7 Things Your Car Can Teach You About Blogging
My first car was a Chrysler Sebring convertible. Nothing to be proud of–it was honestly a piece of junk. But it still put a smile on my face, and it made me want to drive around town with my friends with no place to go.
Any first car is exciting in its own way, and a blog is quite similar. Regardless of your blogging situation, whether you’re trying to gain exposure for your company or develop yourself as a personality who talks about motivation for underprivileged children, you have a responsibility to maintain that blog and keep it running smooth for a long time to come. The same goes for your car.
Let’s take a look at some things that your car can teach you about the crazy world of blogging.
Not All Mechanics Know What They Are Talking About
There comes a time where you have to bring your car to a mechanic so they can look into a grinding noise or clicking that just won’t go away. The same goes for your blog. You might need to look up the best plug-ins to modify your comment system or figure out how to create some HTML so that you can move a few graphics that don’t quite look right in your header.
The fact of the matter is there are plenty of mechanics in the world and there are plenty of bloggers who are going to be spewing nonsense. You don’t have to listen to everyone who claims they are an expert. In fact it’s probably safe to assume that the majority of writers who claim to be experts on a subject are simply starting off or don’t run as good of a business as someone else. There are also plenty of scam artists out there, so beware.
When You Find a Good Mechanic, Stick With Them for Life
It seems that whenever people find of mechanic they like, they stick with them for life. This is probably due to the stigma that lots of mechanics run shady businesses, but it’s also nice knowing that you’re supporting someone that you trust.
Write down a list of 5 bloggers or industry experts you can connect with and learn from throughout your blogging journey. Use them as your mentors or simply read their blog updates to learn how you can make your blog the best it can be.
Make Sure You Have Insurance to Cover a Crash
When you get in a car crash you better hope that you have insurance. Even having a AAA card when your tire blows out along a highway in Oklahoma is quite reassuring.
Do you have insurance for your blog? Have you implemented useful backup plug-ins that send you automated emails or updates on the location of your database backups?
Insurance also comes in the form of saving old articles and graphics to use for later and the ability to call your hosting company for support whenever you want.
Change Your Oil On a Regular Basis
If you don’t change the oil in your car you can assume that it won’t last very long. Your blog is similar to your car in that it always is going to need a shake up every once in a while. Consider going in and modifying your search engine optimization tactics to ensure that you’re following Google’s guidelines. Check on your user experience and cleanup broken links that hurt your search engine optimization. You might even ask users how they feel about the look of your website. Change graphics, and try different strategies to keep your site running fresh so that it doesn’t clog the motor of your website.
Put On Your Seat Belt and Get Ready for a Bumpy Ride
When you hop in your car what’s the first thing you do? I would hope that you put on your seatbelt for safety purposes. Blogging is an adventure in itself and even the most simple blog posts could spurn a reaction that sends your content viral or grabs the attention of someone with great influence in your industry.
A seat belt is required for good times and bad. Some commenters are going to attack you for your silly opinions, while others will send you emails and touching messages that might put you on the brink of tears. Strap yourself in and get ready for the ride.
Speeding is Illegal
There’s nothing worse than getting pulled over by grumpy police officer when trying to get to work. Speeding is illegal on the road and it’s a disservice to yourself when you’re blogging. Take your time getting your blog up and running and develop a strategy that allows you to pump out the best quality content you can think of. The Internet doesn’t need you to regurgitate the waves of content that flow through the search engines every day. Find a niche and be unique. This only comes by going slow and taking your time.
Use The Car Frequently to Keep it Fresh
The worst thing you can do to your blog is leave it stagnant. I’ve often heard people say that leaving a car in your garage for six months is much worse than driving around nonstop for six months. You need to exercise your vehicle in order to keep it fresh.
In terms of blogging you need to create a consistent schedule that allows your readers to anticipate when your new content is coming out. Think about TV shows and how they have weekly releases at the exact same date in the exact same time. This builds buzz and allows the TV shows to utilize social networks and media outlets that will help with the publicity.
Once you stop posting to your blog on a consistent schedule your readers leave you for other sources. A stagnant blog is blog kryptonite, and if there’s one lesson you should learn from any mentor or blogger who went before you is that you should post every day or every other day or every week at a similar time.
Let us know in the comments section if you have any questions about how your car can teach you about blogging. Do you have any other additions to this list? Share your thoughts, and good luck strapping yourself in and cruising down the road with the wind flying through your hair.