An update of an earlier post [10 Tips for Daily Blogging], specifically to help bloggers finish the November #bloglikecrazy challenge. However, this advice applies to anyone who struggles with daily blogging.
Why Listen To Me?
I have been blogging daily since December of 2011. This is post #2126. In five years, I have missed 27 days in three breaks, scheduled and otherwise. Since August 25, 2014, I have not missed a day.
I have not monetized my blog; I can’t help you work with brands.
I don’t promote my blog; I can’t help you drive engagement.
I put a post out the door every day; I can help you with that.
Lack of Ideas?
1 Mine Your Mail. Send off a rant to a friend? If you felt strongly enough to type a message on the subject, then you feel strongly enough to get a blog post out of it. Same holds true for snarky text messages. This was #5 last time.
Use everything. My friends find text from my emails reappearing on posts. [10 Tips]
2 Go Off Topic. Readers come to a niche blog to read about a niche subject. Horses, in my case. However, your readers are full-developed human beings, with a ranges of interests unrelated to your niche. If something fascinates you, chances are, it will fascinate your readers.
Example: [Foto Friday: Teenage Wasteland]
3 Ask Your Friends. Friend send you a cute picture? Blog post. Get their permission first. Most people will say yes. Some will say no. Try to work something out. If they don’t want their face/identifying details to appear, can you crop the photo/edit the text? If not, move on. Their level of privacy is for them to decide.
Example: [ Guest Post: Call Her George, The Mares Meet]
4 Ask Your Friends II – Vicarious Travel. Friend or family going somewhere interesting? Ask them for a guest post. If they are not into writing, how about a stand-alone of a statue that catches their eye? The majority of my travel posts are guest posts [List of Travel Posts].
Example: [Mardi Gras Parades, A Guest Post], [Art Photo Friday: Statue]
5 Think Small. Have a 500-word post? Break it into two 250-word posts. Two photos? Make them each a stand-alone.
Example: Two horses, one post [On the 1st Day of Christmas: Rodney in a Red Hat]. Two horses, two posts [Christmas 2016, Milton, Christmas 2016, Rodney]
6 Think Big. Find an idea that you can string into a related series. A cooking blog could do a recipes on the same ingredient over the course of a week.
Example: From [Retrospective, Horses in my 0s, 1962-1972] to [Retrospective, Horses in my 50s, 2013 to present]. Five days, plus summary [Milestones].
7 Ask for help. What do you readers want to hear about? Ask a question. Take a poll. Even if the response is crickets, at least you got a post for that day.
Example [Off Topic: Yay or Nay?] & [Poll Results]. Poll was on the acceptability of off topic posts, see above.
Lack of Time?
8 Generic Back-ups. Stand-alone photos work best. A quick, evergreen tip would also be useful. Interesting/cute, non-time-specific images/text that you can put up when you are stumped. In fact, if you are posting such an image, consider saving it as a reserve for a digitally rainy day.
Example: Taken in June on this trip [Recap]. Used in September [Foto Friday: Trailer Shadow].
9 Explain Your Problem. Life get in the way? Tell your readers. Let’s say you have a mommy blog and your kid announces that she needs a scale model of the solar system for the next day. Log on. Write two sentences. Boom. Done. Your readers will identify. I don’t have kids and I can identify. Plus, you get a second post when you come back to explain.
Example [Long Night & The Rest of the Story]
10 Admit defeat. Some days it simply isn’t happening. It’s okay to say so. I like to think it humanizes me. No one can accuse me of posting only the happy bits.
Example: [Taking A Short Break]
Clearly, you can’t do any of these too often. Readers will give up and wander off. Once in a while, simply showing up is enough.
Good luck & keep blogging.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 