Posts Tagged ‘Blog Management’

image from Striatic on Flickr

So I am definitely not a psychologist…in fact, I am sure a psychologist would tell me that I probably need a little help. But, what I do know is blogging – and their is some serious psychology to the way people blog. What I have learned from my experience is that they way you keep your office organized says a lot about the way that you blog. There are three different types of organizers (and bloggers). The hyper-organized ones, the outwardly-messy ones, and the hidden-messy ones. Each type has a different way they manage their office…and a distinctly different way they manage their blog:

Think about some of the people that you know that are hyper organized (everything has it’s place, there is always a stapler when you need it, never a stray paper on the desk, and never a hunt for what you need). If you are not one of those people, you probably think that they waste a lot of time trying to keep it all so put together. But the reality is, it would take them more time to do things if they didn’t keep everything in its place. They love the feeling of clean spaces and open areas. In blogging, this means that they plan…a lot! They work out which posts go where, based on content, making sure that all the holes are filled. But they rarely have drafts…they always make them perfect before placing them in wordpress so that it is clean and organized with only top content. They also like their blogs to look pretty (lots of white space, and everything very easy to find). Their ideas tend to be a bit calmer, not really stirring the pot too much with crazy ideas or controversial posts. You may even feel like they leave some stuff out in order not to offend anyone. They will be the first to update plugins but will wait to update wordpress until the new version is out for awhile.

Okay, now think about the people whose desks are always a mess (papers everywhere, files stacked on files, no rhyme or reason to their system). If you’re not one of those people, you probably think they are slobs, that they waste time by searching for things that should be easy to find. These people are outwardly messy – they have no problem with their piles, in fact, they love their piles and would be more than happy to never have to move them. These people have a million drafts going at the same time, and are constantly making changes in wordpress. They have tons of great content, but it is sometimes all over the board. They will talk about controversial issues, but will do so by sharing all sides and really leaving it open for discussion, keeping their thoughts out as much as possible. These people are also more likely to have busy sidebars and a a lot going on in the blog. These people will always make solid points, but it will take some time to get around to it. Expect really content filled posts, but also a lot of fluff on top of the serious content.

Finally, we have the group that is a mix between the two. This group always has an organized desk, but what you don’t see is that their desk is normally super messy…they just cleaned it up by shoving everything into drawers before you arrived. They like to pretend they have everything under control with their organization, but the reality is, they can barely find anything in their mess because they are not one with it like the second group. They want to be clean and organized like the first, so they are stressed when they can’t be, and yet can’t figure out how to make messy work for them either. These are the fun bloggers. The ones whose posts make you laugh hysterically, or get you really angry. They talk controversy and drama…no matter the topic. They are very popular with their readers but also have a lot of trolls. These bloggers tend to write their posts on whatever they have at the moment and then attempt to put it all together in their blog. The topics will vary every day, and will be whatever came to them that moment. But, they will write often and will write longer posts…unless they are having one of those days, then it will just be a picture and a line of text. Their blog will have a ton of content on it…just a lot of it will be hard to find.

Of course, these opinions are only based on what I have experienced…

So, what do you think about organization and blogging?

Can you guess which one I am?

Amanda (@funomenalrealtr) and I were chatting today about blog topics, and I asked her if there was a topic she would like to see covered by me. Her request was for a simple step by step for setting up and starting a blog.

There are two different types of bloggers: bloggers who are adding a blog to their already existing website and bloggers who use their blog as their website. Bloggers who are just looking to add a blog usually already have a domain name, design and goal to their site, the blog is just a secondary piece of the puzzle. Bloggers who want a blog as their website do not have a website yet, usually are just starting with an idea and have no design.  This article refers to the second kind – the ones who don’t have a website and want just a blog. The following are the steps I give my clients who are starting a blog from scratch:

1. Decide what your site is about. The first step to any website is to determine what it is for. What are you going to blog about? Who is your ideal audience? Knowing why and for whom you will write will make designing the site easier.
2. Choose a domain name and get it hosted. Your domain name should either be your business name, your name or something that refers to your site. Make it something relatively easy to spell or say so that people can remember it. Also, try to keep it short. Super long url’s are never easy. For hosting, I recommend (and use) Lunarpages, as they have great customer service and are affordable.
3. Wait 24 hours for your site to finish propagating (basically means that the hosting company is setting up the site). Sometimes it will take less time, but I recommend waiting until then.
4. Install Wordpress. If you choose to use lunarpages, you log in to your lunarpages control panel. Once you’ve logged in, find the ‘WebApp Pool’ on the left hand side and select to install wordpress. You will want to install it directly onto your site, so leave the subdomain blank. Provide a user name and password you will remember.
5. Go to the Wordpress.org theme’s section and choose a design. There are over 1000 free themes offered on this site, all of which are specifically designed for wordpress. Once you choose one that you like, just remember the name of it.
6. Login to your website using the information that your wordpress install provides you. This is your wordpress dashboard. On the left hand side, you will see ‘appearances’. Click on that and then select ‘add new themes’. Enter the name of the them that you found that you liked and click search. Once it comes up, you can then click install. After the theme installs, click activate.
7. Upload plugins to make using the site easier. There are tons of great plugins that I use, but the 5 I recommend to everyone are: All in One SEO, Disqus, WordTwit, Akismet and Contact form. Each have great explanations of how they work when you install them.
8. Add widgets with your social media buttons and links. SmashingMagazine.com has a great collection of freebies that you can use for social media icons. Once you find ones that you like, download the files. Then, click on ‘media’ and upload the images that you want to use for your social media buttons. Copy the url that wordpress gives you once it has been uploaded. Click on ‘appearances’ and ‘widgets’. Add a ‘text’ widget and paste the url for the image into the box. This way you have it for the next step. Next, you want to turn it into a usable link for your site. To do this, you will use the code: <a href=”http://url of the website you want people to go to”><img src=”http://url of the image”>Text if you want any after the image</a>. This code can be used any time you want to insert an image into the sidebar. If you want to just insert hyperlinked text, remove the section in blue.
9. Start writing your blog. For this, I refer you to my posts on writing blogs: Managing your time, the blog management puzzle, blog post topics, and creating a blog calendar.
10. Start promoting your blog. Link it up with twitter through the wordtwit plugin, add it to the networked blogs through facebook, and ask your friends for support. Soon you will start seeing comments and people sharing your content.

This is a very quick paced set up, and does not include a lot of the small details that will make your site successful, as many of those take a lot of time, and a lot of explanation. What this will do is get you started and get you going while you take time to learn the deeper details and start to integrate them.

What tips can you share for someone getting started with a blog? Or what other questions can I answer?

If the only place you can work on your blog is sitting in front of your laptop at a location with wifi, you are missing out. Today, Wordpress for Blackberry left the beta phase and entered full availability. iPhone addict? Check out Wordpress for iPhone (wordpress for iphone)!

I’m using the Blackerry app…and just might be in love. Super quick to install, and set up, easy to use interface and overall really, really cool!

Do you have easy access to your blog?

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this weeks post topics are all courtesy of my twitter followers and friends. Today’s question/idea came from @hagre, who asked me to share a how-to on something I do well.

In the last few months, I have shared tutorials on many things, blog management calendars, complete blog designs, improving your social media, how to be a better writer. But what I noticed was that none of these discussed the root tutorial, the “how-to” everyone needs to have in order to actually do any of the above “how-to’s”. The tutorial I was missing? How to manage your time and enable yourself to actually have a blog.

99.9% of business can benefit from a blog, but a very small percentage of those actually have a blog. Why? Because the majority will write a few times and then give it up. They won’t have the time, and won’t be willing to hire someone to do it correctly. So, the blog will fail, and the company will blame it on the blog instead of the real culprit – lack of time management and organization. A blog takes a serious time commitment, and a lot of dedication. I tell anyone who asks, a successful blog requires a minimum of 7 hours of dedicated time per week. If you have more than that to give, you will be better off, as you can really work on quality posts, and making sure every single one has the highest level of content.

Now if your wondering how I define success, I believe a successful blog is one that brings you more traffic to the site, more sign ups on your mailing list and gives you a way to converse with potential clients in an open environment. Fair enough?

Okay, so back to those 7 hours per week. Remember, this is the absolute minimum I recommend, on my own blog I spend about 10 hours a week, on a good week, it’s closer to 15.  So where do you find those hours? Trust me, they are already there, you just haven’t been capitalizing on them! The biggest part of time management is finding ways to use your hours more effectively. If you were to give 10 people the same projects and the same amount of time to do them in, no one would finish at the same time. We all have different ways we work – which is why an “exact” time management plan is difficult. So instead of a one size fits all solution, we are going to walk through a normal day, and see where we can pull out some extra time…remember, just 1 ½ hours each day and you will have enough time for your blog! Here is my average day, and how I get my blog managed. The amount of time (in pink) is the actual amount of time during that part of my day that is quality blog time.

• Morning: When I get up, the first thing I do is turn my computer on, while it boots up, I make my coffee and think about my dreams. Anything happen that make me think of a post? If so, there is a notepad next to my coffee pot. I pour my coffee, sit down at the computer and the first 30 minutes are spent with only one window open, my blog. I spend that time working on current drafts, or adding new blog posts. I don’t edit, I just write, get out as many post ideas as I can and create drafts of each one. Most will never see daylight, but some will turn into quality posts. (30 mins)
• Checking in: Once I’ve spent this 30 minutes on my blog, it’s time to focus on my day. I check emails, flagging anything important (which sometimes includes post ideas from friends who send me great articles). I open tweetdeck, the other browser windows I need for my clients and start work. I always keep my blog window open so I can add thoughts if something pops up like a good tweet, a question on a site, or an interesting link. (15 mins)
• Meat of my day: This is the section where I can focus on the most work for my clients, they are available to talk and I can get quality work finished. This time is dedicated to everything except for me. On days that my client projects are small, I use this time to look for new clients and send emails to prospectives. My goal is to not write for myself during this time, which can be hard, but I need it to be focused completely on my other agenda.
• Driving time: I have at least 30 minutes in the car almost every day…heading to meetings with clients, getting a workout at pole fitness or running, or heading to the store. During this time, I talk outloud…and my phone records me. Don’t have a recorder on the phone or need more time? You can get an inexpensive recorder from Amazon. While you are driving, press record, set it in your lap and start talking. When you get home, you can transcribe your ideas and now a 30 minute drive has a useful purpose! (15 mins)
• Evening: I love to cook, so I make dinner almost every night. While I make dinner, I have time to think back through my day, usually over a glass of wine, which helps me to loosen my thoughts and let things flow. So, I use the same notepad that is next to my coffee pot to add more ideas while I cook. Sometimes it’s just notes, other times, I will stop and write, standing in the kitchen, while dinner cooks. The hubby laughs at this one… (15-30 mins)
• Watching TV with my hubby is one of my favorite times to write, I can just sit next to him with my laptop and jot down thoughts and work on posts. I have also gotten ideas from TV shows, or things that have been said on the news. (1 hr)

Adding it up, my average day provides me with about 2 ½ hours of time where I am working on my blog. While some of it is broken time, it still counts, and still helps make my blog possible.

Where can you find more time in your day? Try going through it in sections, and see where you can pull out some time.

If you already manage a blog successfully, what is your time management schedule?

I often have topics I think I should cover, but sometimes I like to relinquish control and give it to my readers instead. So, last week, I asked my friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter to share some topics they would like to see me cover on my site. I got some incredible ideas, and this first post is courtesy of @healthOC! She asked me to share how the market has affected my business, and others in my industry.

To start, if you are a new reader to this blog, you probably wondered how my business actually got started. Well, my business is actually a product of the horrible economy. In early 2009, I was working for a company as their marketing manager, overseeing 4 different smaller businesses. Wright Creativity was just a blog, I shared my ideas and business creativity. I had a few people I had helped with blog management, but it was very small, and my prices were very low. I was doing it more for fun than for business. But then, the economy hit the company I was with, and I was looking down the barrel of unemployment. It was that point that I decided I no longer was happy working for others and took the *huge* leap to become my own boss. Because I was a small business, just starting, my pricing was much lower than those who were set in the industry. I worked like crazy, and made every single minute count. This hard work and lower pricing helped me to get clients who needed help but couldn’t afford the big firms with the market problems. In addition to keeping me busy in the beginning, it allowed me to build a strong portfolio, great referrals and so now, when the market has started turning around, I am able to bring my pricing up to market level and still have all the clients I need. The economy downturn turned my blog into a business. I am thankful every day that the market took a downturn, and am hoping every day that it continues to go back up!

As far as other companies, I have chatted with quite a few people about the economy, and there seems to be two responses. Those who are active in social media, blogging and participate with their community are still finding success in their industry. They were able to take on smaller projects to subsidize their income from the big clients lowering the amount of help they needed. They could find new clients less expensively, and could create a network of referrals. The other group? Those who are sticking with traditional marketing on the other hand, seem to be struggling a bit more to keep themselves busy. These are the companies that only take on the large projects, and the ones that are feeling the heat when the large corporates cut their marketing budgets to almost nothing. I think that everyone can do well even if the economy is down, it just requires changing the way you work to fit the way that others need you. People need small help, and companies who can take on the small work will be better off in the end. If you can be there now, they will call on you when they can afford large projects.

Unfortunately, even after listing 10 great topics that any blogger can use last week, I still didn’t feel motivated today (what? I’m not perfect!). So, I decided to ask for some help from my friends and posted the above status update to facebook and twitter. Thank goodness for great friends, because in just 10 minutes I had the following great ideas! And now, I have some awesome ideas for next week

Ideas from Twitter:

@ParagonMoon: Blog topic: I can get over having done something I shouldn’t have. But to pass by opportunities is deeply regrettable and soul-damaging.

@Hagre: do a how-to of something you’re good at, or go explore someplace new and write about it! Just a couple thoughts!

@Sn0wSurF3r gave me two: How about, “you don’t have to blog just for the sake of blogging?” OR I want 2 read about how people should use lawyers at the beginning of contracts so they don’t need them after things go south

@influxx: take a break and come back fresh tomorrow. Dont force it. It will show.

@healthOC: I want to read about how the market has positively or negatively affected your business and/or others in your field

Ideas from Facebook:

What ideas do you have to add to the mix? What would you like to see me write about?

Blogs. Most businesses and individuals have them, and yet very few of them spend the money or time to get the design customized just for them. They stick with generic themes, maybe add in some sidebar buttons and start writing. Whenever I work with a client, I tend to get the same question in the initial meeting: What should be in a blog design? My answer? Here are the 5 things every blog design needs, and why:

1. An easy way to subscribe to the blog: Just using the rss button in the navbar is not okay. You need a large button that people notice immediately. If you want readers to come back, you need to give them an easy way to have your content delivered to them. It is also important to have a call to action – tell them to subscribe! Examples of good subscription buttons:
   
2. A custom header: The first thing that anyone will see when they hit your site is the header, it should stand out, fit your business and be specifically designed for you. Generic headers with the blog title and tagline in a simple font are not only boring, but make your blog look less professional. Getting a custom header made is like having your hair and makeup done (or hair done and shaving for the men). You need to put your best face forward at all times. Examples of good headers:
   
3. Navigation bar: While this is a simple one, it is also very important. Your site navigation needs to be easy to find, easy to read and most importantly, exist. There are many sites I have visited that have no navigation, no about the site, no contact page, nothing other than the content. This makes it hard to move around and can confuse your reader. Of course, it should also be formatted beautifully and fit in the site.
4. Design of the background and content area: This is all based on personal preference, but the site needs to have pop, it needs to make people want to come back and read it again on the site, not just in rss. If you want both sections white, make sure there are dividing lines, something that gives it depth. If you use a dark background, with a light content area, give it flow by creating a border in a mid-line color. If you want dark for both areas, make sure that you use a font that is very easy to read in a light color. The point is to make something that fits your site, and your personality or business. You want people to feel welcome and understand your brand from your design.
5. Custom sidebar buttons: You have a facebook, a twitter account, a mailing list, a gallery for your photos, etc. Show them off with buttons that make people want to click on them. If it is just text, people will scan over it and pass it by. It is important to make sure that visitors know where to go, and that you direct them to the pages and posts that you want them to see first. Examples of good sidebar buttons:
   

Do you agree or disagree? What other pieces do you think a blog design must have?

Blogging takes time and discipline…but every once in awhile we all run out of ideas. When you do, here are 10 topics that will fit any genre and any person. Pick one and get writing:

1. Answer a frequently asked question with details and photos.
2. Create a list of links on a specific topic for research.
3. Ask a question of your readers – get them to get involved.
4. Simplify something many find difficult.
5. Give your personal opinion about something in your industry that exists.
6. Share an idea about fixing something in your industry.
7. Create a new product that your industry needs (broad spectrum thoughts).
8. Add your thoughts on another writers blog post
9. Interview someone about what they do/how they do it.
10. Ask a question on twitter and share the responses in a post.

What other ideas do you have for blog topics that span all industries?

We are already 5 days into January, but it is not too late to get your blog calendar started for this month. If you’ve already done it for January, I am very proud of you, and we can use this for February. Just give me 10 minutes of your time, and we’ll get your blog calendar created:

1. Open a word document. Start writing down as many ideas as you have for posts. They don’t have to be perfect, just general thoughts. It could be as simple as “answer a question”, “explain how to do something” or “respond to someone elses post”. Write at least 30.
2. Open whichever program you use for your business calendar (Outlook, Google, etc)
3. Add the posts to your calendar on the days you want to write them (remember, they can be moved). Make sure to put at least 4 per week.

The point of this exercise is not to come up with complete posts, it’s to get you started – it’s to create a place where your mind can flow, where you can add ideas and move them around. The more you allow yourself the freedom to think without boundaries, the easier it will be to develop a wide range of ideas. As the month goes on, you can add notes to the topic, find pictures and links that prove your points and build the posts in your calendar.

How do you keep your blog calendar managed?

Yesterday, my new site design went live. *cue excited dancing music and me jumping up and down like a crazy woman!!*

If you follow me on twitter, you probably saw my tweets about trying to redesign my site. I was frustrated because I was having trouble pulling myself out of my own head to work on my site. When I design a clients site, I don’t have preconceived thoughts, I can be free to develop something that fits what they need. For myself, I kept coming back to a design too close to my own, or too safe. Finally, I asked my twitter followers for help and help they did! They treated me like a client, asking what I wanted my site to do, etc.. it allowed me to separate myself from, well, myself (hint #1: Asking for help doesn’t mean you are incompetent, it means you are realistic). Finally, after tons of help from followers, lots of hours in photoshop, hunting for a great coder to help me, and a few late nights, my new site is here!

First, I want to send a HUGE thank you to Brett Terpstra, the amazing coder who turned my design into a working wordpress template. While I could have spent hours and hours coding it myself, driving myself crazy when little things weren’t working, I decided it wasn’t worth the headache, so I hired Brett (hint #2: Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should). He not only turned it around very quickly, but he kept me in the loop the entire time he was working on it, and let me see it as it developed. He was so easy to work with and I am so glad that I chose to work with him. He also did such a great job that he is my new go-to coder for big projects (and should be for you too!) .

Second, I want to talk about the usability of your site. When I first started this design, I thought I wanted one thing, but everyone I showed it to said it was hard to follow. So I scrapped the idea, and started with efficiency – an easy to navigate layout and then worried about design. Your website needs to be, above all else, easy to use for the visitor. Yes, it should look good and represent your brand, but if people can’t use it, they won’t care what it looks like (hint #3: Functionality is the key to any successful site, design is just the icing on the cake). If you are considering doing a redesign of your own site, I recommend starting with an outline of what you want people to do first, before you get into colors and layout.

Third, let’s talk about who you are. For example, I don’t do flash designs, I don’t think they are beneficial for most people. So, my site doesn’t have flash on it. I also don’t write dry, technical copy. So my site is written and designed colorfully (hint #4: Your site should represent who you really are, not what people think you should be). I love my clients because they know who I am the minute they visit my site, and aren’t surprised by me as a person because my brand is all connected.

Finally, a lot of you are reading this via rss, so if you haven’t: Visit my site NOW to see the new design…you’ll want to click through a few pages to see all the differences. The portfolio page is one of my favorites! (hint #5: A lot of people will only ever read your rss feeds, so give them lots of reason to visit the actual site, like leaving a comment, so they can see your design!) Also, if you have added my button to your sidebar, I have updated it to match the new site: So please replace the current code with this code:
<a href="http://www.wrightcreativity.com/blog" target="_blank"><img src="http://wrightcreativity.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/wrightcreativitysitebutton.jpg" border="0" alt="Wright Creativity" /></a>

What hints of your own can you add for web design?