Blogging Like a Ninja

Ninjas are identified most with sneaky behavior, but that is a very short-sighted and limited view of ninjas. They are extremely disciplined, skilled, effective, and efficient. It doesn’t mater how sneaky a ninja is if they are prone to dawdle and have poor time management skills. Blogging like a ninja isn’t about writing posts in the shadows, it’s about using your skills efficiently.

Writing isn’t as simple as just stringing some words together, especially when you’re writing blogs for search engine optimization. You have to put a lot of thought into the topic, figure out what your message is, figure out how to deliver that message, do lots of research, and then craft your blog in a way that is both well-written and engaging. That’s a lot to think about at once, and trying to keep track of everything can be overwhelming. You may end up wasting time bouncing around from thought to thought, or feel overwhelmed and end up staring at a blank screen for half an hour. Ninjas would never do that.

Ninjas would figure out the best possible way to write a blog. One way you might do this is by streamlining your blogging for maximum efficiency. Come up with a method that helps you write more effectively. Establishing a process doesn’t necessarily limit creativity. View structure as an aid to make your blogging more efficient rather than as a limiting factor. Here are some things to consider for making your blogging process more efficient:

• Set up a blog calendar. Take the time to schedule some blog topics. The two or three hours you spend writing out topics for a month might seem like a lot of time to spend just thinking of things to write about, but you will find that you end up saving time in the actual writing process. Instead of racking your brain three times of week for something to talk about, you can just focus on writing.
• When you get an idea, add it to your blog calendar. When your customer asks a great question, when you read an article in your field and disagree with it, when you see an inspiring sentence or pictures, take a minute and add it to your calendar. Just put in a sentence or two — enough to remember what you meant (or for your blogger to get the idea).
• When it comes time to work on the blog, establish a method that lends itself to efficiency. You may want to brainstorm, then write an outline, then do research, and then do the actual writing.
• What do you already know about your topic? What do you need to learn? What do people want to know? What is your ultimate goal with this particular post? What will your audience find most interesting about this topic? These are just a few of the questions you may want to ask yourself when it comes to brainstorming for a blog post. This will give you some ideas and inspiration when it comes to research and writing.
• Make an outline. A lot of writers prefer to just write and see what happens. This may work for writing the next great American novel, but when you need to write your blog efficiently for your company, it helps to map out your posts. Take the information that you came up with during your brainstorming process, group it, and put it in an order that makes sense.
• At this point, you should at least have some general questions or ideas for what you’re going to write about and they should be arranged in a way that makes sense. Now, you have to do the research. Research can be time consuming. Familiarizing yourself with the content, fact checking, and critical thinking all take time. However, this is a necessary step for writing a quality blog post. It’s possible, and in fact likely, that you will find new information that you need to research and add to your outline during this step. You may also want to cut information that isn’t as relevant to your post as you originally thought. These are both good things. Adding or removing information can help make your blog post even better.
• Now it’s time to write. If you’ve done a good job with everything up to this point, writing the blog itself should be relatively quick and easy. You’re basically elaborating on, explaining, or painting a picture of the information you’ve already gathered.

Everyone’s blogging process will be a little different. Our minds aren’t all alike. Some people may want to do research first so they are more familiar with the topic. You might find it easier to combine brainstorming and outlining for a bunch of posts, then do research for all of the posts, and then write the posts.

It’s not the order that’s key, it’s establishing the process that makes blogging most efficient for you. The only way to know what works best for you is by trying different approaches until you find one that clicks. Once you find the process that best lends itself to your skills, practice it until you’ve mastered it. Then, you’re blogging like a ninja.

If you found this post daunting rather than inspiring, it could be that you’re not the right person to blog for your company. After all, you have a job. We have ninja bloggers here at Haden Interactive, and we’ll be happy to help. Email Rosamond@HadenInteractive.com and let us make your life easier.