How to Blog
Posted in writing on August 18th, 2009 by andrew mackay – Be the first to commentI’m beginning to think that you guys would be better served if I simply hooked my blog up to an RSS feed of Michael Hyatt’s blog.
If you haven’t bumped into Mr. Hyatt before, he’s the CEO of Thomas Nelson and he is a blogger. He takes it seriously, too. The other day, he blogged about blogging — 5 points centered around the idea that content must come before traffic. He’s SO right!
It reminds me of a line from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The managing editor shoots down a story idea from the protagonist, saying “Andy, once you make your column a must read, you can write whatever you want. Until then, you’ll write whatever I want.” We’re meant to not be crazy about that character, even though within the business she’s attempting to run, she’s entirely right.
I think the most important point on Michael’s list is number 1. You think he did that intentionally? Perhaps.
Commit to a specific number of posts per week. Frequency is more important than you think. In fact, it is second only to the quality of your content. If you are writing good stuff, most people want to hear from you. My goal is five posts per week.
It’s like a commitment to your readers: if you come here at x interval, you will always find new material. It’s what I love about Challies.com — I know Tim will have something new up every day. I get home from work, and there’s something to read.
So, I’d encourage you — think about your blog. Think about your writing as a long term part of your life. Think about content first. If you build it… they will come. And throw a baseball around.
