When I read blogs about blogging, I always see this
question. “How often do I have to
post to my blog?”
Call me a provocateur if you’d like, but I am of the opinion
that if you are asking that question one of the following must be true:
- You are blogging about the wrong thing.
- You shouldn’t really be blogging.
The best, most successful blogs come from people who are
passionate about their subject content. Because they are passionate about their
subject content you almost can’t stop them from blogging about it. The
passionate blogger feels compelled to share things and draws inspiration to do
so from many places. This is not to say a blogger doesn’t experience burn out
every now and again (I have). But eventually “the itch” comes back.
If you don’t get the itch, you might consider why you’re in
this.
Having said that there’s definitely a “blogger mentality,”
from my observations. So I thought I’d speak on that. There are three distinct
habits I’ve noticed. Successful bloggers tend to:
- See nearly anything as potential content: I’m a food blogger. So anything having to do with food is potential content: a trip to the grocery store, a restaurant meal, a new product I’ve heard about. Anything that is of interest to me as a foodie is potential content for my food blog. This is not just limited to food blogs, though. For fashion bloggers, people on the street, mannequins in store windows, a fashion magazine cover in the grocery store line, it can all become good content!
- Are prepared to market content in nearly any situation: I finally broke down and got an iPhone. It really is a blogger’s friend. With it, I’m a one-woman media center. But your favorite smart phone will do just fine. The point is if you see potential content you should be able to capture it. That means having the capability to take pictures, make videos and upload that content to either your blog platform, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.
- Know how to market content as a part of their daily lives. I’ll give you an example. Even my kids know we rarely sit down to a completely new meal (home-made or otherwise) without photographing it. Further, they tend to arrange their food on their plates in aesthetically pleasing ways just in case I get the urge to snap them with their food. When I’m out and about I know how to get good shots of things that I can use later. I always make sure to shoot the fronts of products so I get the logo/branding. When making a product at home, if I have a piece of branded material to go in the picture (like a branded tumbler with a protein company’s logo on it) I use that. That way when I Tweet it, I can tag the brand and they’ll re-share.
This may all sound like a pain in the butt to someone who
just wants to write. Again, if that’s the case, BSHU is probably not the blog
for you! But for those looking to build an audience, if doing these things isn’t
second nature, make them so!
When you open yourself up to the endless possibilities of
content generation, your audience responds in kind. You become a part of their
everyday lives. You start a conversation. People want to support you and they
begin to!
You’d be surprised.
So…do you have a blogger’s state of mind?
Apparently I'm an awesome blogger. ;) I'm kidding. Like many other, I'm sure, I have a lot to learn, but it seems I'm on the right tracks. Great post, thank you.
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