For many years, I had a love/hate relationship with blogging.
A little background – I started my first blog around age 19 or 20 as a naive college student looking for an outlet to document my life and share what I was currently into.
This was before Facebook literally became the huge social media platform it is today, allowing you to share what’s going on in your world with the world.
(Which means in the blogging world, I’m ancient. Pre-Facebook! OMG)
That first blog eventually evolved into a more grown-up version, where I was still sharing personal stories and insights about my life as a mom and entrepreneur.
When I decided to launch my first business, The Yogipreneur in 2008, I realized blogging for business is WAY different than blogging just for fun!
Blogging for business hasn’t always come easily.
There were times when I was so overwhelmed with OTHER business to-dos (or having little babies) that I didn’t update my blog for months. But something amazing happened – even when I wasn’t blogging on a regular basis during those periods, my blog was STILL working for my business. In fact, I ended up as a guest teacher for a Blogging for Business Master Class during a stretch of zero blog posts in months!
There were also times the blog content was pouring out of me – literally, I’d sit down and end up with 3-5 posts written at a go! Thankfully those times allowed me to take a break when I was on maternity leave.
Even though you CAN get away with a quiet period on your blog, when it comes down to getting results (aka readers turning into dream clients), consistency is essential. But how do you find your own rhythm?
[clickToTweet tweet=”When it comes to getting results from your blog – consistency is key!” quote=”When it comes to getting results from your blog – consistency is key!” theme=”style2″]
Here’s my personal blogging strategy behind the scenes (feel free to steal it and make it your own for 6 months of awesome blogs!):
1: Focus on 3-5 Themes or Core Topics
Before I did this, I found myself writing about whatever came to mind (which sometimes led to no blogging and just me sitting in front of a blank screen for hours).
Then I realized that all the blogs I loved following produced TONS of content, but all of it fit into only a few themes.
Not only did this make coming up with ideas so incredibly easy, it also helps establish your credibility and authority as a blogger while making it easy for the reader to dive deeper into your blog posts!
And if you wanna get REALLY strategic, then each theme should correspond to one specific offering.
For example, my core themes are:
Entrepreneur Mindset + Productivity (relates to Fired Up & Focused Challenge)
Quickly Filling Your Private Client Docket (relates to Get More Clients)
[clickToTweet tweet=”A key to profitable blogging? Connect your blog themes to your offerings.” quote=”A key to profitable blogging? Connect your blog themes to your offerings.” theme=”style2″]
Integrate Into YOUR Blog! Map out your top 3-5 topics you want to focus on. They can be directly related to your offerings, can be specific issues you solve, or even focus on different types of readers.
2. Write About FAQs and SAQs
Once you have your core topics, you can start to brainstorm the individual posts you plan to write. You’d be surprised HOW MUCH information you have to share about each of these topics – but if you don’t take some time to brainstorm you may find yourself feeling like you’ve covered everything there is to cover!
An insanely easy way to get started is to write out 5 Frequently Asked Questions and 5 SHOULD Ask Questions (if they actually knew what to ask!) for each core topic.
Suddenly, you’ve taken those 3-5 themes and multiplied them by 3-5 posts per topic. BAM! 3-6 months of amazing blog content just WAITING for you to write!
For example, within my theme of Build Your Online Presence: Pretty + Profitable Websites, some FAQs + SAQs were:
- Do I really need a website?
- What do I need to know before I create a website?
- How can I be strategic about using my website to build my business + community?
- How can I use a blog on my website?
- Where can I get beautiful images for my website?
Once you’ve created several posts for a specific topic, you can then easily batch create this content and have an entire series of blog content.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Need to quickly brainstorm ideas for blog content? Start with your FAQs and SAQs!” quote=”Need to quickly brainstorm ideas for blog content? Start with your FAQs and SAQs!” theme=”style2″]
Integrate Into YOUR Blog! For each core topic, brainstorm 3-5 FAQs or SAQs. If you’ve already created a series of posts that could be grouped together, consider grouping them into a resource page or content upgrade to make it EASY for your readers to dive into your information!
3. KISS (Keep It Simple + Strategic) to Avoid Overwhelm
Blogging quickly becomes overwhelming and stressful when you 1) don’t have a strategy or 2) overcomplicate things.
When I started mapping out my content 3-6 months at a time (and lined it up with offerings I’d be promoting), suddenly blogging became so much easier. Once I’ve brainstormed the posts I want to write, I literally create and save drafts for each post. That way, when I’m ready to write, all I’ve gotta do is hop online and start writing!
I also keep inspiration files in my Google Drive. Often I’ll be reading something online or talking with a client and think, “ohhh that would be a great blog post!” So for each of my core topics, I keep a running list of post ideas I can pull from.
I used to put a strict deadline on myself for writing blog posts – as in, a post every single Monday morning by 9 AM EST – but I’ve realized that while that works really well for my email newsletter (which goes out every Thursday morning), I can be a little more fluid with my blogging. It’s actually worked really well for me as some weeks I’ll be inspired to write 2 posts at a time, and some weeks I take off. But generally, I aim for once a week.
The key for me is to 1) keep a list of ideas so it’s EASY for me to get inspired, 2) stick with a regular writing practice (yep – just like a yoga practice, writing gets better when you do it on the regular), and 3) when I’m feeling uber creative + in the flow, GO WITH IT. Batching my writing helps me to save some posts of a rainy I-don’t-wanna kind of day.
Integrate Into YOUR Blog! Set yourself up for success with a simple and strategic plan. Once you have your brainstorm of blog ideas, put them on an editorial calendar (where you put the blog post topic on the date you plan to publish) if you’re going for a specific publishing schedule OR simply save the posts as drafts so they are there when you’re ready to write!
What Nobody Told Me About Blogging (AKA What I Learned the HARD Way)
There are so many things I learned the hard way.
I’ve learned that sometimes, the experts are WRONG, and trying to fit into the formulas (including the one I just gave you) doesn’t guarantee success. At all. A couple years ago, I participated in an amazing training program about blogging and the first lesson completely through me for a loop. I had NO IDEA how to make the ideas work for my business blog. I let myself be stuck for a few weeks – and didn’t write a THING since I felt like I was doing everything completely wrong (according to this expert) – then I realized that was total BS. So I only take the advice that fits ME + my style and leave the rest.
I realized that your first few blogs are gonna be bad, but you’ve gotta publish ’em. Writing is a skill that develops over time and the best way to become a better writer is to WRITE. A LOT! When I look back at the first posts over at The Yogipreneur, I kinda want to cringe. But then I see the quality of what I’m writing today and feel really proud of how far I’ve come.
If you’re blogging to build your business (or hoping to turn our blog INTO your business), you’ve gotta treat it like a business! I know so many bloggers who don’t have any of their own offerings (programs, products, or services that YOU offer) yet and they don’t really have an intention for their blog. Your blog is the BEST platform to attract, engage, and nurture your community. And the BEST way to get readers into your world is via an email list. Even if you don’t have ANYTHING to offer them (yet!), if you wanna make an income from your blog, you need those readers to be connected and communicating on a regular basis.