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AI and Blogging #DigiBlogChat July 9

July 5, 2024 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/kaboompics-1013994/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=791049">Karolina Grabowska</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=791049">Pixabay</a>

AI and Blogging is Tuesday, July 9th’s #DigiBlogchat | Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay

AI and Blogging is Tuesday, July 9th’s #digiblogchat topic. Topic and questions by @RandyLyleClark (Thank you, Randy!)

We’ve covered many aspects of AI before on #digiblogchat, but did you realize you could use AI for blogging? If you’re a writer or just want to add some more content to your blog, you might want to join our upcoming chat! Maybe you’ll get or share some ideas during this chat! Even if you’re only there for the side conversations, we’d love to have you!

Join us on Twitter each Tuesday from 12:00 noon 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time for #DigiBlogChat. My partner for these chats is @LazBlazter. If you need to know how to participate, click here: How to Join #DigiBlogChat. P.S. Don’t forget to add the #digiblogchat hashtag!

NOTE NEW TIME: at 8pm BST, 9pm western Europe, 3pm ET, 12:00 NOON pm PDT.

Questions

Q1. Have you used AI to assist with blogging? How so? #digiblogchat

Q2 Should a blog have AI guidelines for contributors? What kind? #digiblogchat

Q3 What opportunities and advantages do you foresee for AI in blogging? #digiblogchat

Q4 What potential pitfalls and hazards do you foresee for AI in blogging? #digiblogchat

Q5 How can you verify information in a blog created by AI? #digiblogchat

Q6 How can you verify that AI has created a blog that isn’t plagarism? #digiblogchat

Q7 What ethical considerations should bloggers have when using AI? #digiblogchat

Q8 Will AI replace human bloggers? Why or why not? #digiblogchat

Q9 How can AI improve SEO for blogs? #digiblogchat

Q10 How many of these questions were created by AI? #digiblogchat

Filed Under: Digiblogchat questions Tagged With: AI and blogging, blogging, DigiBlogChat

#DigiBlogChat Feb 13, 2024 Help, I started a blog, what next?

February 12, 2024 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/startupstockphotos-690514/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=593358">StartupStockPhotos</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=593358">Pixabay</a>

The topic: Help, I started a blog, what next? with @lazblazter! Image StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay

February 13, 2024 Help, I started a blog, what next? with @lazblazter! #digiblogchat

The topic for #DigiBlogChat on Tuesday, February 13, 2024 at 1:00 pm Pacific Time is February 13, 2024 Help, I started a blog, what next? with @lazblazter! What do you do when you’re just starting with blogging? What should your posts be about? And of course we’ll have the ever-present side conversations!

Join us on Twitter each Tuesday from 1:00 through 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time for #DigiBlogChat. My partner for these chats is @LazBlazter. If you need to know how to participate, click here: How to Join #DigiBlogChat. P.S. Don’t forget to add the #digiblogchat hashtag!

Here are the questions:

Q1. Starting the blog was a big step but has anyone got tips for curating ideas to give it longevity? #digiblogchat

Q2. Should I follow the feedback my blog generates to determine future content or stick to a set theme or genre? #digiblogchat

Q3. Now I’m up and blogging, do I need to be concerned about which platform it is hosted on? #digiblogchat

Q4. Anyone got tips about linking social media with my blog please? #digiblogchat

Q5. What about frequency, is a regular date preferable to publishing as and when I feel inspired? #digiblogchat

Q6. Is it okay to work with guests and debate ideas or is that more for vlogging and podcasting? #digiblogchat

Q7. What do you feel about using a blog to advocate for causes, is that inviting hostility? #digiblogchat

Q8. How should I deal with negativity, meet it head-on or acknowledge it and trail it off? #digiblogchat

Q9. Where can I find fresh ideas to blog about, what would inspire you? #digiblogchat

Q10. Finally, what do you, or would you, blog about? #digiblogchat

Filed Under: Digiblogchat questions Tagged With: beginning blogging, blogging, DigiBlogChat

Blogging Basics for the Beginner: How to Get Started

July 7, 2022 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

What are the blogging basics? Have you considered blogging but think you might have missed the boat? Want to create a blog but don’t know what to say? Now I am not the person to ask about which website name or provider you might use, but the writing part is definitely in my wheelhouse. What would you say? You might think you have nothing to say, but believe me, you have plenty to say. Here are some issues that might be stopping you, and how to address them.

If you can talk, you can write

My friend Bridget Willard said this to me, and it helped tremendously. You can always use talk to text or some similar speech recognition program (Dragon Naturally is a good one). People like a conversational style anyway. People don’t think they can write, but often they like to talk. If that sounds like you, then just speak and use a program to write your articles.

If you make mistakes

There are a ton of apps and free programs that can help you with your spelling, grammar, or creating an outline. You don’t have to make anything super fancy. For instance, the Grammarly app can help you proof and edit your work. And the Hemingway app can help make your writing more clear and precise. They both have free versions, although you may want to upgrade later if you write a lot.

If you think you don’t have time

Do you have an hour? Then you can write a basic blog post. I’ve written about this previously: How to Write a Perfectly Fine Blog Post in an Hour. And a friend of mine, Randy Clark, writes every day and has written extensively on the subject. I refer to his book How to stay Ahead of Your Business Blog Forever often. You can find it on his website.

Blogging Basics for the Beginner: How to Get Started| Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay

If you don’t have images

You can always use your own images for your blog post, but there are lots of free pictures you can use out there. I like Pixabay these days for free images. You can also get a subscription from a service like shutterstock. A good way to find graphics is to search on an abstract word like Creativity, for instance. Try searching different ways for images and make sure to give credit to the image’s creator.

If you don’t know about all the details

Create a good headline. Write 350 words, to begin with (more is better). Add an image. Have two outgoing links and two incoming. If it’s your first blog post, don’t worry about it–you can add the links to your own work later. That’s it.

If you have too much fear

Maybe I should’ve put this paragraph first because for many people it’s really about the terror of writing. The important thing is to get started. And realize that you can always delete and/or rewrite any post you create. You really do have more to say than you think. And people do want to hear your voice. Really.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, writing

Organizing Your Social Media So You Can Have a Better Life

April 23, 2020 By Carol Stephen 2 Comments

Everyone says you need to know your why before you feel motivated. The reason you want to organize your social media is so you’ll have more time. Hence, you can use that time to have a better life. There are lots of different ways to organize your social media. Here are some suggestions.

Block out Your Time

I like to check Twitter first thing in the morning. So I group all my Twitter accounts together and do it that way. If you have some task that you can group together, you could do the same thing. Using a block of time, whether it’s 15 minutes or three hours, will make you more efficient. For instance, you could schedule a week’s worth of Facebook posts all at once. See how long that takes and put it right on your calendar. You might like Time Management for the Tired and Frazzled.

Have Daily Topics

If you struggle with what to post, you could always have a daily topic prepared. Think of five things you would like to post and then attach that to a day of the week. There are already people who post certain things on particular days, and you can use already-existing daily topics, such as #MotivationalMonday or #ThrowbackThursday. I’ve always liked #ThankfulThursday myself. You may be able to create on particular to your business.

Outline Several Ideas for Your Blog Posts

While you’re writing an article for your blog, try to think of future topics for yourself. It’s good to always have five at least five. That way, you won’t have an excuse when you’re writing and run out of steam. Just jump to the next topic and continue there for the alloted time. You might also like How to Come up With a Year’s Worth of Blog Content.

Connect the Dots

You don’t have to share the same things across all your social media platforms. If you do, you might want to reshare that content using a different image, a different quote, and at a different time. For example, create something on Twitter with a hashtag that you then share on Facebook without a hashtag and using a different image. Put that same content on LinkedIn, but write a bit more. Experiment and have fun with it!

What Will You Do with Your Extra Time?

Why, focus on your hobby, of course!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, organizing, Social Media, time blocking, time management, writing

How to Become a Better Blogger: Quick and Easy Ways

November 21, 2019 By Carol Stephen 9 Comments

Maybe you’ve thought that you want to become a better blogger. You’ve considered blogging, or maybe you’re an occasional blogger. Either way, there are always ways to improve (and I’m no exception). Every day, someone will say something that resonates. Take those tiny lessons from the things that resonate with you, put them into action, and you (or I) will improve for sure.

Read Other Bloggers

There are so many great blogs out there. Here are some of my favorites.

Bridget Willard’s blog: Bridget is the one who encouraged me to blog. Besides that, though, she’s always learning and growing. And she’s a terrific person, too.
Randy Clark’s blog. Randy Clark writes a lot, and is the author of How to Stay Ahead of Your Business Blog Forever (highly recommended!). He’s written three other books that I know of.
Mitch Mitchell has been blogging and vlogging for years. He’s entertaining and educational. In fact, Mitch writes about blogging, too!
Patricia Phillips of The Aspen Stand, a kind and generous friend.

Listen to Podcasts

You may also get ideas when you listen to podcasts. Even if the podcasts you listen to aren’t strictly business oriented, you’ll get ideas when you listen. Right now, I’m enjoying Hardcore History, which is a deep dive into the history of World Wars I and II. Dan Carlin is a damn good talker, as one review of his long-form podcasts mentioned. Each episode is hours long, which you think you can’t listen to, but his passion and storytelling make for fascinating listening.

Write Every Day

If you like to write with other people, you might join a movement, such as NaNoWriteMo, where writers encourage other writers during the month of November. You might also give yourself a deadline, or a specific number of words to write each day, or a dedicated time to write. For me, I work in 15-minute increments, because anyone can do something for 15 minutes, right? Usually that 15 minutes turns into 30 or 45 minutes because the hardest part of writing is just getting started. The important thing is not to wait for inspiration, because you might be waiting forever. You might also like How-to secrets to blogging for your success.

Blackmail Yourself

Awhile back, there was a guy who suggested blackmailing yourself by giving yourself a deadline. He mentioned giving someone else some money which would go to an unsavory cause if you failed. Now that’s one way to do it, especially if you prefer the stick approach over the carrot approach. Me, I’d rather have a carrot than a stick any day. If anyone else can remember his name, I’d be interested.

Your Seat in the Seat of the Chair

Putting your seat in the seat of the chair is the number one tip for getting better as a writer. Whatever slogan helps you get there (“Just Do it!” comes to mind) is the one to use. Tenacity and diligence are the two things that will help you improve your writing the most. Unless you have a secret, that is. Do you have a secret for improving your writing?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, favorite blogs, writing

People Are Looking for You Online. Ready to be Found?

October 17, 2019 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

Photo by darkday.

Everyone knows you should be blogging and paying attention to the little bots that roam around on Google. Consistency is important in blogging. As in, blogging more often will get you more attention, and blogging on a regular schedule helps. A lot. But what do you do if someone finds you?

So Who Is Looking for You?

And how many people are looking for you? That depends on your business, of course. For instance, if you’re a realtor, there are many many realtors in California. That’s going to be a harder sell than if you’re selling, say, hamburgers. Certain businesses have an easier time. Where I live, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, people with services do really well. Plumbers, electricians, and handy people have plenty of work. You can always set up a Google alert for yourself or your business if you’re wondering whether someone has mentioned you online.

Social Media Helps You Get Found

Social media doesn’t usually help with sales. It helps with brand recognition. So if people have seen you a few times on social media, they’re more likely to do business with you, so long as you do an outstanding job at your business. Social media can help your business even before the business officially gets started. Often, people will start their social media campaigns before the business has opened its doors. You can do the same thing! Want to know what else social media does? Here’s what social media marketing does in a nutshell.

Why Do You Want to Be Found?

That is, what do you want people to do once they’ve found you? Do you want to have coffee with them? Do you want them to download a report? Or do you want them to interact with you in some way? Decide what you want from people, and tell them. Nicely, of course. Good manners, especially online, always helps.

Here are 31 Call-to-Action examples you can’t help but click on, from Hubspot.

Having a Positive Mindset

It’s not fairy dust, I promise. People really are looking for you. And you can do a lot to help them find you. Having a positive mindset is the most important thing. Believe that people are looking for you. It’s not that the belief itself will help them find you, but the belief will help you act in a way to be found. Does that make any sense? And by the way, you might like this post about having a gratitude strategy.

Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up

The gold really is in the follow up, especially if you have a service that’s costly. People take a long while to decide whether something is right for them. The more the service or item costs, the longer it takes. People don’t normally buy a car in five minutes–they like to do research.

Do You Want to Be Found?

If you’d like some help getting found, I can help! Leave me a comment, and I’ll get back to you! And thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, getting found online

Why Outsource Your Blogging When You Could Do it Yourself?

October 3, 2019 By Carol Stephen 2 Comments

Why should you outsource your blogging when you could do it yourself? Of course you could do your own blogging. But have you? Have you even started? You could also do your own plumbing. It’s easy, said your brother the Master Plumber. You could also build your own house using leftover palettes. There’s probably a YouTube video made by those guys in Indonesia where they do (and it includes a swimming pool, too!). But have you? No!

Sewing Buttons on Pants

Here’s another thing that hasn’t happened. Sewing a button on those pants, the ones you wore five years ago that used to be your favorites. Hasn’t happened. Inevitably, you end up at the dry cleaner and ask them to do it. And that’s way easier than blogging, right? So if you haven’t sewn that button on your favorite pants, why wouldn’t you outsource your blogging? There are plenty of online resources, such as this: The Complete, 12-Step Guide to Starting a Business. I like their idea of hiring specialists, not generalists.

You’re Great at What You Do

What you do is raise money for your startup. And manage people. You’re great at networking, talking to people, and finding new business. So if you’ve ever wanted to outsource your blogging, why not now? After all, there are people with tons of talent, a background in writing, and years of experience. You might enjoy my previous article: Outsourcing Your Blogging Might Be the Best Thing You Do.

Find Someone Qualified to Blog for You

If you don’t know where to start looking for someone who could write for you, try asking around. You might be surprised at who has people writing for them. Often, bloggers are ghost writers and no one knows where they are (or who they are). Of course, doing a Google search could help you, but you might only find the biggest agencies that way.

What Questions Should You Ask?

There are a number of questions you could ask a would-be blogger. For instance:

Where did you go to school?
How much experience do you have?
Could I see some examples of your work?
Tell me something you do that no one else does

You might like this article: Hiring a Professional Blogger? What You Need to Know First.

Here Are Some Answers You Might Hear

I studied English at Berkeley, have many years of experience (five is a good minimum number, by the way), and yes, I’ve written hundreds of articles. Your results may vary, of course. There may be other questions you want to ask a professional blogger. There are some good comments on this Quora thread: Should I hire a professional blogger for my startup?

What Else Do You Want to Know?

If you were hiring someone, what other questions would you have about the process? Let me know in the comments! And thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, content creation and outsourcing, hiring a professional blogger, outsource, outsource your blogging

Content Creation Will Make You Insane If You Let it

June 6, 2019 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

Content creation will make you insane if you let it.

So many people have been talking about content creation lately. But do they ever talk about the daily grind of what happens when you have to churn out content on a daily basis? Mostly, content creation is glorified as something easy and simple that anyone can do. How much work goes into the creation of content, though? Like so many things in life, the answer is: it depends.

Who’s Your Audience?

Your audience is made up of at least two parts: those who actually visit your webiste and read your posts, and the little bots that roam around Google visiting your site. Having new content on a consistent basis helps your site rank higher so that both the people and the bots are satisfied. Of course, your human audience should come first. You don’t want your words to sound like they’re written for bots!

Photo by James Jordan

The Problem is Consistency

Coming up with one or two or even ten blog posts isn’t the problem. The problem is sustaining your content creation for months and maybe years. Will you ever get tired of writing? What if no one reads your writing, or you don’t just don’t feel like blogging any more? Will you be able to continue writing even if you don’t want to? If you’re feeling stuck, you might like this article: Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun! And, once you’ve read that and followed it, you could also share that blog post four (or more) different ways.

Content Creation: Be a Tortoise, Rather Than a Hare

Creating content for your readers puts you in the camp with the tortoises, not the hares. That is, you need to have steady progress and keep at it. Someone told me something a long time ago, and it stuck: Apply the seat of your pants to the seat of the chair for success. So sit down and write something–anything–even if it’s bad. Write one sentence. Then write another one. See where it takes you.

Photo by Colin Remas Brown

Wrangle Those Words

Keep at it, even if you don’t feel like it. Because sometimes you’ll change your mind as you start writing. It’s like going to the gym. Put on your gym shoes and get yourself there and fake it if you have to. One thing that helps me write more is to read my words out loud. Try it and let me know how it goes! And don’t go insane in the process.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, blogging consistency, content creation, writing

How to Share a Blog Post Four Different Ways

May 23, 2019 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

How to Share a Blog Post Four Different Ways

Everyone talks about working smarter, not harder, but what does that actually mean? If you’ve been wondering about what that looks like, stick around, and you’ll get some ideas.

Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun: https://t.co/TwQsHzybeQ #marketing #contentcreation pic.twitter.com/16oKU7KMtu

— Carol Stephen (@Carol_Stephen) May 16, 2019

Your Time is Valuable

Do you really want to sit down and create an entirely new blog post from scratch? No! How, then, can you take the same post and share it all over the place and make it look entirely different? Ah, that’s the secret. For this exercise, I’ll use my own blog post, Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun. Take a look at the original blog post so you can see what that looks like–that is, with the top image shared. Remember, not everyone is going to read your excellent writing, no matter how great it is. So the original is the first one shared.

If you're trying to make your blog post more fun, the Images may be even more important than the writing itself (but don't tell your writer friend that!). https://t.co/ND1SbXRpvZ #ContentCreation #Writing pic.twitter.com/rDibfdpXuN

— Carol Stephen (@Carol_Stephen) May 20, 2019

Use a Different Image

The image is probably the most important part of your article, even above the title of your blog post. So make it beautiful! Or make it something that will make your audience say “hmm…I wonder what the heck that is!” Maybe that happens when I use my own pictures. I imagine people squinting with puzzled looks on their faces. So rather than rewrite that blog post, I could change the image. Take a look.

"To fully appreciate bad writing, you need to pick up something at the airport before you get on a plane." Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun: https://t.co/ND1SbXzO7p #ContentCreation #Writing pic.twitter.com/tmyLm7x8Pz

— Carol Stephen (@Carol_Stephen) May 21, 2019

Change the Quote When You Reshare

No doubt, you’ll have a few different quotes that you can pluck from your blog post. So choose one or two, put those into quotes, add the title, the link, and a hashtag or two, if needed. Of course, you don’t have to change the hashtag or the shortened link, but you could reach a different audience (at least with different hashtags). And using a customized link does look fancier.

One Post Four Different Ways

Customize for Social Media Platforms

The post above was shared on Facebook. It looks similar, but with a different quote, different image, and no hashtags. You could do something similar on LinkedIn. You might want to share the same post but on a different day.

Bonus Idea

Another way to change up a blog post is to write a completely original quote–it’s kind of “meta,” but why not add something about what was happening the day you wrote it? Or some sort of context about the article itself?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, how to share blog post, recycling content, writing

How-to Secrets to Business Blogging to Fire You Up

April 18, 2019 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

HOW TO SECRETS TO BUSINESS BLOGGING TO FIRE YOU UP

Everyone may say that there’s one secret to business blogging, and there are some shortcuts, but really the best secret is there is no secret! That said, there are a number of hints that may help. Here are a few.

Get off Your Buts

You know what I mean. Stop procrastinating and set yourself in a chair and get started. Once you get started, the cobwebs will start to dissolve. My friend Bridget Willard covers the subject of procrastinating in her excellent article: Are you busy procrastinating? If you suddenly have to clean the house before you can get started on your business blogging, you may be a procrastinator! Or if you have to “get ready to get ready,” that’s another sign.

Photo by MuseumofWorldCulture

Have a Series of Topics on Which to Write

Sometimes the toughest part about writing is knowing what to write about. So when you’re at your peak creativity, why not create a list of topics your audience might want to know about? If you like this idea, here are more details: How to Come up with a Year’s Worth of Blog Content. You may think you can magically come up with ideas in the moment, but it’s not really that easy. It’s much easier to have just a little structure before you get started.

Ask Your Friends for Ideas

Often your friends will have even better ideas than you have yourself. Or while they’re talking, you’ll suddenly have an ‘Aha!’ moment. Ask them what sorts of business blogging you should do, and you’ll definitely be surprised by some of their answers. You know more than you think you do, and sometimes knowing too much can keep you from seeing an opportunity that’s right in front of your face.

Have a Deadline

Give yourself a deadline, and see if you can make it. If you can’t do your business blogging once a week, how about once a month? Write about something that inspires you, bothers you, or that you can’t get off your mind. How about setting aside a 15-minute block of time to work on that important goal? Then talk it out and make it into a blog post. Or you could do a short video. This is more of a time hack than a deadline, but still.

Write about Something New in Your Business

Is there something in your business that you’ve just started doing? Is there something you’ve expanded upon? Is there something you’ve stopped doing? There are three topics for your business blogging right there. You could word them like so:

How My New Business Opportunity Benefits You
Why the (fill in the blank) Part of My Business is Expanding
Why I No Longer Do Free Consultations (or whatever you no longer do)

Hire Someone

If you can’t handle business blogging yourself, hire someone to help. Or hire someone to help you brainstorm topics or to get you started. There may be someone you know personally who can help you. You never know. And here’s what happens when you hire a professional blogger. Hiring someone doesn’t have to be forever. You might want to hire someone for just a few months.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, business blogging, how to blog for your business