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Emergency back-up blog post – do you have a lifeline ready?

Emergency back-up blog post

When I worked as a journalist in a busy BBC newsroom, we used to have something called the emergency tape. It was a programme that we could put on the air in case of an emergency, for example if we needed to evacuate the studios because of a fire alarm, flood etc. It was rarely ever used. But it was a real lifeline if we needed it.

I was talking about the idea of emergency back-up content earlier this week. And wouldn’t you know it, I could have really done with a blog post ready and waiting in reserve.

I always schedule time in my calendar to write, edit and create images for my blog posts. But this week that time was demanded on another project, and then a family emergency meant I really had nowhere else to schedule it.

How back-up content can help you stay on schedule

When I set myself the challenge of writing a blog post every week for a year (on top of my regular writing work) I had a few emergency blog posts banked up in reserve. That meant that if I was travelling, or working away; if I felt sick or an important event clashed with my dedicated blogging time, I had a back up to rely on.

I didn’t use all of those back-up blogs that year, but they haven’t gone to waste, as I used them to create content for my website and inspire content that I now use in my freelance writing, training and brand storytelling business.

Always have ideas in the bank

As a BBC radio and television reporter, I also had a bank of  ‘rainy day/anytime stories’. These were ideas that I could pick up on a slow news day and turn into a radio or television package.

I’ve applied the same strategy to regular writing tasks in my time. When one idea has lead to another, or when I’ve got more research and information than fits the word count for that task, I’ve filed it away to come back to when I needed it.

Do you have back-up content ready to go?

This has become my emergency blog post. Hastily pulled together when I’ve had ten minutes or so while travelling.

What I’ve learned this week is to make full use of that valuable newsroom training.  To go back to the discipline of making sure that I do have content ready to publish quickly if I need to.

Is that  a strategy you could use in your business too? What do you do when you’re short of time? Out of contact? Or if you just need some business content in a hurry.

As they say in broadcasting, normal service will resume as soon as possible.

How to write a blog post in one hour

Blog faster- how to write a blog post in an hour

I often hear people running their own businesses say that they’d like to write more blog posts, but they just don’t have the time. I don’t think it has to be that way. So I’ve set myself a challenge. Can I write this blog post in one hour and show you how to do it too?

The clock is ticking. Or rather, the timer on my phone is counting down, so let’s go.

Where to start? With a store of ideas

Where do ideas for blog posts come from? I read, listen and watch the news. I browse the web, read articles and blog posts. When I find something interesting I stick it into a swipe file or a notebook.

Stick your ideas into an online pot, like Evernote or OneNote  and they’re accessible any time anywhere. Or keep a notebook and jot them down at the back. Just make sure you always have it with you.

Ask your friends, family and community what they want to hear about. Even if you only have a small number of followers or subscribers to your mailing list or blog, a few ideas from them are better than none at all.

Don’t wait for inspiration to strike. You may find you’re waiting a long time. The more you go looking for it, the more you’ll find.

10 mins gone and I’m well into creating content from one of my stored ideas.

What does a blog post need?

  • Title
  • Image
  • Lead para
  • Practical hints and tips
  • Question/conclusion/where to go for more

Applying a structure can help you focus on what you need to get the job done and stop you getting side tracked.

So what do I have?

  • Title  – well that’s the challenge of this blog and something I swiped from my ideas store
  • Image – I can go to my file of images on my laptop and use something like a picture of my desk. Or I can spend 5 mins looking for rights-free images on a site like pixabay or pexels.com. I’ll do that in a few minutes.
  • Content – well that’s what I’m doing now. Typing directly into WordPress, or a simple text editor such as One Note or Evernote.

I usually type in Word, but I don’t want to be distracted by too many formatting options and I know that when I copy and paste into WordPress, it does some wonky formatting that I’ll have to reset. So keep it simple and avoid having to spend time re-formatting.

Use a template or formula

You may think that writing posts to a formula or template will get dull and boring. But most well written stories on the web, including news stories, are written to some kind of template and chances are you’ve never really noticed.

A template, such as headline, lead paragraph, content, conclusion gives your writing a structure and direction. That keeps you focused as you’re writing it and helps make it easy for your audience to read too.

Applying a formula is one way to help you write blog posts quickly and consistently. Once you’re up and running, and have built your confidence, then by all means play around a play around a little and try a new one.

If something works well for a post – then repeat it.

30 minutes left

I’m not working through my list in the same order that I’ve written it. The first thing I’m working on is the content, what I’m writing or typing right now.

I’m not particularly crafting each line as I go, just getting my thoughts down in some kind of order. When I have my first draft complete, I’ll go back and tidy up any spacing, capitalisation, spelling and grammar problems.

And I’ll  start formatting headers and sub headers in WordPress too, to make this easy to read.

Next up I’ll go and hunt out that image and place it in the post with a description and alt tag (because that’s good for SEO).

How to write a blog post quickly and consistently

We’re all busy. We all have lots of things to do. But the truth is that we all have the same number of hours in a day and days in a week. It’s what we choose to do with them that differs.

If writing a regular blog post for your business is important to you, then make time for it. Schedule time with yourself, just like you would for a meeting or a call with a customer.

Make an appointment

Commit to writing a blog post in a regular time slot and see how productive you can be. That means no phone calls, no sneaky peeks at social media, no email checking. Just focus on your appointment to get that blog post written.

Once you get in the flow, you may find that you can get more done more quickly. And get smart. If you do find you have a chunk of time, and you’re in the flow, why stop at one? Write two or three and get them scheduled ready to post.

If you don’t have a block of time all in one go, then break it up into chunks and do a bit at a time. Say you have ten minutes on Monday – use that to fill your inspiration file. Another ten minutes on Tuesday? Start sketching out the content for your blog post, do some more research or look for images you can use.

Okay. Content’s written. I’ve got an image. How am I doing for time?

10 minutes left

Time to review and check and see what this post looks like. I spotted a few errors and tidied up some bullet points and formatting.

I’ve also time to do a quick review of SEO, looking at keywords. I use the Yoast plugin to help me.

My one hour blog post plan

  • Pick an idea from my swipe file
  • Commit to a time to write and create the post
  • Draft rough copy in OneNote
  • Copy into WordPress (second draft) and write in complete sentences
  • Create a title
  • Insert an image – choose from my own library or search online
  • Format the post with headings, bullet points etc
  • Preview and amend
  • Check SEO
  • Publish or schedule

Okay, just a few minutes left now. Time to preview and check again and to write a quick line to introduce this on my social sharing platforms.

Now, time for the truth. Was this helpful to you? Did you find it useful? Let me know in the comments below.

For more business writing and marketing  tips like these sign up to my mailing list.

How to find your business blogging confidence

There’s been a lot of chat about business blogging in my online networks this week, with several people expressing a lack of confidence about doing it.

I’m a writer. I blog and I have done for years. I’m not saying I always do it as well or as consistently as I could do, but I’m not afraid of writing blog posts for my own and other businesses. By addressing some of your worries and sharing what works for me, I’d like to help give you more confidence to blog for your business.

Why blog for your business?

There’s lots of advice about this, so I’ll give you the short version. Blogging is a relatively easy way to generate new content for your website. Search engines like new content, so your site appears higher in their rankings than static sites, and more customers find you.

Blogging is also a great way to establish your knowledge and expertise, to give your customers a chance to get to know more about you and your business and to build up a relationship with them.

I don’t like writing and I’m no good at it

photographerWho says you have to write a blog? Why not use video or photographs?

You don’t need fancy equipment and editing software for video or vlogs – a smartphone or the video mode on a digital camera will do. Film them selfie style, or fix your camera onto something. I’ve balanced mine on a pile of books before now.

Pictures also make great blog posts. A series of photos of an event, product or experience are an excellent way to show what your business does. You can add captions or let them tell their own story.

I am not great at using pictures in my blogs. I prefer to use my own to avoid rights issues. But I have found pixabay and Unsplash useful for sourcing rights free images and have created some of my own using Adobe Spark and Canva.

Or, best of all, hire a professional photographer to get some great pictures of you and your business that you can use time and time again. That’s on my to-do list in the next six months.

As for being confident or ‘good’ at writing blogs, all I can say is that if you don’t try, it won’t get any easier. Let your audience or customers decide how good you are. And if you need some help, then ask your friendly local writer for help with subjects, structure or writing style.

I don’t have any ideas for blog posts

This is quite difficult for me to understand, because I have ideas all the time. I watch the news, sign up for alerts to subjects I’m interested in, go for a walk, talk to people, look through photos on my phone. I read, I dream, I cook, I run – I mash things up from one area of my life and another. I have more ideas than I will ever get to write about.

Working in creative industries means I’ve always had to think of ideas. As a BBC Radio journalist I had to source at least two news stories a day, which meant generating a lot more than two ideas and working on them until I ‘found’ a story.

Wordstruck notebooksAs a creative copywriter, I had to generate lots of ideas for marketing campaigns. Here, working with other creative people really helped me to bounce ideas around, and spark new ones from others’ input. The trick was not to dismiss any idea straight away, to keep on generating them and only then start to apply filters about what would work well.

I take the same approach to blogging now. If I’m asked to write about a particular theme or subject, I’ll do a bit of research and then jot down as many ideas as I can.  I’ll leave them for a while before coming back to them to decide which ones to present to a client.

I write ideas down in OneNote, and in my notebooks. Nowadays, I normally have a phone or notebook with me, but I have scribbled things on the back of bus tickets in my time. Most of my ideas are a sentence, phrase or question that acts as a prompt, but sometimes they can be a quote or an observation.

I don’t think my ideas are any good

If you want to be strategic and smart about blogging for your business, then think about your audience or your customers and what they would be interested in. Here are a few themes to get you started:

  • What advice can you pass on?
  • Share  your view of what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ – what goes into your product or service?
  • Review an activity, event, place, product or service
  • What do you wish you’d known when you started in business?
  • Think about questions that your customers always ask you – can you answer some of these in a blog post?
  • How can you help your customers do business with you or a closely related business? For example this guest post for Whiteacres Design offers great tips for choosing a commercial photographer

If those aren’t enough then here are 50 ideas for your business blog.

And if you’re still struggling, then drop me a note in the comments below or contact me through the Wordstruck facebook page.

I don’t have time to blog

As a business writer, one of the services I offer is to write blogs for your business. So, it may seem a bit odd that I’m writing this blog post, as I could be doing myself out of business. But I recognise that not everyone has the budget or inclination to hire a writer. And I love writing so much that I want to share that with you.

Here are some of the things that helped me:

Set a time and place for blogging

Wordstruck writing deskMy brilliant writing mentor John Simmons has written a weekly blog post for years. He sets aside a specific day and time to write.

I wrote a weekly blog on a writing theme for over a year, following the same discipline and setting aside an hour a week to do it.

I didn’t always complete my blog post in that hour, but I made a start. Sometimes I could extend that time, sometimes I had to find it somewhere else. But I made it a goal to get it written and published.

Make yourself accountable

I set myself a weekly blogging goal because I wanted to generate content, and because I wanted to test my ability to come up with new ideas on a consistent basis. This was actually the start of convincing myself that I had the right attitude to set up in business for myself.

If it helps, tell someone what your business blogging goal is, or at least write it down e.g. I will post a blog about my business once a week for 6 weeks. I announced mine on my twitter profile.

Take on a bet, or promise yourself a reward for sticking to your blogging goals. Buddy up with your social or business network and challenge and support each other.

Just do it

Blogging is a great way to develop your confidence in writing and talking about your business. Remember, you’re in charge of what you publish and when. And, you can go back and edit things (even delete them) if you want to.

So, try not to get too hung up on writing the perfect blog post . Just write it and publish it. After you’ve taken a deep breath and calmed down, go back and look at the responses, comments, views and analytics and use them to help you decide what to post next.

Special business blogging offer

Writing this blog post has made me realise there’s a lot more I could say about business blogging. So I’d like to hear from you. What challenges and concerns do you have about blogging for your business? What more would you like to know?

Please add your comments below or get in touch with me via the Wordstruck facebook page. I promise to respond to every comment.