Another tip for your blog
Here’s the one and only tip you’ll ever need if you don’t want your blog to be discovered by Google or anyone else for that matter …are you ready?
Tip: Stop writing
That’s it, that’s all you have to do if you’d prefer to keep your blog hidden under a virtual rock or in a hole. That’s right, stop writing and let your content stagnate, turn green, and grow fuzz just like the science project growing in the back of the refrigerator. You know the one, it’s in the container than no one wants to open or touch with their bare hands, yeah the one that stinks…
Okay, okay, so you think this tip is absurb…and it is. Yet, this is what happens to the average blog. The owners start out super geeked about starting a blog and at first they start out posting every few days, then it dwindles down to once a week.
I’m not having a schizophrenic episode – I know that last week I gave you 1 Tip that will help you blog better that encouraged you to periodically take a break from blogging, to help you refresh your mind and most importantly, live your life, but that tip was by no means to encourage you to take extended breaks that border abandonment. In my opinion, 3 – 5 posts a week are enough to maintain your readership, but you don’t want to go weeks without writing.
I don’t want to stumble on your site and find a post like this:
“Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while. Life is just so crazy right now…blah…blah…I’ve been dealing with some serious issues…yada yada… but I’m back now…here’s an update…”
This kind of post is acceptable when you announce it ahead of time, or when it’s not a habit. If I visit your site a month later and I almost choke on the cobwebs, that’s pretty much a sign to me that you’ve left town for good. I probably won’t visit you anymore.
This is not to reduce or make fun of anyone’s hardships or life’s issues. I’ve experienced periods where I’ve had to post one of those messages. If you have a life, it’s bound to happen, but here’s my point:
Whenever you stop writing, after about three days of nothing your blog looses life for everyday that you don’t post anything. Every day that nothing new appears, it makes it harder and harder for people to discover the valuable information you do actually have on your blog. When you don’t write some new, it lets the millions of other bloggers who are writing – no matter what the quality – gain leverage that could’ve belonged to you.
When you stop writing, it reduces your chances of ever being discovered by that CEO of that multi-billion dollar company who is looking for people just like you. When he set out to do a search, Google decided to present him with a list of blogs that had the most recent posts. Even though your posts were more in tune with what he was looking for, he missed it because let’s face it, people rarely click on to page two of the search results which is where your blog could be found. Instead that CEO chose another blogger who will now receive $5000 a month just for posting one entry a day. Tsk, tsk, tsk…
This is not to discourage you if you can’t do more than a few posts a week – we all have other responsibilities besides writing for a blog. Instead, I encourage to find more creative ways to present something new to your audience everyday or at least every other day.
Here’s 6 alternatives for what you can do when you’re not able to write:
- Make a video instead – if you upload it to Youtube (this is actually most preferable), you can draw in loads of traffic from that site. It also keeps visitors on your site longer and sends search engines the message that you’ve got something good on your site. I’m sure you’ve already heard this one a thousand times by now. If so, I’m probably repeating it because despite having the little built in camera in your laptop, you still haven’t done it yet. :) If you’re shy, get a friend or a relative to do it – or you can simply leave yourself out of the video and simply talk in the background as you record relevant visuals. For example, if you’re blogging about RC cars, record the cars as you talk about them in the background. You can also select a relevant video from Youtube to embed in a post – just be sure to write an intro so your readers will understand its importance. You don’t want it to be obvious that you just slapped a video up there because you just didn’t feel like writing that day.
- Create a photo-post – use photos and few captions to tell the story or make your point. Include a brief into to orient your readers to what’s going on. This can work for comic strips or other graphics if you obtain permission to use them.
- Make a PowerPoint e-course or record an on screen demonstration with Camtasia Studio software to create a how-to video. This is especially useful if you’re doing a software review. It’s also great because you can offer this course later as a subscriber incentive or even sell it if it’s good enough.
- Allow someone else to write a guest post for your blog or go to ezinearticles.com to find a relevant article from the directory. If you choose this option, don’t just go there and grab any old article. Choose one that’s well written and has the least amount of links to other sites. Once you’ve found a good one, write your own intro to the article explaining either why you chose it, why you like it, or why is relevant to your blog. Then create an original, but related title for your post (don’t tamper with any of the article’s content or you’ll violate copy right). You can even close the post by posing your own questions or other notes.
- Create a link list post – You’ve seen this a thousand times, pretty self-explanatory. See Not-so-big Weekly Link List for Bloggers if you need an example.
So that’s at least five days worth of alternatives right there – but don’t use them all in one week. Instead, save them for when you’re in a pinch. Pick one day out the week for posts like these and then alternate your choice over the course of several weeks. These can be powerful alternatives if used appropriately.
Do you have any ideas to add? Do you have a unique way of dealing with those days that you just can’t seem to crank out any new written material? What do you do when you’re in a pinch?
Image: Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
About Kiesha Easley
Twitter: abhibalani
says:
I know, I’m a little late to comment on this post, may be. But it happens with me. In December I had my college examinations. So I left publishing for around 2 months. But I accepted some guest post at that time. It was a good idea for “how not to get out of readers mind?”. :-)
Abhi Balani recently posted..Good Blogger And A Good Blog: What Are The Signs?
Me parece muy agradable tu blog, hecho con calidad bastante legible, yo entiendo poco ingles y te leo perfectamente increible pero cierto. to be better day by day i feel it is your point. of cours talking about bloggs.
My laptop crashed last week and I wasn’t on the web for 5 days so I noticed the numbers began to go down until I was back up again blogging and visiting other blogs. I love writing but I know some ppl find it difficult. One of the things I have learned is to be consistent. If you can only write once a week, as long as you do that, your readers will know that they will have a new post weekly. If it is more often then they will exoect that too. I’m playing catchup this week but I’m getting there now I am back on line.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia recently posted..Lavender Health-Embracing An Organic Lifestyle
Dear Kiesha,
Well I certainly can agree with you regarding the writing part. No one is going to appreciate our work if there isn’t any to appreciate.
On the other hand the occasional sabbatical is wise as well.
We need time to gather energy for the soul in order to keep content high.
If writing for a blog has any one danger, that is for the words to get ahead of the ideas.
I would love to see you write a piece about just that concept.
What happens to an author when his or her words get ahead of his or her ideas or inspiration.
And, how can that happen.
Thanks for saving this comment from the trash if that’s where it is.
Regards,
Dr. Ann Voisin
Kiesha, I just stumbled upon your blog from Twitter…
I’m in total agreement with you… It only takes 10-20 minutes to put up a blog post… Not putting up a post is just lazy…
.-= BrianJUY´s last blog ..You Don’t Matter =-.
Twitter: seommotips
says:
When I started reading post “Stop writing” I thought you are going to give some tips on promoting now.
Anyway, the suggestions are great and pretty convincing.
.-= Suresh Khanal´s last blog ..Secret of Getting Twitter Followers =-.
Great job Keisha! The title of this post really caught my attention. I know that whenever I post a new article, my traffic spikes so its important that I stay consistent.
Last year I wrote a bunch of posts that that I didn’t publish. They took a lot of time to do but I have them in reserve just in case my schedule gets busy and I don’t have time to write.
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..How to Stay Focused and Accomplish Any Task =-.
Comment that was just blocked by your site, Kiesha:
One of the other things that has made it impossible for a majority of our students to have their blogs seen is using the Akismet plug in.
What happens is, if just one person from a class (one home page) leaves a comment on the blogger’s site that the blogger doesn’t like, and the blogger reports that home page to Akismet, then everyone using that particular home page is blocked (white paged) from the blogger’s site. That is, one blocked commenter’s home page = potentially hundreds of visits to the student’s could have had but lose simply by reporting one commenter’s home page to Akismet.
You can check with Akismet at support@akismet.com to check this. We hope you will. It would be a way to save open communication.
I see you use WordPress. We are almost certainly going to have to ban WordPress themes from our campus because Akismet is actually fighting against not just spam, but innocent commenters who just happen to use the same home page as someone else in their class.
Dr. Ann, Provost
Linda Christas College
in other words ,if you want to get found keep writing…i love reverse type post .well done
.-= mk akan´s last blog ..Is Akismet Bullying Your Comments Too? =-.
#6 Post a joke.
It’s my “go to” idea.
I can think of something to talk about at any time but I want to have something worth reading….so I will consider your advice for fillers.
Thanks!
.-= Kissie´s last blog ..Heart of a Child =-.
This is true in most regards. Old articles will still pull in some organic traffic, but google will slowly release you to the bowels of the rankings. In addition, you will start losing your regular readers.
I like your list of post ideas for when you don’t have time to write. It will also be good for when I get minor writer’s block to spark some minor writing and keep the content flowing. Thanks for the tips!
.-= Allmendinger Enterprises´s last blog ..How to Quit Your Job =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Evelyn!
Congrats on the book review! I’m really glad you mention that here because I didn’t think anyone would believe me about that – you’re right on time! The offline opportunities that our blogs can create go beyond the “get rich-make money online” claims.
I enjoyed the video about the 100+ year old man, by the way!
You’re doing a wonderful job with http://www.naturalrawliving.com
Thank you so much! :)
.-= Evelyn @ Natural Raw Living´s last blog ..Don’t Put Anyone On A Pedestal =-.
You got me thinking with this post. I have been trying to stay on top of postings. I’m learning so much from you.
I was recently contacted by publishing company who has requested a book review. They contacted me..I would have never known about the publishing company if the representative hadn’t visited a regularly updated blog. So, being consistent with postings actually do pay off..in my case when I have least expected it.
Whenever, I’m in a crunch or really don’t know what to write, I will share a Youtube video or share one of my own YT videos. That tends to help when I’m busy or have a writer’s block.
Very inspirational post!
Take care!
.-= Evelyn @ Natural Raw Living´s last blog ..Don’t Put Anyone On A Pedestal =-.
I recently went through an unexpected illness and almost everything fell apart and now I find myself trying desperately to rebuild my good reputation. It’s not easy and now I wish I had followed some good advice: stockpile some posts. Write some articles (tie them to some of your earlier foundation posts), they don’t have to be long, then you can keep them in reserve in case of emergency and use them to try and fill in if you need to.
I’m going to bookmark this post too – so I have some other alternatives to draw on. Thank you so much for your great ideas!
.-= Blog Angel a.k.a. Joella´s last blog ..Blog Plagarism – Discourage, Detect & Respond To Content Theft (Part 1/3) =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
I’m really sorry to hear about your illness – I love your blog! The search engines definitely don’t make it easy to recover. I’m glad you found these to be useful and hope you will pass them along.
You’ve built a pretty good foundation, so I’m sure your blog will be back up to par in no time. :)
I agree with Tom on the creating a link post. Those are always a good back up plan. Also, sometimes I will rewrite an old post from years ago – one that never got any attention at the time. I delete the orignal and repost it (is that a wise thing to do?)
.-= Kevin M.´s last blog ..What is Marriage? =-.
Twitter: weblogbetter
says:
Hi Kevin,
Are you kidding – that’s a great idea! I’d probably change up the title a bit if possible, but it’s your blog – and if nobody saw it the first time, why not spruce up and give it a second time around. Thanks for adding that to the arsenal!
I think that writing quick reviews of some of your favourite blog posts is the best idea because not only does it give you content, but it allows you promote some of your network and share some love.
.-= Tom | Build That List´s last blog ..The Aweber Code….And Why You Need To Promote It! =-.