Web Strategy Micksup

fountain pen.JPG

Originally uploaded by Bright Meadow

Laurel asked a great question which I’ve answered many times one-on-one over the years but never blogged.

How do I blog?

Well, there is 99 ways to skin a cat and more to blog. But here are my normal blogging methods.

The Wit

This one comes out of the blue, hits me quickly and I blog it before I’ve thought about it. No spell check, no research - right off the top of my head. It’s hit rate is about 20%, which means that most of the time no one sees it, comments or cares. But you don’t mind since it’s also just recording your thoughts and it didn’t take much time.

Sometimes you hit gold, which for a blogger means a reasonably large group of people care about it. This happened to me with Ginger Kids which was a post from an email I got which took me about 10 seconds. It’s been going for four years, has over 1,000 comments (which are getting quite rude by the way) and was ranked number 1 in Google for a Ginger Kids search before the South Park episode came out. It’s not a grand claim to fame, but I created it and it’s my baby.

My process is like this;

1. Think of it - (10 seconds)
2. Open Flickr (2 seconds) (it’s on my link bar)
3. Do an advanced search for creative commons licensed photos (like this one). I like to find things that are going to make my blog look cool, different, colourful or all three. It’s rarely blunt, more likely subtle, like this one being a pen, when I’m obviously typing - get it? (10-30 seconds)
4. Click Blog This - Flickr lets you link up Typepad (my previous blogging platform) and Wordpress (my new platform to Flickr and let’s you blog automatically straight from there (as shown here) which makes blogging so very easy and frictionless. If I couldn’t do this, I think I’d blog half as much. (2 seconds)
5. Type type type, putting in the major links, but I often don’t bother too much. This post is a high link blog. I should do it more though. Links are the lifeblood of the web and blog respect.(10-45 seconds)
6. Hit post, check that it doesn’t look stoopid and then move on.(10 seconds)

The whole thing can take less than a minute. Seriously.

The Fester

Some blog posts grow on me. I think about them, think about making them a Wit post, but then I think it deserves something more. I let it simmer and simmer until it’s ready. I don’t actively research them, but I know through my readings and thought that it will become what I want and be ready when it’s ready. No rush on these ones.

Some times they fall off the stove, and I never post them, which is probably a shame. I should create more drafts, but I generally do Fester posts using the same process as Wit posts, just with more forethought.

The Thesis

This is a thesis post. I thought about it today, opened a tab so I’d remember to do it, started writing, did some research, added a bunch of links and wrote. I still use Flickr, I just care more about what I write. Flickrs blog tool doesn’t have save, which means it’s dangerous but I normally copy every once and a while, or just jump into Wordpress and give it the royal treatment.

–00–

So that’s how I blog. Every day could see all three types, or five Wit posts if I’m feeling saucy.

And I love it. I’ve loved blogging since 2003 (another priceless gift, along with Flickr, from my mate Phil). I love getting comments, or just knowing that someone, somewhere read it, but even if they didn’t, I’d still blog. It’s not a tree falling in a forest with no one around. It’s a splash of paint on a wall and the wall is great, but the act of splashing is much, much more important.

So if you’re not blogging - start. Right now. Go to Wordpress.com get a free blog and write something. It doesn’t matter what it is. Just write. And keep writing. Don’t worry what people think (they rarely do). And then write to me and say “Woohoo, look at me, I’m blogging!”.

And if you’re already blogging - BLOG MORE!!

Then we can all get together and sing the old blogging song.

Thanks for asking Laurel.

Popularity: 84% [?]