Yakiji (Yah-key-jee)

Blogging is something I wish I did more of. Finding the time to write always turns into an easy excuse not to. I’ve come to realize that if I want to accomplish a blog post in a timely manner then I need to be completely prepared – all the way down to organizing my workspace. Concentration and focus is critical in getting my creative writing juices flowing. With that said I’ve laid out 8 of my favorite techniques for achieving creative blogging bliss.

1. Evernote (your scratchpad for note taking and research)
   If you haven’t heard about Evernote yet then you’re gravely missing out. Evernote allows you to collect information for your own repository from the web. It’s a great tool for research and information gathering. The more I work with it, the more I love it. Let it be your quick snippet information repository and reference it when you can’t quite remember where you heard that great tidbit.
   Tip: don’t get stuck trying to organize your notes, focus on gathering.
2. Delicious (your online bookmarking)
   This was a big jump for me. For the longest time I’ve used the built-in browser bookmarking utilities – FireFox uses “Bookmarks” and Internet Explorer uses “Favorites”. After years of bookmarking things my bookmarks have turned into something emulating my college dorm room from freshman year (disclosure: picture knee deep dirty clothes strewn everywhere). Delicious is the remedy for this painful occurrence and the best part is that it resides on the web so you don’t have to worry about losing anything when you switch computers. You can share bookmarks too – check out my Delicious bookmarks.
   Tip: again, don’t get caught up in trying to organize all your bookmarks. Stick with the default tags provided by Delicious and utilize the search feature for finding bookmarks.
3. Popurls (your eye on what’s hot in the news)
   I’ve grown to love this web site and I check it religiously a couple times a day. Popurls states that it is the “Mother of All Aggregators” and I would totally agree. While it could be geared more towards the the social media power user it provides a great mash-up of all the latest news and trends from all the big web sources. Great for getting a quick snapshot of what’s hot and generating ideas.
   Tip: Popurls works great with the iPhone and mobile phones.
4. Alltop (your favorite feeds)
   Just think of Popurls but you have control over what feeds are shown. Great tools for creating your own mash-up of your favorite feeds. Check out MyAlltop page.
   Tip: Browse the topics from the homepage that you are interested in to find great feeds.
5. Twitter (your audience)
   I consider Twitter to be my best judgement of my blog audience. Use twitter to keep an eye on what your audience is buzzing about and how they’re reacting. Your followers are following you for a reason and believe it or not some like what you have to say. Use this to your advantage and find out what your followers are buzzing about.
   Tip: Pay attention to the users who Re-Tweet or engage with you.
6. Google Reader (your deep research tool)
   There’s just so many blogs and feeds out there. Whenever I come across a blog that’s enticing and shows promise of good content, I add it to my Google Reader and categorize it appropriately. While the reader is great, the most under-rated feature Google Reader has is its search feature. Now that my feed base is pretty well established (297 feeds) I now utilize the built-in search feature for collecting good information around a topic.
   Tips: a couple of my favorite feeds that I enjoy reading are Problogger (focuses on blogging and writing) and Chris Brogan (all things social media).
7. Google Documents (where you start to compile your blog posts)
   Where you write your blog post is important. I use Google Docs. Prior to utilizing Google Docs I used MS Word and the actual blog WYSIWYG. The problem with MS Word is that the documents live in one location (probably on your computer). The problem with using the blog WYSIWYG was that it distracted me from the writing component. Styling and imagery becomes an obsession. Instead, use Google Docs to focus just on the writing and when you’re ready transfer your post to the blog WYSIWYG to focus on the styling and imagery. The best part is that you can access Google Docs from anywhere.
   Tip: If you have a guest blogger or co-contributor, utilize the share feature for collaboration.