Almost every blogger who has done research on being a better blogger has heard the expression "Content is King." The question then becomes how do you conquer the king, become a blogging Queen and fill your blog with amazing content that readers will want to read? From where will this amazing content arrive? The answer is from you! Anyone can come up with amazing content that readers will flock to over and over. The trick to write well about things that interest you. My blog, Janeane's World published daily so I have to come up with a new idea 365 days a year. In order to produce that much content, some kind of system is necessary. I am from the, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail school. So let's attack this content thing in a logical, step by step manner with a plan.
Planning Content for Your Blog Using the Janeane's World method.
1. Determine how often you would like to publish your blog posts
2. What topic(s) do you want to share with your readers
3. Get out a calendar
4. For each day you want to post, write down or type in what you will write about that day
5. Pick a time to do the actual writing of the blog posts
6. Realize that writing a blog, keeping an audience satisfied is work sometimes
1. Publishing schedule
I publish on a daily basis -seven days per week
2 Topics for blog posts
I write in themes. Every blogger has their own way of preparing blog posts. I plan my posts a month at a time. Those of you who read my blog know the method to my madness:
Magnificent Monday
Terrific Tuesday
Wonderful Wednesday
Thrilling Thursday
Fantastic Friday
Sensational Saturday and
Serene Sunday
So each Monday will be about something magnificent, I use a theme that ties each Monday together. In August for example every Monday was dedicated to magnificent improvement, Tuesdays were dedicated to taking chances, Wednesday was dedicated to wise words from others. Thursday through Sunday were dedicated to themes as well.
3. Calendar
I am frugal, so I look for inexpensive solutions to my needs. I plan my blog on a plain piece of paper in my word processor. I write down the days, the main topic and the specific post topic for each day. Here is my planning sheet for August: In addition to writing the topics down each day, I also add to my Google Calendar (which syncs to my desktop calendar and the calendar on my Kindle Fire). I do this so that if my calendar is lost or computer breaks, my plan is on line and is not lost forever after all my planning. My first step with the calendar is to pick a topic for each day of the week. The following is my plan for August
Magnificent Monday - Magnificent Improvement
Terrific Tuesday - Take a Chance
Wonderful Wednesday -Wise Words from Another
Thrilling Thursday - Thinking Differently
Fantastic Friday - Friendship
Sensational Saturday - Celebrate
Serene Sunday - Ways to Get to Serenity
Now that I know the theme for each day of the week, I go and fill in a specific topic for each day for each topic.
4. Blog topics day by day
Magnificent Monday Magnificent Improvement
8/6 Attitude
8/13 Appearance
8/20 Academics
8/27 Athleticism
Terrific Tuesday Take a Chance
8/7 Get a new
8/14 Start a business
8/21 Be trusting in a relationship
8/28 Let your child out of your sight
Wonderful Wednesday Wonderful Words From Others
8/1 Proverbs 31
8/8 Langston Hughes - Crystal Stair
8/15 Claude McKay - If We Must Die
8/22 Paul Lawrence Dunbar - We Wear the Mask
8/29 Maya Angelou - Phenomenal Woman
Thrilling Thursday Thinking Differently
8/2 Thinking Outside the Box
8/9 Thinking Like There is No Box
8/16 Thinking in Someone Else's Shoes
8/23 Thinking Like a Winner
8/30 Thinking Like Anything is Possible
Fantastic Friday Friendship
8/3 Listening
8/10 Leaning
8/17 Being Frank
8/24 Helping
8/31 Being a Friend
Sensational Saturday Celebrate
8/4 The Gift of Life
8/11 The Gift of Friendship
8/18 The Gift of Children
8/25 The Gift of Whimsy
Serene Sunday Ways to Get to Serenity
8/5 Power of Prayer
8/12 Meditation
8/19 Journaling
8/26 Positive Thinking
5. Time to Write
An important part of creating content for the blog is the actual act of writing. Once you know how often you are going to publish your blog, have the topic for your blog and have used a calendar of some kind to plan your blog posts, it is time to actually write. Whether you are a pencil and pad, pen and paper or fingers to keyboard person, you have to get to the writing. Pick a comfortable place to write, pick a time when you will not be disturbed. Some people like to get up early in the morning to write. Others like to write at night after the family hs gone to sleep. You must find a time that works for you and write at that time. Let your family, friends and those who live with you know when your writing time is so you will not be disturbed during writing time.
For my blog, since each day of the week is on a different topic and because there are roughly four of each topic, I do all my Mondays at one time, all the Tuesdays at one time, all the Wednesdays etc. I like this method of planning because I get the whole month planned and written down. I also get to write on themes. Because my blogs are written well in advance of publication date, I can write about the topic that interests me most on a giv en writing day. In August for example, I did all the Wednesdays first then the Mondays
6. When writers block attacks
I love to write and do not care what the topic is, I can crank out 500 to 1,000 words rather quickly and easily. However,like any person, there are times I am faced with writer's block or a lack of an inspirational topic to lavish with my words. The best defense for those times is a store of inspirational material. I cruise the internet almost everyday on a casual basis and when I find a website that interests me or that I might want to write about in the future I clip it using my web viewer and save it for later. I use the program Evernote (it's free) and the Evernote Web Clipper browser add-on (also free) so when I see something I want to save for later, I clip it to a folder and save it for later use. As a blogger, it is important to keep a file electronic or paper of things that interest you that you can write about one day. Another good tool for writers block is using prompts from other bloggers. Check out other blogs for their weekly writing prompts and link ups. These will provide topics for you when you cannot find one of your own.
Here is another resource from The Blogging School blog that discusses how to find what to write about: http://tiny.cc/kmfqjw . In addition, there are a myriad of books on writing and how to write. Here are three I got for free from Amazon for the Kindle.
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This post has taught you to :
Determine how often you would like to publish
Pick a topic to write about
Put your ideas on a calendar
Find time to write
How to deal with writer's block
The bottom line with all of this is that blogging is writing. The best way to write is to sit down and actually write. You must realize that blogging, writing and sharing information is work. So, put on your big girl panties and get ready to work. Start cranking out the words. If you want to be a blogger, you have to write. So the question for you now is, when are you going to blog and what are you going to blog about?
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