Instigator Blog

A company blog is extremely challenging to do well. The biggest challenge (which is not unique to a company blog) is finding the time to do it. Everyone’s swamped and blogging was just never part of the plan. But it should be.

Blogging is the single best way of generating sustained, quality buzz for your company. Done well, your company blog will create more awareness, customers, press, publicity and goodwill than anything else you can do.

So how do you create the perfect company blog?

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I love linkbait. Whether you’re linking to A-list bloggers or new bloggers that fit your niche doesn’t matter. Linking to get people’s attention is a great strategy.

But don’t stop there. The people you’ve linked to might not notice the link. And that defeats much of the reason for linking in the first place. If you’re using WordPress it will send a trackback to other WordPress users: assuming they allow them, and it doesn’t get caught in their spam filter. So you shouldn’t rely on WordPress to ensure that people notice your links.

Simple answer: Click your own links.

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Writer’s block is horrible. You might feel like your brain is caught in a choking smog, or surrounded by an impenetrable, concrete wall.

When struck with writer’s block I feel like I’m simultaneously trudging through quicksand and being punched in the face. Nasty, nasty stuff.

Writer’s block seems to hit most acutely when I’m overwhelmed and over tired; not a great combination.

Dawud Miracle reprints an article by Daphne Gray-Grant titled: 20 Surefire Ways to Beat Writer’s Block.

Aside from the fact that Dawud’s written a killer blog post headline, the tips are extremely useful.

I want to add one more tip.

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All bloggers are surrounded by their own blog communities. But the number of blogs within any given community is finite. It’s certainly not a walled garden, but growing thenetwork of people you communicate with regularly takes time.

As a result, bloggers often link to the same people over and over. That’s not a bad thing: the links still have value (for SEO, Technorati, and your audience) but there’s so much more to discover.

So the next time you’re writing a blog post, try finding new blogs and linking to them. It’s not always obvious - to go out, find blog posts relevant to your topic, and link to them - but it works well for breaking out of your existing community and reaching others. And it’ll help bring in fresh links back and new readers.

Here’s a simple blog hack to make it happen:

1. Pick the link locations. Preview your blog post and look for key places where links would be valuable.
   • In lists, try and put a link in every second or third point.
   • Links work well at the beginning and end of posts when you’re hammering home key messages.
   • Use links to other sites to back up the point you’re trying to make.
   • Find important keywords throughout your post, and pepper them liberally with links. As David Airey, a graphic designer in Edinburgh points out, you shouldn’t use generic terms like “click here” for links, it completely devalues them.

   With the keywords and phrases picked out for your links, it’s time to find new blogs worth linking to.

2. Discover new blogs. Search for the keywords and phrases using Google Blog Search, which shows more recent content, and Google for a broader archive.
3. Quickly pick promising results. Select a bunch of potentially relevant stories and launch new browser tabs/windows for each.
4. Find relevant content. Scan each new blog for relevant content. Decide if they’re worth linking to for one of the keywords or phrases you’ve selected.
   • Keep your eyes open for great quotes you can pull (instead of just links.)
   • Don’t worry if the entire blog post isn’t relevant, the key is you’re linking to someone you’ve never linked to before.
   • Add the new blog to your RSS Reader or make a note to check it out in more detail later.
5. Change up your keywords. If you don’t find something worth linking to quickly, try changing your keywords and phrases a bit, but don’t overburden yourself. You don’t want to take too much time and there will always be more opportunities to link to others.

Finding and linking to new blogs isn’t something you need to do on every blog post. Pick a blog post each week that you think will be a home run and spend a bit of extra time adding links to it. The extra effort over time, will be well worth it.

Being exhausted from lack of sleep is no reason to skimp on a great headline for your blog post. In fact, you might just do a better job because you’re exhausted.

I’m working off 2-4 hours of sleep per night. You can thank baby Quinn for that. And it’s definitely affecting the quantity of my writing. But I’m trying desperately to make sure it doesn’t impact the quality.

And that means pumping out killer headlines as often as possible.

There are no excuses! Is your head constantly hitting the keyboard as you pass out? Do your fingers feel like they’re made of lead? Did you just wake up with drool rolling down your chin? I know exactly how you feel, but you won’t be getting much sympathy from me. If you’re going to blog through your exhaustion, then here are some tips for writing great headlines:

1. From Top 10 to Top 5. We all know how powerful the “Top 10″ post can be, and the resulting headline. But you’re presently propping your eyelids open with toothpicks to stay awake, so feel free to cut your Top 10 down to Top 5.
2. Be Braver. Some of your normal behavioral and judgment filters are likely shot. You’re too tired to care if you’re being politically correct or completely covering your arse. And that’s the perfect time to write a great headline. Go for a little more controversy. Pick more actionable, aggressive words that will inspire people to read and comment on your blog post.
3. Spend More Time. Fact is, you’ll need to spend a bit more time reviewing and editing your headline to try and perfect it. This is a bit of a caveat to point #2 above, because you can’t over think it. You never should (no matter the circumstances), and now, you’re so tired you just can’t over think. It’s mentally and physically impossible. You might fall over from the exertion. But you should take a bit more time to re-read what you’ve written; at least to ensure it makes some sense.
4. Use Available Tools. Now is not the time to be a hero. When you’re trying to think of another word for “good” and your brain is saying “zzzz…” check out the thesaurus. Develop habits for helping yourself write so you can rely on those when the prospect of having to really think is like fireworks inside your skull.
5. Stick to the Classics. Don’t try and reinvent the wheel. You’re so tired you’ll be lucky if you remember what a wheel actually looks like. The classics of great headline writing are there for a reason; they work and you should use them. My personal favorites:
   • The Top 5 Ways To…
   • 10 Essential…
   • See How Easily You Can…
   • The Secret To…
   • How To … In 6 Easy Steps

   There are plenty of others; well-written, engaging and catchy headlines that work. Use them.

You’re tired. I know. Completely wiped out. I hear ya. So exhausted that you’ve fallen asleep in the middle of conversations with people. Totally with you.

But you’re still publishing your blog. Through thick and thin, no matter the obstacle, you’re publishing blog posts. That’s great! I applaud you. But now is not the time to let your headlines slip. You might ramble a bit longer due to your tiredness, but your headlines need to be as precise and perfect as possible.

Stay focused on them. Let loose a bit. Be more controversial. Stand out. But re-read ‘em before publishing, and stick to the classics.