Remember Mary Wollard? Mary is an attorney/mediator who specializes in co-parenting issues following divorce. Her Colorado Family Solutions Center blog is an excellent example of how writing can boost your credibility, highlight your expertise and help people find you on the Internet.
Since I featured her story in May 2008 we've continued to work together on her blog posts. Some posts she'll do on her own, but the longer ones she will send to me for editing.
Recently Mary decided to apply some content strategy in her blog; a structure that will make it easier for her to come up with content and organize her content in a valuable way for her readers.
She's decided to use monthly themes, and will write a new blog each week exploring a different aspect of the theme.
In January she blogged about communication (here is a post I edited for her) and this month she's writing about the harmful consequences of dragging other people into the conflict of divorce.
When I asked Mary how it felt to have her monthly themes all laid out for the rest of the year, she said:
"It is such a relief to have my blog post themes laid out for the entire year. I already have some ideas for specific posts, and even for the ones that are blank I’m confident that having a theme will spark lots of ideas when the time comes."
Quick Writing Prompt: Can you think of 11 themes you can focus on in your blog and/or newsletter between now and the end of the year? Would it make your writing easier if you could start with a theme?