This article was originally written by Andrea Weckerle in 2018, and was updated with personalization by Traci Shannon.
Blogging is not dead
Writing has always had its highs and lows, and blogging like Mark Twain himself, has been declared dead before its time.
“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
-Mark Twain
When the age of content creation and influencers took hold, old school blogs lost some of their sparkle. I would know. After blogging almost daily for years, I abandoned my blog for all intents and purposes to spend all my time on Instagram for the lure of “microblogging”. The instant gratification of likes and comments I was no longer receiving on my blog made the switch easy. However, I was not thinking about what I was losing in that change.
Blogs offer a unique benefit. All that work, all that value I created, wasn’t owned by me. When you create a product for your own blog, you own your content. Remember the TikTok angst? We all have heard a story of someone losing a Facebook page that they built faithfully for ten years or so. It’s all lost. Why have you core content at the whims of algorithms or political footballing?
All that said, however, it is not the golden age of blogging so finding success comes by creating content that serves a need. It needs to help people when they're searching for information, or answer a specific question to help your website to jump up to the top of the search engine results.
Getting Started
Before you start creating content for your blog, determine your audience.
- Who are you trying to attract with your website?
- What are the biggest pain points, questions or interests of these people?
Once you have a clear concept of WHO you are trying to reach and what questions they are asking, you can create content that is directly targeted to them. You can't be everything to everyone, so focus on who you're trying to reach and attract them with the right kind of content.
Speak from a passion point
My years of blogging began from a deep need and I have always been most successful when I have spoken from that passion. Readers look to authenticity. They also are looking for authority. Staying up to date on the subject, producing, and sharing your content takes a lot of work, so why not do that work in the effort of something for which you have passion. The same goes for brands. Audiences will also relate better with brands that are authentic and speak with clarity.
How to Create Content Effortlessly
On Kami’s show, Smart Social Secrets, she talks a lot about creating an effective brand and how to share it without excessive work. First of all, as mentioned above, is knowing your audience. From there, you can come up with a number of categories that would appeal to them. In other words, these are your different buckets of content, usually three – five.
How to Distribute Your Blog Content
There's a lot of different ways that you can distribute this content. Create it once and use it over and over again. Take a blog post, and use Kami’s plan.
Take the title of the blog post and consider how it fit into different categories? If you're thinking about topics, get very specific with searchable topics. You will want to be able to repurpose across the other platforms, even if your blog is home base. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even think of putting them up as videos on youtube. Because that's a search engine, right? So that's a great place to repurpose your content.
What are the Biggest Mistakes People Make When Blogging?
The hardest thing is not having a plan. and probably, also the biggest mistake. You may find yourself sitting there and wondering what to write about today. I know I have felt that way more than once. It is no fun to feel lost in the wind.
The second mistake is trying to do it all yourself. It’s okay to ask for help. There is content almost everywhere. You are surrounded by subject matter experts that are in your, in your company or in your, your nonprofit organization or even in the board or people that are like volunteers for the organization and you can get really great content. A good rule of thumb, however, is give and support, before asking for help. As for sharing and planning, there are plenty of tools out there, many with free or affordable options.
Blogging comes down to ownership. Wherever you choose to share, having someplace that is yours alone ensures that your content remains available to you separate to any platform change that may arrive in the future.I know for me that is a very comforting thought.