research.

The boundaries I try to stick to include:

  • Research until you become familiar with your topic, keeping track of the sites you visit in case you want to cite or link to them in your writing.
  • Research until you have enough outside research to help your reader dig deeper into the topic.
  • Research until you hit the limit you have set for yourself. I like to spend 30-60 minutes. Sometimes I have some extra time and use it for more research, but in general it’s good to set firm time boundaries.
  • Keep asking yourself the questions: Am I focused on the needs of my topic and readers, or am I indulging myself in extra reading? Do I need to tighten up my focus because I’m on a research tangent?
  • Review your thesis or focus statement and decide if you are on track. Having an outline can help you stay focused. Ask yourself where this research fits in your post outline, and if it doesn’t, then stop your research. If you research too much in areas that are not in your focus, it will actually hurt your writing – making you more vague and general.”

It sounds like self-honesty is just as important in research as it is in other part of the blogging process.

In my own blogging practice, I try to separate writing from research, ideally closing my web browser so I’m not distracted or tempted away from the task at hand.

When it comes time for research, though, there are times when I’m browsing content for a client project that might relate to one of my own posts, or vice versa. I asked Darin how he keeps track of research he may stumble upon while working on other things.

“Evernote is my go to resource for clipping and saving entire articles including the website address, and for organizing my research.

I also look to Chrome Google extensions for a variety of useful online research apps including Rizzoma, a research tool that keeps track of sites, clips, and relevant search results. It is very handy because it is a sidebar you can access anytime while you read.

Darin, thanks for these tips to help us stay focused, while still using research to enrich our blog posts with valuable supporting content.

Darin L. Hammond, Founder of ZipMinis

Darin L. Hammond, Content Strategist and Founder of ZipMinis

 

 

 

Read and Listen – Content Marketing Mistakes and Blogging Basics

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© momius - Fotolia.com
© momius – Fotolia.com

Business blogging is a marketing tool that relies on effective communication with your prospective customers and referral sources. Yet too many business owners forget about their audience the minute they put their fingers on the keyboard to write a blog post.

Of all the missteps I see from businesses who blog, there are two that stand out as the biggest offenders. Understanding and avoiding these will set you up with a foundation for success.

For more details, read my latest post on LinkedIn: Business Bloggers, That’s Enough About You

Of course blogging is only one element of the broader industry known as content marketing, which has many subtle and complex layers. That means the potential is huge, but so is the confusion.

A recent post for the ClockEdge website posed this question to 15 content marketing professionals: “What are the top 3 beginner content marketing mistakes?”

Read my answer, along with many excellent insights from 14 other content marketers: 15 Experts Share the Top 3 Beginner Content Marketing Mistakes

I had the pleasure of sitting down for two podcast interviews at the beginning of March – one with a long-time friend and one with a new friend.

I don’t remember exactly when I first met Jeff Korhan, but I do know we both had our sites set up in Typepad at the time because that was our initial point of connection. Jeff moved his site to WordPress in May 2011 and Content Mastery Guide moved in 2013, so it’s definitely been a few years!

Jeff is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business. His podcast, Old New Business, is about adapting traditional sales and marketing practices to a digital, social, and global world.

Jeff’s message to business owners is that whatever got you here will get you where you want to go, as long as you adapt your strengths to the digital marketing methods that work today.

Listen to my conversation with Jeff: Business Blogging: How to Build Trust and Gain Customers

Tropical Entrepreneur is a daily business podcast with the mission to help a million people escape the status quo, build a location independent business and live a creatively fulfilling lifestyle of service by their own design.

My first question for host Josh Denning when he invited me to be a guest was whether I qualified, with the frigid temperatures we were having in Barrie that week. He assured me that I did, and promised that the fun conversation would warm me up.

He was true to his word – we had a lot of fun talking about all things business blogging. So much so that we scheduled a second interview for his other podcast about how businesses can gain authority online.

Listen to my Tropical Entrepreneur interview: Making Business Blogging Easy

Curated Content Examples to Make Business Blogging Easier

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© bellemedia - Fotolia.com
© bellemedia – Fotolia.com

If you’re having trouble keeping up with your blogging schedule, a curated blog post may just be your new best friend.

A curated blog post is one that refers and links to a post on an external site. While it’s common (and recommended) to link to other blogs in your posts, a curated post is completely centered around the outside link.

As I explained in an earlier post, Creating Curated Content for Social Media, Email and Your Blog:

“In between your own original posts, you may want to offer your blog readers additional insights and perspectives from other experts in your field, or related fields. This is a great way to keep your content flowing consistently, build and deepen relationships with industry leaders, and learn new ideas.”

Here are two approaches to writing a curated blog post, with examples:

  1. Expand or comment on one source post

When something inspires you, fires you up, or enlightens you, introduce it to your readers by adding your own commentary and insights. While this type of post can be just as long and in-depth as any other original piece of content, it saves you from always needing to think of new topics.

Here are some questions to guide you in using another blog post as a starting point for your own:

  • Do you agree with the premise of the article? Why or why not?
  • How does the content relate to your specific audience?
  • What points do you think were missing from the article?
  • What is your unique way of presenting a similar message?
  • Are there examples from your life or business that illustrate points from the article?

As you write your post, be very clear about when you’re quoting or paraphrasing the original post, and keep quotes brief (one or two sentences) to adhere to fair use guidelines.

Example #1: Are You Afraid of Ghosts Haunting Your Lawn Care or Landscape Blog? (Landscape Writer) [Update Oct 7, 2016: This post is no longer available.]

Luckily I use online monitoring tools (talkwalker and mention), which alerted me when Wendy Komancheck published this post and included my name. Notice how she customized the title and her comments to be relevant for her audience.

Example #2: Free Your Trapped Content (Productive Flourishing)

What’s really fun about this example is that while Charlie Gilkey used my post as a springboard, it was his idea that I had expanded on in my article.

  1. Gather links from multiple sources, grouped around a common theme

Hopefully, you’re already filtering your content curation through a set of core content categories (topics you’ve identified as being helpful and relevant to your audience).

To find a theme for your curated post, you can browse your social media analytics (I use Buffer for this) for insights into how many people liked and clicked on the links you’ve been sharing on social media. Use the most popular links as a starting point for choosing your theme, then find other related links.

Or, choose a theme first and then look for posts related to that topic – perhaps something you haven’t written about for a while.

Write an introduction for your blog post that explains the theme and why you think it will be interesting for your readers.

For each link, pull out a key phrase to use as a sub-heading in your post. This breaks up the text for easier reading, and shows readers and search engines what topic you’re writing about.

Before you paste the link (remember to use permalinks here), share a bit about where you found the link and/or who wrote the content, and most importantly why you think it’s valuable and worth reading. You can include a brief quote (as I mentioned above, just a sentence or two), and summarize the content.

Wrap up your post with some concluding thoughts about the key message you were aiming to convey, and offer a related resource and/or product or service the reader could use to take further action.

Example: Improve Your Marketing With a Learner’s Mind (Content Mastery Guide)

Now that you have these guidelines and examples for writing a curated blog post, why not lighten your load by including these types of posts in your business blogging schedule?

Five Daily Business Blogging Habits to Improve Your Productivity

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© grounder - Fotolia.com
© grounder – Fotolia.com

“I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.” – William Faulkner

Four years ago I wrote about the power of a daily blogging habit, and how that doesn’t mean posting every day (which is neither appropriate nor realistic for most small business owners).

As I explained, “A daily blogging habit is a commitment to devote time to your blog. It means that no matter what day it is, you have at least one blog post that you’re working through the stages of the writing process.”

My own daily blogging habit has certainly fluctuated since then, but one thing is certain: finishing a blog post is much, much easier when I spread the task over several days.

On any given day, I may open my draft document and work on a post, write promotional messages for a post that’s finished, or complete other steps in my streamlined blogging process. Or I may simply let my mind wander towards my topics so I can do some mental blogging.

Here are the five habits I rely on to build and stick to a daily blogging routine:

  1. Schedule a blogging time

I have a recurring appointment set in my calendar. As it happens, right now it’s 9:00 a.m. every weekday, just like in Faulkner’s quote. This means I won’t schedule other work or appointments at that time, or if I do, I’ll see the conflict and reschedule my blogging time. I have a longer time block scheduled on Sunday mornings.

  1. Set up for success

I plan posts ahead of time and do the pre-work of outlining the basic ideas I want to cover (if I need to, I’ll use this time for outlining).

I eliminate distractions by closing unnecessary programs and browser windows, and turning off notifications.

I imagine my ideal readers and clients and how I want to help them. I also think about the people who graciously share my posts on Twitter (I call them my retweet heroes).

Throughout the week, I seek out and try new ideas to improve my writing and productivity.

  1. Sit with discomfort

I set my Pomodoro timer, though sometimes it’s not as much to ensure I stop and move on to my other tasks of the day, but to make sure I don’t stop writing and let myself off the hook, even if the words or ideas aren’t flowing.

  1. Go with the flow

With several posts on the go in various stages of completion, I can match my energy of the day with how I use my blogging time.

Instead of fighting with a post that’s not working, and before I decide whether to scrap it, I can work on another post or switch to a non-writing task like finding links or images.

Of course, this requires the self-honesty to acknowledge when I’m really just letting myself off the hook from writing.

  1. Allow time for all stages of the blogging process

Trying to start, finish and publish a blog post in one sitting creates way too much pressure, and is a recipe for typos, readability issues, and unfocused writing. When I sit down to finish a blog post (usually on Sunday mornings), I’m reviewing and polishing what I’ve already been drafting for several days.

(You can even give yourself permission to write a “shitty first draft,” which is writer Anne Lamott’s advice for banishing perfectionism.)

Can you spare 10, 15 or 30 minutes each day to make some progress on your next blog post? I guarantee it will be easier to finish if you’ve already started!