5 Tips for Busy Bloggers

Here's a quick and easy five techniques for taking your blogging up a level:

• Write it down! Have one place - dime store notepad, moleskine notebook, a Word file, whatever - that you consistently use to write down each and every idea for a post as soon as you have it. Don't rely in this CrazyBusy world on remembering that great idea - get it down on paper or into your PC or Mac. Keep one Post Idea List as a way of capturing, collecting and marinating good posts.
• Keep a Storylist - Increased readership comes from high value posts, and high value posts take time to research, write and polish. Whatever your interests are, you want one place where you can track planned posts that are going to take more work than one sitting - and you are going to want track your progress in getting them done. One nice thing about being your own Managing Editor this way is you don't have to commit to a deadline!
• Keep an Anti Post List - Just as there are things you want to post about that should get written down in your Post Idea List or your Storylist, keep a list of things you decide you don't want to write about, or that you've already posted about, or that you've looked at and they just don't smell right to you. Record your decisions and you won't do the same work twice.
• Don't force the Hook. Your first sentence of a post will either get your reader's attention - or it won't. You can sit there for hours writing and rewriting your hook, trying to make it catchy, expressive, interesting and good. Don't. If the words aren't flowing just write, "This is where the first sentence goes" at the top, write the rest of the post, and then come back and write the hook. Works every time.
• Reread your Post before submitting, each and every time. The more excited you are about what you are writing, the more likely you'll have typed utter garbage at some point. Always take a moment to reread your post before submitting it - you will save yourself from countless embarrassing moments.