Don’t Fear the Follow Count: Optimize Your Content without Losing Your Mind

Mar 11

(Originally published in Rough Drafts)

So, you’re sheltering in place during the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic and you wish you’d taken the time to optimize your website and/or blog before now. Now, you don’t have as much access to the people who can set something up for you; now you’re already late on creating relevant content; now you can barely focus on what’s for dinner. Don’t get bogged down in the negative — you can optimize your website, tailor your social media and build a community on your own.

Are blogs dead? It’s a question people like to ask than answer throughout the year, just like I’m doing now, for no legitimate reason than to answer: no. As long as the internet exists, it’s unlikely blogging will ever go away. It’s too easy. It’s also a great way to market yourself, your business or organization and connect with people you know, and many you don’t.

Here is a list of things people are constantly saying are dead but in fact, are not: SEO, Keywords, Personalbranding, Elvis, Blogging, Scrunchies, Marketing, Bookstores, Checks, Twitter, Feminist blogging, etc.

If you’ve been thinking about finally getting into the phenomenon that’s been around basically since the creation of the internet, then I have one word for you: welcome. Blogging is one of the first ways people began engaging with the internet for personal use, and if there’s one thing people love to do, it’s to have an opinion and share it. But we’re also about sharing ideas and learning, and that’s where you come in.

Maybe you’re not starting a blog but producing content for yourself or others. Well, you’re in luck, because all of these ideas will still apply.

Last year, I offered 5 tips on how to plan a blog and when to quit.

This year, I offer a few more tips and a few more resources to help build the blog you’ve been looking for. Let’s start with the tips:

1. Use an editorial calendar.
This is probably the best advice for having a blog live past its first week, let alone the first year. Have posts ready, have pictures ready (and generally, you’re going to want to use at least one picture to break of the monotony of words), and plan how they’ll work together.

Some bloggers use an editorial calendar to help plan posts. Don’t know what that is? It’s fine, plenty of bloggers love to share, so here are a few examples you can download and see how they fit your workflow. From Hubspot, Newscred; influencers Jess Ann Kirby, Geri Hirsch, Grace Atwood. There are plenty of examples, so Google around but the key is to see your upcoming content, schedule time to write and edit, and post when it makes sense. If you’re planning to post every day, your calendar might need to be color-coded; if it’s every other day, keep in mind holidays and weekends and days you have prior commitments. I promise you, as a failed blogger, it only takes one week to set you way back.

Planoly offers great free options, as well as subscription plans to automate your social media offerings.

2. Do your due diligence.
Nothing you’re going to do hasn’t been done before. Probably.

And if you’re not willing to invest time, you’ll blend right in. When marketers are planning to release new products, they always look at what else is in their market.

Always keep your eye out for other blogs. See what they’re posting about; see how they’re posting, who they’re tagging, and what makes the post interesting. My Notes App is filled with content ideas and my Photos App, filled with things I found visually interesting.

3. Learn SEO.
Search Engine Optimization. It’s a buzz phrase with real consequences. A lot of web services provide easy ways for you to title your pages appropriately, use keywords, and add links that will drive traffic to your content.

Recently, I’ve been putting writing-heavy content (like Medium articles, blogs, etc.) through Ink, the first AI web content optimization platform. Ink offers suggestions not only on content that may be hard or difficult to read, but also how often you need to be using certain key phrases, how many hyperlinks are suggested based on the length of the content, metadata optimization, captioning and alt text.

Paraphrasing, the Great One, you miss 100% of the readers you don’t target.

4. Don’t always listen to the numbers.
When you’re just starting out, your numbers will be dismal. You earn an audience, it doesn’t just come to you right away. Even if you buy followers, as my Mother would say, “it’s just for looks.” Fake followers are not going to engage with your content as you might envision, or at all, and it’s engagement and connection brands and people are truly in search of.

5. Define your core values.
I know, maybe this should’ve been first on the list last year, but it’s here now. BellaCanvas, a t-shirt blanks wholesaler, produced a great video recently with Brett Bowden, the CEO of Printed Threads. Ostensibly, Brett talked about how his small business made a million dollars in four years. His answer was a commitment to culture and adherence to the core values he set when the company started.

Core values are what customers can expect to get when they deal with your business; it’s also what you and your employees can expect in regard to work culture and integrity.

Last year, I said to treat your blog like a business. Adherence to core values is a key component in keeping yourself accountable and remembering where you came from. Plenty of blogs lose steam when content ideas are no longer as easily accessible as they once were, but if you’re driven by core values, you’ll have a better chance at bouncing back.

Here are a few ways to develop your own core values.

RESOURCES:
Part of this list will be repeated content because I want you to be able to have all the resources, also: know you’ll know the apps I’ve continued to use into another year. I’m not compensated for any of this, so know these are tried and true resources.

Apps I dig (links will open in AppStore):
Ink_ / INK provides a way for writers to connect with their audience on the Internet through guided do-it-yourself search engine optimization.
WordSwag / Add great text to images you can use on your websites and all types of social media.
A Color Story / The best photo-editing app around.
Planoly / Schedule, post and auto-post to your Instagram account.
Later / Visually plan, schedule and analyze posts for Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
StoryEdit / An app from Planoly that offers free, chic templates for Instagram/Facebook Stories.
Template / Similar to StoryEdit, Template offers modern templates to take your graphics game to a new level. Do not sleep on this.
Filmm / Allows users to add authentic film textures, light effects, and VHS distortions to any video clip — perfect for stories

DESIGN:
If you’re on Medium, you probably already know that paragraph upon paragraph of text is highly discouraged. As a writer, maybe you think design is not in your wheelhouse and thus, not your focus. When it comes to content in 2020, people need a visual break.

Behance.net > Get inspired.
Dribbble.com > Same.
Pinterest.com > Don’t dismiss this because it’s full of great recipes and fashion ideas. Be specific in searching and you’ll find endless inspo.

Instagram / Follow people who’s style you dig. Don’t copy necessarily, just be open to inspiration. See how they talk to their readers; see how they interact with brands; see what kind of photos they take and how they optimize for various platforms. These will all be helpful in applying the best ways for you to connect. Not every strategy will work.

Canva.com / Canva is an app that utilizes a drag-and-drop feature and professional layouts to design consistently stunning graphics. Need graphics for your social media headers, icons, etc.? If you’re not savvy with design apps, Canva will save you a lot of time.

CreativeMarket.com / Want to make your blog look great but you’re not a graphic designer? Find fonts, layouts, themes, photos and more starting at $2.
Unsplash.com / Beautiful, free photos.
Pexels.com / More beautiful, free photos.
RawPixel.com / Even more beautiful, free photos.

DesignCuts.com / Design resources at prices affordable for everyone. Purchase fonts, templates, icons, Procreate brushes, textures, etc.

Headline Analyzer / You probably think you don’t need this, but eye-catching headlines, or blog titles, can significantly increase traffic to your blog and posts.

A quick note on starting.

Last week, I talked with a client who was at a loss at where to begin.

He felt way behind the curve, but his life and career hadn’t relied on social media, and he never felt compelled to start; he also felt very uncomfortable with self-promotion.

Don’t feel like you’re late to the social media game because you’re just starting or if you want to make your business or side hustle separate from your personal accounts. You can still attract an audience, share your story/business, and engage with more people than you probably thought possible.

You don’t have to go from 0 to 100, and you definitely don’t have to spend a ton of money on any one specific thing (in fact, don’t). There are plenty of analytics that will define success or failure and none of them are necessarily an indication of either one of those things. Don’t get caught up in the number of resources I’ve shared, just work on the sharing.