Be a Better Blogger: Organizing Tips for Beginner Bloggers

Everyone is blogging nowadays. Some people blog about their small business, some blog about personal challenges and accomplishments, and some blog about blogging!

Whatever you blog about, it’s important for your blog to be organized.

Why does your blog need to be organized?

• An organized blog is an easy to read blog.

• An organized blog is a place readers want to come back to (isn’t that what we want our readers to do?).

• An organized blog represents YOU. You don’t want to look disorganized to your readers!

Whether you’re thinking about starting a blog or wish to tweak an existing one, here are a few tips based on basic organizing philosophies that will keep you on track as you blog:

Schedule it
We make appointments for the doctor, an oil change and the cable guy. Why not make an appointment for yourself for blogging? Blocking out the time on your calendar gets you one step closer to accomplishing the task. Figure out how many times a week you are able to post and stick to that schedule. But, be realistic—brainstorming, writing, taking photos/video and commenting takes more time than you think it does.

Sort it out
Compile a list of topics you’ll want to discuss on your blog. Look at a calendar--are any of your topics seasonal? Plug them in to the months they belong in. For instance, as a Professional Organizer, I would blog about Spring Cleaning in April. An accountant might blog about tax season in January. Other topics might revolve around holidays, trade shows, milestones or history.

Break it down into small chunks
Take those topics and create subtopics for them. So, if the accountant were to blog about tax season in January, and has decided to schedule one blogging appointment a week, he or she may blog about 1099’s the first week, dividend statements the second week, what papers to bring to the accountant the third week, and helpful filing tips the fourth week.

Delegate
Sometimes we need a break from blogging. Find other blogs of similar interest and link to their information for your readers. Check out blogs that are pertinent to yours and invite their authors to be guest bloggers on your site. You get a break from writing while your guest blogger gets a whole new set of readers (and possible followers) of their blog. It’s a win-win!

Get rid of the clutter
Too many pictures, videos, or advertisements detract from what you’ve written. Keep the look of your blog simple and streamlined. You have to grab the reader’s attention within the first three seconds of their arrival at your blog. If they have to spend those three seconds looking for your latest blog post, they may not return out of frustration.

Maintain it
Stay on track with posting to your blog. If you know you’ll be on vacation or going through a life-changing event, write posts in advance or have a guest blogger fill in for you. Keep all photos and videos for your blog in one place. Once a month, review your topics and subtopics and make any necessary changes.

After applying the above principles, your newly organized blog will be low maintenance, a pleasure to post to, and a joy to read.

Happy Blogging!