Short and Sweet: 4 Tips for Fast and Easy Blog posts

You probably know that posting high-quality content on your blog or website is one of the most effective ways to build your brand and increase traffic.

But, if you are like a lot of busy business owners, you may be thinking, “I can't find the time to sit down and write a blog post, much less keep it going. And is anyone even going to read this thing?”

With a few simple tricks, you can easily reap the benefits of consistent posting (both search engines and readers love it!)

Here are 4 simple tips to make posting on your blog fast and easy:

1. Talk It Out

One of my favorite shortcuts for developing written content is using a dictation tool. There is fantastic dictation software available for Apple computers, and the new Windows 7 operating system for PCs has a dictation tool built in.

Blog posts are as easy as getting a good headset and just talking! It does take practice to get used to dictating to your computer, and you will have to edit to make it read well and fix dictation errors, but once you have the hang of it, you can write articles in minutes, rather than hours.

Finding these tools: On a PC, go to start menu, then programs, then accessories, then ease of access tools, then Windows speech recognition. On a Mac, you will want to use the MacSpeech Dictate program. There are also dictation apps for the iPhone.

2. Write About Existing Content

Let's face it, we all come across great blog content and wish we had thought up that blog post idea first. Well, if you can't beat them, join them. You can flatter the writer by linking to their post and provide value to your audience by simply writing about posts you like. Making references to useful or fun content is as valuable to your reader as the original post from scratch.

Book and product reviews are another great way to use existing content. You are probably already reading the latest magazines, and books in your industry. Take a few minutes to review them on your blog. Chances are the review will be interesting to your readers and everyone will thank you for the referral.

3. Put On Your Press Hat

How do news sites learn about all the news going on? Much of what reporters write about comes to them through press releases, feeds, or submissions. Press releases are available for free from sites like PRWeb.com and PRNewswire.

Check out feeds of press releases daily and you will find almost post-ready, newsworthy content direct from the news makers themselves. Companies of all sizes send news through these distribution services, so news will range from “Betty McGee Was Promoted To VP of Baking” to an announcement about a hot new product release before it hits stores. Sort by category or keywords to get the most relevant feeds or search results for your industry.

4. Use Your Social Networks to Develop Topics

As the host of the Craft Ideas Weekly Facebook community, I get a bird's-eye view of what is interesting to the craft crowd right now.

What are they talking about? What are they responding well to? Which articles have I posted that no one liked? Some of the most popular articles on Craft Ideas Weekly are those that have come from learning what projects our crafting community is talking about on Facebook.

Remember, posting consistently on your blog is one of the most important strategies for blogging success. Use these tips to improve efficiency, and you won't believe how easy it can be!

Molly Fisher has more than 10 years experience building brands and social networks for leading companies such as Schooldude.com and Burt's Bees as well as several other clients. She currently runs Craft Ideas Weekly Facebook Community, the Craft Ideas Weekly Blog, and works as an eCommerce and Social Marketing Consultant in Chapel Hill, NC.

Main image courtesy of Dyanna.