Free to Promote Your Shop, Social Sites, or Blog; on Networking Saturday 22

As a continuation from last weeks blogging tips we will talk about some very simple, maybe even obvious, but all too important steps we should all take.

Now that you know what kind of blogger you are, decide how much time you have each day to invest into your blog.  Keep in mind that you will not just need time to create blog posts, but you will need time for maintenance and research.  Everything takes time and must be added in the equation or you may find yourself neglecting important components of your blog.

One of the points during that webinar, from http://learntoblog.com/ , have a "call to action" right at the top of your posts.  I do not have that yet but I have seen blogs where the GFC is right at the top under their page header.  I am considering this along with an I catching "Follow Me" above it.  On that note there has been blog sites I have visited due to blog hops or just because their post look interesting and there was no where to follow them.  Make sure you have an easily recognizable link for a person to follow your blog.  Maybe some of these blogs that don't have this feature think that people will use bookmark but I usually forget about my bookmarks unless it something I need for research.  So when I book mark these blogs (especially if they are just for fun) I forget about them.  GFC, Bloglovin, Feeds, etc gives readers a easy to use way to follow your blog along with reminders often with post synopsis to catch their interest.

Another very important part of blogging is setting up a post calendar.  Right now mine is quite simple;

But after listening to the webinar I realized that I might really benefit from having a calendar planned for the entire year.  I thought about my favorite shops; Michael's, Macy's etc.  I know that their marketing teams know years in advance what their marketing schedule is.  Many businesses plan at least a year in advance what their marketing will be for the year.  While not all large business models work for the small businesses this one makes sense.  Planning is everything!

Just like everything that is well worth doing, you need a plan.  While successful businesses and people make it look effortless and as if they just had followers drop from the sky, they all had a plan in the background.  No one achieves greatness without some sort of idea of the steps they will need to take.

Having your plan in writing helps you stay on task, keeps deadlines in focus and helps you think in advance what tools you will need.  I strongly suggest giving yourself enough room on these plans to "flesh them out" As you think about what you are going to do, ideas of how and what you will need will come to you.  Write them down in steps, add to this frequently.  Don't rely on memory!  So many of my brightest ideas have come while I was busy and thought "I will write it down later" to my dismay I had already forgot by that time.

The main takeaway for this week:  Call your readers to action, Make sure they can easily Take Action (give easy methods to follow you,) and plan, plan, plan... Success is not just happenstance!

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