Hate Blogging? How To Make It Fun

I’m not going to be the first one to tell you this — if you have a business you need a blog. Even if you don’t have a business but want to be seen as an expert in your field, you need a blog.

Basically, everyone and their dog, and in some cases — the dog too — needs a blog. A blog gives us a peek into your personality and your experience and should position you as THE person to go to.

I can hear your whining and excuses from here. Someone call the WAH-MBULANCE. Wah. I know you don’t have time, you’re busy, it’s not a good use of your time, you have no inspiration, and you don’t know how; WordPress and Squarespace are so hard.

You have time, and you need to make time. It’s not hard.— just do it. Or don’t, and watch your competition steal all your customers. If you want more of a pep talk about why you need a blog, give me a call.

Blogging Creates Connection.

Your potential customers want connection; we all want connection — your blog is the best way to create a connection with your audience.

Here are some ways to make blogging hurt less when you find it painful.

1.  Content strategy – why are you writing what you’re writing?
What’s your point? Before typing a single character, know what you want to accomplish. What do you want your reader to know? Should they be inspired to do something after reading? How do you want your readers to feel when they read your articles? WHY are you writing?

2. Listen to your audience for blog content ideas.
Not sure what your audience wants? Ask them. Blog about the questions you get asked from your audience. No audience yet? Share your knowledge one blog post at a time.

3. Create a list of topics.
Even if you’re not a planner (like me), make a list of 26 topics you know something about that your readers would find helpful or interesting. This is if you want to post twice a month. Double it to post every week. You might find that listing 52 topics is just as easy as listing 26 blog topics – momentum!

4. Create a plan and schedule and stick to it. When your list is done, plug it into your calendar. Schedule it like a dentist appointment. Block an hour to write and an hour to edit. With practice, you’ll probably need less time. You don’t need to commit to your designated topic for the week either – if something timely and relevant comes up, cover that and shift your schedule, or add a second post for the week.

5. Reuse old content. When you’re stuck for content, look to your old blog posts and start repurposing. You’ve likely grown and learned more since the time you wrote the original piece. Rewrite it, cover one topic in-depth, or a spin-off from your old content.

6. Make it a game. Promise yourself an award for each blog post you finish – a venti latte, a pedicure, whatever floats your boat.

7.  Do blog writing one day a week or month. If the idea of squeezing in blog writing once a week hasn’t been proven to work for you, try this — block half a day a few times a month, or a whole day once a month, or a weekend a few times a year and write all day. No distractions, no WiFi, no checking email. Your rough drafts are just that – rough. I call them SFDs, or “Surrendered First Drafts.” Once your rough blog post draft is done, you can spend 30 minutes before finalizing and posting your final content editing your rough draft. We can also write together too!

If you enjoyed this article on making blogging work for you, you might like these too:

• A behind the scenes peek inside my weekly content creation and sharing process

• Writing With Nature's Rhythms (Writing with the moon (Chapter excerpt)

• 20 Writing Prompts To Help You Create Your Writing Voice

  And if you need some extra accountability and support to get you writing, you might be a great fit for the writing community.