By now, we all know the benefits of blogging: engaging with audiences, developing thought leadership, getting regular website hits and bumping up pages in SEO rankings. Still, with hectic workweeks and overloaded to-do lists, many of us can be intimidated by the prospect of starting a blog or (gasp!) having to populate it with fresh content on a regular basis. There’s already too much to do in a day.
There are ways to blog smarter and more effectively. It’s entirely possible to have new, regular content for your blog without having to write it at four in the morning or peck it out on your cell phone while you sit at the airport between flights.
Here are some things you can do to have new content, more often and with less effort:
Every so often, turn it over to a guest blogger. Even if it’s your blog, the posts don’t always have to come from you. Industry experts you know, other members of your management team or even a service provider (example: your PR counsel, attorney or website designer) might just jump at the chance to expand their audience by talking to yours.
Repurpose content you’ve used elsewhere. Blog copy doesn’t always have to be written from scratch. Look at content you’ve developed for other channels – a white paper or bylined article, even a press release with a strong industry angle. They might provide a ready-made source for copy. There’s nothing wrong with reusing words if they’re yours.
Don’t write – talk to the camera. Video is big these days. In a Forbes study, 75 percent of executives said they watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week. And according to Forrester Research, one minute of video has the same value as 1.8 billion words of text! If typing words and sentences on the computer scares you, then consider making a short video and “talking” your next post. Bigger budgets might support a high-end look for segments, but a brief video shot with your iPad or cell phone works, too. Video has the added benefit of bumping you up in SEO rankings.
Consider micro-blogging. Blogs don’t necessarily have to be long. More people are going to short blog posts of only a paragraph or two. These are perfect if you are the type of person who has lots of “big thoughts” but don’t necessarily want to write a treatise on a subject.
The benefits of regular blogging for both you and your business can be huge, but doing it doesn’t have to be an insurmountable task. One of the best things you can do is to have a team member (or your PR person) manage your blog activities by creating a calendar with topics and posting schedules, and coming up with ideas for content. Our May newsletter also offers additional tips on ways to get a jumpstart on your blogging efforts.
In my next post, I’ll talk about some of the things you should be doing after the blog post is up to ensure you are getting optimal impact.
Question: Do you currently blog? Why or why not? If you do blog, how often do you post new content?