20 Tips For Daily Blogging
Posted on | August 20, 2008 at 7:10 am | 5 Comments
So, you’ve decided to try your hand at Blogging Every Day! Congratulations! You are officially insane! As someone who’s been doing the daily thing for quite a long time now, I have some tips for you. Most of these assume you are putting a lot of importance on not missing a day of blogging.
- Clear it with you significant other, if you have one. Make sure he/she is on board with the fact that you may be ignoring him/her (or your household duties) for some random period of time every day that could be quite long. Don’t try to hide what you’re doing! Maybe involve him/her if you can: proofreading, guest blogging, picture taking, whatever. And don’t neglect your kids or pets either!
- Observe. Be aware of your surroundings at all times, especially when you’re out and about. You never know what will give you an idea. You’ll be surprised at the things you notice that might be of interest to other people and the correlations you can make between subjects. Anything can be fodder for a blog entry if you can get a decent picture of it or can pad out a description. Look for patterns in things. Read all the signs you see and try to absorb their meanings. Note odd behaviors in people. Besides finding the time to write entries, the biggest problem with daily blogging is finding something to write about every day, so always be on the lookout for unusual things.
- Always keep a camera close by and take a lot of pictures. Cell phones are great for this. Not only can you use the pictures as a topic for posting, but they can also be used to pad out or add visual interest to a lame entry.
- Compose at night, post it in the morning. It’s a safety net. You never know what household emergency or website access problem will come along that will prevent you from posting an entry, so best to get it out of the way as early in the day as you can. And if you miss it, you still have the rest of the day to come up with something. Also, letting a post “gel” overnight will sometimes allow you to come up with some important additions and corrections. Like that last line.
- Don’t post during or about work! Common sense. Don’t let blogging interfere with your job, unless you’re trying to get fired.
- If you can’t think of something to post about, don’t stress about it too much or force it. Get away from the computer and you’ll be surprised how fast something will occur to you.
- Totally stuck for a blog topic? Try a random word generator or Oblique Strategies.
- Ask your friends and family what they would like to see you write about. If someone makes a suggestion, twist it into something strange or dark.
- Have some backup drafts ready to post for those days when you have no time or just can’t think of something new. Needless to say, those posts would have to be about non-timely matters or issues. My posts about the band Kayak’s catalog fall into this category for me.
- Heck, consider writing multiple posts in one sitting and posting them one day at a time, in order to give yourself a break for a couple of days. They could all have time-dependent references and such as long as you don’t delay too long in posting them.
- Don’t divide the focus of your blog post. Never do a single entry with multiple topics when it can easily be split into two or more entries. If an entry becomes too long, consider breaking it up into shorter ones. That’s why I (more or less) stopped including my “Pet Peeve of the Day” at the bottom of my posts. Unless they’re really short, they can usually be spun off into their own entry.
- Have some sort of daily or near-daily bit you can include in posts to pad them out, or to use in lieu of having something real to say that day. Though I have avoided doing it so far, I could create an entry composed of just my jogging playlist and/or my “search term of the day” in a pinch.
- Anything can be padded out. Talk when there is nothing to say! Remember, Daily Blogging is all about quantity, not quality! Okay, not really, but sometimes it seems that way.
- Have some sort of theme you can use for certain days or whatever. Steve used to post recipes every Wednesday, but I think he must’ve run out by now. I try to post movie/DVD reviews on Sundays. You can always forego the theme for a week if something more exciting comes along!
- Avoid having a theme for the entire blog, as that makes it harder to find something to talk about on those writer’s block days. Or if you do have a theme, consider breaking it from time to time. Focus: Good, Rigid Theme: Bad.
- Read a lot of news stories. There’s always fodder for discussion in current events, even if you’re not a political blogger. Of course, you run the risk of every third blogger on the Internet bringing up the same thing.
- Going on vacation? Prepare some entries in advance and post them from your cell phone or from the hotel’s computer or from an Internet café or something. Don’t know if you’ll have internet access? Have a friend you trust post the drafts for you. Or just post them all after you get back and change the datestamps. (I consider the last one to be cheating, but not the other ones. However, I do think it’s okay to change the datestamp in a situation where you did actually have the post composed in time, but were unable to post it because you were having problems with your website or ISP.) Or, if you’re technically competent, write a timed script to post the entries for you.
- Peruse your access logs or use something like StatCounter to see how people you don’t know are reaching your blog. That can give you ideas for tailoring future blog entries. Or for avoiding topics pr phrases that may attract a repeat unsavory element.
- Get tips and ideas from other like-minded souls, like the Blog365 people.
- Constantly take notes for future blog topic ideas. Cell phones and PDAs are especially good for this. I find that I sometimes forget a great idea if I don’t write it down right away.
So there you go. Just remember: It’s easy! It’s a creative outlet! It’s fulfilling! It’s fun! It’s not the least bit stressful!
Misery loves company. I guess the best tip I can give is: “Have no life!”. Just kidding. The best tip is: Don’t forget to have a life outside of the blogging. Don’t make it your #1 focus and don’t let it rule your life.
Latre.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “sign up for henching”. (This came from Korea!)
Spam of the Day: I got a spam e-mail from “Liz Patterson”. Strange that she’s taking some time out of her wedding to Anthony (*shudder*) to send me a solicitation for home mortgages.
Videogame(s) Played Yesterday: Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Category: General
Comments
5 Responses to “20 Tips For Daily Blogging”
August 20th, 2008 @ 7:30 am
So the moral is “Don’t let having nothing to say stop you from saying something.”
August 20th, 2008 @ 8:08 am
You got it, young Padawan!
No, actually the moral is “You’ll be surprised at how you do have something to say even when you think you have nothing to say”.
August 20th, 2008 @ 8:29 am
21. Move to a foreign country to give you lots of fresh topics!
(Of course, this doesn’t guarantee you’ll be able to keep up with DAILY blogging if you’re a slacker like I am…)
August 20th, 2008 @ 11:56 am
Anything that resembles a rigid schedule guarantees I’ll lose interest and won’t do it. Of course I knew from the start that there was no way I can post every day.
I’m not really guilty of item 15, because I’m a liar. I post about whatever I feel like, despite anything I may have said previously, or in my blog description.
August 21st, 2008 @ 3:33 am
> things you notice that might be of interest to other people
If blogging was limited to things of interest to others, there’d be about 8 people doing it.