I confess. I didn’t start blogging out of a conviction that I had gems of wisdom to share with an eager audience. In fact, I started blogging because a business coach I was working with suggested—quite strongly—that I do so and refused to listen to my whining. But hey, that’s another story.
In any case, I recently ran across a great post on how to write your first post by Megan Ziman of Marketo.
This smart young woman has great ideas on how to get started, distilled down into three key areas.
First, overcome your fear.
Amazing how many of us are still afraid about putting our thoughts out there. I still feel a tiny quiver in the pit of my gut when I press that “publish” button. I calm down by reminding myself that no one has to read what I write and that my posts generally impart some useful information. Megan’s take seems to be that blogging is pretty much a professional requirement and that you need to get over yourself. You should read her post. It’s terrific.
Second, find something to write about.
Megan recommends reading other blogs. Further, she notes, “Before I started writing my first post, I did a basic Google search. I discovered multiple blogs that specifically included lists of blog post ideas.” I grab a lot of ideas from various feeds I subscribe to, either via Feedly or my Outlook inbox. As a corollary, I recommend creating an editorial calendar that covers what you’ll write about over the next quarter. That’s an efficient approach, and if you’ve accumulated a nice folder of stuff, you can put one together in an hour or less. A great return for a minimal investment of time.
Back to Megan. She also suggests asking for help from others. Brainstorming ideas will prove invaluable. If you work for a company with a content manager, ask that person. Oh, and write about what you know—isn’t that the advice given to novelists? —or counter an opinion you disagree with.
Third, write.
Yup, you actually have to get down to it. Megan is a fan of creating an outline. I am not, but that’s because I’m lazy. And, I will say that creating an outline is one of the best ideas out there. I do outlines all the time when working for clients. Why do I skip them when doing a post? Probably because I’m usually writing at the last minute (bad girl!) and have somehow managed to persuade myself that I’ll do fine without one. Isn’t the human capacity for self-delusion wonderful?
Tell me, how did you write your first blog?
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