This is a guest blog post by Leo Widrich, co-founder of Buffer , a Twitter publishing application. He writes Twitter Tips every week on his blog.
In order to get my startup off the ground, blogging and guest blogging was one of my most effective tactics I used to build traffic. In fact, over the past 4 months, I have written about 100 guest posts for various social media and design blogs.
Firstly, I have to admit, I have always feared writing a bit in the past. When I was a little boy in school and I heard someone say, “I am writing a book,” I always thought to myself, “WOW! A whole book? How can you write that much?"
So when I first started blogging , I felt proud of myself when I could write at least one post per week. I would spend hours and hours on one post and ultimately churn out a mediocre piece of something.
Since that point, I'm happy to report that I've stepped up my blogging pace and frequency significantly, and I've used a few very helpful techniques to achieve that. Because these techniques have helped me tremendously to increase my output and scale my writing, I figure others could benefit from them as well. Without further ado, here are my 4 steps to help motivate and scale your blogging program:
1. Push Yourself
Now that I write a few posts each day, it's made me realize something plain and simple yet very useful. In order to grow as a blogger, I had to sit down at my desk and churn out those posts, no matter what. It probably sounds so stupidly simple, but it's effective.
The only way to learn how to scale your blogging skills is by pushing beyond your comfort zone each time you write. It's very much like working out. The next time you're writing and you hit that point where you feel like stopping, push yourself just a little bit further. Are the ideas you're presenting written in a way that are clear and easy to understand? Are you making the best word choices? Tweak what you've written -- make it the highest quality post it can be -- then stop.
As you make a habit of pushing yourself, eventually you won't even realize you're doing more and writing better. What you will realize is that you're writing is improving, you're achieving even better results with your blog, and you're reaching new heights.
2. Work Toward Your Goals
What are your goals for blogging? Do you think about your goal(s) on a daily basis? A physical reminder is a great way to keep you motivated and on track.
Pictured right was my blogging goal written on a piece of paper. I had it pinned to my desk. Admittedly, it's not exactly reaching for the stars, but we did storm past this figure way before our deadline.
Many times, because I put my goal front and center, it motivated me to close TweetDeck or Facebook and get back to writing. After all, that is what you are there to do: to reach your goals.
Attributing how many more posts I was able to write because I had my vision pinned to my desk would be tough. Still, I believe that setting goals and giving yourself a tangible reminder can work wonders in boosting your productivity, as it did for me.
3. Influence Your Behavior, Not Your Intentions
This is an interesting one. There's a little trick I want to share with you, and I think it might actually be one of the best motivators that enabled me to scale my writing.
How I go about guest blogging is this: I find a few bloggers whose content I think I could match, and then I do a brief brainstorm. I jot down an introduction and then send them an email:
“Hi, I have written this Twitter Tip/Social Media guest post and was wondering if you might be interested in taking a look.”
After I receive a “sure, send it over,” knowing that I haven’t actually finished the post, I buckle down and finish it.
I usually reply with “yes, just wrapping it up now,” which is what I'll do. Usually, it triggers me to finish the post lightning fast since I know there will be a definite return from putting forth the effort.
4. Imagine Each Post Before You've Written It
Giving your posts a great structure isn’t just helpful for your readers. It is also very helpful for you as the author during the writing process.
I always have a certain template in my head of how a great post looks. This makes it much easier for me to fill in the template with my thoughts and ideas every time I write instead of starting from scratch on a blank page.
That said, don't let a template stifle your creativity. Instead, have a very general template in your head that you can easily change and adapt.
What Are Your Results?
Blogging has the potential to generate a number of amazing business results . To me, one of the best benefits of blogging has been the opportunity to connect with and meet some amazing people who have helped me expand my network, reach, and ultimately, my business.
By establishing my blog and contributing as a guest blogger for other blogs, I naturally ended up chatting with other blog owners, which raised interest in what else I was doing. Many of these connections helped me out with reviews and spread the word about my startup, not because I asked them, but because we engaged in valuable conversations. These long-term relationships you are able to build as a result can be extremely valuable to your success. And on top of everything, focusing on human interactions is a lot more fun than plain numbers.
These 4 steps are the tactics I use to improve my own blogging. Do you have your own little secrets to blogging success? I would love to hear about them in the comments below, so don't be shy.
Image credit: stressedtechnician
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Candi Elm 8:06 PM on July 14, 2011
Thanks for the ideas. I think its always hard to start. Take it one bite at a time and you get to your goals. You have given me a great starting point.
Adegbenga Agoro 7:14 AM on July 15, 2011
Thanks so much for the tips, they are so concise, straight to the point and really approachable. I have been putting off starting my blog, thinking I couldn't put out great stuff like all the blogging greats but now I feel I can match them.
Just need to put in the conscious effort. Thanks again
Pam Schmitz 9:32 AM on July 15, 2011
Great tips! I particularly like #3...it sounds like a good way to light the fire under your butt. Anyway, if I'm having trouble starting a post, I try to just write without putting too much thought into what I'm writing. Then once I have something down I go back over it and edit out the garbage. It may not all make sense but at least it gets your thoughts going.
Jeanne Hopkins 10:49 AM on July 15, 2011
Nick - You work hard on taking content and repurposing it for many audiences, not limiting yourself to just your blog. You are a very active LinkedIn Groups user, and take your content to the next level within that area. Essentially repurposing the content that you create for a wider audience.
Tara Clark 4:04 PM on July 15, 2011
Thanks for the tips! My question is: For a corporate blog, how do you keep your blog content fresh and exciting when you have one topic or target market that you are writing for?
Jeanne Hopkins 4:12 PM on July 15, 2011
Hi Tara -
A great question and one that many of our customers face regularly. A couple of suggestions would include:
- Ask guest bloggers to talk about things that interest them, while relating to your main topic
- Consider different formats, like video or audio; or possibly use charts or data in some of your posts.
- Ask your customers to provide some insights and broaden your focus a bit.
I'm sure our readers have a great many more thoughts on how to keep things "fresh".
Jeanne
Leo Widrich 9:18 PM on July 16, 2011
Hi @Candi,
Awesome, that is really great to hear. Glad it helped as a starting point and I think you are right, one step at a time is best! :)
Leo Widrich 9:21 PM on July 16, 2011
Hi @Adegbenga,
Awesome, great to hear you enjoyed the post.
Yes, absolutely, it is all about getting started and taking it slowly. At first it might be easy to get overwhelmed, but sticking with it is key. Let me know if there is anything else I can help you out with! :)
Leo Widrich 9:25 PM on July 16, 2011
Hi Pam,
Thanks a lot for stopping by.
Awesome, very glad you like #3. Yes, exactly, just like you say it lights the fire under your butt and gets you going. And I found that I can easily erase out that garbage once I am about to submit a piece I want to be high quality.
Leo Widrich 9:35 PM on July 16, 2011
@Jeanne, thanks so much for jumping in here and offering your support.
I think you are right Nick, this can easily become a problem and just like you say, sitting down and getting on with things, seeing where it ends is a great tactic. Once you get started things start to flow very easily anyways.
I didn't know about the great things you were doing that Jeanne mentioned, I certainly want to get involved with LinkedIn more in the future and will try following you on how to do it.
@Tara
Indeed, like Jeanne said, it's a great question and the suggestions she gave are exactly what we are trying to do for example. Our blog is about Twitter Tips only and we moved to video and other formats to keep content fresh and relevant. Especially video interviews have worked very well for us so far.
I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any more questions on this, happy to help. :)
Tara Clark 10:39 AM on July 18, 2011
Hi @jeanne and @leo, I really appreciate your feedback. We have started to move into webinars, so I am happy to see that we are on the right track. I really love the idea of tapping on customers and guest bloggers to add another dimension to our blog.
Ryo Yamaguchi 3:49 PM on July 18, 2011
Thanks Jeanne, great tips here. I especially appreciate your reply to Tara Clark--that is my concern too. What can be overwhelming sometimes is coming up with great content when you have a relatively acute focus. It's great to see things like this to help shake things up!
Leo Widrich 5:53 PM on July 18, 2011
@Tara, Awesome, glad you like it. Good call on webinars, I am very much looking forward to doing my first as well, I think it is an amazing space!
@Ryo
Indeed, glad it helped, I think the different areas Jeanne mentioned to find content helped me a lot too.
Tara Clark 6:01 PM on July 18, 2011
Such great feedback on these hubspot posts, it's great connecting with you all!
Please feel free to check out our blog http://blogs.intranetconnections.com/ and email me your feedback!
Blogging ABC 1:00 PM on July 31, 2011
I particularly like #4. Imagination is the key to be a creative blogger.