Happy new year everyone.
I have one goal for SmyWord this year: to blog more consistently.
Last year was great – launching SmyWord, having a couple of big content cheeses drop by in the comments, receiving positive feedback from customers. But if I could change one thing, I wish that I had upheld my promise to post a new article once a week.
Increasingly businesses I do content work for want blogs on their web sites. A real, honest blog by someone who loves their work is a wondrous thing (especially if they’re not meta-careerists). And one of the fundamental pieces of advice I give them – one of the make-or-break keys to successful blogging – is to blog consistently.
Why? Because people are more likely to subscribe to, stick with, and read blogs that have a predictable delivery of content. Whether it’s an inspirational thought once a day (like Seth Godin), or a double in-depth post by different authors twice a month ( as on A List Apart), consistency shows reliability to potential followers and convinces them that you are worth following. People want to know what they will be getting.
So 2010 has me looking in the mirror and quoting ‘physician, heal thyself’.
Tips for consistent blogging
There is lots of good advice about for how to post consistently, including:
- Learn where your inspiration comes from and go there
- Read other consistent blogs to learn how they do it
- Make a regular plan and stick to it
- Split your ideas up into several posts – don’t give away too much at once
- Save good ideas for later (build up a buffer)
- Write useful material for you audience – not what floats your boat personally
- Reinterpret older material for new contexts
- Throw in a few lighter posts for variety and ease
But I know that my biggest obstacle is not creating ideas, because I’ve got loads of them. I shouldn’t admit this but right now I’ve got 41 articles for SmyWord on my laptop which are at least half-written. If I just finished those off I’d have nearly a year’s supply of posts.
But it’s not the ideas that are the problem – it’s perfectionism. I want my posts to reflect my education at Trinity College, Cambridge. I want my boss to think they’re great. I want to imbue them with the finest literary qualities of which I am capable. I want them to be above the criticism of other bloggers. I want my Mum to like them (fat chance).
Perfectionism is the biggest enemy to my goal
So here’s how I’m going to write in 2010: imperfectly. I’m going to value reasonable writing that gets published over theoretically astounding writing that does not. I’m going to be Enid Blyton not Gustave Flaubert. I will develop a thicker skin if criticised and acknowledge my mistakes. And I’m not going to show any of it to my mother.
Let’s tackle what stops us blogging consistently head on.
*Clicks publish*
A reasonable aim. I certainly believe you should not be your own worst critic, if that’s what’s keeping you from finishing those 41 drafts. There’s plenty of critics out there already.
However, be careful about publishing for the sake of regularity. I’ve seen a lot of blogs trod that path because so-called blogging experts say they should, and what happens is indeed a few too many lazy posts that do more harm for readership than good.
I’m not saying to follow my lead of one article per year
, but if you have to go a month, even two, before publishing something good, there’s nothing wrong with that. Good articles have long indexing life.
Personally, I appreciate a lot more a writer who consistently produces good work, over one who consistently produces by 5:00p.m. every Friday night regardless of quality. Trying to do both is unnecessary pressure, in my book.
Be careful with those “lighter posts”. They could be those “lazy” posts I mentioned. Again, as a (busy) reader, I’d rather you finished one of the quality drafts a month down the road that just put something up that’s of questionable interest to me (rhetorically speaking).
Up to this point, it’s just words of caution. But now I have a point of contention, with regard to your point about not writing what floats your boat. I understand what you mean, I think; you’re catering to the needs of your readership, and that’s good.
However, writing about anything that doesn’t interest you is draining and droll. I’m not saying you should write about your “Mum” all the time, but if you find passion in model airplanes, hell, write about that and make some parallels between that and the professional work you do. I think you see what I mean. That’s where articles come from–the heart–and those are the ones people will remember most.