Keep your blog alive!  Posts are floating through the internet to help and inspire people long after you’ve posted.  In my case, they are there to provide laughter and writing “don’ts” for teachers everywhere.

Here are 5 Easy Ways to Keep your Blog Alive:

1   Don’t Over Promise in the Beginning.  Use the excitement to write and create not make big bold promises you can’t keep.  The inability to keep the promises will only make you feel like you failed if you can’t uphold them.  Instead of promising daily posts start with weekly posts or Monday, Wednesday, Friday posts.  You can always change your format as you go and build your audience.

 

2   Plan Ahead and Stockpile Posts.  Posts are the lifeline of your blog.  When you are able to plan ahead and write one or two weeks out this will ease the pressure to create the night before.  Your routine for writing and creating is your strength so allow for it to thrive.  Time restraints can hurt your routine.  Planning ahead also allows you plenty of time to edit with fresh eyes on your copy.  The tough days can’t kill your blog if you have a great post ready for next week that you can post today.

 

3   Create Before you Consume.  This is a great tip from Chase Jarvis.  It’s easy to read something great especially from someone that you look up to and question your skills.  So don’t fall into that trap.  Create, post, then consume.

 

4   Be your own Audience.  Yes, I would love for my work to be shared over a thousand times on all media platforms.  That takes time.  Building an audience takes time.  I’ve had so many blogs die because I never built an audience.  Write for someone to read.  That someone can be you.  Read your own work.  Do you want to read it?  Does it inspire you?  Does it make you want to share it?  If it doesn’t write until it does.  Keep your blog alive by knowing that you have at least one reader, YOU.  (oh and it’s fun to go back in time and read some of the old posts)

 

5   Don’t Stop Posting.  Cody Holtz of codylamar.com is a friend who models a lot of these and has a year’s worth of work to show for it.  He didn’t over promise in the beginning and posted weekly.  He planned ahead and stockpiled ideas and topics he wanted to cover.  He had a goal to post every day for a year.  He didn’t make it.  He missed a few days here and there.  But, when the year was over he had over 330 posts from the past year.  He offered this bit of advice, “If you don’t like what you wrote today, there is always tomorrow.”

 

Keep your blog alive.  If for no other reason you will enjoy reading it 10 years from now.

 

keep writing pic by: Nick Morrison