Cindy Szponder’s Tips

Principle 8:  Planning Prevents Wandering and Provides Direction

“If you plan your work, you will not find yourself standing on the corner wondering where to go next.”—John Patterson

Imagine how many people use Google or Mapquest to print out a road map before going to a new address. Yet, how many people spend even a minimal amount of time planning what they are going to do with their blog?

Take a hard look at your blog. Does it reflect careful planning? Does it have a steady focus? Is there a single direction in which it moves? If not, take a look at your planning (or lack thereof).

Now, don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t done any planning for your blog. Lots of people haven’t. It’s such a convenient form of communication that it’s easy to begin to believe that planning for that communication isn’t necessary. But, if you don’t know where you want to go with your blog and don’t plan ahead for what you want to post on it, it becomes very easy to get sidetracked, to get off topic, to wander and lose focus.

You can change that, beginning today, by setting aside time to focus on and plan for your blog. Set down the following:

1. What is the purpose of your blog?
2. What is the focus of your blog?
3. What are your goals for your blog?
4. What posts could you plan, research, and write that would help you achieve the first three items?
5. Outline what you want to accomplish on your blog each day this week (or month if you prefer a longer focus).
6. Take action.

Imagine how much better your blog will become once you have a plan to provide you with a blogging direction and focus–one that will prevent you and your blog from becoming just wanderers on the internet. You can be so much more!