By Nathan Bagster of Nathan Bagster Freelancing

Running a business comes with countless struggles—finances, staffing, life—the list goes on.

The truth is, when something throws you off your game in one part of your business, something else is likely to fall through the cracks. For many businesses, blogging and social media are often the lowest common denominator (despite knowing how important they are). 

These are the oft forgotten aspects of the gig that start with an ‘I’ll do it later’ and end with six months of opportunities. 

You’re not alone if this sounds familiar, but you don’t need to cringe or hide under your desk. You need the secret sauce, the easy way to get back in the groove. And here’s step one—remember why your blog is an essential part of your business.

Louder for the People in the Back

Engagement = Relationships

And relationships are a core piece of the business-building pie. These critical pieces of content often shape your interactions with current and potential clientele.

By providing education and engagement through blogs and social media, you inform customers who you are, what you do, and what your business stands for.

They’re also a key component of asserting yourself as an expert or thought leader.

New Blog, Who Dis?

Be honest, how often have you Googled a how-to or information-based blog, just to find a bunch of the same copy and pasted guides?

With your blog, you have the chance to provide a fresh, original take on the usual topics, helping your business stand out among the crowd. By investing in a unique blogging strategy, you ensure that your name will stick out among the louder voices in the crowd.

Ever heard of Liquid Death? That’s a brand that everyone knows just by sight, and they sell water.

Know Your Neighbor

Community is integral to small business growth, whether it’s building brand loyalty or simply getting your name into the ether. With an active blog, you create an area where folks in need of your services can flock and discuss industry-related topics.

Who knows, maybe the blog invite even catches the attention of someone with a complementary business. Your blog could be the bridge that ends up positively impacting both businesses for the better!

How to Be Like Running Water

If you feel you’ve gone a minute without a great blog post on your page, then it’s time to find a way to become more consistent. Here are a few suggestions that may fit the bill:

Invite a guest blogger

That’s right, let someone else into the driver’s seat. By handing over the reins, you can bring a perspective-shifting voice to old topics that will make them feel brand-new. As an added bonus, the newbie will bring over their own audience of folks you may never have reached otherwise.

Don’t be afraid to upcycle a topic/blog

Believe it or not, your archives can be a great source of inspiration, and most of the work is already done for you. Dust off that old blog post from the start of your journey and update it with your increased knowledge.

You can even break off parts of a previous blog, turning them into more specific topics (remember this for later). The options are endless!

Preschedule and batch

This seems like more of a housekeeping tip than a consistency thing, but in truth, it isn’t.

By batching a few blogs ahead of time, you free up space for other tasks in the future. Not to mention, in case you do lose steam, you’ll have a backlog to pull from when it comes down to the wire.

Let’s be honest, this approach (which agencies use frequently) is way less stressful.

Finding Gold in the Dark

Ok, so you’ve exhausted those options, and you’re hindered by a lack of ideas. That snake bites us all eventually. Now you have two options: Stop cold or find another way.

Choosing the latter, roll back the tape to our previous section and start mining your old content for inspiration. Newsletters, social posts, former blogs, and even old videos can be a gold mine of new ideas. Heck, take a look at old meeting transcripts that you have lying around.Something will ignite that spark. Find more on that in the Owl & Pen guide, “Turn Your Old Content into Gold Content.”

End-of-Meeting Notes

Look, in the end, everyone will fall off the bandwagon. It’s inevitable.

But when you rally and get back up, just to kill it, that’s what truly matters. While I can’t expect you to believe the tips outlined in this blog will cure all of your woes, what do you have to lose? (Other than gaining new followers and clients😉).

Climbing back up on the blog wagon will set you apart from the crowd and help your business in the long run.

It’s your call.