The first seminar I attended at Alt Summit was about The Business of Blogging. Ami, Chris, and Pam talked about how to manage the transition of your blog from a hobby into a business. While my blog isn't a full-time business, I've started to approach it a bit more seriously. I've actually implemented some of the practical tips I learned and found that they really helped and gave me some breathing room in my packed days. Maybe you'll find these tips useful too.
- Have regularly-scheduled, original content.
- Be consistent. When you know what you’re going to write about, your readers know it and your sponsors know it too (and may be more willing to pay you for it!)
- Structure your posts regularly through the week, especially Monday to Thursdays which are the heaviest traffic days.
- Most people read blogs around the hours of 8am, 12pm and 3pm. Publish around these times. Have a fresh post up first thing in the morning, just as the East coast is getting ready for the day.
- Make sure your readers can count on you for their content fix. Have regular features your readers can know and depend on.
- Set editorial calendars that outline your monthly posting and yearly editorial content. Make your content sensitive to the seasons and holidays. Knowing this ahead of time has benefits like:
- Gives you lead time to find guest bloggers
- Helps focus your creative content ideas
- Shows potential advertisers and brands that you are serious
- Create a writers’ guideline, a description of what you write about. Good blogs have consistency with their images and writing
- Be proactive in: building your network, promoting your content, reaching out to advertisers
I know I personally need to work on #6. I usually come up with post ideas on a whim (which would explain why I'm writing this post at 11:30pm! Ha!).
Okay, enough about me. Tell me, are you a super-organized, ahead of the game blogger? If you are, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore ;)
0 comments