Episode 20: Let's Fix the Reason You're Not Blogging

Most of us struggle with blogging. We often end up with a backlog of ideas and never actually implement them. With a tiny amount of effort, we can schedule a time to sit and focus - even if only for 30 minutes. Use that 30-minute slot to write about anything you want - I'll show you how we turned Meredith's 30-minute blog into a true resource for her audience.

Remember - your first blog won't be perfect, so don't pressure yourself. You'll learn and get better quickly.

IN THIS EPISODE...
[01:21] The reason you're not blogging
[01:44] A recipe for failure
[03:00] How the Beatles did it
[05:20] How you can do it
[05:48] Meredith's example
[07:31] Now make it a "resource"
[15:40] Don’t put pressure on yourself
topics: blogging, creating resource blogs, finding your voice, building a culture of blogging, scheduling time to blog

MEREDITH'S HUSBAND SAYS…
"Your first blog is gonna suck."
"Waiting for inspiration to strike is a recipe for failure."
“Find something you like to do, and you'll find yourself doing it.”

CONNECT WITH US…
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meredithshusband/

Episode Transcript

Meredith's Husband: [00:24]
You know, I can see your website, right,

Meredith: [00:27]
You can see my website?

Meredith's Husband: [00:29]
Yeah, yeah, you and you, Meredith, and you listening, I can see your website. Yes, you know that, right?

Meredith: [00:35]
Yes. Yeah.

Meredith's Husband: [00:36]
And so I know you're not blogging. Oh, I know there are. I know, I know you have. Maybe some blogs, maybe some blogs from, like a few years ago. You know, and I know, I

Meredith: [00:49]
Know your assistant

Meredith's Husband: [00:50]
Made this. I know that. You know you should be blogging.

Meredith: [00:55]
Yes.

Meredith's Husband: [00:56]
Everybody says the same thing. I know I need. I know. I know. And they mentally put that in on the very bottom of Page two of the to do list.

Meredith: [01:08]
Yeah. Yeah, it's cutting out sugar. Yes, he was cutting out sugar. I know I need to cut out.

Meredith's Husband: [01:14]
Let's let's let's try to fix that. Ok. All right. So I know I mean, I know why you. Do this, and I think a lot of people do the same thing. You've said it, you know you you need to be in the mood. Oh, I kind of do it when I'm in the mood, right? It's when you blog. Yeah. When is that going to happen? You know, wait, you're waiting. You're literally waiting for inspiration to strike, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty much. That's pretty much a recipe for failure. Yeah. I mean, how many quotes are out there that say something to the extent of like success is 99 percent just showing up?

Meredith: [01:50]
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Shame. Shame.

Meredith's Husband: [01:56]
No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't be talking about this. I mean, this is everybody. This is, you know, unless you're a big company and you get a content team of writers who you just sit around and write all the time, this is it's super. This is the norm.

Meredith: [02:11]
It is, you know, I also think I mean, I know

Meredith's Husband: [02:14]
That I've made you feel bad. Don't feel

Meredith: [02:16]
Bad. I don't feel. I know. I know. I know. Yeah, you're right. It is. It is. It is because I feel like that. I feel that I need to have like a really cool resource that I want to share with people. Yeah, you don't. It doesn't matter. Google doesn't care about emotion.

Meredith's Husband: [02:31]
It's going to be this is going to be your first blog. Yeah. Take it from me. It's probably going to suck. Yeah, it's going to be bad. Take a look. Go to my blog. Go to and look at my first post. Yeah, it was. It was not on this on this particular blog. Go to SEO a blog and then go back all the way to the first post. Yeah, and you'll see. Yeah, but you need to. You need to do this. You know, I like the I like the Beatles. And about once every two decades I start watching Beatles documentaries and I go, Yeah, this

Meredith: [03:02]
Is new one out.

Meredith's Husband: [03:04]
Yeah, they're fascinating. Yeah. And aside from just the music, which I like, how they went about producing and creating that music I find really interesting and kind of. Kind of refreshing in a in a sort of way, I guess, but they like I don't remember where it was, but in one of these documentaries, there was an interview of Paul, I believe, and he and somebody asked him, How how were you guys so prolific? How did you write so much content? And always the thing that strikes me about the Beatles is their answers are usually so simple. It's like, Yeah, he's like, Yeah, well, we just got up every day and we had our breakfast and coffee or tea and went into the studio, and that was our job. We put on our identical suits and marched to the studio and recorded from nine to five Monday through Friday. Yeah. And and usually, you know, the next morning we'd listen to what we have and it was it was usually garbage, mostly crap. But once, once in a while, we'd have some great songs and he's like, Yeah, that's how where we were. We were so prolific.

Meredith: [04:06]
So just should Nick Cave does. Nick Cave exactly does the same. Remember, we were we went to one of his question and answer things, and he says he gets up, puts on his suit and goes to his. A studio and just start writing, and most of it's crap. Yeah, but occasionally

Meredith's Husband: [04:29]
You've got to treat it. You got to. I think you'd find almost everybody who has achieved, you know, a good level of success and. And fame, et cetera.

Meredith: [04:41]
We approached it,

Meredith's Husband: [04:42]
Yeah, have approached it the same way. They just do it. They don't feel like it. What if, Nick? What if the Beatles and Nick Cave just sat around and waited to be inspired by the one, you know, song that jumped out? We'd we'd be missing a lot of music in the world? Yeah.

Meredith: [04:55]
But I feel like there's always with me personally. There's there are more pressing deadlines. Oh, I got to get this to this climb. I got to get this order. I got to finish doing this and this and I. For example, I don't take the 15 minutes that I could scroll on Instagram and write a blog right schedule.

Meredith's Husband: [05:18]
I think scheduling is scheduling. Like, you know, what am I going to do Tuesday? I'm going to spend three hours on this client and an hour on this for my business, and I'm going to spend 30 minutes blogging and then just sit down for 30 minutes, write whatever you want. I don't care what you write, write about something you like. Write. And it's like I said, it's it's not going to be great, but you're going to have to find your voice. Yeah, you did. You did this. You wrote a blog about Penny, which I have not seen Penny. The penny.

Meredith: [05:49]
Yeah. Penny the pig. Penny the fire pig.

Meredith's Husband: [05:54]
So that's, you know, Penny. The Fire Pig is not what you would expect a family photographer to be blogging about. Like, what's the point? Right? But it's something you like, like we can. We can turn that into something, but write about something you like and you you'll be more apt to do it. Like, Yeah, it's just like exercise. Like if exercise. If you have a workout routine, that's a total drag and you hate it. Guess what? You're not going to do it. What if you what if you find something that you love doing? Yeah, you're going to find yourself in pretty good shape.

Meredith: [06:26]
And similarly speaking, you always feel good after exercise. Yeah. Of course, no matter how, sometimes the workouts are a pain in the ass and you're just checking your watch every 15 10 minutes, you always are so happy you did it and you always feel so good after. Yeah. Similarly, how happy and great I'd feel if I got some blog, a blog, written blog written,

Meredith's Husband: [06:57]
You know, if a blog is going to make you feel quite that good, but it is

Meredith: [07:01]
Not as good. But I feel a conflict for sure.

Meredith's Husband: [07:04]
I did it. I did it. Yeah, yes, it wasn't that bad. And you know, to be honest, like if you're just especially if you're just starting a blog or you're, you know, just starting a website or whatever. I hate to break it to you, but millions of people are not going to be reading this blog. I know what to that. When you when you get to that point, you'll you'll be polished and those blogs will be great. Trust me,

Meredith: [07:26]
I see what you're saying,

Meredith's Husband: [07:28]
But you got to start. Yeah, so let's take your your like again. I haven't. I haven't read it, but your penny of the pig? I don't know. How long did you take to write it?

Meredith: [07:38]
Probably like ten minutes. Ok, great.

Meredith's Husband: [07:42]
So. Let's see if we can turn that into what we've been calling a resource, so. So you've written it, you spent 10 minutes. Now I don't.

Meredith: [07:53]
Maybe 15.

Meredith's Husband: [07:55]
Yeah, OK. 30 minute, let's say 30 minutes. Yeah, OK. I recommend giving yourself 30 minutes because that gives you a little bit of time to like to sink in and sit there for a few minutes and get into the mood. If you say I'm going to give myself 15 minutes to write a blog, you're going to sit down and you're going to feel pressured and you're going to just it's going to be even worse. Right? So you wrote this blog. So once you do that, then you'll want to take a look at it and see, OK, well, how can I tweak it a little bit so that it's more of a resource for? My clients. So what did you what did you put in your your post about Penny the Pig?

Meredith: [08:31]
I can't remember. I think it was how much I love her, how wonderful it is that she brings so much joy into the world, how surprising it is and how just how much I love her. Mm hmm. Okay. Great. Perfect.

Meredith's Husband: [08:50]
Yeah, that's great. Super. Now we want to tweak that a little bit to make it more of a resource to so make it something your your clients would be interested now. To me, this seems like it's a super easy, obvious choice, but this could easily be a blog. Hey, something to do with your kids on a weekday afternoon or when if it's the weekends or whatever. So remember, you're talking to one person and you're in your blog. Ideally, you're talking to your your ideal client. Yeah, so you can. You don't need to worry like people will. They might read it. Who are in Seattle? That's fine. You're speaking to somebody who lives in Brooklyn who has kids. They're a parent. Here's something to do. You can do this on on on a Wednesday with your kids in the afternoon. Yeah. Penny, the pig is out at the firehouse. Every I don't know what you know. Give the give the schedule. Yeah. So you can go link to talk about the firehouse where she is looking, you guys. You want to give some local signals to Google. So Google says, Oh, this person really knows about Brooklyn. This black is about what's happening. She's an expert. Yes. So. I don't know. I don't know if firehouses have like websites, but you can link to the link to it. Yeah, if there are directions somewhere. Could I leak online somewhere?

Meredith: [10:07]
Could I link to their Instagram? Is that a good idea or not? Yeah.

Meredith's Husband: [10:11]
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Check, check to see first if they have like an official Brooklyn warehouse page. Mm hmm. It is. When you're linking out and trying to build some local signals like this, it's nice to link out to what we call authoritative sites. So like the firehouse? Right? Yeah, that's good. If something is well known, it's probably better so, you know, linked to the, you know, here's where you here's the nearest train stop. Take the rail line link to a link to the MTA page. If you need to link to give their address, definitely probably wouldn't give their phone number. You could. And I don't know if they really want you doing that, you know. Hey, calling the firehouse. Hey, wins, Betty. Going to be a great name. Some local names, some local landmarks like it's across the street from the, you know, whatever. Right? And try it again. Try to name a local landmark. We're actually recording this.

Meredith: [11:09]
So yeah, I know.

Meredith's Husband: [11:15]
Don't say across the street from Starbucks because Starbucks, literally everywhere, try to make it. You know, if there's a if there's like a magnolia bakery across the street, there isn't, but something where it's like, Oh, that's a one of a kind Brooklyn establishment. All, I'm going to mention it. Give the schedule. Penney is out on Wednesdays, and or here's where you can check the schedule, right? What? What should you bring? She is there. Didn't you bring carrots or you bring something from

Meredith: [11:43]
Green green beans, carrots, lettuce and pears? Yeah.

Meredith's Husband: [11:50]
Perfect. Great, great advice. Say what you should expect. Ok, you're not going to be able to go up and and touch penny or hold penny. I don't know what the what the etiquette is or what happens, but say, here's what happens. Here's what you should do. Here's what you should not do. Here's some things you should bring. And you see how this is now a resource for

Meredith: [12:11]
Yeah, yeah, I do

Meredith's Husband: [12:13]
Like this is a really excellent little nugget for your target audience.

Meredith: [12:20]
Yeah.

Meredith's Husband: [12:20]
Yes, it is. So like I said, and this is something you like, so start,

Meredith: [12:24]
You already wrote it. You already wrote how

Meredith's Husband: [12:27]
You did it. Now you just got to go and put some of these things in there. Just reword it a little bit. Keep what you wrote. Keep what you wrote. Don't discard that in place of this other stuff. Keep the heartfelt stuff and your your personality in there. But then beneath that have have some little sections. You know when to go, what to bring, what to wear. Yeah, where it is, you know, stuff like that. And now it's a nice little thing that that seems perfect.

Meredith: [12:54]
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Meredith's Husband: [12:59]
Yeah. And by the way, like I say, like like I mentioned. Do something you like and you will do it. That will that will be that will help you find your voice and help you create content. What do you think this podcast is right? Like, I record these, yeah, then I transcribe them, and then it becomes a blog post, right? With with the with the with the audio at the top so people can just listen. But yeah, these like every week I have a I don't know, there's probably three, four or five 6000 words, huh? I don't want to write 6000 words a week from. But you know, and then think about it this. We talk every week about SEO and websites and blogs and all these good sort of keywords in here. I don't even need to worry about it. It just kind of happens naturally.

Meredith: [13:49]
Oh, right. Clever. Yeah, you're very clever. My friend, my husband.

Meredith's Husband: [13:56]
So try that. Just sit down 30 minutes. Write whatever you want. I don't care whatever you like, whatever you know, makes you happy. Write about that then. Then a couple of days or a week later. A couple of days later. Can you stop singing? Then just revisit and see, OK, how can I tweak this and how can I make something and make this sort of valuable to to my right to my audience?

Meredith: [14:29]
Yeah.

Meredith's Husband: [14:30]
To the people who I cater to. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be your actual client clients, but you know that your audience is parents in Brooklyn, right? Here's something to do with your kids. That's a great idea. It's different. How often do you get to see pigs on Fourth Avenue?

Meredith: [14:46]
I know, I know. You know you should not. I know kids in Brooklyn, kids pigs in Park Slope. Mm hmm. I'm writing it down. I'm going to have to listen to this podcast, to this

Meredith's Husband: [14:59]
Podcast you've ever listened to.

Meredith: [15:01]
Yes, it would be. Oh, that's not. Well, you

Meredith's Husband: [15:07]
Know. Yeah, do that. If you do that and you're like, I don't know how I could make this. Turn it into a resource for my audience. Tag me on Instagram at Maria's husband. And just just link to it, and I'll take a look. Depending on when you listen to this, you know, if you do this 20 years from now, I might not be available,

Meredith: [15:28]
But try it anyway. I hope so. I hope you will be OK. Thank you. Yeah, right.

Meredith's Husband: [15:35]
Good. And remember, don't, you know, don't put so much pressure on yourself? Yeah, it's not going to. The first one is not going to be great. The first photo you ever took was it amazing? Did it like win awards?

Meredith: [15:47]
It was really good.

Meredith's Husband: [15:49]
The first time you ever clicked the button, yeah, it was really good, yeah. Oh, you've ruined my analogy.

Meredith: [15:57]
Probably. Well, probably in high school. Yeah, no. Yeah.

Meredith's Husband: [16:02]
Fair enough. If you looked at it now, if you looked at it now, you'd be like, Oh, wow, OK, well, blogging is no different. Yeah, OK. I mean, everything. Nothing is different than this. I don't think really baking cookies. Yeah. The first cookies you ever made in your life. Were they the best ones you've had?

Meredith: [16:18]
No. Yes, they were.

Meredith's Husband: [16:20]
Actually, you just eat the cookie dough rock, don't you? So.

Meredith: [16:22]
Yes.

Meredith's Husband: [16:23]
It doesn't make a huge difference.

Meredith: [16:28]
I am a monster.

Meredith's Husband: [16:30]
A raw cookie dough is delicious.

Meredith: [16:31]
Oh, it's so good, except you just feel so sick after.

Meredith's Husband: [16:36]
Ok. Schedule 30 minutes.

Meredith: [16:38]
Thank you.

Meredith's Husband: [16:38]
Write something.

Meredith: [16:40]
Yes. And then worry about it later. Yes. Thank you.

Meredith's Husband: [16:44]
Set it. That's it. Yay. Bye bye. Thank you. Be well.