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Jan
21

How to Use Editorial Calendars Effectively in Blogging

By | Getting Started

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Get an Empty Calendar and Fill it With Ideas! Photo by Rdragan79

I did a course about Editorial Calendars for Bloggers at Mom Spark Media and then also ran a live chat discussion about them and wanted to share some of the best tidbits with my readers. Editorial Calendars can be an important asset for bloggers if they are used and maintained.

Types of Posts and Activities to Mark in Your Editorial Calendar

Regular Feature Posts – Perhaps you are the type of blogger who does a weekly feature post such as Mouthwatering Monday or Wordless Wednesday. Planning these in advance on your Editorial Calendar means you’ll be sure to cover a varied topic spectrum, instead of getting stuck posting similar topics over and over.

Seasonal Topics – Seasonal articles and posts can be great traffic pieces for bloggers. Be sure that you plan your blog’s Editorial Calendar ahead of time…you should give yourself at least a 3 week lead time, preferably a month, to capture the most possible readers. In otherwords, your Valentine’s Day posts should have gone up yesterday. *wink, nod*

Resources for Your Editorial Calendar

Here is a new favorite resource for planning out my Editorial Calendar. This is a free, downloadable calendar for bloggers from Blog Energizer. While the link is an affiliate link, and you can subscribe to their monthly membership with tons of fabulous monthly post ideas, the calendar is free. I prefer this one right now because it’s free, it’s a “real calendar”, and it has space for guest posters, topic ideas and even tracking multiple sites.

I have also used MindBloom - an online motivational and task managing tool – with good success in the past. While I haven’t restarted my tree for this year, I plan to when I get back from BlissDom and have a chance to really sit down and mindmap my total year outlook.

I know many people use Google Calendars too, which is nice for automated alerts to your inbox and things, but I find it just one more thing I have to get online to do and it becomes tedious to me. So I still use my mechanical pencils, my large dry-erase calendar board, my moleskin day-planner (yes, mine is kickin’ red like that), and my printable calendars.

Benefits of Editorial Calendars for Bloggers

It’s a huge bonus for bloggers to have an Editorial Calendar. There are so many benefits I think that most bloggers should have at the very least, a rough calendar of sorts.

  • Keeps you on task and focused.
  • Beats Writer’s Block.
  • Helps you monetize (schedule affiliate posts or offers).
  • Keeps reader’s interested with fresh or relevant content.
  • Helps you notice blogging ruts – are similar titles appearing over and over? You’ll notice when they are written down!

How do you use your editorial calendar? Or do you? What resources have you found helpful in creating your calendar? Are you totally high-tech or a pen-a-paper type of blogger?

Jul
15

The Pregnant Pause – the calm before the storm.

By | Birthing a Blog

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This is just as true with blogging as with pregnancy – the vast amount of growth takes place largely unseen and unnoticed. In the early stages of developing a blog you may not even have announced your new project yet, but it’s mentally all-consuming. Each post, page and article you put up grows your blog exponentially, even though it’s still a small blog and very new.

I remember celebrating when angengland.com hit 20 posts. I had grown the blog by 400% in month four compared to the first month! The amount of work it would take to grow my blog by that huge percentage NOW would take much, much longer to accomplish. And understandably so. I’m up against larger numbers now – my baby blog has grown up and is reaching a point where it’s more self-sustaining.

At the very beginning a blog is much more work than the amount of monetary reward it brings in. Just like no one has a baby and expects it to support itself that first month, so it is with a new blog. You will invest a large amount of time and energy into nurturing and growing your blog before those efforts are noticed. But hang in there – soon your blog will be up and running and you’ll wonder what happened to the little baby that required so much attention and coddling at the beginning.

What stage is your blog in? Have you found that a lot of the growth in the early stages went unnoticed at first?

Jun
17

What’s a Blogger to Be?

By | Community, Getting Started

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Experienced bloggers helping newcomers with patience, humility and kindness. Photo by A. Akbar

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” ~Ephesians 4:2

Blogging has become a community for most of us. None of us blogs into a void, but rather as part of a connected group. For better or for worse.

I have noticed a disturbing trend by some influential bloggers who pull back from, or worse, lash out, at new bloggers. Especially at what is perceived as someone encroaching on “their” territory.

What is sad is that, to me, it reflects poorly not on the new blogger. But on the older, more well-established blogger. How do we who are continuing to grow in success and add new challenges and new levels to our blogging treat those who are new?

Be Humble About Our Blogging Success

There is very little about my personal success that is something I did completely by myself. I am one unique visitor on this blog – just one of the thousands who have visited. Yes, I write. But others share. You come and read. Comment. Support. Inspire. Without YOU this blog wouldn’t be much at all.

Be Gentle To New Bloggers

Sometimes new bloggers ask questions. Sometimes the same exact question I’ve answered a few dozen times already. Just like my fourth baby born this April is bound to ask the same, semi-annoying questions a hundred times that my 5 ½ year old asks today with regularity.

And just like I won’t snap at my children for a healthy curiosity and desire to learn, it isn’t helpful to snap at newbies who are just trying to learn the ropes and curious about how to get where you are.

Experienced Bloggers Should Be Patient With Beginner Mistakes

EVERYONE makes mistakes. Let’s never forget the time when we stumbled in the public eye and be patient with eachother. I promise you readers this – I will never expect you to be perfect until I am perfect. Lol!

Quite some time ago – when I first started writing online – I sent an email with a sarcastic, teasing line. As soon as I sent it I realized that the recipient would not take it the same way I was meaning because of a personal history. Oh no! My hands were shaking and sweaty – I was beating myself up as I quickly called to explain and apologize.

What a gracious, loving response I received. Just like the end of the verse says to bear with one another. TOLERATE eachother’s mistakes. Eachother’s personality quirks. Because my goodness do I ever have some personality quirks!

And am grateful to you all for the tolerance you show me. :-)

Jun
11

Considerations Before Jumping Into the Blogging World

By | Birthing a Blog

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Just as parenting should be done with a bit of forethought – so blogging can become something that requires a tad bit of commitment. Or at least if you want it to take off and develop into something with a life of it’s own, you really ought to put a little bit of forethought into it.

So here are a few considerations that come to mind before making the blogging commitment:

A Support System For Bloggers

There is a saying “it takes a village to raise a child” which simply means that any one person, trying to do everything on their own, will soon experience burn out. Bloggers have to be SO MANY things – graphic artists, website designers, writers, marketers, advertisers, PR reps, social media gurus and more.

When you have a support system in place you will have others you can rely on to help you pick up the slack. Where you have a weakness, they may be stronger, and help you compensate for those areas.

A Passion to Share Via Blogging

Having a child, I mean – er – creating a new blog, is not something to be done frivolously. But rather with passion. In a survey via Twitter @JessicaGotlieb shared this insight for something that a blogger should consider before jumping in, “Ask them why they want to do it. if they don’t have a reason why then they might not have a good message.”

It’s Easier to Focus When They Don’t Come Ten at a Time

The reason such things make sensational news stories is because that is not the norm. Blogs tend to develop better in the early stages when you are focused and dedicated to just one. @jenniferbourn said “Pick a niche and focus on something you’re passionate about. Easier to expand later.” And she’s right. When your blog is walking and talking on it’s own, it is very easy to add a sibling.

Create a Space for Your New Blog - Photo by Emmanuel Garcia

Living Arrangements and Names For Your Blog

You have to make room for the new baby somewhere – accommodations can be either very basic, free-hosted sites like blogger or free wordpress. Or the living arrangements can be a lot fancier and more complex. While any parent can tell you that simple is certainly all that is needed to get started, there are some basic things that are helpful and can make things easier or more effective.

Like a self-hosted site and true domain name. Why condemn your blog to be just a plain “Jane Doe” when it’s so easy and relatively inexpensive to purchase a domain name and set up a website? Sure, I started out with a blogspot.com blog or two or ten, but I quickly learned how much easier is it to just begin with a domain name from the very beginning.

May
24

Why Should You Have a Blog? Motivations and Considerations

By | Birthing a Blog

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Everyone has a different reason for becoming a parent – and I think that a blog is the same exact thing. What spurred you to become a parent?

For example was it a form of self-expression? A way of leaving a mark on the world? A calling or a duty thrust upon you? Sometimes the motivation to blog comes before the blog idea is conceived – and sometimes after.

Blogging as a Form of Self-Expression

Haven’t you heard parents who talk about their Mini-Me’s? Their little clones? Their ways of sharing with more of the world a part of who they are? Of reliving parts of their lives and exploring more of who they are?

Blogging is no different. Many bloggers begin blogging to explore additional facets of their being. To somehow find a way of bringing out more of what is hidden inside.

Blogging Can be a Way to Reach Into Future Generations

Blogging as an Unexpected Duty

Sometimes it’s not expected. It’s something that happens “by accident” so to speak. I talked to one blogger at Blissdom Blogging Conference who shared that her original blog was a job she was given by her boss and not something she ever intended to do at all. But sometimes, those unexpected blessings become true joys and we suddenly find our lives would not be complete without them.

Blogging as a Lasting Legacy

For me this was probably a driving force. The idea of leaving an indelible mark on the world that would last far beyond my OWN life and my own existance was appealing. As it for many parents – a way to shape future generations that we will never see. Something permanent in a world where so much else is quickly undone and forgotten.

Blogging as a Sacred Calling

Sometimes we are passionate about providing a service or resources to a community and feel called to empower others through our blog with the things that we have to offer. As with parenting – this sacred duty is something we take very seriously and are willing to sacrifice other pursuits to achieve.

Blogging As Part of a Community

Sometimes it seems that some people begin blogging because others in their peer group are blogging. The “everyone is doing it” mentality can be very appealing. They have a secret language. A code. Inside jokes. Special events. The allure is powerful. And so we jump into the blogging waters and find ourselves one of “them” and finally on the inside.

What is your motivation for blogging? Do any of these seem to resonate with your reasons for blogging? Often bloggers find a little of each or perhaps none of these fit you at all. I’d love to hear what you think and more about your reason for starting a blog.

May
13

New Blog Series – Birthing a Blog! From Conception to Independence

By | Birthing a Blog

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In honor of the birth of Adam, my fourth and newest baby blessing who joined us April 9th, I thought I would start a new blog series. “Birthing a Blog – Conception, Growth and Development Tips of Raising a New Blog” will be the full version – an ebook when it’s all said and done. But as I flesh out my thoughts and ideas you, my lovely readers, will be privvy to the process.

A parenting manual for blogs! Because sometimes they are every bit as unruly as children, aren’t they?

Conception – the seed of an idea

Conceiving a blog idea is an amazing thing. Sometimes it might come in a flash. In an unplanned, one-night-stand type fashion. Other times it is the carefully wrought outcome of months (or even years!) of effort. Either way, no blog is ever full-grown without first being conceived.

The seed of the idea takes root in your mind and begins to grow there. Perhaps your idea is for a personal site where you can market yourself or your services. Maybe you are passionate about a specific topic and seek to fill a niche area with your brilliant wisdom. Or you could be just wanting to find a way to fill an extra hour a day with something a bit more nutritious for your soul than day-time soaps. :-)

Whatever the reason, you are to be congratulated! You are about to join the ranks of millions – parents of a blog. I would say “owner” of a blog but I tend to think of my blogs as little kids sometimes. Hence the title of the book. And the parenting theme that will run throughout this guide. After all, most blog owners, like most parents, put an enormous amount of time, effort and energy into raising a blog in the early stages, with the hopes of reaching some modicum of self-sufficiency in the long-term.

Are you just developing the idea for your blog? If not – how did you conceive the idea for your blog?