5 Easy Steps to We-Blog(or We-Blog for Dummies)

Do you have a business, a cause or anything you’d like to promote? A blog is a great way to express yourself and share or market your idea to others.  Remember a blog is a “web-log”. Simply put, according to Google, it’s “a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.”  I especially like the informal style part. What that means to me is that I can bring my personality into the composition.  Make funny comments, poke fun at myself, use quotes, etc.  (I’ll tell you more about that in your first step.)  You know all those influencers, isn’t that what they’re doing? Yes, on Instagram and Facebook or wherever else people are posting and sharing these days is what was originally called “vlogging” or video blogging.  You need to be a little more committed to that, I think.  I prefer the written word myself and blogging can be just as impactful.  So, let’s go…
 
Step One or as I like to call it, Monday :
Choose a topic and start to formulate what you want to say.  Jot down any words or phrases including ways to remember a certain item (clues).  Because when I am in the writing flow I prefer not to stop for fear that I didn’t write something down and then forgot it when I was trying to remember who said what to whom.  The reason I mention the “clues” portion is anyone that knows me knows that I love movies.  I’m always reciting a line from one movie or another.  For instance, the line from We Bought A Zoo staring Matt Damon.  Now, picture the scene with Matt Damon, the father to two children whose mother has died recently, sharing the experience of how they met. The line he uses which I’ve included in my book because it is so great is, “You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage, just literally 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery, and I promise you something great will come of it.”  Why that is so important is don’t think too much just do it, how confident it will make you feel, and you never knew it could lead to something amazing.  As it did with Matt Damon’s character, he got the girl.  
 
Okay…
 
Tuesday or Step 2:  
Start writing my thoughts down. They can even be just random words or phrases in any order. Anything that comes to mind, lines from movies, an idea from a commercial or billboard, a social media ad, the list goes on and on.  There is no shortage of material.  The only limitation is your imagination.  Isn’t that  line from something?
 
Step 3 or Wednesday (over-the-hump day “Mike, Mike, Mike what day is it?”)
I hope you’re seeing that this is the third step of a five-step process-five days of the week. Get it?:  
Complete all thoughts and write first draft.  I think that’s pretty self-explanatory. I’ve already said enough about Step 3 or Wednesday. 
 
Step 4, it’s Thursday:  
Add any final text and self-proofread.  Then, send to proofreader. I always recommend that you send to at least one other person, because if you’re anything like me, we often are unable to catch our own mistakes.  Mostly because, we know what we are trying to say so we miss when we’ve not actually captured it on paper, such as having too many spaces or not enough,  placing the quotation marks in the wrong place, plain made no sense at all, too wordy, start going on and on and on…  Also, spellcheck doesn’t catch when you’ve been flowing and have written the wrong word because you were in the zone.  Because “now” and “know” are spelled correctly but have very different meanings. Additionally, they may have some advice on how to spice up your article, pick a title or what and how you may want to bold or put emphasis on.  Accentuate the positive!!  That’s a line from a movie.  Please don’t ask which one, but it’s an oldy and if I say it’s an oldy, take my word for it, it is.  No oldy like Legally Blonde (which by the way I love – has a lot of great lines. Who doesn’t love the scene in design parlor learning the bend and snap!) but that’s not an oldy?  Music Man, My Fair Lady, the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby series of films. Those are OLDIES.
 
Friday is your 5th or Final Step: 
Post the blog on your blog page.  My blog is called “Pardon My French” that sits on my website www.tarabecker.com. 
 
I like posting on Fridays, because for many of us that work at a desk maybe even for someone else, may not be as into their jobs that day. I’m not encouraging this. So, at their break or lunch hour.  That’s why I recommend it be short, concise, and somewhat entertaining. (Remember, it’s doesn’t have to be long and preferably so.  If you want people to read it through, make it short and concise. ) It’s TGIF so your reader might look around on their phone more than on a Monday because hopefully they’ve completed most of their tasks for the week and are winding down for the weekend. 
 
Ok, there is a 6th Step, I’d like to call Saturday/ Sunday:
ENJOY your labor of completing one week’s worth of blogs. I’m no techy. Back in the day, I knew enough programming to get me into trouble.  Now, I don’t even try.  So, make blogging easy and fun.  It’s a podium to share your thoughts and good information to your target audience.  You never know who might share it or repost.  It could go viral.  Stranger things have happened. Right?!  Isn’t that what made Justin Bieber?