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Customer Engagement & Retention

Why Planned Blogging Pays Off

Does Darren Rowse really love blogging?  How does he make so much money online just blogging?

If you’ve had these questions like I have, or if you don’t know who Darren Rowse even is (shame on you), read on!

One of my favorite blogs to read is ProBlogger.net by Darren Rowse.  Not only is his content clear and easy to follow, but he also is proof that if you blog about what you are passion about, the money will come!

He recently started a new blog about Twitter tips.  Here are a few highlights:

One of the things I’ve been working on over the last few days is a editorial calendar of sorts (or at least the beginning of one)…

darren rowse speaks at blog world expo 2008Why an Editorial Calendar?

As many of you have read, blogging with consistency is crucial to your success!  By creating an editorial calendar at the start of your blog, you can blog with purpose, direction and a focus.  I’d say one of the hardest things about consistent blogging is writers block: you get to a point where you’re not really sure what to share with your readers.  A calendar can help with this since you have a direction and want to follow a system for success.  Remember, it’s never too late to implement these tips for your online business!  Start Now!

Here’s more on why this “calendar system” is effective for Pro Bloggers:

What I’ve been working on in the last day or two is a list of posts that I want to publish. This way I’m setting more of the agenda for where the blog will go…(bold added)

I’ve also been thinking through a few regular ‘types’ of posts that I want to feature. For example I want to interview some top Tweeters on how they use Twitter. I also want to try doing to do some user reviews. Having these consistent types of posts will hopefully help readers to know what they’re getting and will help develop a rhythm for the blog.

I’ve talked to clients about this a lot and need to practice what I preach – have theme days – ie. Free T-Shirt Friday, Monday Madness, whatever.  This gives readers something to look forward to.

So, I commit today to plan, plan, plan for Moller Marketing, the Utah Tourism blog, and others:

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!”

Darren sums it up best with this direct statement about success online (bold added for emphasis):

Being successful at something is very hard if you don’t know what you want to achieve. It’s much easier to hit your target…. if you know what it is.

So, what’s your blogging plan?

19 replies on “Why Planned Blogging Pays Off”

Dude having a plan is a great idea! I love this other post that he did on “finding your posting rhythm” and there is also a great part 2 to that is well! He talks a lot about batch processing, so that you can have time to do other things that you need to get done! Great info on Blogging.

You will never be a successful blogger if you are not thinking it out, and coming up with reasons why people would want to subscribe to your blog and come back. The thought out posts that I have done got the most back links, the most comments and the most love for the search engines. There is no rocket science to this, other then to just do it!

Nike couldn’t have said it better, “Just Do It!”

I agree, a well thought out, well prepared blog post can really get some huge hits.

I also believe, however, that sometimes an urge, something that’s been on your mind, or something you’re passionate about can make a great “buzz worthy” blog post, especially if it’s something you really believe in strongly!

Thanks for the comment!

Outside of generating multiple revenues streams, I believe this is the best tip I have read on blogging so far. Planning helps you in so many ways in making sure you are using all of the great tools associated with blogging.

Excellent! I’m glad you feel this is helpful! Planning and preparation are such a key to success. Like Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees stated:

If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.

Thanks for the great comments. I look forward to your ongoing success and the direction you and Sherry are headed.

This is outstanding advice. Thanks Nate for sharing this concept with us. I am relatively new to blogging and have struggled to be consistent. This is a great way to keep on track. I would argue also that if you have a consistent theme to your blogs, similar to your Tutorial Tuesday that it will encourage readers to come back and spread the word to other readers. It almost acts as a “brand recognition” kind of trigger. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Glad you like it Vincent! I’ve found that the more I prepare, the more traffic and repeat traffic I get to the blog, including great comments like this one!

Hope you subscribe to the email feed so you get the latest updates. Let your friends know about us too 🙂

Talk soon!

Great info Nate. I have put together 2 outlines for 2 blogs that i am going to institute next week. I love the idea. It already eases my mind to follow a format rather than just winging it.
This concept is great.
Thanks
Nate

Yes, it’s an excellent idea. Planning and scheduling means so much. Our problem is trying to figure out just what to write about. In the horse business, things can change so quickly. It’s hard to keep up with everything.

Scheduled blog content is great! I think my problem is there is so much to blog about in my industry. I am trying to choose and focus on what is the priority is where I need to focus. Thanks

Start small and map it out on paper, just like we talked about today. As the article about the Importance of Focus when Starting an Online Business states:

Focus on the smallest possible problem you can solve that will potentially be useful. One of the biggest problems many new companies make is trying to do too many things at once. This makes life really difficult and can impede our progress. Focusing on a small niche has so many advantages: with much less work you can be the best at what you do. Small things almost always turn out to be much bigger when you zoom in.

I look forward to seeing your plan of attack for your new blog.

Your site is coming together and focus is a big part of it. What I realized today is that you are “focusing” on unique gifts, which is a good start. Now if you can take it a step further and find something specific that you can start selling consistently, something “niche” with high demand and low competition on search is a good goal 🙂

Keep the questions coming!

I think a plan for the future is key. Articles, press releases and newsletters need to be well timed. Not only for the users, but to help me determine the best way to use my time.

I’m going over topics to blog about for the next few months; and its good to have that ‘buffer’ in order to think and come-up with new ideas to publish at a comfortable pace.

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