I'm enjoying the challenge of writing more frequent blog posts as I participate in the Ultimate Blog Challenge - yet sometimes, I'm stuck for what to write! I often address this by a gentle recycle and rewrite of content from an older post!
When I supported 'Muse Time' / extension students of a 9 month teacher training, I shared this tip on 'harvesting' content from our own work for our blog/s and website.
I love to write - and I am lazy frugal enough to want to use what I've written different ways! One is to share between blogs (True confession: I have several!!)
I have borrowed content from a personal blog, and reposted it on one of the support blogs, editing to match my audience. I often cross post between Instagram or Facebook and my blog.
Atelier Altar
I began my first blog (Creation Station) after reading an article about how simple they were, and that one could be set up in 15 minutes - who could resist?? And it worked!! Wow!
Artist friends who don't already have a website may feel a bit stuck as they consider creating one -
- What platform to use?
- How to start?
- Who will help?
- Can I edit and update myself?
A blog is an easy way to start, edit, add periodic posts, and figure the rest out later (or - just stick with the blog!!) I happened to choose blogspot, (free!) and have enjoyed sharing content this way. I've had a seperate website, but when my platform was discontinued, I let that go.
I noticed an artist Sister had a blog with 'pages' that made it more like a website: an About page, Events page, Gallery .... and I realized I could add those to mine as well!! It's easy to add and edit pages (and make them 'live' or not, as you choose)!
Mandala - summer 2024
It's also simple to share a picture, poem or inspirational thought, a bit of a story .... then use 'labels' (or 'hashtags') suited to your post topics. Inspiration for content can come may ways of we pay attention.
When I hold events, I post to the Event page on the appropriate blog, as well as on my other social media pages.
You're blog and Instagram posts can share the same hashtags. You'll likely want to have links in your bio that take the visitor to your blog or website!!
Do you recycle and update content?
I haven't rewritten content from my blogs but I have added information to them. What I do is share the link in my blog I'm writing and then add new information, sort of like a new chapter about the same topic. I love recycling and being frugal though!
ReplyDeleteHi Martha,
DeleteI've added links to similar posts as well, and like the idea of thinking of them as chapters!
I'm more likely to 'recycle' (with edits!) ones which still seem pertinent, but are 'buried' in an older blog.
Great suggestions and good reminders for me. I often forget to put hashtags on my blog posts (I remember on x). This month I have recycled content for the topic of self esteem .
ReplyDeleteThanks Cheryl. I learned about the tags early on, with both my blog and way busy website!
DeleteThe marketing mentor in our teacher training taught us about using them on Instagram! (I often remind friends trying to market good or services to take advantage of them!)
Write a list of ten ideas that come to mind when you're writing your blog post. It not only helps with immediate inspiration but can also lead to a whole series down the line. Series are a great way to deepen your content without feeling the pressure to come up with something entirely new each time! As for recycling or renewing content - I have things on my website that need to be renewed because when it was written - it is for things that are no longer a thing or were on platforms that no longer are. Yahoo's GeoCities and Yahoo Groups are what comes to mind. Renewing older content can breathe new life into your blog and make it more relevant to current readers.
ReplyDeleteLists do come on handy - that's a good reminder, Jodi. I used them a lot when setting up my website... which I used rather like a blog, adding pages and pages! (You can imagine that i spoofed some of that content to my blogs before shutting it down!) It is good to revisit out sites periodically, as of we were coming for the first time! I used yahoo site builder, and loved being able to do my own edits!
DeleteI'm not new to blogging as I had one that I kept for many years. I've just started a new one as we've recently retired and wanted one strictly for our retirement activity. However, it can still be overwhelming to come up with ideas to write about.
ReplyDeleteI've recycled a few blog posts, but with Weebly, you can't really keep both posts, so you have to decide if you want the post to live in the current year or the past one. What i could do, though, is what Martha suggested - to share the link to an old post and add an update. Hmm, this has gotten me thinking...
ReplyDelete