Blog applications allow us to share our thoughts in a particular style -- with conventions like:
- Reverse-chronological entries
- Comments from readers
- Tags and/or categories
- Archives
These conventions make blogs different from previous forms of writing. Yet, many aspects of blogging are similar to other writing that we might do. And I'll highlight one here: Good planning results in good writing.
You can probably tell through my sporadic posting on this page that I haven't been planning what to put here. So far, I haven't intended for this page to serve a particular function for me or for Hammock. But when you have a goal in mind, laying out the steps will help ensure your success.
We've been creating editorial calendars here at Hammock as long as we've been in existence. Printed publications demand lots of advance planning, and the longer the edit well in a particular book, the more planning you must do.
When I first started blogging regularly in 2005, it was difficult for me to think of something to write about regularly. The more you blog, the better you get at spotting topics all around you.
But I also found that one key to regular posting is to plan your blog.
Tips for Planning Blog Content
- Sit down and think about it. Seems obvious, but it's not. Blogging allows you to write on the spur of the moment, but don't just write that way. Think about what your blog is saying, and write down your goals.
- List any regular features. The crutch of any recurring publication, regular features let you provide helpful information in a restricted format -- which makes it easier for you to figure out what goes there.
- List events or irregular topics you can count on. If you blog about your business, there are likely events or topics that come up the same time every year -- industry conferences, research, tax season. If your blog is personal, you'll choose different topics, of course.
- Keep your eyes open. Regular bloggers start to think about the world in terms of how they can express it on their blogs.
