Blogging with a Full Time Job!

I have a full time day job and often find it hard to find the time to balance work, personal time and blogging. Unfortunately blogging seems to take a back seat more ofthen than not in this equation:( I know many of you out there are dealing with the same problem so I decided to write an article on some best practices you can use to overcome this obstacle. Here are four things you can to do deliver consistent content right now:

Create a "bench" of articles

I would suggest writing a "bench" of 5-7 articles to cover you for those inevitable times when life or works gets in the way and you just don't have time to post articles. What I personally do is jot down article ideas in my PDA's notepad or on scraps of paper as they come to me, so I can always have an available list of idea's to draw from. I find it easier when I have a choice of 3 or more idea's to choose from. I then develop these idea's into posts and then save them for the inevitable "rainy day(s)"

The rule of 6x4

I try to stick to a six paragraph / four sentence structure to keep my idea's focused, unless I'm extremely passionate on the subject. The first paragraph is my introduction, second through fifth paragraph's are the body, and the sixth paragraph is the conclusion. I try to make "every word count" and delete stuff that isn't vital or revelant to my main point. I often find some Bloggers squeeze in "junk" sentences to make their articles bigger!

Create a list of what your main points are and stick to them

I remember when I first started blogging I often didn't know what I wanted to accomplish in my posts/articles. I had a topic's but no direction, no end goals or takeaways for my readers. I now write down a small list of my majors points so I know what I want my readers (you) to take away from reading my posts. It makes my writing faster and easier, and more informative!

Auto-Publish

Most "big name" CMS's (Content Management Systems) have a future-dating publishing option, and you need to take full advantage of it. I think it is actually the best feature of any Blog or CMS software. Once you create your bench of articles you can then set them on an automatic publishing schedule, so you can provide your readers with regularly scheduled content - daily, every other day, etc. It not only helps to develop regular visitors but it also helps your ranking with search engines because your blog will show regular activity.

I hope you found these best practices helpful in managing your blog. One of the main expectations of blog's is to provide a steady stream of content, which also happens to be most blogger's weakeness. If you stick to a steady combination of creating a bench, 6x4 posting, sticking to the point and auto-publishing keeping your blog fresh should no longer be a problem. Try it out and leave a comment if they work for you!

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Blogging with a Full Time Job!
Sunday, 14 December 2008