Being a blogger is easy, anyone can sign up and begin writing, but to become successful at it? Now that's a skill coveted by most.
I'm guessing that since you're reading this, you want to become a productive blogger. Well congratulations, you've come to the right place. Here at ImageWorks, we love blogging! We blog like it's our day job. Oh wait, it is.
Blogging can be frustrating, but don't get disheartened, we've all been there. It's important to understand that becoming a productive and successful blogger doesn't necessarily occur overnight. Blogging takes time, practice, planning, and well, all around hard work. So strap on your work boots boys and girls, let's get rolling.
(Remember, in the world of blogging there is no such thing as "copy & paste," and we don't sanction copycats here!)
What core characteristics does a productive blogger have?
1. Passion: All good copywriters have a deep appreciation, admiration, and love for the written word. It doesn't matter what you are writing about because all you've ever loved on God's green earth are words.
2. Dedication: Any copywriter knows the definition of this word inside and out. As a blogger it's important to stay focused to be able to multi task and write efficiently. Without dedicating time and effort to your work, you'll never get anything done.
3. Precision: Not only engineers, chemists, or mathematicians need to be precise. Knowing, and being aware of all the little nuances that come along with the grammar of the English language is also vital to any blogger's career. Sloppy copy writing is born of sloppy authors!
4. Versatility: When you are a copywriter, it's not always blogging about what you know. Sometimes you feel like a fish out of water when you're thrown into a topic like, home improvement, or computer IT services. Any good writer understands that versatility is key, whether it be voice, topic, form, or purpose, you need to be flexible.
5. Imagination: In the business world imagination may be frown upon, but in our world, it's something to embrace. Coming up with new topics, and fresh ideas isn't something you can teach, it's a God given gift.
4 Quick Tips to Make You a Productive Blogger.
Practice writing first about things you like. Unless you've gone through some rigorous schooling, you can't expect to be an amazing writer right off the bat. Becoming a good writer takes time, studying, and most importantly practice. A great way to begin is to sit down and write. Open up a blank page and write down anything that comes to mind. Don't worry about editing, or rereading yet. This is a common exercise to jump start your thinking process, and to find your voice (yes everyone has one in their writing, even me!) Try to steer the topic of your article to have a solid unified subject that ties to the title and context of your piece. You can write an opinionated piece, a product review, a how-to, or anything else you feel comfortable with. Then repeat the process each day until you feel as though you can write clear, concise, and well-informed articles.
Avoid distractions where you can. Distractions are one of the most common factors that cause problems in bloggers' productivity. Once you sit down at your desk to write, do not do anything else until your piece is complete. That means, if you're hungry too bad, if your mom is texting you, too bad, if Netflix posted new episodes of your favorite TV show, too bad, orange is the new black will have to wait. Although it may not be practical, we suggest turning off your phone, email, social media, TV, and anything else you can think of so you don't break your concentration. Being distracted can cause you to lose the flow of your article. Without a strong flow and structure to your writing, you'll lose the integrity of the piece.
Plan ahead of time what you want to blog about. Once you have a basic idea about what you would like to blog about, it's time to get planning. One of my favorite ways to guide a blog in the right direction is to create a flow chart or outline for my blog post. This exercise forces you to stay on topic and give you basic guidelines to follow when structuring your post. Planning may not sounds like a big deal, but you can tell the difference between a blog that was thought-out and a blog that was slapped together. Not to mention, it makes your job, and the whole writing process easier.
Set goals and meet your deadlines. All productive bloggers know that blogging is a job, and that means you have to set rules for yourself. If it takes you a week to create just one post, you're going to have a bad time. Setting a schedule is an absolute must to make sure you stay on track. It will also train you to write a well-written blog within a time constraint. Just as important as having a schedule, it is also equally as beneficial to set goals for yourself. Do you want to publish two 800 word blogs a week? well then that's your goal you can work towards. If you stick with your goals and schedules then you'll be turning out blogs in no time flat!
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