I apologize to the person that shared this article with me on Twitter. I’d give credit if I could remember.
The article has an interesting perspective on why some bloggers are successful where others fail. The article argues that it isn’t talent or natural born ability to create great content thousands are willing to share with their social networks.
The key is consistency or better put perseverance.
Not Talent, But Perseverance in Content Creation
I would dare say that the single most important characteristic of successful content marketers (individuals and brands) is perseverance.
Do you know of any great bloggers that haven’t, time after time, consistently delivered? Seth Godin, Copyblogger, Lee Odden, Mack Collier…they all deliver. Not all of the posts are diamonds, but the collection of singles and doubles throughout the years have led to world series titles for each of them.
I agree with Joe on this point regarding blogging or any kind of content creation. In the last few years of observing blogs in various different niches and genres I’ve noticed that the most consistent bloggers, those that post regularly at least in the early going, are the most success in general. I have no science or data to back this up.
As Joe mentions in his article, most blog posts or other pieces of content won’t be the homerun kind of creations. There will be hits and misses, the occasional bomb, and the even more infrequent homerun.
The more frequent bombs are what drive most people out of blogging. Some bloggers have it in their mind they can kick things off with a homerun during their first at bat. Even in the first month or two some think they’ll knock one out of the park. This is uncommon and when the blogger doesn’t reach their inflated expectations they start posting less frequent and soon the blog is left in purgatory – gaining a few views over time, but no real audience.
The Importance of Schedule
As with most things keeping a schedule can be something important for your business blog. I find posting on the same day each week works in most cases. What’s worked well for me is to actually write posts ahead of time and schedule them for a specific day the following week. This allows for a little leniency. If I am not able to write a post on Wednesday I can still write it the next day or two and schedule it for Tuesday (a great day to post).
Consistency in schedule seems to let an audience build around the blog. They get on the same schedule and get used to coming back each Tuesday to read the latest entry. If the article is good they may even share it with more of their social network.
Keeping the schedule seems to be the most difficult thing for blog writers. In fact, even if they’re able to keep the schedule they can lose their drive to experiment and find new things to write about and discuss. This can lead to consistent posting of crap posts.
It’s tough.
Questions
What are some of the things you run into with your business blog?
Do you have a schedule and does it work?
What works for you?