We always end our monthly Business Women’s Circle meetings with one or two things that we want to be held accountable to do by the following meeting. And a few months back I said I was going to write a blog post every single day until the next meeting.
By the look in some of the ladies’ eyes, I could tell they thought that was aggressive. And to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure I could do it either. But that’s the beauty of asking people to keep you accountable because most of the time I bet, you do it!
Well, 30 days turned into 60. And come 2020, I’m going to see if I can keep this momentum up…who wants to join me?!
The reason behind this madness is that for us at c2s, one of our most important goals is to increase our page views. The more page views we have the more money we make through advertisements and brand partners. And if you want people to come to your site daily, you have to put out content regularly. And not just any content, but content they want to come and read.
After 30 days and reviewing our Google Analytics and seeing the numbers significantly higher than the month prior I thought…if I just did this for 30 days, I can do it 30 more. And here we are almost the end of the year.
It wasn’t even a few months back I was struggling to find the time to do two blog posts per week and here I was doing one a day. Reflecting back on how I was able to make this happen and also how simple it had become, I wanted to share with you guys how you can do this too if you’re looking to ramp up those page views as well.
Write High Quality Content
First, I want to say if you want those page views to stick, you need to keep your readers coming back for more, which means the content you are putting out has to make sense to the audience that shows up on your site. Make sense?
Quality content will look different for everyone because we all have different niches, personalities, styles of writing, what we each write about, different readers who show up, etc. This means you just need to write content that is a reflection of your brand. Because that is why your readers are showing up in the first place, they like you and your brand.
The goal of your content should be to build a relationship with your readers and leaving them wanting to come back to your website again and again and again for more.
We write about a number of different things on construction2style such as DIY home tutorials, carpentry, project recaps, design and shopping guides, marketing and social media strategies, and our family.
When embarking on this daily writing journey write down the core things your website or blog talks about and this will help you come up with topic ideas for your daily posts.
Always Have a Notebook on Hand
Notebook, calendar, notes on your phone or whatever works best for you, but you’ll want a place that is dedicated to ideas that pop into your head.
Throughout the day you’ll have clients, readers, co-workers, family or friends ask questions. Those questions make for the perfect blog post! Or maybe you’ll be listening to a podcast, watching TV, or overhear a conversation in a random place that will spark an idea you want to talk about. All of these things you’ll want to jot down immediately before you forget.
For me, I like to have a small notebook with me at all times. I also get sidetracked easily so if something sparks my imagination I like to jot it down and come back to it later and especially so I don’t forget.
It’s critical to have a few ideas ready to roll because you will be put into a writing block at some point and if you have some ideas written down that will help spark your mind up again and get back to writing.
Create a Content Calendar
The next big thing you’ll want to do is create a content calendar. Content calendars can look different for everyone, it just depends on what works for you whether that is digital or paper.
For me personally, I tried to use a digital content calendar and it didn’t work so I switched to the good old fashion pen and paper. The reason being is my brain never shuts off and I’m constantly jotting down new ideas, scribbling them out or checking them off. I also have ADD and when it was digital, 10 other things would pop up and there I was off to the next thing and forgot why I opened my phone or computer in the first place.
So in order for me to stay focused, I have my content calendar written down on paper.
This is a real example of what my content calendar looks like, such a mess, it works. I plan out three weeks of content and write what my topic would be and just keep moving forward as I cross off each week.
Batch Working over Time Blocking
I used to be a big fan of time blocking but then I read a blog post about batch working and then I listened to a podcast on this same topic and it completely opened my eyes. I used to think these two things were the same thing and boy, was I wrong.
Unlike time blocking where you are jumping from one task to the other batch working is focusing on one task for any given time or day. It’s focusing on the longevity of one given task instead of staring at the clock before you have to switch your brain over to the next thing. Listen to Jenna Kutcher’s podcast on this topic if you’re unfamiliar with this concept as your mind will be opened! It was such a simple adjustment yet, made the world of difference in our workflow.
Instead of working on one blog post every day for 1-2 hours, we started focusing 1-2 days per week where we write for up to four hours. The hours throughout the week are the same but then we can really hunker down, think, write quality content and turn off the other noise.
Turn off the Noise
In the world we live in, there is so much noise around us. Alerts popping up, 100 tabs always open, our phones by our side, notifications saying when we need to get to the next place, kids screaming, alarms going off in our home or office, people bopping in…
Turning off the noise before I started writing was a big change and probably one of the most important things to help me think clearly and write fast. With no distractions around you, you are able to focus on this one thing and probably power out a post within hours instead of weeks.
Find a Quiet Place
Some people like noise around them when they write but as for me, it’s too much of a distraction. My favorite days to write, in which I schedule each week depending on our team and kids’ schedule is when no-one is in the office, the music is off, the doors are locked, my phone is flipped over and it’s quiet.
I’ve also found myself waking up earlier than the family on the weekends to just write. Before the sun is up, the house is dark and quiet and in those times I’ve done some of my best work. I like to say it’s my form of journaling in the morning.
Just Write & Delegate
Stop over analyzing, stop judging yourself, stop thinking about others, and just write.
When I write in the mornings before the family and world wakes up, one rule I have is to not even check my phone. Without even realizing it the emails would immediately give me anxiety and I would start working and replying and before I knew it the kids were waking up and it was off to the races.
When I’ve found my quiet place, whatever day or time that looks like, I like to make sure I have a clear mind and I’m just writing and this is why we delegate other things out such as editing. We hire a sub-contractor to edit every post. That way we can just write and know that someone will come back up behind us to make sure there are no grammatical errors and I’m not spending time on anything besides writing.
I also have my lovely Jordan who I delegate all pins and covers photos to, that way I don’t get caught up in the images and can keep my head down and keep writing. And being she’s our interior designer I also delegate the design posts to her as well and make sure that she is regularly updating you guys on what she is up to behind the scenes so that when a project does wrap up, you guys are informed every step of the way.
And as you know, my brother Noah, writes on our blog 3 days a week about his experience of life in prison.
If you have someone on your team, think about ways that you can utilize them…and use them! After all not only are they an extension of your team and if they want their department to grow writing is one of the easiest ways!
Have Someone Hold you Accountable
Tell someone, anyone that you’re doing this, leave a comment below and I’ll help keep you accountable! Sometimes all it takes it to put it out there into the world and say that you’re doing something and I bet they won’t even have to follow up because you’ll just do it. But sometimes it just takes telling someone.
Ok, so now seriously…who is with me and wants to embark on a writing challenge come for just one month come January 2020?!
Sign up by clicking the link below and we’ll be in touch next week.
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