Three days later, your two-hour article has received exactly fifty hits.

“What happened?!” You read, re-read, and deconstruct your post word by word, trying to figure out why people aren’t coming to read it.  You ask other bloggers, and all agree that it’s a great post.  You ask your friends, your family, even your cat!  They all agree that it’s a masterful piece of work. (Well, all except the cat.  The cat just meows at you and stalks off back to her nap.)  You’re left in the dark, wondering why you can’t ever get exposure.

So… What happened?  You forgot to write the headline, first.  You forgot one of the cardinal rules of marketing…  The 80/20 Headline Rule.  The 80/20 Rule states that on average, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.  By writing your headline (most bloggers call these “titles”) first, you are - in effect - making a promise to your readers.  You are promising to deliver on the headline.

That’s the catch.  Promises have to be made, before they can be fulfilled.  If you write your amazing content, first, you have to turn around and come up with a smashing headline that takes in all of the points in your article, and not only conveys the basis of your post, but does it with style.  You’re reverse-engineering your article.  If you write your headline first, suddenly you have to live up to the promise you just made.  You wind up making your content more streamlined, and more honed to the topic.  75% of the time, you’ll do it unconciously.  The rest of the time, well, that’s the normal time it takes to write a post.

How does this work?  Simple.  You have a general idea for the subject matter of your post.  You know what you want it to be about.  Perhaps it’s only the most basic, or general idea.  Take that basic idea, and create a helluva headline before you write the content.  Here’s an example:

Peter Cooper wrote an article called “19 Rails Tricks Most Rails Coders Don’t Know“.  He came up with the headline, before he wrote the content.  He had a vague idea of what he wanted to write, and he created a smashing title for it.  The post content?  It wasn’t all that amazing…  It was a series of tricks, tips, and techniques that most rails coders probably knew, but didn’t commonly use.

The result of his writing the headline, first?  Within 24 hours, the article hit the top of the del.icio.us popular list, garnering over 500 bookmarks (on del.icio.us), and a few thousand page views.  A later update simply stated that the post was over 6,000 page views.  An even later update (in comments to another entry on his own blog), Peter revealed that the post had received around 11,000 page view (within 24 hours); and his FeedBurner subscribers went from the mid 800’s, to the mid 1,700’s.  A jump of around 900 subscribers.

Take the challenge, and for your next twenty entries, write your headline first.  I think you’ll be very surprised.

A lot of times, we go through our days experiencing thing after thing that we could blog about.  Unfortunately, we’re never in front of our computer when that happens.  So…  What can we do to increase the chances that we’ll still have that bloggable moment with us when we sit down and put fingers to keyboard?  Chris has a four item list, and I’m adding a couple more items.  Here we go:

• Carry a camera with you at all times:  As Chris says, “you never know when something priceless is going to happen.”  He raises a very valid point.  An example?  Maybe you blog about cars.  You’re out at the mall one day, and see an old 1930’s Studebaker; or an old 1940’s hot rod.  Inspiration suddenly hits in the form of a post about classic hot rods, and their slow return to the forefront of collectivism, today.  You grab your trusty camera, and snap a picture.  Bingo, instant blog fodder, and a boost to your blog metrics (images within posts have been proven to increase click-through rates, and reader attention.
• Recognize life’s little annoyances when they happen: As Chris says, something small, insignificant, and completely annoying happens to you at least once or twice a week, yeah?  Since most bloggers tend to bring their subject into their lives in at least some form or fashion, how often do those annoying things have to do you with your blog topic?  Keep track of them, and blog about ‘em.  An example?  You’re a car blogger, and you’re out at the mall, and you see the afformentioned 1930’s Studebaker.  The guy backs out, nearly running over you as you’re walking past the car, and flips you off.  Bingo! You’re instantly reminded that a lot of classic car owners seem to be jerks (in your opinion).  That’s blog fodder.  An added bonus to this type of post is that “annoyance” based posts really tend to pull in the comments.
• Have you learned something so excellent it made your life better?  Trust me.  That’s a blog moment.  98% of the time, it doesn’t even have to be on the same topic as your blog (we all need to make off-topic posts, occasionally).  It’s worth that much more gold in the bank if it relates to your topic; but if it doesn’t, don’t worry about it… Blog it, anyway.  Do you blog about blogging, and you learned how to change your car’s oil, yourself, this week?  Blog about it.  Spend some time in a right-brained creative-zen mode, and see if you can’t parlay that post about changing your car’s oil into something about changing your blog’s “oil”. (In this case, that would transliterate into making small changes to your layout every so often, just to keep things from growing visually stale.  …speaking of, I need to write that post.)
• Be consistent in your strongest areas:  This should be strikingly obvious.  I’ll forego Chris’s more unusual example, and use my own.  If you’re passionate about woodworking, then for crying out loud, put down the hammer, and blog about it, occasionally.  Actually, if you’re really passionate or knowledgeable about a subject (or even just want to), blog about it consistently.  Over time, you’ll establish yourself as one of the go-to places for information on your topic. (Example?  Mind Blog has slowly become one of the go-to resources for new bloggers.)
• Keep Blogging Notebooks:  I’ve mentioned this time, and time, and time again.  Keep a notebook with you, at all times.  I have a small notebook in the door cubby of my truck; I have a notebook in my laptop bag, my briefcase, and any backpacks I take with me; and I have a voice memo feature on my mobile.  At my computer, I use Microsoft OneNote (and for those of you who can’t afford/don’t want to pay for OneNote, there’s a free note software called EverNote).  KEEP NOTEBOOKS.  Keep multiple notebook.  My suggestions for notebook locations?

• At your desk:  Keep a notebook at your desk.  If you’re only ever at your desk to use the computer, use a computerized version like OneNote, or Evernote.
• In your bag:  Keep a briefcase, laptop bag, or backpak?  Keep a single subject notebook in it.
• In the living room: Keep a legal pad, or a single subject notebook lying on your coffee table.
• In the bedroom:  Keep a small notepad, or something similar, lying on your bedside table.
• In your vehicle:  Keep a small notepad (A gregg ruled notepad, or even a single-subject spiral, is a great addition to your vehicle).
• In your back pocket:  No joke.  Moleskine notebooks are great for this.  Personally, I use my cellphone’s voice memo feature, but for those of you without this tool, carry a small notepad, or notebook in your hip pocket.

There you have it folks.  Several ideas on how to sieze the blog moment.  Do you have any more suggestions?  There’s a comment form, just below!  Please, let us know!

If you’d like to read what inspired this post, check out Seize the Blog Moment | Pearsonified.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, blog tips, blog notebook, sieze the moment

Speaking of blogging tools, has anyone ever used Elicit?  It’s supposed to be the end-all, be-all of integration, including del.icio.us, flickr, amazon, and so on.  If anyone has used it, or is using it, I’d love to read a review from you.

In short, http://domain.com becomes http://www.domain.com.
http://domain.com/index.php becomes http://www.domain.com
and https://domain.com/index.php becomes https://www.domain.com/index.php

Go check it out!

I’ve Googled, searched on MSN, altavista, yahoo, asked people, made several dozen calls about it, and even debated e-mailing a bunch of people and asking around. I’m not going to tell you what their viral marketing campaign is all about… Part of the fun is discovering it for yourself.  I will, however, give you a banner, and if you check the link, you can see that I have no tracking code on it, it’s not an affiliate link… it’s just a banner to a website.  What that website will be, I don’t know.

Certain events have unfolded in my life, the past few weeks, that will soon result in my having very little time to devote to blogging - at least for a month or two.  Ultimately, I will be moving to another state, later this year - probably in August or September.  Until then, I have to concentrate heavily on - and devote the majority of my time to - my company, GEL Web.

What does this mean for MindBlog?  In short, I’m not sure.  As always, if any of you are interested in guest blogging, please feel free to let me know.  So long as you wish to blog on any of the topics listed at the end of this entry, there should be no problem.  Additionally, I will be contacting specific bloggers in the next few days, and asking if they would mind writing at least an entry a week, here at MindBlog.  I hope to bring in some powerhouse bloggers, although I doubt I’ll
be able to get Darren Rowse or Duncan Riley. heh.  Again, if you’re interested in joining the MindBlog team, please, let me know.

If I have any spare time (after work, blogging, and spending time with my fiance), I will be devoting it to two project blogs I have in the works.  They are:

1. MindFaith - a blog about faith, spirituality, self awareness, and soul searching.  This will be a community-style blog, with semi-open membership.
2. (To Be Named) - a blog, by men, for men, about men (and no, we’re not talking an LGBT blog, either).

I also have one other project in the works, and that’s the creation of a new blogging network, dedicated to the amateur blogger.  The new network would allow amateur bloggers a place to showcase their talents, get insight and help from others like them, potentially get discovered by larger networks, and even earn a little money while they’re at it.

The project blogs are semi-long-term goals (two to four months).  The network creation is a long-term goal (six to twelve months, or more).  I wish all of these could happen much sooner, but the fact is, I simply won’t have much time to dedicate to them, at least for the next month.  Rest assured, my loyal participants, this isn’t a lull because I don’t want to blog.  I’m not burnt out… If anything, I’m way hyped about the ideas I have.  This is something that boils down to three things.

1. I have to make something happen with this company.
2. I have to get myself and my life ready to move.
3. I have to ensure some sort of future for my fiance and myself.

(Those are actually in reverse order of importance.)

There you have it, folks.  That’s the conclusion of this little heart-to-heart.  I hope you’ll understand if the blogging is spotty until I can find some folks to help fill in the gaps.  I really hope you’ll be willing to stick around and see what happens when I can really put nose to grindstone in the blogging arena.  Until the next update and progress report…

((( Topics acceptable for guest bloggers:

• Blogging (and anything under it)
• Earning online (adsense, similar programs, affiliate programs, tips, tricks, etc…)
• Blogging technology
• General technology
• Politics as related to blogging, the Internet, and technology
• How-to’s, lists, or informationals on any of the above
• ANY series based on the above
• Anything else you think would fit well, here.

and yes, I am willing to let you dual-blog (post an entry in both your blog, and MindBlog), although I prefer you to make some changes.

In exchange, you’ll have a link to your website on every post, an author info page, and the ability to place a “blurb” at the end of each post, much like after an article. )))

For starters, I’m going to be rolling out the latest MindBlog series: 37 Tips for New Bloggers. Actually, the tips are valid for both new and old bloggers. I’ll be making a post each day (once we get going, probably on Monday) for 37 days, each with a different tip. Some of the posts will be very short, as the idea contained within will be rather self-explanatory. Some of the posts will be a bit longer, and - I hope - will give more insight. At any rate, I’m confident it’ll be a helpful series.

Secondly, with this downtime, I’ve noticed a distinct drop in traffic to all of my blogs. Obviously, that’s to be expected. Unfortunately, I haven’t had anyone to fill in the gaps when I’ve been unable to post. So, on that note, I’m still looking for guest bloggers. If you’re interested, feel free to use the contact form, or find me on AIM or YIM as “esmindblog”. I’ll often be listed as away… Just ping me, anyway.

Finally, I’m looking for short series ideas. In other words, ideas that can be turned into a series of four or less posts. If you suggest an idea, and I run with it, you’ll receive a link back to your blog within the article, and most likely within the links on the sidebar, as well. Not to mention, it’s great recognition. Just use the contact info from the previous paragraph, or comment.

Again, folks, I’m sorry for being gone for so long. As soon as things get to a point where I can fill everyone in on what’s been happening, I’ll attempt to do so. Until that time, well… we’ll see what happens.

Not sure what all this is about?  Go read this FAQ… I’ll wait.

It works like this.  If the big guns have their way, then each and every website may* have to pay for access to the big company’s networks in order for their site to be accessible to those customers.  The companies are planning on charging in a tier model.  The higher the price paid, the faster the site will load, and the more accessible it will be.

What’s at stake?  The Internet as we know it.  The future of media is the Internet.  This dispute is over who will control new technologies.

What else is at stake?  Every. single. website.  If the big guns win, and net neutrality disappears, then this blog, and every other website I run, may be forced off of the Internet, as I can’t afford to pay for extra charges like that.

Hundreds of millions of other websites may disappear, too.  New technologies may suddenly become limited, or may only be available to certain people on certain networks, and not available to people using other networks.

Please…  Support net neutrality, and call your representative today and ask them to vote FOR net neutrality.  If the public masses don’t cry foul, and cry LOUDLY, the government won’t support this bill.  Ensure the future of the ‘net as we know it.  Call.  Support.  Get the word out.

CASE STUDY…

Okay, here’s the big news. In a couple-three days, I’ll be posting information about a case study I’ll be beginning. I’ll be asking for those of you who don’t feel you’re making enough on your blog (AdSense, Chitika, etc… publishers) to sign up if you’d like. I’ll be helping you go over your blogs, step by step, and ensuring you’ve done all the SEO work you can do, and you’ve maximized your earning potential with your ad unit placement, etc…

Why am I doing this? I’ve recently completed a case study, where I was the one getting the help. With what I learned, I’ve managed to take my AdSense earnings and increase them by over 1,000% (Earnings in Jan vs. earnings for March (Study began in Feb)). I figure I’d help share the wealth. Besides, blogging is my passion, and I love to help people.

So, if you’re interested in participating, leave a comment with your blog URL. This isn’t the formal application process… I just want to get a handle on who’s interested and who isn’t. I’ll be posting more information and how to request to join the study, later this week.

Primarily, I will be using AdSense and Chitika.  If one does not perform well, it will be removed and replaced.  As you can see, I am also using Amazon.com.  I don’t know how well my amazon link will do… we’ll see.

I’ll be creating more pages, some with only AdSense, some with only Chitika, and some with both, in the coming days.  For now, I’m starting with a page about halogen desk lamps.  Yes, for those curious, I am writing the articles, myself.  I can’t afford to pay anyone to write them, and Google frowns on multiple sites having the exact same content (ala e-zine articles, etc).

Let me know what you think of the page, and this rather ambitious plan.  I’m hoping to see a pretty decent return from this.

So, let’s get down to business.  For starters, the Official AdSense Blog has an entry entitled “Earnings: Your Questions Answered“.  Many of us will think that everyone should know the answers to the questions presented in the post, but for an AdSense beginner, they are asked fairly often.

Moving from the making money through advertising, to the arbitrage vein, Shoemoney has started something called the $10,000 experiment.  You can read bout it in his first post, and his second post on the topic.  Essentially, he’s using Arbitrage-type manuevering (more on this later.. if it doesn’t make sense,
don’t worry), to make money off of affiliate links.  He’s essentially advertising to get people to come and click on his links so he will make money from said links.  So far, it appears to be a success.

There’s a technique called AdSense Arbitrage that concentrates specifically on AdSense/AdWords combinations.  I’ll post more about this in the next couple of weeks (someone remind me, if I haven’t by the end of the month), and introduce you to the basics, as well as pimp a great ebook on the subject.

Finally, I’m coming back from this break in a big way.  With the success of the past few months, I’m ready to spread some of it around.  I’m beginning a few case studies.  Basically, I’ll be asking for applications from beginning and new-ish bloggers who want to use my SEO and AdSense knowledge to help them maximize their profit potential (buzzword, buzzword, buzzword).  I’ll also be including a fair bit about affiliate marketing, and other possibilities in the study.  Stay tuned for
more information, and the requirements to submit an application.

Want more hype?  Try this one on for size.  Wired News (a service of Lycos) bloggers are now posting more efficiently thanks to Lycos-Qumana.

Want even more?  Lycos-Qumana now presents a Mac version, as well as the PC version we’ve all come to love.  What are the differences between Lycos-Qumana, and plain old Qumana?  Well, none that I can see, besides the branding.  This means that everyone enjoying the Lycos branded version is enjoying the same Qumana featureset, and ease of use, that many have come to love.

Let’s not forget that Quamana’s AdGenta program has been re-branded as well.  Welcome to Q-Ads. The same AdGenta program, with a spiffy new name.

Take some time and go check out the hype at the Qumana Blog.  This should be an interesting partnership, and I’m definitely going to see where Lycos and Qumana go, from here.

Powered by Qumana

Great.  Here comes the excessive confusion as people upgrade and find that a huge portion of their blogs have broken, as they forgot to add on the stuff they use - or else didn’t realize that it had been removed in the first place.

What’s going to be removed?  Image uploading/management tool, User management tool, Page Creation, Link Management, Entry Import, ALL comment management, and the dashboard.

Out of all of those, I’ll be adding back everything but the image uploading tool, as I do all uploading through Ecto.  It’s amazing to me that they’re removing things that most bloggers use every single day.  Example?  Comment management - I do a lot of comment management, every. dang. day.  I do a lot of it through SK2, but some of what I do is through the standard WP interface.

Another example?  The Dashboard.  Sure, mine is customized, but since Spam Karma 2 no longer sends me new comment notices, I have to check the freaking dashboard, to see if new comments have been left on older entries.

Honestly, Matt, what are you guys thinking?  …and don’t tell me “oh, it’ll be easy to add things back in,” because it’s never that easy.

Much like the widgets availible for WordPress.com users, the WP Widgets system is designed to integrate with your blog, allowing WordPress users an easy customization of their sidebar.  The draw back?  It only works on certain themes (out of the box), and it can be a bit difficult to implement on others.

For more information on WordPress Widgets, check out its project page on Automattic.com.

Please, for the love of all that is bloggy, have an RSS feed link on your blog. You blogger users are especially bad about not placing your feed info in your template. Nothing irks me more than going to a blog, and not being able to figure out how to access the feed, so I can slap it into my feed reader.

No, I take that back. One thing irks me more, and that’s seeing subscription buttons for things like Bloglines, MyYahoo, MyGoogle, NewsGator, and other online services, and yet not seeing a single, solitary link for the pure freaking feed.

Don’t know what your feed is? It’s simple. It’s http://yourblognamehere.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Augh, it’s not that danged hard to do. The easiest method is to do this:
<a href=”http://www.feed.url.here.com/feed”>Syndicated Feed (RSS/ATOM)</a>

If you want to get fancy, you can use the feed icon. Feel free to steal mine, it’s at the top, on the left. That orange thing.

There are so many blogs that I never get around to reading, because I can’t find their feed information, and I just don’t feel like looking.

There are so many people that may never read your blog because you have either: 1) no feed info, at all, or 2) subscription buttons to only a few services, and no generic link for everyone else.

Please. I ask you. One blogger to another (or, rather, one blogger to a metric a–load of you)… Show a feed link.

What should I write about?

Do you have any questions? Do you want to know about me? Do you want to know about you? Do you want to know about the aliens? the smurfs? why cat’s land on their feet? what would happen if your buttered the back of a cat and dropped it (and if you get that joke, you rock)?

Seriously, folks. The next few days (or even weeks), are up to you. You tell me what I should write about. Try to keep it at least slightly on topic (heh)… but a few off-topic ideas are welcome, too.

So what’s it going to be?

What? Think I’m joking?  I’m not.  By slacking off, you’re giving your mind a break from the same-old, same-old.  You’re opening your mind by not concentrating on work.  You’re opening your mind by letting it pig out on other things (TV, books, radio, that lizard on that tree over there).

The next time you’re blocked - or even the next time you’re tired and frustrated - spend an hour or so, slacking off.  Go watch TV, or read a book.  Go have some personal time (*wink**wink*, *nudge**nudge*) with your significant other.  Go take a walk.  Heck, you could even go stare into the fridge for a while.  The trick is, get your mind on something else that doesn’t take intense concentration.

I guarantee you’ll notice the difference.

The trick is to pick some blog entries and write them, as stories. They could be stories starring you, stories starring a friend, or even stories starring a product. Want some examples? Okay:

You want to blog about a hot new product on your widget blog. Why not write a story entry explaining how you found the product, your experiences using it, and how much you liked it. You can sprinkle the affiliate links in there, anywhere, and you can have excellent keyword density. I guarentee I’ll take more notice of a post like this. Much more than a post saying “blah has released the new widget 2.0. It looks great, has these features, and when I tried it, I liked it.”

You want to relate some information you’ve learned. Rather than simply horking the info into an entry, try disclosing it in a conversational manner. Something like, “Today I was surfing blah.com and came across some info. It appears that, blah blah blah. I think yadda yadda.” In other words, don’t by dry and droll with it.

You want to write a post, but have no idea what to write about. Heck, why not write the story of how you’ve been through all of your feeds, you’ve cleaned out your e-mail, you’ve even downloaded and installed things, and you still have nothing to write about. Just be personable. I guarentee that 90% of your readers not only won’t mind a personal story entry, occasioanlly; they’ll actually welcome it.

While reading the entry at performancing, I noticed that they list several tips for writing a good story entry. Some are:

• Start with a good title (duh, that goes for every blog entry)
• Write lively. Paint a picture in your readers’ minds by evoking sounds, smells and emotions.
• Show conflict, tension, suspense, etc… Write with a bit of a plot.
• Use humor.
• Remember to include the details, but not unneccessary ones.
• Don’t waste time. Remember to get to your point.
• One point per story, please (unless two points are imperative)
• Engage the reader’s emotions
• Don’t use rumors or myths as fact
• Remember to give some background. Not everyone knows your history (this is a great time to increase visit depth by linking to other blog posts)

Those are just some of the tips posted, although I feel they’re the more important ones.

Take this entry as your task for the day. Go write a story post - on any subject relevant to your blog - and then comment here with a link to it.

For more information on this topic, you can view the original entry at performancing: Tell a Good Story.

Over the past three months, I have written and published three successful series on blogging.  I have one more waiting in the wings to be deployed.  After finishing that fourth series, I’ve realized something.  I’ve hit a wall.

I was sitting here, today, and I realized several key factors pointing toward bloggers block:

• No Updates (It’s been a week since I’ve updated my political blog, and - aside from pre-blogged posts, and an occasional short post - I’ve not been updating MindBlog like I should, either).
• Starting a project and not following through (I’ve set up two other blogs - one on spirituality and religion, one for a “personal” blog - and I’ve yet to do anything beyond the initial installation of WordPress).
• Spending less and less time online (I’ve been spending less and less time on the computer over the past few days.  This is a sure sign of a block, and/or apathy).
• Not writing down - or following up on - new ideas (I usually carry a small greg-ruled notepad with me, for blogging ideas.  I’ve been leaving it behind).
• Not interacting with my blog(s) (I’ve not been checking stats, or comments, etc).

All of these signs point to a major case of blogger’s block.  I just don’t have any fresh ideas.  The same signs point to a major case of blogger’s apathy.

The question is, what are these things, and how do I/we combat them?

Blogger’s block is the case in which a blogger loses the flow of fresh ideas, or the ability to write.  In other words, you sit down at your computer, load up your blogging software, type a word/sentence or two, and sit and stare at the screen.  I did this, yesterday, for nearly thirty minutes.

Blogger’s apathy is the case in which a blogger just doesn’t want to do the things associated with blogging.  In my case, I haven’t been

• checking stats (I usually do this, daily)
• checking comments
• reading feeds
• taking ideas and writing stubs
• keeping up with the blogosphere
• giving a high flying expletive about anything

The big question is, why haven’t I been doing any of these things, and what can I do to combat those issues?

I sat down for a few minutes, tonight, and I decided that I am most definately more apathetic, than I am blocked.  I came up with a short list of major reason’s that I’m feeling so apathetic, lately.  It mostly boiled down to too many things to deal with, quickly and easily:

• Too many stats programs
• So far behind in feeds
• Interfaces seem so overwhelming
• Low interaction with readers.
• Depression
• Personal life-issues impacting things.

While I am sure there are more reasons, these are the six that popped into my head during the few minutes I took to examine things.

After writing out the above list, I sat back and started thinking about things I could do to make my life easier, and - hopefully - become less apathetic towards blogging.

Of course, this resulted in an impromptu series.  I’ll be writing at least one or two more posts on this subject in the next day or so.  I’ll be explaining more details on each of the above issues, and what I’m doing to take care of them.

For starters, if you’re having trouble keeping your blogs updated, and fresh, perhaps you’re becoming apathetic towards your blogs, and/or blogging.  If so, sit down and try to identify reasons that you don’t spend as much time with your blogs as you used to.  Make a list.  Then, tune in to see how I’m going to (try to) conquer mine.  Maybe you’ll find inspiration in it.

Getting the Idea

Every series you write should start with a solid idea. This idea is the foundation - the basis - of the series. In the case of my past (and planned future) series, my ideas were:

• Blogging as an Amateur Blogger, and tips for Amateurs (Amateur Blogging Series)
• The steps involved in creating a new blog (New Blog Creation Series)
• Techniques to monetize your blog, going beyond what had been previously discussed (Advanced Monetization Series)
• A stream of tips that new bloggers may over look (Tips for New Bloggers Series (coming soon))
• Tips and Tricks for bloggers using WordPress (WordPress Tips and Tricks (coming soon))

How did I get each idea? Amazingly enough, the majority of those series were inspired by other people. The trick is to keep an open mind, and - every time you’re inspired for an entry topic - write down your ideas. Once you have some ideas collected, look them over. Do any of them spawn off multiple post ideas in your head (keeping in mind the “one topic per post” axiom)? If so, then you might want to write down - under the original idea - the other ideas. Over time, you’ll probably find a series developing.

The trick to getting series ideas is simply to read, and transliterate to your own blog’s niche. For exmaple: the Amateur Blogging Series was inspired by Darren Rowse’s Problogger.net. His entire website is a series of posts written about being a better professional blogger. I already knew I wanted to write for the amateur blogger, so I figure on starting a series about amateur blogging.

Another example? A reader asked me what all was involved in creating a new blog. I started writing a post on that subject, and quickly realize that it would be a very looooong post. I decided to break it up into multiple posts.

Yet another example? Darren Rowse - again - had written a “31 Days to Being a Better Blogger” series. I thought about that, and realized that he had assumed that the blogger reading that series had some experience. I also realized that new bloggers were asking him a lot of questions. Therefore, I decided to write a series on tips for new bloggers, including things that new bloggers may overlook from time to time.

Okay, so you’ve got your idea… Where to go from here?

Creating an Outline

Now that you have your series idea, you probably have some ideas for posts/topics within that series. Now’s the time to go back to your high school education, and start outlining. Each individual topic should be a roman numeral on your outline. Each roman numeral is a seperate post.

Once you have the initial post topics on there, it’s time to start expanding the outline. What do you want to cover in each post? Each of these items is a capitol letter in the outline. Once you have those, start thinking up the minor bits and pieces that make them up. Over time, you’ll see your outline develop.

Why an Outline?

Simple. If you didn’t write everything down in some sort of natural progression, you’ll wind up forgetting things you wanted to write about, and forgetting important details in your posts.

An outline allows you to get the preperation out of the way, early on, so that when you sit down to write your series articles, you’ll be able to do so, fairly quickly. For most series, each article takes me around ten or fifteen minutes - max. Err, that’s for the long ones.

Okay, you’ve got the outline… what next?

Writing the Posts

This is pretty straight forward, isn’t it? Well, maybe not.

Some popular issues?

• “I always get distracted when I sit down to write.”
• “I can never find the time to write.”
• “I can’t always write long articles with regularity, how can I guarentee things will show up on time?”
• “I keep forgetting details, and what I’m meaning to write.”

Let’s cover those:

Distractions

I’m very easily distracted. When I sit down at the computer to blog, I often intend to spend an hour or two, actively blogging. I usually wind up spending four or more hours surfing the ‘net, with a bit of blogging randomly interspersed. Why? I keep getting distracted.

When I sit down to write my articles, I usually do so on my laptop, away from home. In fact, every post of every single series on my website (at least, up to this point), has been written sitting at my local Denny’s (a 24/7 restaurant chain serving “american diner” style food). I go in, get some diet coke (or coffee), open the laptop, and start typing. I don’t stop until my laptop battery dies, around two hours later. Then, I pop open my “blog fodder” notebook, and I brainstorm for new post ideas.

The trick is to place yourself somewhere else. If you have a laptop, try turning off the wireless Internet connection, and sitting in your living room, dining room, or on your back patio. If that doesn’t work, try going to a local cyber cafe, or a local restaurant. So long as they aren’t very full/busy, they will usually have no problem with you sitting there, working. (NOTE: Cafe and diner style locations are best for this. So are fast food locations, although the high number of children and noise can lead to distraction in the fast food places.)

Don’t have a laptop? Go to your local library. You can usually use the computer at your local library for at least an hour at a time. If the library doesn’t have people waiting, they’ll often let you keep going, until they do. If you use up your allotted time, you can always sign back up for a computer.

How do you write from the library? Well, you can use a service like Writely, which acts as an online word processor, and lets you publish to your blog. Alternatively, you can simply log into your blog’s write system, and save your posts as a draft, until you’re ready to unveil the series.

Personally, I write in a text editor (notepad++) that allows me to keep multiple documents open (in tabs, much like firefox). Then, when I’m ready to post, I just copy and paste.

The Time to Write

The answer to this is very simple. Write a little bit here and there, and when you do have time to write, write several posts in one sitting. Remember, you don’t have to publish the posts, right away. Sure, it may take you a while to get your series complete, but that’s fine.

Another tip is to set aside an hour each day, specifically for writing long articles for your blog. This way, you’ll find that even when you don’t have a series in progress, you can still churn out some lengthy (or pillar) articles.

How Can I Follow A Posting Schedule

The biggest issue people have will probably be the fact that they can’t guarentee being able to release new posts on a certain schedule. Well, there are two options…

First, you can publish articles from the series, whenever you write them, leading to your series taking longer, and not putting out regular articles. Sometimes, this can keep people coming back to you, in the long run.

Secondly, you can do as I do and pre-blog.

Pre-blogging is publishing your entries with a date that is in the future.

Personally, I write all of the articles for a series, ahead of time. Once I complete the series, I start loading the articles into my blogging system. I decide which days of the week the articles are coming out on, and I decide when my first will appear. Then, I set the dates on the posts appropriately. On the vast majority of blogging systems, this will keep the post hidden until the date in question arrives.

Every single article in every single series I write is posted on the same day, usually within a twenty minute time span. I simply date them in the future so they’ll appear at the appropriate times. By pre-blogging, I’m able to ensure a steady stream of posts from my current series.

Forgetting Details

First off, you should have an outline. If you don’t, go see the first part of this article, on outlining. Once you have your outline, keep it open on your computer, so you can refer to it. Alternatively, print it out. Keeping your outline in front of you will enable you to remember the details.

Beautifying Your Posts

Everyone, I’m sure, has noticed that I seperate my series posts into headings and sub-headings. This is beautification of your posts, and makes it easier for readers to notice subject changes, and follow along.

I do the heading by using HTML tags. In my case, my major headings (within entries) are done using <h2> tags. My sub-headings are done use <strong> tags.

Personally, I do my beautification as I go along, simply putting the HTML tags into the document as I write it. There’s one small drawback to this. I can’t use rich text editors to post my entries. I can, however, use any raw HTML editor, or the HTML pane of a rich editor. Personally, I use Ecto 1.8.8 (and will continue to, despire version 2.0 being in development (which includes a rich editor)) for posting my series entries. It’s as simple as copy/paste.

Some people prefer to block off in their mind where beautification should go, and come back later on to do their prettyifying. It’s really up to you. The point is, keep it easy to follow.

That’s My Strategy…

So that’s it! My strategy for writing series is as follows:

• Come up with an idea
• Outline the series
• Write the posts, away from distractions (in my case, away from home)
• Beautify the post with headings and sub-headings
• Pre-date the posts and publish them all at once, so they’ll appear on a set schedule
• Sit back and watch people learn

Following that strategy is how I manage to churn out so many series, in a relatively short amount of time.

Speaking of… Got an idea for a series? I’m always looking for new ideas, and if you’ve got stuff to contribute, I’ll be glad to co-author a series with you. Head on over to the contact page, and shoot me the info. I won’t use your submitted ideas, unless you say its okay.

If you’re writing a series about blogging, let me know, so I can link to it from MindBlog.