Become a More Productive Blogger with a Ten-Minute Workout!
The New Year is finally here, and many of us are considering new and inspirational ways to help us build a better, more popular blog. As I’m sure Blog Bloke will agree, the strongest pillar of a successful blog is the regular production of great, original content. In theory, this is a wonderful principle, but in practise many of us suffer from writer’s block, the lack of inspiration, or simply cannot find enough time in the day to write!
Over the past few months, I’ve developed a technique which can help you overcome all of these problems in your blogging practise: I call it “The ten minute blogging workout“. I know the name may sound a bit silly, but in practise this really works!
Here’s what I do: for ten minutes or so at the end of each day, I open my blogging dashboard think of everything I found interesting that day which is related to my niche. This may be:
- Interesting posts I read on other blogs
- Thought provoking emails
- Reader comments and my reaction to them
- Magazine articles
- The latest news in my niche subject
With these in mind, I then open up the post editor and write two or three snappy titles on separate posts which are linked to my thoughts for the day. These titles can later provoke an interesting and complete post in their own right, though if I have the time I will also add notes to the body of these draft posts: thoughts, ideas, related URLs and even images to help spice up the content a little.
At the end of each day when I do my “blogging workouts”, I add a little more to these drafts, and also create new ones when something inspires me.
Although I do keep a notebook where I jot down my blogging ideas, I find it’s much better to have my notes where I need them: right in the body of a draft post. Then I can easily rearrange things, build complete paragraphs from simple phrases and use the URLs in links where they are needed, rather than having to copy and paste from my browser bookmarks.
These draft posts serve a multitude of purposes which can help you become a more regular, productive blogger:
- They keep all your notes in one easily accessible place
- They provide inspiration for future posts for those times when you can’t think of an interesting post to write
- You can work on a lengthy, article style post over a number of days (or even weeks) by building upon these notes you have already written, while adding even more relative content as time goes on.
- For those occasions when your blogging time is sparse, you already have some content saved away which could easily become a full blown post with just a few tweaks here and there.
At any one time, I may have a dozen drafts saved in my dashboard to build upon, which ensures I’m never short of content or resources for my posts. You’d be surprised at what can be accomplished in just ten minutes of your day, so why not make your blogging resolution for 2008 to do your own daily workout? It could help you become a more productive blogger!
Read more about the author Amanda Fazani…
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I think this is a great idea. For me, however, having them setting in my drafts they either get forgotten or make my dashboard feel a little weighed down. I keep my notes and links in my text editor instead. That works for me. But I don’t do it every day in a disciplined way. I might have to give the Ten-Minute Blogging Workout a try. Thanks!
Great ideas! I do keep pieces of posts in Live Writer as saved drafts. I just need to become more disciplined about it. I also like to save bits and pieces from blogs that I follow that I use as “seed” to start a post. It’s funny how a saved bit from a blog will lead to a post of my own that is only marginally related.
These are great ideas ! I usually work from the morning and record stuff into my Agenda as the day progresses. I always have it at hand and in my pocket when I go out.
Today every camera comes with a cell-phone, so If you blog about life or things around you, then take pictures of everything as as the day progresses !
Thanks Amanda
Your post inspires me and gives me the opportunity to reflect on my own way of trying to be a more productive blogger.
Best regards!
Seems like you’ve torn a page from my book Amanda. I do the same thing. I’m always jotting down ideas in point-form, and gradually fleshing out a post out. Some posts may take weeks before they’re finished. But other times I can have an idea or read something that really gets my knickers in a knot, and I will sit down and write a post from start to finish without taking a break. I can even forget to eat or sleep when I get in the writing groove. It all depends on the circumstances of course. But having a computer nearby, a pen and paper, or even a digital recorder to take down those occasional glimmers of inspiration can really come in handy.
I’m all over the place with my humor blog. Some days I can just crank a post out in 30 minutes as a result of something I’ve just experienced, while it’s all fresh in my mind. Other times, I have a nugget to work off of, and get it going in draft mode. Sometimes I complete it, sometimes not. A lot of it depends on how I feel about it after I’ve slept on it. Not everything makes the cut.
People think I am crazy sometimes taking pictures of my garden and other things I send to flickr and post to my blog. But I wouldn’t live without my camera phone.
That makes 2 of us for the camera phone !
Thank you all for your comments here. I’ve found this technique so useful in my blogs, especially when compared to the “pencil and paper” technique I previously used (my notes often were forgotten as they weren’t in my actual working area-my dashboard!)
For Jaffer and Curtis: you can make that three of us with the camera phone now! When I’m not sat at my desk, you can be sure I have my mobile phone to hand for notes and photos of things I need to remember later
Jan 2nd, 2008 at 4:23 am
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