Wow. I can't believe I have successfully posted every day during May for the Blogathon 2010. To be honest, I didn't think I was going to be able to do this. But I pushed forward and learned a lot as a result. The lessons I've learned in the last 31 days....
1. Every post does not have to be award winning quality. They can be short, brief, witty, fun. No matter what, they shouldn't just fill space, but they should add information to the conversation.
2. Picking a theme for a week's worth of posts can be an easy way to write often and develop a theme. Plus it means shorter posts, so readers are hopefully more likely to read the entire message. (For me, the niche writing posts were great and I plan on doing more such posts.)
3. Commenting on other blogs, or sharing posts, is a great way to get your voice out there and to continue the conversation with readers and fellow writers/bloggers/journalists.
4. I also realized that I see blogging as a conversation between the writer and the readers. This is something I'd always known and felt but never fully articulated until this month. And it seems to be a belief that not everyone shares or fully understands. Now, I want to write more about this in the weeks ahead.
5. I need to spice things up with more entertaining content, something more than just text. Video, pictures, whatever...
6. Pre-posting is the way to get content up on the weekends, and not have to think about it when away from the computer and taking time to disconnect.
7. There is just not enough time in the day to do everything and write everything I'd like to. (Not that I just learned that this month, but I saw it more clearly this month as I tried to view the other blogs contributing in the Blogathon and failed miserably.)
8. I also acknowledge that I don't think it is necessary to post daily. Although, I do want to post more frequently than I did the months before this Blogathon.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteTerrific post. I fell badly that I'm only getting to see a lot of great blogs now that it's June. I can especially relate to 1 and 7. The important thing for me was to just get out there writing something everyday and after that things took care of themselves. I'm still working at 4, as my target readers don't always want to share, so I'll definitely be back to see your future posts on this topic. Congrats on completing the Blogathon!
Kathy
http://outandemployed.wordpress.com
Scheduling posts ahead was definitely the only way I was able to get something up every day. It's a great tool that I, too, don't use enough. It is a bit devastating to realize there aren't enough hours in the day to write all the things I want. After reading your post, I think that's one of the big things I could have added to my list, too. It's good to know there are so many wonderful and interesting things to share.
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