Posted Friday, August 1, 2008 by
jeff lefevere
Have you ever wondered how others find time in their day to write consistent (and consistently good) blog posts?
You may think to yourself,
“If only I had the time.”It’s easy to de-prioritize blogging in order to stay caught up on email and the real core of your business -- growth.
De-prioritizing your blogging, however, is a mistake, especially in the face of your in-box and business growth.
Simply, you likely write close to two thousand words a day in email. One blog post is the equivalent of 250 – 300 words. So, in the course of business, on a daily basis, you likely write at least 8 blog posts, at a minimum. And, likely, at least half of those emails are internal and operationally oriented, not affecting the acquisition of a new customer.
Secondarily, as an adjunct to your daily email, your real daily focus is helping the business run smoothly and drive growth.
When you think about where you can save time, or shift time to focus on blogging, it would have to be getting out of the email in-box and into the blogging platform.
I say this not for the obvious reason that time spent emailing and blogging is a one-to-one trade-off, instead it’s because blogging for business allows you to create content that is optimized for search engines and that traffic subsequently leads to customer acquisition and a flow of potential new customers.
These two factors combined make daily blogging a no-brainer.
Am I positing that time spent blogging instead of emailing will lead to growth in your business? Yes I am.
So, say no to those four emails that don’t advance the situation forward, though they may advance your opinion forward, and drive that energy into growing the business, using blogging as a tool to do so.
A couple of tips to take your creative brainpower into overdrive:
1) Start to view your work life in terms of story vignettes
The customer situation yesterday that was resolved and made the company look good? It makes a perfect blog post!
2) Think about your business and blogging tangentially.
That Fortune, Men’s Health or Cooking Light magazine you read in your personal time is a treasure trove of cultural currency that can be cross-pollinated with your business for pop culture relevancy. That article about the healthiest cities in America? Well, if you’re a healthcare blog, there has to be some relevant tie-in to your business
3) Keep a notebook handy to scrawl down the genesis of an idea when it strikes
You won’t remember the idea later, but just the scribbled note will jog your memory.
I hope these tips help drive your blogging success forward.
How do they get their bloggers to write content on a constant basis? They do so by having fun. As you can see from the pictures in this post, they motivate their bloggers by keeping them laughing. Giving them popcorn is not "corny" as you can see, it is entertaining. They also award each other with the "Best Blogger of the Month" award which is a hot commodity at this place! It is a coveted certificate naming one person as the "best in blog" for the month.
Not only are BabyPlus' in-office motivation tactics creative, but so are their blogs. The content they write is always fresh and new. BabyPlus does a great job of incorporating current events into their posts. Another reason they are receiving such a high number of visitors is that they do a nice job of creating fun and interesting titles. Good job BabyPlus, see you in the next round!
This is my first 
Writing interesting, compelling content for blog posts is very simple. Just a dash of brainpower is necessary in order to set yourself up for success.
