C’mon, we all know that’s you at the computer in the image above. :)
Okay, so you’re not a machine and you probably don’t have cool laser guns sticking out of your head.
… Speaking of, um, blogging …
Here are 18 of the most critical skills to success as a blogger, plus related articles. Use this list to help you decide which skill(s) to work on now.
Are you one of those bloggers who worries a lot about whether your posts are “good enough” to publish?
Here are a few tips on how to ensure that it’s the right time to hit the “Publish” button on your latest blog article.
1. Create a post checklist … and use it every time. I have one that I keep pretty close to my chest, but it includes things like “check for broken links,” “search the Web for related resources to cite,” “check your sources,” “add clear calls to action if necessary,” and other such reminders. If you can check off every item on your personal posting checklist for a given article, you’re probably ready to publish the sucker. read more
We all have it. The email inbox reaches 1,000 unread messages like some virtual red flashing light indicator of procrastination. You’ve got 600 tweets to read and 45 DMs to respond to. Your WordPress blog is still version 2.5 and your WordPress Theme only works with WordPress 2.1. The To Do pile on your desk resembles the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You’ve got Netflix movies stacked upon Blockbuster videos past due to return. And your blog is begging for a blog post.
As mentioned in the last article in Nothing to Blog About, not every idea is worth publishing. Not every blog post is publishable. Not every blog post should see the light of the public eye. And sometimes that type of blog post is stopping us from producing blog content.
I can’t tell you the many hours I’ve spent struggling over a blog post, determined it had value and needed to be published. I’d beat at it, thrash it, rip and tear it apart, only to decide it wasn’t ready, nor was I, to have this ever be published.
Has this happened to you? A blog post you want to publish sits in your drafts or stares at you from your blog screen screaming, “NO! NOT YET!”
If people judged me by the number of ideas I generated in single day on the subject of WordPress and blogging, I’d be the Einstein of the blogosphere. If they took a peek into the all the various files, folders, virtual and physical, I have to store all of those ideas, they’d pack me up and send me to the mental institution.
I come up with ideas for things to blog about constantly, rarely running out of ideas. The problem is that few of these see the light of day, or I get so caught up in the ideas, I can’t get past the idea to the Publish button.
As part of this series called Nothing to Blog About, we’re talking about how to stir up your mental pot when the bloggy brain bogs down and content cannot be found. From among the various options suggested already, I’d like to resurrect the traditional idea file. read more
That’s right. Leave. Get out of here. If you got nothing to say to the world through your blog, leave, quit, stop. Get away from your desk, your computer, your office, your home, your life. Go away.
Not forever, just long enough to clear your head and mind and find your creative juices again.
As part of this new series called Nothing to Blog About, we’re looking at the various ways your blogging creativity can be temporarily dried up and plugged up, and how to break the dam. My first recommendation is for you to leave your blog for a vacation. read more
Driving home last night, I was listening to On the Media radio show on NPR. They were reading their Letters section with corrections to some of their past stories.
After they’d reported on the most recent corrections, they summarized that section of the show by saying:
We’ll do our part to keep screwing up to give you something to write about.
I’m sure they heard my laughter all the way to their studios.
Honestly, I can’t say when I’ve heard a better description of blogging.
In Exploring Social Media: Social Media Tools, I featured a list of what other social media sites and experts recommend as their social media tools. Let’s take a step backwards and explore the basics you need to have in place as part of your core social media tools for bloggers and businesses as part of this ongoing series on Exploring Social Media.
While the concept of social media and social media tools confuses many, the basic social tools are ones you probably already have and use. You might not think of these as social media tools, but they are crucial to today’s communication strategies.
You probably understand why you need these, but let’s review the reasons you should have these basics in place to start your blog, online persona, business, or media campaign. read more
The list of Exhibitors in the Exhibition Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center this year is incredibly diverse. So many companies want to reach out to bloggers, and so many blog, social media, and web technologies are popping up everywhere – it’s going to be interesting to learn what’s hot, what’s not, and what will be the future of the web.
Some of the exhibitors I hope to meet up with include: read more
