Recently, I wrote about last year's experiment of daily blogging and what I've learned from it. I want to expand a little bit by getting a little more technical about the tools and processes I use to blog daily, as I have more and more clients and friends who are interested in producing content that they can have 100% control of.
Before I get into the specifics, I think this approach can only work if you are very organized and schedule all your tasks ahead of time, in order to maximize your efforts. Be prepared to face a steep learning curve for the first few weeks, but once you are set up, it will be a breeze.
You'd be surprised how just a few carefully selected and organized tools are all you need to get started.
A blog with an RSS feed. Most websites with a blog will offer this, as well as blogging platforms. I use Squarespace's blog which comes with a native RSS feed.
An email automation service that supports RSS to email. I use Mailchimp, which is free, up to 2000 subscribers.
A social media scheduler. I use Hootsuite to repost my blogs on LinkedIn (I'm not currently using other social platforms) and it's free for up to 3 social profiles.
From here, all you need to do is to start posting on your blog, set-up your automated RSS to email on your mailing list (expect some trial and error before you get it right) and then schedule the reposting of your blogs on your social accounts with the scheduler.
A couple of tips:
I recommend you write a number of blog posts ahead of time (10 to 20 is ideal) before you start posting, that way you have a bit of a buffer in case you're unable to write for a while. I always have 2-3 weeks of content ready to post at any given time and schedule it usually a week ahead of time, so I never have to rush to post. Same with reposting on social.
You have to have a mailing list for this to work, and if you don't have one, you can create one by adding your past and current clients, prospects and acquaintances. There are very restrictive laws on this, so I'm not going to give you legal advice on this matter as it is different from country to country. All I'll say is that it's a bit of a grey area and also a function of how comfortable you are with creating a mailing list without explicit written consent. It's very easy to cross the creepy line so I'll leave that up to you. Some laws allow you to add people with implied consent if a prior business relationship was already established. Do your research.
It's worth spending the time setting up your RSS-to-email because once it's done, you can forget it. The automation will take your blog posts and format them into emails.
I personally use checklists every time I post so the formatting and tone are consistent over time. I update these when the process changes. There is a reason pilots use them for everything, as they save a lot of time and prevent 99.9% of mistakes.
I realize this may seem like an impossible endeavour, but with a little bit of elbow grease you'll become a master in no time and if you need help, you can always reach us and we'll walk you through.
No go forth and make someone's day with your awesome content!