To Blog Or Not To Blog Part Two

Well, I have received over 700 comments to date on my original blog of the same name. This tells me that this is a very sought after and needed topic to be discussed in perhaps more detail than I first did. So one of the questions I get a lot asks me what platform I am on. I am on WordPress. We, my Web Master and I did a lot of research on various platforms because I absolutely did not want to be on WordPress. My website: www.Therobbinsgroup.com is built in HTML specifically because I did not want to deal with the issues associated with WordPress (Viruses, Hacking, Constant Updates, etc.) And HTML is virtually hack proof, but by attaching a WordPress blog I would be adding a doorway for hackers into my site. The options all involved subscriptions, some monthly, some annual, none of them looked great in term of themes and adaptability. So what to do? In the end, WordPress won.

So that answers one questions I repeatedly get. I also get the question who designed your site. Well, The Robbins Group is a Marketing company and as such we are designers of logos, brands, websites, marketing plans, etc. So we designed the site ourselves.

Who writes the content, where do you get the ideas? I, Gail Gosnell, write all of the content, every word of it. I get my ideas by and large from my never ending list of Blog Topics, which currently runs about 20 topics in reserve. Most of the time I see something or hear something that inspires me and I write it down for future use. I carry a notebook with me everywhere I go and I write in it constantly, observations, thoughts, ideas, whatever. I also get ideas from you, my readers. You often inspire me with a comment, a question, or a suggestion. And lastly I get ideas from something I read. A quote, a poem, or a snippet of something, a saying, a turn of phrase, etc. I love the English language and I enjoy a lovely word, a good phrase, a charming saying, etc. any of these things can inspire me to write a blog. And anything can inspire you as well.

To those of you looking for short cuts to your blog writing here are a few that might help you out: If you have a news page on your website, then you can write a brief blog about whatever you have just posted on your news page and add a link to your news page. You can add a community events page and do the same thing if it makes since for your website. If you have a resources section we talked about having an articles section where you can search the internet for current article on subjects related to your field of interest or expertise, the write a brief synopsis of the article for your blog post, post the article in your articles section and add the link to the bottom of your blog with the words: to read the original article visit our resource section. Add the link to the words resource section. If you have a Recommended Reading section in your resource section that includes books then each time you add a book you can write a blog introducing the addition to the Recommended Reading section. Again be sure to add the link to the proper page at the bottom of your blog post. If you want, you can specialize in short Blog Posts, ones that are only a few sentences long. For example you could say something like: “Did you ever wonder why if we are descended from apes, there are still apes? Just curious, so if anyone knows, please send me a comment.” Or more specific to business “Why is it that men shake other men’s hands one way and they shake women’s hands another way? Is this a throwback to another time, if it is who taught them to do it in this day and age?” You get the idea. Short and sweet.

The main point is don’t worry so much about what you’re going to write, just start writing and posting. Once you begin you will find your rhythm and your niche and your voice. You will find what works for you and that is the important take away here. So stop procrastinating and just start writing!