The Blog Blog

Posted by Lara Wood on 21 October 2011

So this is our first "official" Free Milk blog post. To be honest, I was a little "first date" nervous and tossed around a lot of ideas (like “first-date outfits”) before I landed on this one. And really, what better way to start than blogging about blogging?

Do you have something to say?

Like anything else you do online (or offline, for that matter), you need to start with a strategy. What’s your objective? Who are you talking to? What value can you offer? I can't stress how important it is to put the right thinking into your content strategy and parameters around your blog. If I’m on your blog and I want to read about your take on politics, I'm probably going to be a little irritated if I log-in one day and you’re talking about making a cake. (Well, maybe I won't be...I love cake...but you get my drift.) Decide who your audience is and speak to them. Consistently.

Plan ahead

There aren't many of us who can claim blogging as our fulltime job. More than likely, it’s part of your job (if you're lucky). It's an “after-hours” extra for lots of bloggers...and this can be dangerous. Once you make a commitment to your readers, being busy with your "real" job is not going to fly. To ensure that you post consistently, keep a running list of topics that fit your content strategy. When you do have down time, write a couple of posts (if your subject matter isn't time sensitive) and put them aside for times you just can't find the time. Line up your colleagues and/or friends for guest blogs or even ideas. I personally find flattery very effective (“but you're soooo interesting and wise and have *such* interesting insights...blah blah blah”).

Um. Tell someone it’s there...

Once you have your blog live, use every opportunity to move people there. Tweet it, share it, send emails to people you’ve made connections with, put it on LinkedIn if your audience is there.  And don’t be shy to suggest that people pass it around if they like what they see. Ideally, you should provide your readers the option to sign-up and get notifications for your blog (yeah, yeah...this blog currently doesn’t have that, but it’s coming soon...5 WEEKS PEOPLE!). 

And don’t be afraid to get the most out of your effort. There are tons of great blog sites out there hurting for content. Find an appropriate blog that aligns with your subject matter and get yourself published!

The last thing to mention (which might sound obvious, but unfortunately isn’t) is:  Make sure your blog is clear, well structured and, if possible, a little bit entertaining. I’m not saying you have to be a published writer to have a blog, but if you haven’t done any writing for public consumption before, just recognize that it takes a little practice. And it can’t hurt to get another set of eyes on it to give you feedback before it goes live...and on that note, I’m off to give this to Heather so she can make me sound brilliant...

Next up, our Digital Art Director, Anthony Stuart, will be sharing some thoughts on design because he’s soooooo interesting and wise and has *such* interesting insights...blah blah blah.