He said, “I started the blog nearly 10 years ago. We posted once every few months. Then we increased it over time, and now we’re posting once per week.”
“Now, it’s generating calls. We’re finally getting business from it.”
His reaction is to welcome the business. He’s declaring victory. My reaction (and this is probably the key to my perpetual state of agitation) is to ask, “Why aren’t you posting more?”
He’s happy with his results. My mission today? Creating discontent. Let’s see whether we can make him see the error of his ways while he revels in the glory of victory. Happiness is the enemy.
Here I go:
“It’s working,” I ranted. “Do more of it,” I continued while spitting out bruschetta with my words (at the very nice Italian place facing the Miami River). I should really finish chewing before ranting.
He picked a piece of tomato off his arm, looked deep into my eyes, and agreed with me. (Most people find it safer to just agree with a ranting man regardless of what they really think.)
My Argument
The way I see it is that, over 10 years, he’s posted somewhere between 200 and 300 articles (I haven’t counted). The more he posted, the more it worked. He’s found a tactic that succeeds.
What would have happened if he’d posted 3,000 articles instead of 300? Would he have generated business faster? Would he have generated more business?
My advice is to find out. Post more and see what happens. Keep doing what’s working, and do more of it. So many of us fail to find a tactic that works at all. He’s got one. Now it’s time to ride that horse—hard.
He knows a journalist in his area posting three to five times per day in his subject matter. What if he were that guy? What if he were posting all day long? Would he be the “go-to” guy for news on that topic? Of course he would. He’d be “that guy.” Everyone in the industry would know him. They’d all turn to him. They’d beg him to write about them. Being “that guy” is a good thing.
But I’m never going to get him to post three times per day. I’m realistic (even though it so rarely seems so).
However, I can cajole, berate, and coax him into one post per day. I can get him to crank it up from one post a week to four or five business day posts. I’m sure I can pull that off.
Of course, he is worried about finding the time.
Once he gets going, he’ll find out that time isn’t an issue. Writing more requires less time. The more you write the less time it takes. Really.
My lunch companion reports that he struggles to come up with topics for the blog. He’s worried about repeating himself. He sits down to write and doesn’t always have a good idea. He stares at the blank screen. Each word can be a struggle. He’s rarely inspired to write.
My Advice
Here are seven ways you can crank out posts much more quickly than you think:
- Write every day (or at least five days a week). It’s odd, but there’s something about getting in the rhythm of writing that makes it easier to keep writing. It takes me as long to write one post (when I haven’t been writing regularly) as it takes to write four when my writing engine is cranked up. Once it starts, it just keeps going.
- Make a writing appointment. Put the writing on your calendar and your task list. Make sure you prioritize doing it. Don’t batch the writing into a single day. Spread it out. Initially, you’ll need to schedule bigger blocks, but suddenly those blocks will get shorter and shorter, and you’ll find yourself with unused writing time. What used to take an hour will soon take 30 minutes. Then it’ll get even faster.
- Let the ideas happen. When you crank up the volume, the ideas start coming, whether you like it or not. When you’re writing all the time, the ideas start flowing, and everything that happens becomes blog fodder. Writing every day somehow breeds more ideas than you can handle. Suddenly, everything that happens becomes a blog post. The bakery screws up: blog post. The taxi driver takes the long route: blog post. The court clerk rejects your filing: blog post. It’s almost overwhelming when you start seeing the world from a writer’s perspective.
- Use your personality. Don’t feel like you have to write like an academic. Don’t feel like all posts need to be serious. Have fun. Say crazy things just to see whether anyone is reading. The more fun you have, the more interesting it gets. We enjoy getting to know you. Use your stories.
- Use everything. Use all those ideas. Save a note to yourself and use it when you sit down. Pulling up your list of notes will immediately return you to that inspiring moment, and the words will flow. You go to a client meeting and the client asks 20 questions. You find yourself turning that meeting into five blog posts. Each of the client’s questions becomes a post. The interesting fact pattern becomes a post. The client’s emotional reaction to the situation becomes a post.
- Clarify your thinking. When you write all the time, you’re forcing yourself to create an organizational framework for the subject matter. Your thinking gets clarified. You’re not just thinking; you’re articulating your thinking, and that publicness requires you to get organized. Being more organized with your thinking saves you time.
- Avoid the technical. Get help. Use someone to do whatever slows you down. I don’t pick my own images or schedule my posts. I have someone help me with everything other than coming up with the ideas and writing the posts. My editor does everything after I finish cranking out a draft. She helps me look like I know what I’m doing. Do the parts you like doing and delegate the rest.
Writing generates business. My bruschetta-stained friend knows it because he’s experiencing it now. He’ll get even more success from taking it up a notch. Hopefully, he’s now got some ideas for doing more of it in less time. You can do it too. Take these tips and turn his success into yours.
