Well, it has been over a week since my last post and I can tell you that it does make a difference. For me, though, it’s not that I am refreshed and rested and ready to conquer the world. In fact, for me it’s quite the opposite.
Over the past week and a half I have learned just how easy it is to get derailed with blogging. Not to get into details but I am experiencing some difficult times in my family with health issues. It’s hard to watch people you love go through this type of thing. It becomes all consuming on a level that you can’t truly comprehend until you experience it.
So what does this have to do with search marketing and the SMB? I don’t know. What I do know is that although I thought about posting a lot in the past week and half I just couldn’t bring myself to go there and before I knew it I was completely out of whatever groove I was in prior to this incident. I will be brutally honest here and admit that search marketing and blogging and all the other stuff I enjoy to “put out there” just didn’t seem important to me at all. I know this is a temporary effect of being faced with life’s bigger issues but until the moment I forced myself to write this down I wasn’t sure if I was going to be blogging any time soon.
From a purely business sense I now see the importance of several things regarding a consistent blogging effort. First, plan out as many posts as possible (on a quarterly basis seems most reasonable) so you won’t need to come up with ideas every day. There are some days when ideas are few and far between. It would be very helpful to be able to turn to a “schedule” and have something there to at least point me in a good direction. Also, have some posts “in the can” for moments just like I experienced. It’s like blogger’s insurance. If the motivation is not there or life simply overrides any opportunity to post it is a fantastic thing to have a few posts at the ready to give readers something to chew on while you are temporarily unavailable. Easier said than done I know but it is something that I will be putting in place in the very near future for sure.
Secondly, have some people who can contribute to your blog in your absence. It is for this very reason that I have had an opportunity to be a contributor on Mike Moran’s Biznology blog. You see, Mike had to take a good stretch of time off and he decided that it was time to have contributors to fill the void in his absence and even have a regular position on his blog. I feel that I was in the right place at the right time for me but for Mike it is his blogger’s insurance policy which he can add to or subtract from however he pleases. It is his blog after all. All I know is, I will be following his cue and looking for some back up for the future for this little place I call Frank Thinking.
So there you have it; some simple ideas that you probably have considered on your own. Maybe you haven’t even considered them once until now. I don’t know either way. That’s another funny thing about blogging. You just don’t know who you will help or when you might help them. I feel good that rarely will I completely waste someone’s time but if I do I am sorry. Some days life is bigger than blogging. I know because I have experienced it first hand for the first time. Know any good insurance salesmen?
Comment Starter: Do you want to blog? If you already blog how have you “insured’ your presence? What other ideas do you have that help when blogging becomes the unthinkable task?
SMB Takeaway: Bloggers need to be prepared for the times when either inspiration leaves them or life distracts them. While blogging is a great mental exercise and can be very helpful the old adage “Failing to plan is planning to fail” can hit hard. So plan a little and live a little more.
