Several years ago, when I started blogging, I met a guy who had a very good description for a blog. He said it was like a "public notepad". That phrase has always remained with me because I thought it was a great way to look at it. You would just throw your thoughts down online even though you may well develop them later on to produce columns or articles for newspapers or magazines. You could even collate all your posts, rewrite and edit them into a book.
Blogging a medium in its own right
But even if you didn't end up doing either of those things your writing would still be read by others. Right from the start, blogging allowed you to get your message out to many.
Much has changed since then. Traditional print media's popularity and reach has waned considerably. And much of that has to do with the fact that countless people now read blogs instead of papers and magazines. Blogging is (and has long been) a publishing medium in its own right.
And just as blogs functioned as public notepads for columnists in the early days, social networks (Twitter in particular) can be used as public notepads for blogs! (Twitter is a microblogging site, after all.)
Collate the tweets you've shared
So, IMO, you should use your Twitter feed as an effective blog post generator if you're not already doing so. The way to speed up the process is to use the platform to record tips, tactics, insights and observations whenever they come to you -- much as you would have jotted them down on a notepad in "the old days".
Always include relevant hashtags (eg #Twittertips). Doing this makes your tweets more findable by other tweeps and will surely draw in more followers. But it also makes it easier to look back through them for recurring themes when you decide to write a blog post.
Say you've tweeted often using #Twittertips. After a week or two you could easily have twenty or more great little insights already succinctly written. You can just cut and paste them into your blog, do some editing and your post is pretty well complete!
You've almost certainly tweeted some good articles by other bloggers using the same hashtag as well. You could include those links in your post and alert their creators on Twitter. Some retweets will likely ensure, and you may even get a link back from one or more of these blogs. (Of course these won't be gold for SEO, since they'd be reciprocal, not one way. Still, they would certainly help to increase your blog traffic.)
Blogging a medium in its own right
But even if you didn't end up doing either of those things your writing would still be read by others. Right from the start, blogging allowed you to get your message out to many.
Much has changed since then. Traditional print media's popularity and reach has waned considerably. And much of that has to do with the fact that countless people now read blogs instead of papers and magazines. Blogging is (and has long been) a publishing medium in its own right.
And just as blogs functioned as public notepads for columnists in the early days, social networks (Twitter in particular) can be used as public notepads for blogs! (Twitter is a microblogging site, after all.)
Collate the tweets you've shared
So, IMO, you should use your Twitter feed as an effective blog post generator if you're not already doing so. The way to speed up the process is to use the platform to record tips, tactics, insights and observations whenever they come to you -- much as you would have jotted them down on a notepad in "the old days".
Always include relevant hashtags (eg #Twittertips). Doing this makes your tweets more findable by other tweeps and will surely draw in more followers. But it also makes it easier to look back through them for recurring themes when you decide to write a blog post.
Say you've tweeted often using #Twittertips. After a week or two you could easily have twenty or more great little insights already succinctly written. You can just cut and paste them into your blog, do some editing and your post is pretty well complete!
You've almost certainly tweeted some good articles by other bloggers using the same hashtag as well. You could include those links in your post and alert their creators on Twitter. Some retweets will likely ensure, and you may even get a link back from one or more of these blogs. (Of course these won't be gold for SEO, since they'd be reciprocal, not one way. Still, they would certainly help to increase your blog traffic.)
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