Originally Posted May 2006:
I've always had great respect for farmers.
They live life with a do-whatever-it-takes attitude. More than most,
they understand the Law of the Harvest and the dangers of taking
shortcuts.
Blog Like a Farmer. In workshops and working with new bloggers, I often use this along with an acronym.
For instance, at the start of your blogging season, you may need to
modify your schedule. But as you build your blogging muscles (faster
writing, scanning feeds, discerning signal vs. noise by the headlines),
that time will become gradually decrease.
Farmers are some of the best neighbors a person can have. They share knowledge and collaboration freely.
Blogging is no different. Watch how others blog. Comment on their
posts. Be quick to share praise for those that have helped you along
the way. Don't blog alone.
Patience is a key. I recently worked with one
business leader who had great ideas for a blog. He's a great story
teller. A niche topic. We practiced a few posts, launched the site. He
hasn't written a word since. He's waiting for a response to his initial
post before he writes anything. Says he'll write more posts when people
start coming to his site. Isn't that putting the reaping before the sowing?
Here are some key abilities a blogger needs to Blog Like a Farmer
- Find-ability: Use social tools such Slideshare, Twitter, Flickr, and del.icio.us to make your site findable.
- Adapt-ability:
Track your traffic – both your site AND your RSS feed – and adapt to what
your audience reads and clicks. Don't box yourself in to tight. Change
is growth. - Response-ability:
Comment on other sites, send 'thank you' emails to other bloggers for
their work, always respond to comments left on your blog. - Market-ability:
Get great at writing headlines. The best way to do that is by writing
headlines (and posts). Submit your work to Carnivals, or start your own. - Sustain-ability: Don't start something you aren't willing to see through to completion. Patience, young blogger. The reaping comes after the sowing.
What are your strongest abilities as a blogger?
Photo on Flickr by Graela
