But if you’re not in the business of blogging, but are rather selling items or your services, content can hit the back burner pretty easily. Who has time? It doesn’t feel worthwhile! It’s boring! Whatever your reasons, it can totally become a drag. But it can also mean personal, engaging, and entertaining content that will connect your visitors to who the hell you are. Here are some ways to stay motivated when your goal is to kick-start blogging.
Be realistic
Don’t overwhelm yourself with an unrealistic goal. You don’t have to blog every day to keep search engine attention. Start out with a reasonable schedule (like once a week) and stick to it. If you find you have more to say, increase it by another post a week.
Keep your posts short and punchy
300-500 words is definitely enough. Readers love photos, external links, and lists. Take advantage of those shorter format posts to get more content on the site with less effort.
Stay within scope, but experiment with taking risks
You don’t want to write about anything and everything since both your clients and search engines like relevancy, but certainly experiment with different types of content and topics. If you have hobbies or passions that have some overlap with your business, capitalize on that to keep yourself interested. You’ve got to like doing this, too!
Use a natural tone
Be as engaging as you can, but don’t go crazy trying to emulate other bloggers in terms of tone or content. Just be yourself, or it will become harder to keep up with it.
Lean on an editorial calendar and theme days
Check out a yearly calendar and plan posts around dates that are related to your industry. If you’re a wedding vendor, look for wedding expos, peak times for couples looking for services, and holidays. You can also do this on a micro level by having theme days for your content. Client spotlights, guest posts, “wordless” posts, and other types of themes make coming up with content ideas easier.
Keep an idea file
Whenever you see something that inspires a post, keep track of it. That sounds easy, but I know how easily those things can get lost.
Blog about projects as they are happening
Clients love to see behind-the-scenes posts about projects as they happen. Showcase your creative process behind the projects you’re working on. It’s easy content and total customer insight into you as a professional.
Show me your tips! What do you blog about and how do you keep from slacking?
