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One of the surest paths to success as a blogger is to post regularly and consistently, at least two times a week.  For many beginning bloggers that is an intimidating task, even though it is not a lot of content. Even a simple task can look impossibly difficult when you see it as a daily “chore.” 

Your blogging should be fun.  But, you gain more success and have more fun if you make blogging into a pleasant habit.  Many researchers have shown that it takes about 21 days to create a habit.  So the challenge is to blog for 21 days until you have firmly established the habit.

Here are three simple and easy ways to do that.  Have fun!

Get to a Super Simple Start by Micro-Blogging with Twitter

If you have never blogged before, simply getting your blog set up and running can be a challenge in addition to feeling that you need to write long and content-filled posts.  Here’s a way to leapfrog that process and turn yourself into a confident and consistent blogger. 

You may have heard of the new “micro-blogging” service, twitter.com.  Many people don’t understand it or see the value in it.  No matter.  For you it’s a super simple platform to get yourself blogging immediately and regularly. 

First, go to Twitter.com and open an account.  It’s free.

Then, at the top of the Twitter page you’ll see the question “what are you doing?”  And just below it a text box where you can type.  The beauty of Twitter is that you can only type in 140 letters.  That’s why it is a “micro-blogging” service.  Type in something — a full sentence or even just a phrase — and press return.  You’ve made your first blog post!

Now, here’s the easy way to use Twitter to become a consistent blogger.  Each day find one article from a newspaper, TV news story, Web news story or blog posting, and write one sentence about it on Twitter.  Do this once a day, at the same time if possible.  You’ll find that you will start looking for and noticing news stories that interest you, and looking forward to what you’ll post in your one sentence a day.  (Of course you can always post more!)

If you can keep this up even for a few days, you’ll have a great start to being a consistent blogger.  In fact you’ll probably have so much fun that you’ll want to start a full-size blog.

E-mail your way to regular blogging

If you are like most people, you probably send a fair amount of e-mail (or private messages on FaceBook or MySpace) every day.

Treat your blogging just like another e-mail.  First, set up a blog account with a free blogging service such as Blogger.com or WordPress.com.  (These services are often plenty for many casual, non-commercial bloggers.  You can always move later to a more complete blogging solution, such as the all-in-one hosted blogging service at TypePad.com.  And, WordPress.com is the free blogging service, which is different from the blogging software available at WordPress.org.)  Don’t get hung up in templates for design, just pick a simple template so you can get started as soon as possible.

Second, write an e-mail to a friend explaining a topic that interests you.  Write it to one specific friend.  You can even write it in your e-mail program, if that’s easier.  Then, go to your blogging service and cut and paste your e-mail into the posting form.  Add a title to your posting, then press publish.  There, you’ve made a posting.

Third, this is the most important part: you need to “rinse and repeat.” Do this once each day for a week.  You’ll have a great feeling of success.  When you succeed for a week, then keep going for another week.  Before long, you’ve posted for 21 days and blogging should be a fun habit.

“Priming the Pump” with a Long Letter to a Friend

This approach takes a little more advance work, so you should try the other two methods above first.  However if you are being held back because you worry that you don’t have enough to say, then this method is a good one.

Make an appointment with yourself for a couple of hours.  Sit down and write without editing.  Write a letter to a friend or family member explaining a topic  that you care about.  Don’t leave out any details; be as complete and as wordy as you like.  Assume they want to know all about the topic that you care about.

Then, as above, set up an account on a free blogging service such as Blogger.com or WordPress.com.  Again, don’t worry about finding the perfect template or design.

Next, break up your letter into bite size chunks.  Chunks of 300 to 500 words (about one half of a typewritten page) are fine.  Then cut and paste each chunk of your letter into your blog, once each day.  It’s best to do your posting at the same time of day every day if you can.  Before long you’ll be in the habit of blogging, and you’ll be looking forward to making your postings.

The Easiest Way to Find Popular Topics to Blog About

This is often the biggest hurdle for a new blogger.  Some beginners will look at their blog posting form, and it looks like a very intimidating blank, white sheet of paper.

Here’s a simple way to avoid that problem.  Visit the free Google AdWords Keyword Selection tool at AdWords  (You do not need to be a Google AdWords advertiser or to have a Google account in order to use this tool.)

On the tool, you will see a text box that says “Enter one keyword or phrase per line”.  Underneath that text box check the box that says “use synonyms.”.  In the text box, type in a few words or phrases that describe your topic.  For example, if you are interested in dog training or real estate investing, type in one of those phrases. (You also may need to type in some special security characters in order to use the tool.)  Then press the button that says “Get keyword ideas.”  Google will return a list of the top keywords used in searches for your topic.  Treat Google as your “managing editor”: use each keyword or keyword phrase that Google suggests as the topic for your next blog posting.  Don’t try to combine several of these into one posting.  Just do one posting per keyword or keyword phrase.  (Of course, you can use other keywords and phrases in your posting but the topic of your posting should be focused on the main keyword or keyword phrase that Google suggests.) Not only does this give you good ideas, but it also gives you ideas that people actually are searching for and want to read.  It also increases the chance for your postings to be picked up by the search engines and get great visibility for your blog on the web.

Remember, each approach above minimizes the choices you have to make, so that you won’t get paralyzed by making decisions as you are getting started.  You can always make changes later. 

Here’s your next assignment.  Pick an approach above and stick with it for several days.  Just get going and you’ll see how easy it is.  You’ll be glad you did.  Why wait? Get started right now!

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