The Ten Cardinal Rules Of Blogging
It was easier when I was running EMJ, since I had built EMJ slowly over 25 years so people got to know me better as the company grew. At SYNNEX, I have a whole new group of people who wondered about who I was. Blogging was one way to bridge this gap.
I am a life long learner. Doing SYNNEX threw me into a huge and fast learning curve. Part of me wants to share and inspire people. Blogging was a natural way for me to do this.
From this experience I came up with Jim Estills Ten Rules of Blogging:
1. Have a theme. This helps attract readers. It provides a framework around which to blog. I chose Time Leadership as my theme. I have had a long interest in the use of time and published an audio book on time management. I am constantly looking for new time reducing ideas to add to my present material.
2. Blogging obligates you to do more blogging. It is just like writing a newspaper column. If you have a lot of people reading your blog, they expect to see new material. I blog about 5 or 6 days per week and occasionally skip a day, but not often. I now know the pressure writers on deadlines must feel.
3. Blogging is a two-way street. You must respond to the comments you will get. The larger the blog following, the more comments you will get.
4. Blogging takes time. One of my time rules is if I add something to my schedule that takes time; I need to delete something that takes the same amount of time. For me, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes per day and I write quickly and keep it brief.
5. Be legal. Of course this is obvious but I mean more than just being legal -- be careful of giving away information that could be considered to be business confidential. There have been cases where people have lost their job because the company does not like what has been said in the blog.
6. Keep a file of blog ideas. I keep an electronic file and a paper one. This material gives me something to say when sometimes I am not as inspired to blog. It can also be something that prompts me on writing in my blog. I know I often find myself thinking in terms of what might make good blog material.
7. Provide links from your blog. People who read blogs are used to being able to click on interesting topics and going right to the web page with the information. After all, this is the internet.
8. Only start blogging if you like to write. Even though I like to write, I do often find it to be a bit of a challenge.
9. Be authentic. I think the readers appreciate it. I think it would be hard to have a ghost writer do a blog. It would be difficult to appear real.
10. Be patient. Dont expect 10,000 readers in the first month. Readership grows over time. I follow my stats, and I notice my weekend readership is about half my readership during the week.
And now that I have written this article am I less mysterious?
Jim Estill started his business from the trunk of his car and grew into to $375 Million in sales before selling it to SYNNEX. He is now CEO of SYNNEX Canada a $1 Billion computer wholesaler. he is a regular blogger at http://jimestill.blogspot.com
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