Blogging Tip #3: You Published Your First Blog Post! Now What?

I want to say congratulations to everyone out there who has taken the first step in building themselves up as thought leaders in the blogging community! If you just published your first blog post, you may be wondering what to do next. Keep reading and I’ll give you some advice.

Action #1: Make Sure Your Post is Google Friendly

I’m assuming you already followed my advice about blogging best practices. If you didn’t, go ahead and take a look at Four Tips on How to Write a Good Blog Post and edit your first blog post as needed. You want to make sure Google likes your blog post, and following those best practices will help. If you already did all that, then great! Let’s move on to the next thing!

Action #2: Tell Your Friends About Your First Blog Post

This is so exciting! You published your first blog post! Seriously… congrats! You only get one first, so now you should share the excitement and let others know about it. Here are some great ways to let others know:

• Email your friends – Tell your close friends and industry contacts about your first blog post. Let them know you just published your first blog post and would appreciate their feedback.
• Use social media:
  • If you’re on Facebook, let those friends know about the post. I realize you may not want to share everything work-related with your Facebook network. However, I think you can get away announcing the first blog post in your blogging career. That wouldn’t be classified as spamming your friends and family on social media. Share a link on Facebook so they can easily click over to read your post.
  • If you’re on Twitter [you probably should be] make sure to tweet your blog post. Include the link and make sure to use two or three really good hashtags.
  • If you’re on LinkedIn [you probably should be] make sure to share your blog post with the relevant groups you are a member of. Also, share it as a LinkedIn update.
  • Do you use other social media platforms that are good for sharing your blog post? If so, use them!
• Use your mouth – Work your blog post into verbal conversations and ask people to check it out and give you some feedback. This can be especially easy to do if your blog post covers something your clients, customers or potential clients frequently ask about. You can say “well, I actually just published a blog post about that very topic!” After a while you will have a lot of great content on your blog, and can answer a person’s question and then recommend they go to your blog to read about other related topics they may be interested in.
• Get help – Who would be willing to take your blog post and share it with their network? Linda, with theBrokerList, is one of my biggest supporters! She frequently share’s my blog posts on her website and with her connections in the social media world. Who do you know who would be willing to share your content? Identify those people and ask them if they would be willing to help you.

Action #3: Pay Attention to Comments and Replies

• Take care of blog comments – If your blog is set up to only post comments that have been approved, then you should make sure to check and see if you have pending comments. If you do have comments, go ahead and publish them, if they don’t look like spam. If they are spam, just trash them.
• Take care of social comments – You shared your blog post on various social media accounts; right? If so, keep an eye on those social comments and reply to whatever it is they reader said, as appropriate.

  
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Action #4: Write Your Second Blog Post

“If you’re going to do it, do it right.” That’s one of my favorite quotes. I’m assuming you didn’t create a blog and write your first blog post, simply to retire from your blogging career, once your first post was published. I should hope not! You need to write your second blog post. Maybe you don’t have time to write it this second, but at least give yourself a deadline. Maybe you will write it before next Monday, or every two weeks or some other time. Either write your next blog post now (after you finish reading this post, of course) or make a deadline for when it will be written. Stick to that deadline. One of the worst things you can do is start to promote yourself and then suddenly stop. That won’t give you any traction as a thought leader in your industry and specific niche. It can be easy to say “I’ll write it later.” Next thing you know, months have passed and you haven’t published anything else. Don’t let that happen to you!

Action #5: Leave A Comment Below

I hope this post has been helpful to you regarding the next steps after you publish your first blog post. If any of the “actions” above stand out as particularly beneficial or insightful to you, please share it with me. Also, if there is a blogging topic you would like me to write about, please let me know. This certainly won’t be the last blogging tip article I publish. I appreciate and look forward to your feedback.

Thanks!