Pretty early in the life of this blog, I wrote a post on why you should be blogging.
Did you pay attention?
Did you start a blog? Did you ever write a second post?
Or a first?
Excuses, Excuses! Why not?
I don’t have anything to say
Actually, the bar here is pretty low. Do you talk? To anybody? About what’s going on? Anywhere? Excellent. Post.
Now, of course, we’re talking about a blog that has some value – to you and to your readers. Random thoughts won’t work forever, but I’m willing to bet that if you try this 2 or 3 or 4 times, you will start coming up with relevant ideas. And guess what? You can go back and get rid of the early stuff later!
Remember – you don’t have to write an essay. Think of your first few posts as updates, just like Facebook or even Twitter. A sentence or two, a paragraph. Put your toe in the water.
I’m not a writer
Believe me, most bloggers aren’t “writers” either. They’re not perfect and they’re not any better than you. They just post anyway. (Shh, they often don’t even proofread!)
A good way to get started is by doing some curated content. Find some articles that you think are interesting or relevant or well written and pick out your favorite quote. Explain why it’s your favorite and what drew you to the article. You look smart without doing much of your own writing!
Remember that you MUST (was that loud enough?) hyperlink to the original article in your post.
I don’t have time
Do you have time to update your Facebook status? You have time to blog.
Do you have time to Tweet? More than once a day? You have time to blog.
Guess what? You can use the content from your Facebook status or your Tweets to get your blog started. What are you writing about today? Make it a little longer and post it. See, you are a writer! That information was already out there in public, this is just another venue for it.
I don’t know-how
Technology can be intimidating, but blogging has been around long enough to have some great resources for you to get started. Here are three of my favorites:
Blogger.com is a free site which walks you through the blog creation process step-by-step—my 10-year-old has a blogger blog. Blogger is part of the Google family of products so if you have a Google account, it’s even easier to start a blog there.
Tumblr.com is another free site for creating a blog. Tumblr blogs are usually shorter-form and might be less intimidating. Tumblr has lots of fun themes and also walks you through the process of creating your special place to post.
Livejournal.com is another free blogging platform that is easy to use. Commenters on Livejournal have to register, but if that doesn’t bother you take a look at this platform.
If you’re still nervous about blogging, write a few draft posts on whatever you want. Don’t publish them until you feel good about them.
A company blog, an industry blog or even a personal blog is an important part of your brand, whether you are an executive or a freelancer. Stop making excuses! Blog!
Wendy Stackhouse, for Artisan Creative