Monday, August 31, 2020
Speech On Blogging
As a toastmaster member of five clubs in the UK, Singapore, and a permanently and exclusively online club, I have finished one of the 11 courses, Presentation Masters, and am near completing Engaging Humor. The toastmasters International Pathways has electives (in the UK I would say options) at levels 3, 4, and 5 including a project on blogging. You have to compete eight posts within a month, then deliver a three minute speech on one aspect of your experience.
Three minutes is no time! You have just time to make three points, with an introduction and ending, which could be a summary and/or call to action.
(I was l later told by the evaluator I should have started with an explanation of what is a blog. I asked at the start how many people had a blog, how many wanted to start a blog, and nobody raised their hands of the only four I could see of many. So here goes.)
Three minutes is no time! You have just time to make three points, with an introduction and ending, which could be a summary and/or call to action.
(I was l later told by the evaluator I should have started with an explanation of what is a blog. I asked at the start how many people had a blog, how many wanted to start a blog, and nobody raised their hands of the only four I could see of many. So here goes.)
You can send out blog posts less often than daily. Just as you could have a diary and only update it at the end of the month.
A blog is a web log. Like a daily diary or ship's log. An account written on line.
A blog is like a book or website. A post is like a page or daily entry.
A Personal Blog
The simplest blog, one you might like to start, is just a diary which only you can read. Start here if you are shy or want to try out.
Next up is sharing with one other person. This could be a Toastmasters mentor, a committee, such as a whatsapp group. How does it differ from emails?
No introductions. But you might like a welcome page.
You can link each blog post to the next.
Novel Writing On A Blog
You can have a purposeful and professional small circulation blog. For example, you could sign up to write a novel in a month which happens every November. You write a minimum number of words each day, with a buddy, another person who is also writing a novel. At the end of the month you have a completed novel. I have tried writing my family history as a novel. The only trouble is you end up with the final chapter is first and everything in the wrong order.
Blogs assume you want to read today's post first, not the first post every written.
Some professional blogs fail because the writer tries to write a personal blog and expects to become world famous. Unless you are already world famous this is unlikely. Only your mother cares about your child and your dog.
On the other hand, if you can cure a common problem, hundreds, thousands, might find you in a search.
Marketing a blog has four elements.
1 Do you have something worth saying, selling, buying or getting free.
2 Can people find your blog?
a) You can try search engine optimization, which my son does for a living. Find out which subjects are most popular. and which word searches. Then you have to make yourself as good as or better than rivals or alternatives.
3 a) You can boost your post, your current post, by mentioning it on all the media
b) Make people come back by mentioning your future posts.
c) Boost previous posts by referring back to them
Save time by repeating last year's post.
Plan ahead.
Schedule posts. Write seven posts on Sunday and schedule them to go out through the week, so if you are busy or travelling the post still come out.
Labels: blog, Blogger, boost post
