When I first got into blogging, I never realized what a challenge it was to come up with good content on a consistent basis. In order to crank out truly memorable articles or even to come up with things that will strike a chord with your readers, you’ve really got to be on your toes – you need to train yourself to seize the blog moment!
Sounds easy enough, right? Like a lot of things, this is something that turns out to be much tougher in practice, at least until you really get the hang of it. Today marks the 38th day I’ve been running this site, and I will freely admit I’m nowhere near being seamlessly connected with my inner blog…
Seizing the blog moment requires a keen sort of awareness, but I think those who do it best would argue that it’s really pretty simple.
Two weekends ago, my dog dropped a mouse on my kitchen floor, which prompted me to freak out while scrambling around trying to find a way to get rid of the damn thing. That night, just happy that my house was certifiably “critterless,” I went to bed without really even thinking about the little mouse fiasco. The next day, I was writing an e-mail about it to a friend of mine, and then it hit me – “I should be blogging this!”
I find this unsettling, because it took me no less than 12 hours to realize that a mouse on your kitchen floor is a blog moment. Unless, of course, you live out in the boonies, in which case I don’t really care about the coons, varmints, critters, or goats that freeload off your country ass.
Anyway, while I think we can all agree that there are a zillion different ways to be a “good” blogger, I think there’s a few steps everyone can take to increase the probability of seizing life’s blog moments.
1. Carry a camera with you at all times!
You simply never know when something freakin PRICELESS is going to happen, but I can guarantee you that when it does, you won’t have your camera with you. Oh, and what about your cell phone? I know you’ll have that, you technically inclined, metrosexual bastard. Listen, I don’t want to strain my neck and eyeballs trying to decipher what’s going on in that grainy excuse for a pic that you took with your phone, and I don’t think anyone else does either.
I’ll take a page from the boy scouts here (who I totally don’t endorse) and pass the wisdom on to you: BE PREPARED! You’ll thank me when you’re driving to Starbucks one morning and you see a UPS truck and a FedEx truck sitting ass-to-ass behind the grocery store looking like surreptitious lovers. Oh, wait, that happened to me and I didn’t get a pic…d’oh! People, remember your cameras, and seize the blog moment!
Plus, the children’s book philosophy holds true in the blogosphere – pictures are better than words!
2. Recognize life’s little annoyances when they happen
Something small, seemingly insignificant, and totally annoying probably happens to you a few times a week, and yet you STILL haven’t stepped up to the plate to blog about it. If it happens to you, then it’s a pretty safe bet that it happens to a ton of others as well, and that’s precisely why you ought to put this kind of event into words (or better yet, pictures!). I think this is tough to get the hang of, but when you do, you can crank out articles that really pull in the comments…and I KNOW you’re a comment whore.
3. Learn something excellent that made your life better?
It’s a blog moment! Even if you think that no one will care or that it’s insignificant, blog about it! I think the odds that some of your readers will appreciate it outweigh the odds that ALL of your readers will think that you’ve written a stupid post. Plus, you should keep in mind that not every article is going to be a smash hit. First, that’s not a very realistic perspective; and second, the filler articles will oftentimes give your readers a better idea of who you are and what makes you tick. I didn’t conduct a study or anything, but something tells me that this is how you build a stable audience.
Keep in mind, too, that one of the joys of blogging is the fact that even if you write something TERRIBLE, you can come right back with a great post that gets everyone’s attention once again. Well, you won’t get MY attention. One bad post and POW! Banned from my RSS reader. Just kidding. Read on, but proceed with extreme paranoia.
4. Be consistent in your strongest areas
If you’re passionate about celebrity camel toe [edit: dead link removed], then you ought to be writing about that! Moreover, if you choose to write about something like this (god help us), write about it consistently. By doing so, you’ll establish yourself as one of the go-to resources for info on the topic. The informationally-overloaded section of the blogosphere, although large and growing, is by no means approaching market saturation, so that means there’s plenty of room for your plebeian viewpoint – on damn near ANYTHING.
Golden rule here: if you’re passionate about something, write about it! And for your sake, make sure you write about it frequently enough to establish some credibility. This isn’t just your own personal blog moment; this is you bustin’ out your inner blog! You can thank me after some advertiser wants to rent out that pimple space on your blog’s ass for $350 a month.
5. Lists are hard, so I’m done with this one
Just remember – be on the lookout for your blog moments! Capitalize on ’em, and give me something good to read. Got it?