How to Build a Successful Blog: One Piece at a Time

I have, in theory, all the tools to build a strong platform. In fact, thanks to my profession, I’ve been successfully helping clients do it for years.

So why isn’t MY platform equally successful?

I could give a whole list of reasons/excuses for this. I’m too freaking busy. I don’t stick to a schedule. I don’t have a customer base to draw from to jumpstart it. I choose titles for personal amusement rather than SEO.

But the real reason, if I’m honest with myself, is that I let myself get pulled in too many directions, and have not been focused enough to execute this blog properly. I get overwhelmed, let it slip, bounce back in a surge of inspiration, try to do everything at once, get overwhelmed … well, you see where this ends.

The bottom line? I’ve failed to invest in smart strategy for my own platform. It’s a regular case of cobbler’s children.

But now that I’m freelancing, two things are forcing me to change my attitude. To start, my platform is more important for my success than ever. And I’ve lost absolutely any excuse I ever had to push off doing this thing right.

So I’m biting the bullet. Goodbye, half-assing; hello, professionalism. 

The Approach
As my problem in the past has largely been a lack of focus, I’ve decided to pick one way to improve the blog each month, and dedicate that month to learning and applying all I can to improve that aspect of my execution. And, of course, to observe how those improvements impact the blog.

So for the rest of the year I’m going to focus on one tactic to improve my blog platform each month. I’ll share what that focus is with all of you, then report back on what I learn at the end of the month.

Square One
For May (and the rest of April), I’m getting back to the basics and focusing on simply posting on a regular schedule once a week. You can expect to keep seeing new content here every Monday.

And since we’re being all professional and stuff, I’m going to lay out an editorial calendar for the content and try out this cutting-edge approach called working ahead.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Do you blog? What’s your most effective trick?