Hi! I've just set up my first paid hosting wordpress blog which will turn into my portfolio website also. To begin with it's just an experiment to get into the blogging groove and to have an addition to my portfolio site,before i make a serious blog. I have a question.. How do you organise the material your going to publish? Especially if your writing in a niche that you know well? (eg, you write most of it off the top of your head with minimal research) Reason i ask is aside from this first blog ,the next blog i intend to turn parts of it into paid membership areas and possibly do podcasts or e-course's /seminars and the like based on what i'm studying at the moment. I can't figure out what to offer first and free (I've read dosh dosh and entrepreneurs-journey) . I know first content released will be what brings in readers (or not lol) . Should I totally plan out the content ,like write all post titles and figure out exactly what podcasts/ecourses and other digital products should contain before i even start? or let it evolve. so in summary, How do you organise the material your going to publish? do i let it content i publish evolve naturally? should i preplan digital products,even if launching them on site won't be months down the track ? thankyou, arcanus
This is what I do, not sure how is everyone else doing it. You should write your blog posts on papers, or wordpad notes first, organize the titles, and everything. Then when you have "some" content to publish, publish them at once. Make your topics connected and unique, so first impression will be good. But sometimes I post without pre-planning, it depends on the blog subject, some subjects require planning, and some really do not.
Well, your question is a good one and difficult to answer, as the approach of one blogger may not be fit for another. If you have good hold on your niche as you say, then content creation is not a problem, right? So you can easily pre-plan your posts. Start with what core topics you will be serving on your blog to your readers. Make a list and make a post about what readers will find on your blog, or what your blog is all about. Take a look in this example, to get some idea. Then plan some pillar articles, which outlines the basic tutorials or information about your niche. You can also start a monthly How To series and monthly link round up post. I think you have got an idea, how to go ahead. I hope this information will be helpful to you
Arcanus, Great questions I haven't done this before, but yes, you have to plan ahead for your digital products. From my blogging mentor, I learned that the purpose of preplanning (and post about your preplanning in your blog) is to create buzz, so when the time comes, you will receive targeted traffic of ppl wanting to subscribe to your blog. Cheers!
I have never done podcasts before so I can not answer that question but as for posting I would definitely plan your posts in advance if the subject you are covering is not time sensitive i.e. breaking news or something like that. When you plan in advance I have found that it is easier to be consistent over a long period of time I still post spontaneously sometimes if I all of a sudden get some inspiration it is possible to do both actually I think. I hope this perspective helps good luck with everything.
Plan for at least next 10 weeks material Write at least 10 complete posts and further 10 post ideas. So that you can devote next 10 weeks marketing and promoting your posts and not worrying about writing. Launch with the best material possible: podcasts,free e-books, anything that you think would straightaway get you in the minds of readers. First few weeks would need a lot of work, a populated blog both in terms of what you posts and visitors.
I just get into it...ergo, 'let it evolve' Whatever time ti takes to produce ten quality articles is wasting time you could be indexed and grabbing traffic. I would just drop an article and keep dropping during the week.
I actually go the "problogger" way (kind of). Though I don't churn in that much of articles as he does, it seems to be a good way of organizing, plus other tips. http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/04/24/my-blog-posting-workflow/ Nothing much that I do, just organize the topics into folders corresponding to my categories. And when I get an idea I put a notepad, and scratch it in there. Later I develop around it into about 200 or so words, and presto, You've got post! I publish it, then move that notepad into a folder called "Posted", and that's all!