Permanent blogging is a given. Blogging is addictive. Blogging is long term strategy that will yield so very much. Your business will benefit greatly, you clients will benefit greatly and you will benefit greatly from blogging. You must blog, you must continue, and you must persevere and be blogging permanently. Not because I say so, but because you can’t afford to not blog. You’d be paying a huge price for not blogging. So do your clients, and that is just not on, is it?
The most simple and powerful way to enable and empower you to blog permanently, is to have a strategy. A strategy that works. That always works. Permanently.
- Does this sound complicated?
- Does this sound like hard work to you?
- Does this turn you off?
- Will this stop you from wanting to read on?
- Do you have no clue how to even start with this?
Complicated or not, my answer to things that appear complicated yet I still wish to accomplish is simple: systemise. What I mean by systemise, is to come up once how I am willing and able to do it, and then continue to follow that system. I am sharing with you how you can systemise permanent blogging here.
How can you strategically systemise your blogging?
I have worked out a model for this. I call my model the 6 P’s for Permanence. It consists of six separate steps that I take for each and every blog post. These 6 P’s are Preparing, Planning, Producing, Publishing, Presenting and Participating. So, let’s have a look at how this works.
Preparing – This is all about what you can do to come up with relevant blog topics. Like collecting questions from your ideal readers, writing down new ideas, listing possible blog titles, and bookmarking interesting links and useful and royalty free images.
Planning – The topics you have listed you can now put into the order of importance and in the order publication sequence. For seasonal topics it is important to draw up a publication schedule that takes current affairs, seasonal dates, holidays, events, your own workshops and speaking engagements, and other relevant dates into account. This activity will determine to a large extent the order in which you will want to write your blog posts, and which of those posts can wait a while.
Producing – Yes, and then there comes a moment when it is time to start producing: writing your blogs posts. You can write them one by one, but you could also opt to write a few at a time, or even just paragraph by paragraph, whichever works best for you. I prefer to write three blog posts in one go. First I will choose a tough topic, so that I can finish with writing two simpler ones. Tough is hugely relative, or course… sometimes I discover later that I thought something would be tough, only because I wasn’t clear how to approach it. I write posts every other week, which means that so long as I wrote three posts every other week, I am steadily building a nice supply of posts for the next P…
Publishing – also for publishing posts, I dedicate some time on a working day to publish a few blogs posts in one go, based on pre-selected publication dates. Putting in the text, polishing the layout, adding any pictures, videos or links is something I do in small packages (you see, more p’s…). I do hope you have a blogging platform that allows you to schedule your posts, like I have. If you don’t know, please check with your webmaster what the options are for you. You will feel a lot more relaxed, knowing that you have a selection of planned posts ready to become visible to your readers automatically.
Presenting – Often the importance of sharing your blog posts is underestimated. I call this presenting, like presenting on a platter, as in serving them to your clients, fans and readers. Do make sure to structurally plan the presentation of your blog posts! You can send out a message on the day of its publication that you have created another relevant and interesting article on your blog. You can present through your mailing list, and all other forms of social media, such as LinkedIn (connections and groups), Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Don’t forget to offer your readers an invitation to go and read your blog post on your website… and to go and share your post with their network and to leave a personal comment, too! Never to nag them, but always in order to make it as easy as possible for them. People do want to help, share and add. The easier you make it, the more effect it will have.
Participating – This is largely overlooked: the relevance and importance to participate on your own blog page. If you receive tens, or even hundreds, of comments on your posts, then there’s not a lot to do on your part, but make sure at least that you moderate all comments (which means reading them first!). Respond to special comments, at least. If, however, you don’t receive that many comments yet, it is imperative you respond to each and every one of them. Thank your readers, acknowledge them, ask more questions, make sure they notice you see them. That makes it blogging at its best: a transparent form of dialogue marketing, connecting with your audience. Your readers will appreciate that, believe me!
WELL! These are the 6 P’s that will ensure a weekly systematic appearance of your valuable blog posts, from the first idea to the effect it has on your readers and for your business.
HOWEVER… there is more! This system has an added bonus that appeared out of nowhere, I didn’t have to put any effort into that, it just came natural to me: I stick to the order of the 6 P’s for every blog post…. BUT, I can also do this simultaneously for multiple blog posts !!! What that means, is that I sometimes go in Preparing, Planning and Producing mode for 4 blog posts at the same time. That comes in very handy when I want to write a collection of articles on a bigger topic. This saves me a lot of time, and that always makes me happy!
Please feel free to test this for yourself, if you think the 6 P’s will help you. Then, do tell me in your comment how this is working for you. Deal?
Invitation to a free call with me to become the Master of Your Blog
HOW would it be for you to get to know me and experience the ways in which I can liberate you from what is currently obstructing you from creating an active, relevant and engaging blog that people want to read?
To create a blog vision and a 6-step plan to get an active blog off the ground for your business? To discover the 6 ingredients for your blogging strategy and take away the next steps for your blog?
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All I ask it a donation of EUR 30 to a good cause,
offering the poorest children of Zimbabwe 9 years of primary education.
Live, Love & Leave your Legacy
Saskia
xx