Blog Roadblocks
When it comes to blogging, have you ever had these concerns?
- I’m afraid to have a blog because I won’t know what to write about.
- I’ll run out of things to write about.
- I won’t be consistent.
- Or whatever other roadblock you are envisioning?
Tasks that fall outside of our comfort zones come with roadblocks. It happens to me, and I’m sure everyone has more than one story to share as well. So, if writing and maintaining a blog creates a mental roadblock for you, here’s some encouragement to get you moving!
Brainstorm Your Blog Topics
There are many ways to brainstorm your blog topics. You could think about the many questions you hear repeatedly from your customers and clients. Each of those questions could become perfect blog posts, because if you are hearing those questions, they are also being searched online. And that online search could lead them to you!
Whether you are a fan of artificial intelligence (AI) or not, when it comes to brainstorming, it can be a helpful resource. Use a prompt that specifies your business, your audience, and ask for blog post topics for a year. Work with the ones that make sense and/or resound with you.
If you have a team, at the next team meeting, spend 5-10 minutes doing a team brainstorm for blog topics. Remind them that answering questions become good blog posts, and see what ideas get generated.
The goal is to have a year’s worth of topics with your brainstorming session.
Know Your Audience
When you’re blogging, remember who you want to read your blog and make sure you are talking to them. A conversational tone is a helpful way to be fully read.
Also, be careful about using jargon or technical words that they may not know. If you need to use lingo, make sure you explain the terms in a way they’ll understand. You don’t want to lose your readers!
How to Write
If it’s helpful, pretend you are having a conversation with a customer about a particular topic and use talk to text while you do this activity. Then you can fine tune what’s been written into a blog post you can publish.
If you’re a fan of outlines, you can create an outline for your blog topic. Then you can fill in each section.
Remember to proof, proof and proof again. If it’s possible to have another person read your blog post, that’s very helpful too since they may spot an awkward sentence or point out something they don’t quite understand. Then you can adjust those areas for clarity.
What About Images?
Be careful to use images that are allowed for commercial use. Whether you find a free resource or have a paid plan for images, you need to protect you and your business by using images you have the permission to use. You do not want to receive a cease-and-desist letter or notification of a hefty fine for using an image that was not yours to use!
Not Sure About SEO?
If you’re on WordPress, there’s a great plugin called Yoast. With its traffic light approach, you’ll know if you’re rock solid (green light), need a bit of work (yellow light), or need to put more focus on shortening sentences, etc. (red light). Yoast gives helpful tips on what you need to do to improve your SEO rating. As you implement these changes to get a green light, you will see the traffic light indicator change.
Most other website platforms have some SEO rating system; you just need to do a bit of research so you can maximize them. It’s worth the time!
Still Experiencing Blog Roadblocks or Feeling Overwhelmed?
You may want to outsource if you’re feeling overwhelmed still. We all know there’s only so much time each day. To maximize what only you can do, it may be beneficial to have someone else write and manage your blog. Oh, and we love blogging for our clients and would be happy to chat about that with you!
Here’s to your successful blogging (or outsourcing)!
P.S. Why bother writing good website content is a quick blog post you may find inspiring too!