Take one idea a day and make it your own.

[A Clear Blogging Tip.]

Darren Rowse (problogger.net) started today his second 31 days to a better blog series with his first post of August - Email a new Reader of your Blog a Day post. (Australia is a day ahead of North America and Europe, but you knew that.)

It's a brilliant idea - and a great series. I'm going to try to match him here tip for tip, idea for idea. It's a mismatch - Darren is one of the absolute best theoretical and practical thinkers about blogging out there, but I'm going to give it a go.

So here's my tip for the day: pick one blogging tip - just one! - a day and make it your own. Advice, resources, long lists of tips (let alone books :)) abound about how to improve your blog, increase readership and perhaps even make money.

Where do you find ideas for improving your blog? Here's five - let me know if you run out :) :

1. problogger.net.
2. Copyblogger.com. For example, "How to Steal Great Content Ideas"
3. Logo Designs has some good ideas.
4. There's Blogging Tips...
5. ... And even your Daily Blogging Tips.

Plus, I hope you find some of the ideas here at Clear Blogging (or in the book I wrote) useful as well.

Wherever you find ideas, you need to turn those ideas into action. No action - no results. You just spin your mental wheels, burning up the rubber inside your head without moving one inch. When you find a tip that clicks with you, define the very first physical thing you need to do to get it done, then the other tasks and sub-projects to do.

Here's a quickie form to make this easier for you, with my compliments:

How do you make this tip work?

• Define a workflow. Define up front your process for doing the same thing - implementing a good blogging idea or tip - over and over. You could use the form above, an index card, an online To Do site like 37signals Backpack or whatever works for you.
• Set a time. Make an appointment with yourself to do this. Morning or evening doesn't matter; what matters is making the commitment.
• Follow up. Set a default followup time. If you implement say the Sociable WordPress Plugin today, make a note in your tickler file a week from now to quickly check up on, reassess and gauge the impact (more readers is good) of this tip. Closing the loop this way makes your ownership of that tip a reality.

The tips you choose to take action on can be as simple as using the word Top in your next list post, or as complicated as you want. Mix and match. Watch and learn. Your small improvements will make a massive difference.

Comments

[Mark]

Hello Bob, I'm Mark from ProBloggersMatrix.com. I'm visiting your fine blog via a link from ProBlogger.

Your Clear Blogging Idea Into Action is a lifehack. A lifehack is something that enables us to become more efficient, to live better, to do better and to achieve more with our time and effort.

You have developed a great way to lifehack your niche, which is an idea I first read about over at Skelliewag.org ( http://skelliewag.org/lifehack-your-niche-22.htm ) yesterday.

Thanks for your excellent post.
I'll be back to read more of your blog.
Have an excellent day!

[Genesis]

Great post, I love that you included a template for a daily blog idea! I am adding this blog to my Google Reader and looking forward to reading more blog improvement tips, something we can all use.

[Danielle B.]

You have just touched my OCD heart with your complimentary "Blog Idea of the Day" form.....thanks for your generosity!!! My printer is working as I type ;)

[Emad Ibrahim]

Thanks for this post... I found you through ProBlogger where my post on blogging tips
made it to the list :)

[Ryan]

Nice! As a start-up blogger I need all the help I can get :)

[Bob Walsh]

Ryan - glad to be of help! Blog On!

[Chris @ Martial Development]

Good advice. Odds are that if you aren't riffing off someone else's idea on purpose, you're doing it unintentionally.

[Natasha]

Hi,

Thanks so much for your advice. I like the form you posted. I had this idea that it would be cool if it were fillable... so I took your advice and ran with it and added form fields, a print button and a reset button. I hope that's ok. Here's a link to where you can download it:

http://www.natashasworld.com/pdf/clearblogging_Idea_into_Action2.pdf

[Takuin Minamoto]

I am here through Problogger as well. Great post! And I love that form you cooked up. Thanks.

And the "Top 10 reasons to include the word ‘top’ and a number in your post title" post was great. I never really paid too much attention to it before, but it is so true.

Thanks again.

Takuin

[Venkat]

Great post Bob. You need to have input for the processing unit between your ears to output something which is unique to you. Thanks for the post.