Today I’m giving a talk at WordCamp Portland on how to blog every day. I wrote this talk based on what I learned from blogging every day for a month in November 2010 and November 2011 and I’m excited to share it with the Portland-area WordPress community.
Live stream — All of the sessions will be live streamed, here, and follow along with the hashtag, #wcpdx. I’m in the Bergen Dining room at 2:15pm.
Once I get a recording of the video, I’ll post it here. For now, here’s a copy of my slides and additional resources that I reference in the talk. Feel free to download and share this presentation as you’d like!
How to Blog Every Day
The secret to blogging every day is easy—just write. But the process of coming up with an idea is hard. Then it comes the excruciating part of putting words to the page, editing it, finding the perfect photo to accompany your post, and formatting it on your site all before you can press that beloved “Publish” button.
Oh, and if you’re writing every single day, you do it all again tomorrow.
How to Blog Every Day from Laura Kimball
Resources to help you Blog Every Day
Here is a list of blog posts and resources I reference during my talk, and here’s a link to the video of my talk so that you can catch what you missed at WordCamp Portland.
Where to buy my t-shirt
- I’m not a player, I just blog a lot from Raygun (unisex and ladies)
What I learned from blogging every day for 30 days
- 2010 recap: When Creativity Flows, Don’t Turn off the Faucet
- 2011 recap: NaBloPoMo Goals and Milestones
Examples of how to create a content or editorial calendar
- How to Put Together an Editorial Calendar for Content Marketing on Content Marketing Institute
- How to Create a Successful Editorial Calendar on Unbounce
- How to Create an Editorial Calendar on Spin Sucks
Tools to help you capture your ideas
- Favorite note-taking app that syncs with your phone, computer, tablet: Evernote
- Favorite tool that helps you start writing: 750 Words
- Favorite non-battery-powered option: a journal
Examples of different blog formats
- Standard: Today is Sunday
- Epic: Book Publishers are Not Tech Companies
- Response: How to be a Hipster and 500 Words or Less
- Single Paragraph: How to Impress your Customers and Create Lifelong Fans
- Photo: Nobody Tells this to Beginners and Picturing My True Identity
- Link Roundup: Musings on Adulthood and Ambition
Ways to beat writer’s block
- Choose a different topic on your content calendar
- Get inspired by going for a walk, watch a video, hop on Twitter, read something, talk with a friend
- Take a day off (it’s okay, but tell us what you’re doing instead of blogging)
- Help Me Be Fing Creative
Examples of posts I wrote when I had writer’s block
What to after you publish your blog post
After you have that out of your system, sit back down, and promote your blog post like crazy. If you need help, check out the presentation I did for WordCamp Seattle on just that: How to Promote Your Blog without Losing Your Soul.
Why I wrote this talk
I’m not expecting you to start blogging every single day. But if you only blog once every other month and really want to blog more, this presentation and ideas should help you get started. If you blog once or twice a week and want to start blogging three times a week, this will help you even more.
Blogging every single day is not for the faint of heart; it takes time, lots of time. Plus you have to strike a careful balance between planning what you’re going to post and letting your muse run away with you. However blogging every single day for thirty days straight will teach you more about your writing style and how you blog than you could from anything else. I highly recommend it.
Psst, a recording of this talk has been posted here: How to Blog Every Day: Video of my Talk and More Resources to Help you Blog.
10 Responses
Lamiki, this is indeed an awesome article! I’m quite inspired! I do have short of time to blog everyday.
Going to try as per the plan you suggested.
Thanks.
Thank you, Shivbhadra! If you’re short on time, then keep your blog posts short and only a paragraph or two long — good luck!
Lamiki, this is indeed an awesome article! I’m quite inspired! I do have short of time to blog everyday.
Going to try as per the plan you suggested.
Thanks.
Thank you, Shivbhadra! If you’re short on time, then keep your blog posts short and only a paragraph or two long — good luck!
My husband found your “How to Promote Your Blog without Losing Your Soul” presentation in an attempt to help me become a better all around blogger. I refer to it regularly. Still a novice in the blogging world, your advice has been invaluable. Thanks to you, I have a close personal relationship with Pinterest and my blog is better for it.
I can’t wait to learn from this presentation as well. I set a goal of blogging every day in the month of July, but found that I couldn’t keep up, especially on the lengthy editing process, after leaving for a ten day vacation. I hope to try again in December.
Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge!
Wow, thank you so much for this comment, it means the world to me that my presentations have helped you out. I just checked out your blog and love how you’re writing about your life.
Life totally happens. I blog every day in November for a few reasons, mainly it’s a 30-day month and I like to pretend that I’m one of the NaNoWriMo kids with my writing habit. It’s a great exercise and you’ll learn a ton about your writing! I’d recommend choosing a different month than December with the holidays, but since you’re heading into your senior year of college, after finals is probably a better one 🙂
Keep me posted if you do blog every day in December, I’d love to cheer you on!
My husband found your “How to Promote Your Blog without Losing Your Soul” presentation in an attempt to help me become a better all around blogger. I refer to it regularly. Still a novice in the blogging world, your advice has been invaluable. Thanks to you, I have a close personal relationship with Pinterest and my blog is better for it.
I can’t wait to learn from this presentation as well. I set a goal of blogging every day in the month of July, but found that I couldn’t keep up, especially on the lengthy editing process, after leaving for a ten day vacation. I hope to try again in December.
Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge!
Wow, thank you so much for this comment, it means the world to me that my presentations have helped you out. I just checked out your blog and love how you’re writing about your life.
Life totally happens. I blog every day in November for a few reasons, mainly it’s a 30-day month and I like to pretend that I’m one of the NaNoWriMo kids with my writing habit. It’s a great exercise and you’ll learn a ton about your writing! I’d recommend choosing a different month than December with the holidays, but since you’re heading into your senior year of college, after finals is probably a better one 🙂
Keep me posted if you do blog every day in December, I’d love to cheer you on!
Thank you so much for your talk. I’ve been blogging four times a week and I could feel myself start to lose inspiration. It was wonderful to meet you as well!
Thank you so much for your talk. I’ve been blogging four times a week and I could feel myself start to lose inspiration. It was wonderful to meet you as well!