(c) 2010, Area 224We’re far from the “Must Read” status with our blog and website – but we have gotten some decent traffic this year, and it has led to business. Some tips on being readable…
First of all, read others. If you’re in the business of asking for people to visit your blog – or read your book – you need to give. That means spend some time looking for interesting things.
Doesn’t totally matter what business you’re in, or where you’re looking. But take some time to read other blogs. Which brings us to the next thing…
Comment. This will not only make you cool, it will enable you to connect with more people – bloggers, business folks, potential tweetup attendees, whatever.
There isn’t a rule of thumb – see our post yesterday on “You’re Doing It Wrong” – so just go with the flow. Seriously, if you find something you agree vehemently with, comment on it. If you find something you disagree with, comment on it.
Be Prolific. You need to write OFTEN. Daily? Maybe that’s too frequent for you. Weekly? That’s not frequent enough.
This third point leads to questions about “finding your voice” – and specifically whether you need to find your voice before blogging. I cry bulls**t. The best way to find your voice is to start blogging. Start writing.
We have had a point this year — blog often about topics that are in the vein of business communications, social media, startups, and the intersection of thinking, planning, strategy and getting stuff done. To some, we’ve been all over the map – but it has helped us find our voice AND given rise to the concept of Holistic Social Media – which became much, much clearer in the past few weeks.
Final Thought: Don’t Call Them Ramblings. Not everyone can write easily. But the last thing you want to do is tell people your blog is “a bunch of ramblings.” They may be good ramblings, but the quickest turnoff for this reporter is a blog with ramblings from a [insert age group] living in [insert city] trying to [insert industry where you want to make a name for yourself].
