Sometimes with all the content we bloggers create and consume in each day, it can sort of take over our lives. I recently took a day off all things digital completely (crazy how it seems like such a big deal, though it was only one day!) to practice mindfulness. After that experience, I started thinking about how mindfulness can improve digital content too. After all, lifestyle blogging is really about about sharing our lives with others, and inspiring them to live theirs with purpose too.
Consider your post’s purpose
With every blog or social media post, think not just of who your audience is but how they benefit from reading that piece of content. Overall, you may have a great mission for your blog, but does each piece contribute to that mission or are you just uploading a new post because you want to stick to a schedule or feel obligated in some way?
Practice mindful editing
It’s been awhile since we posted about the editing phase of a blog post, but this is so important. Especially after having worked on various digital copywriting projects, I know just how easy it is to get wrapped up in what you’re saying, and not be able to really envision how to improve it or better get your point across. Once you write a post, don’t just schedule it for the next morning or hit publish right away. Sit on it for a bit and come back to it. Read it aloud or proof your posts. Have a friend take a look. If the content is really important to you (see #1!), it’s worthy of your full attention.
Create meaningful interactions
Mindfulness is about staying in the present moment. I’ll admit I have a hard time seeing how we can do this when scrolling through Instagram. We’re inundated with photos and captions and likes and follows, how can we stay present? On The Blog Market, we’ve been trying to reply to comments or messages more as they come in, and if we see something we like in our feed, we will take a moment to appreciate it and let the user know. I used to always want to save stuff to come back to it when I had more time, but I’d never end up finding that time. Instead, I think it’s important to only go on social media when you have more than 30 seconds, so that you can really get all you want out of it.
Offer valuable resources
One of the biggest benefits to our readers here at TBM is all the resources they can take advantage of. You don’t need a dedicated resources page, however, to provide them to your audience. Simple things can add value to your content, like linking to a study or piece of evidence that backs up your claim, recommending further reading beyond the post, or even just stating the resources you found that inspired YOUR post. Even linking to your past content can be a resource to readers-as long as you’re always providing something of value.
How do you stay present and mindful when it comes to blogging?
Nuz says
Great tips! Really working on these things right now, as I’m starting out!
http://nuzwrites.blogspot.com
Jess says
This is really great! I recently wrote a blog about mindfulness (I’m a psychologist and designer), and it was interesting to read this skill being applied to blogging :) thanks!
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