10 Ideas for Blogging When You Don’t Have Time

Posted by Bonnie Landau on 25 Jun 2010 under Blogging, Featured | 2 Comments

One of the myths about being a blogger is that you have to write long posts to capture the attention of your audience. Research has shown that Internet users skim content rather than read it, and they really read only 20% of the content on a page (www.useit.com). Long blog posts are not necessarily better.

On the flip side, life has gotten busier for most, and less time is available for writing a blog, which makes the whole effort seem much more overwhelming. Taking the pressure off of length means procrastination is less likely to happen.

Blogs don’t have to be long to be useful

You can actually design the content on your blog so it suits short posts, which means that you don’t have to spend as much time writing, but your readers will still get exactly what they want. Consider the needs of your readers, and use that as a way to come up with a blog that fulfills a need for them which saves them time, and generates an easy-to-maintain blog for you. The following 10 ideas are great ways to have a short-post blog, but still give some great content to your readers.

1) Spread it Out

Have a great idea for a top-10 list? Or perhaps you have step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish something? Spread the list or the steps over a series of days. There is no rule that says everything has to be in one post, and spreading it over a few days allows you to write a little bit each day. Perhaps each week you have a top 5 list that you share Monday through Friday, then the next week it’s a different subject.

2) Article Review

If you are traveling the web reading articles, let your readers know about the ones that you like best. An article review could be a quick paragraph with your likes and dislikes, with a link to the full article. It doesn’t have to take more than 10 minutes to write, and now you’ve saved your readers time by finding some useful industry information.

3) Industry Trends

Are you reading online trade publications or industry blogs? Do you spot industry trends? Similar to article reviews, capturing links to the information you think your readers will find useful is a great way to save your readers time. And all you have to do is write one short paragraph and insert the link. Do this enough, and your blog will be the first place they stop when looking for what is going on in your industry.

4) Guest Blogging

This doesn’t have to be a short-post blog, but it surely saves you time! You can ask a colleague to guest post on your blog. This means you don’t have to write, they get more exposure, and your readers get some great new ideas. You could actually create an entire blog that is all guest posts in a specific industry. That way you only have to coordinate the blog, never have to write it.

5) Ask a Question

Blogs are about starting a conversation with your customers. So use your blog as a place to get their input. Write a simple, quick question that you would like them to give input on. It could be a question about your company, your customer service, the industry, a new product… whatever you think they would respond to.

6) Link Lists

If you are an avid blog reader, you probably have a lot of great links you can gather together. Pick a topic that you love, and as you do your regular reading, gather links that are pertinent. That’s what we did in our Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile blog. These kinds of blogs are easy to compile, and save so much research time for your readers.

7) Personal Stories

It is always quicker to write a personal story than to write a factual blog that you have to back up with some research. A personal story could share information that is useful to the reader, and it can be short and to-the-point.

8) Answer a Customer’s Question

There are times when you find yourself writing an email explaining things to a customer. Capture these emails as they make excellent blog posts. This is actually how Simple Web Toolbox got started. We found ourselves answering the same questions over and over, so we decided to put the information in one place so we could point the customers here rather than re-writing the answer again. When you find yourself writing that email explanation, copy, paste and edit it so it’s suitable for a blog post.

9) Update an Old Post

Often a year will have gone by and your industry information has changed, and now some of your old blog posts are outdated. This is an excellent opportunity to repurpose old content. Pull out those old posts and write an update to the information, and link back to the old post. Remember to also edit the old post and link to the new update.

10) Best Of Posts

If you have extensive archives, use a blog post as an opportunity to highlight some of your most popular blogs. Use your comment numbers as a way to judge the most popular, and simply pull the most commented 7-10 posts and put them in a list. This is also an excellent type of post to feature on your home page for the blog, since it represents the most read content, and probably the most interesting content to a new reader.

What are your best ideas for writing a quick blog?

Collaborative Blogging For Those Short on Time

Posted by Bonnie Landau on 24 Feb 2010 under Blogging, Online Marketing | 5 Comments

Blogging has become a mainstream method for reaching out to potential customers. But many small businesses do not have the time to invest in a regular blogging routine. So how do you capture the opportunities it has to offer if you don’t have the time to participate?

Find complimentary colleagues

Look within your industry and put together a group of 3-5 complimentary colleagues. They should offer services that compliment your own but do not compete. As a group you should be able to offer a complete package to your potential customers.

For example, I participate in the Possibilities Unlimited blog, which is comprised of a consortium of businesses coaches. Their blog pulls together knowledge from:

All four of us are entrepreneurs, and we have extensive experience with sales growth and business management. Together we have created a blog that allows us to share our expertise without having to write articles every day.

Who should manage the blog?

As the creator, you should be in charge of the blog. You should be responsible for inviting writers, which also means you have the right to let a writer know when it’s not working out. Style and publishing calendar would be under your control, so you will be able to optimize it for your business message.

At the same time, you would be responsible for technical upkeep. If you pay a developer to assist with this, it is fair to ask the contributing bloggers to pay a portion of the upkeep.

How should I brand the blog?

It’s not a bad thing to brand the blog separate from yourself. Simple Web Toolbox was created by Landau Design, but we have branded it as its own entity so that people who do not work for us can also write for us.

Choose a name for your blog that fits the umbrella theme. For example, the Possibilities Unlimited team has a marketing message about “winning in the game of business“. Their blog is called “Consulting2Win“.

How do I invite writers?

Before you begin to invite writers, it’s a good idea to put together some guidelines for participation. These guidelines should include:

  • Description of the blog theme and the topics it will include.
  • How often they are expected to write.
  • Meetings or conference calls they will be expected to participate in.
  • The topics you want them to cover.
  • The length of articles you expect.
  • Any formatting or graphics you will require.
  • The submission process (do they input it themselves or send it to you and you will input it).
  • The promotional activities they are expected to provide (i.e. Twitter, facebook, email newsletter promotion, etc.).
  • Links expected from their website.
  • Explanation of what the distribution would be if money is made.

What if it doesn’t work out?

Just like any business, you will have to manage this group like employees. Having guidelines gives them an understanding of expectations. If they do not fulfill the requirements for participation, you need guidelines for what should happen next.

For example, if somebody misses their copy deadline more than 2 times, will they be asked to leave? Or would that be an indication they cannot write so frequently so you would reduce their articles per month and bring in a new writer? It’s up to you to determine the guidelines that will keep everything running smoothly.

Do you already have a collaborative blog?

We’d love to hear your ideas on what works in a group blogging situation and what you have done to make it a success. Please share your ideas in the comments.

Book Review: Patience + Time = Successful Blog

Posted by Bonnie Landau on 02 Feb 2010 under Blogging | 5 Comments

I first came across the work of Mike CJ (@mikecj) while perusing Twitter for blogging information. He and Nathan Hangen (@nhangen) collaborated on a brilliant idea – Beyond Blogging. In this book they interview 15 six-figure bloggers who share their detailed secrets of blogging success.

So it was no surprise to me when I heard that in one year Mike had helped his wife Julie create Lanzarote Information, a successful blog about the island they live it. It also didn’t surprise me when I heard he’d written a case study about their success, because he’s clearly a successful writer. What truly did surprise me, and pleased me, is that he shared all this great information for FREE in his case study: The blog that went from zero to full time income in one year.

Many of our clients ask us questions about blogging:

  • How much time does it take?
  • How much effort do I have to put in?
  • What should I write about?
  • Can I make money off my blog?
  • How can I make money?
  • How do I get people to read my blog?

Reading Mike’s case study is a real-life example that answers all these questions. I was amazed at the level of detail he shared, including the specific amount of monthly income they achieved. One of the most interesting parts of the case study is when he shares the creative advertising program they developed, and how they were approached by multi-national corporations for advertising space on the blog.

But I think the best thing about Mike’s case study is the example it provides for the patience and perseverance that are required to have a successful blog. He talks about the specific steps they took each month, and the quantity of content generated from Julie’s dedicated efforts. People want their new blog to be successful in a heartbeat, but that is not the reality in the blogosphere. Mike has shown that anybody can do it, if you are willing to work through the challenging days and wait it out until success flows in.

In writing a review I often believe I should look at both the good and not-so-good. But I really couldn’t find anything to be critical about. If you are serious about blogging, I strongly suggest you read Mike’s e-book, The blog that went from zero to full time income in one year. It will give you a very realistic picture of what you will need to do in order to succeed. He’s giving it away for free, so what have you got to lose?

Fun Way to Increase Blog Traffic: Have a Contest!

Posted by Erin Inatsugu on 29 Jan 2010 under Blogging, Social Media | 1 Comment

Blog contests are gaining more popularity as bloggers begin to see the benefits that a simple contest or giveaway can bring.

Why Run a Contest?

Traffic
Running a contest can double the amount of traffic coming through your site. Making sure you advertise your contest will drive more people to your blog to see and enter. Use your Twitter and Facebook accounts, and ask your followers on Twitter to retweet your contest information and they’ll gain an entry to the contest. Word of mouth is key, and who doesn’t like free stuff?
You can also list your contest at sites like these:
tipjunkie.net
online-sweepstakes.com
contestblogger.com
myblogcontest.com
contestbeat.com

New Readers
New Traffic means new readers as well. People who stop by to enter themselves in your contest might also find themselves enjoying the content of the rest of your blog, and come back for more.

Loyalty
Giving away the right prize for your readers can produce a sense of loyalty and an eagerness to come back. Make sure you’re giving away things that are of interest to your particular group of followers, and things that somehow pertain to your particular expertise. Books, CD’s and gift certificates are popular giveaways.

Relationships with Marketers
When your blog generates enough comments and traffic, marketers will be interested in teaming up with you to promote their products, and often this means they will provide you with free products to use as prizes in your contests. This means free advertising for them, and no out of pocket expense for you to run your contest.

Running a successful contest can take time and practice, but judging from the success of other bloggers, blog contests can be a real way to help your blog become successful and popular.

We found some blogs that are currently having their own contests, check them out!

We want to hear from you! Have you run a contest on your blog? What were the results, and what did you learn for next time?

How to Add Share Icons to Your Blog or Website

Posted by Bonnie Landau on 28 Jan 2010 under Blogging, Social Media | 4 Comments

Many clients have asked this question: How do I get those cute share icons onto my blog or web page? It’s quite simple if you’re willing to do a little diving into the code. The two most popular share links are:

You’ll notice at the top of this code we have the Tweetmeme and AddThis links (and if at this point you’d like to click them and share this post, we’d love you for it!)

If you’re blogging in Blogger
You need to add the code for these icons into your Blogger template. If you add it as a widget in the sidebar, then the share link will go to your blog home page, and not to a specific blog post. It’s better to have it go to a specific blog post so then you can reference what the blog is about when you share the link. Here are tutorials for adding these icons

If you’re blogging at Wordpress.com
Wordpress makes your life easier with simple widgets you can add to your blog template. There are several different kinds you can add, each with its own design. Tweetmeme And AddThis use Javascript, which is not allowed in blogs hosted at Wordpress.com, so you cannot use these share icons here. The following links show you how to add the other share buttons if you are using Wordpress.com to host your blog:

If you’re blogging on a personally hosted Wordpress.org blog
The personally hosted version of Wordpress has a lot more flexibility, and there are many social link plugins that are easy to add. Here are some links that will help you decide what to choose and how to install these plugins:

If your website is built in Joomla
Joomla offers several options for social media icons. There are ones that reside right on the page, and then there are global plugins that you can put into the header bar. We have used the following two extensions with great success:

For the traditional Tweetmeme and AddThis, you would need to add HTML code to your articles using a custom code plugin (Sorcerer is a great one). You would then follow the HTML directions in combination with the plugin syntax to put the share links onto your page.

If you have a regular HTML website
Adding the share icons is going to have to be done one page at a time. You will have to get the HTML code, and paste it into your page using an HTML editor, or by viewing the source code in your WYSIWYG (i.e. Dreamweaver) editor. Here are tutorials that show how to add Tweetmeme and AddThis icons to your pages.

« Older Entries