Maybe you’ve just launched a website and your web designer is pressuring you to start blogging in order to keep said website full of fresh content (I’ve been known to do this!). Or perhaps your site has been up and running for awhile, but your blog is looking a little stale—we’re talking a last posted date of two years ago or more.
Like most people, you simply don’t have time for another to-do—and let’s be honest: blogging isn’t the most fun thing in the world. So what do you do? Kill the blog altogether? Leave it up and let the guilt of not posting regularly consume you? I propose neither.
Instead, make blogging as simple as possible. You truly do not have to be posting every day, or even every week for that matter. What if blogging were easy? Would you do it then? Here are a few ideas to help make blogging a breeze.
Create a “journal” instead of a blog
There’s definitely pressure around the frequency of a blog: it has to have some sense of regularity, whether that’s daily, weekly, or monthly. But what if you transformed it into a “journal” of sorts, where you write when you have something important to say? If you’re rolling your eyes at calling it a journal—I feel you—you can name it whatever you want: ramblings, musings, ideas, perspectives—whatever speaks to you.
Write about the easy things
There’s always some pressure when it comes to creating content from nothing: you’ve got to brainstorm ideas, research, then formulate your thoughts into something meaningful. It’s tough, especially if writing doesn’t come naturally to you. Instead, take advantage of the freebies; the content that exists just by way of doing business and interacting with people. You don’t have to be a creative genius to post about events or happenings in your business. Or write about your staff, clients, or recent projects. Again, you’re already having this stuff happen, so spend a little time documenting those happenings and voila! You’ve got blog content.
Invite some guests
An easy way to get blog content? Invite guest posters! This can be a great way to highlight differing perspectives and a way to get a variety of content on your website (without having to do it all yourself). Invite your staff to write occasional posts for your blog, or reach out to other experts in your industry who might be able to shed insight on specific topics.
Repurpose content
Another easy way to get some content for your blog is to repurpose things! There’s no sense in reinventing the wheel every time you post if you don’t have to. Say you have a monthly newsletter: why not recycle that content in a blog post format? Or perhaps you wrote an article for another publication? Why not get permission to repost (or tweak to create something new) for your own blog?
Answer frequently asked questions
Do you answer the same questions over and over again? Turn these into blog posts! You already know the answers and so the content should come pretty naturally and quick to you. I’ve done this before, even going so far as to use direct quotes from emails I’ve responded to in the past.
Blogging doesn’t have to be so daunting. If you give a few of these tactics a try, I think you’ll find that it’s a lot more manageable than you think—and not the huge time suck you may be afraid of.