If you run a small or micro business blogging is a good thing.
It can establish your authority, attract more traffic, boost your search engine rankings, find more customers and lots of other good stuff.
However these benefits only appear if you invest in your blog.
And your number 1 priority must be your content.
So what do you do if your limited time is holding back your blogging plans?
Try these five ideas:
1. Stick to a realistic posting schedule
If you have limited time, it’s far too ambitious to post every day.
Instead stick to just once a week. That way you’ll still create fresh content, but you won’t over stretch yourself with a totally unachievable target – and then get down on yourself when you can’t deliver.
Pick a day that you’ll post. Schedule it in your diary and then make sure you deliver by making blog time part of your routine.
2. Develop discipline
Let’s say you’re going to publish every Thursday.
Schedule a time slot to write that week’s post and make it unmoveable milestone.
If you don’t, you’ll be tempted to skip on your blog when something else crops up (which lets face it is very likely).
A blog with no discipline will quickly appear dormant and your readers will look elsewhere to get their questions answered.
So when those procrastination pixies start tapping on your shoulder, remind yourself that your blog will attract customers, generate leads and make more sales. And do what;s necessary to spur yourself on and get to the point when you’re happy hit the publish button.
3. Keep it simple
You don’t have to write epic posts each time you publish.
Short and simple posts work well so long as they are relevant, useful and interesting to your target audience.
- Post a thought provoking question or image to initiate a discussion
- Use list posts – they allow you to write a collection of short paragraphs
- Write about just one thing in each post and stick to the point
Find your own way.
4. Create a schedule one month in advance
You can waste a lot of time blogging if you don’t know what you are going to write about.
Instead find an hour a month and brainstorm posts four weeks in advance.
To do this well you need to consider:
- The key objective for your blog – how will you measure its performance
- The journey you want to take readers on
- The themes and topics you need to cover to deliver on your blogging goals
Next plan working titles for that month’s posts. If you’re planning to write one a week that’s only 4 titles to think about.
Finally plan those titles into your diary. Then the night before you write them, create a rough outline. You’ll find it stops you faffing, boosts your efficiency and will help you write a great post in less time.
5. Become an idea magpie
One of the most time hungry aspects of blogging is the idea generation.
And again this is where your advanced scheduling really helps.
If you look ahead, your subconscious will stay alert for blogging ideas. Which means all you need to do is have a process in place for capturing those ideas and storing them up. Then when it comes to planning your monthly schedule, you’re not starting from scratch.
To help here are five idea sparkers which you can use in your business blog:
- Write a post that answers a question you were asked at a networking event
- Trawl your comments (or LinkedIn groups, Facebook pages other niche blogs etc) for ideas
- Visit Quora.com to see what questions your target customers are asking
- Unravel a complex issue your customers struggle with
- Use anecdotes from your work to illustrate how you can help other customers
And avoid the tendency to think everything has been written before. If you haven’t written about it before, it’s new (because it’s from your perspective)
This all sounds good, but SERIOUSLY I don’t have the time…
What’s more I hate writing 🙂
Sounds like you? No worries.
Here’s another solution.
If you know blogging would benefit your business but you’re really not keen on writing, consider hiring a ghost blogger (like me).
A ghost blogger will write content as if it were coming from you. It means you get to have a great blog without the effort. What’s more it frees up the time you need to focus on those aspects of your business that only you can do.
And with a ghost blogger you don’t suddenly lose control. You choose how much involvement you want. For example you may want a say in the editorial schedule. You may want to make the final tweaks and changes, or you may prefer a totally hands off approach and just publish and promote.
I’d really like to share some ideas with you about how you can get blogging through a ghost, so please contact me and let’s set up a time to chat.
Or if you’d rather ask a question, pop it in the comments below.
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