In the first post in this series I wrote out a list of all the hardware and software I use with links to all of them. In this post I’m going to address what I do with all that. There are any number of ways to blog and everyone will develop their own style and processes. A lot depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. For example, on several of our blogs I’m posting as a reporter and often on location from an event. If all you’re trying to do is an infrequent post about your company you may not need to use many of my techniques. So take what you will from this and email me if you’ve got questions or suggestions.

So let’s get started:

To begin with I normally post while I’m online. Some people may compose their posts offline and save them until they get online. I see no need to wait most of the time and am ready to publish my posts as soon as I compose them. With my computer online I then open up my blog admin panel (WordPress). Then I’ll open up Outlook, Photoshop, Ipswitch FTP_Pro and Windows Explorer. I’ll usually have several windows of Internet Explorer open too. This let’s me search for websites to link to and check my post quickly to make sure I didn’t mess anything up.

Now I’m ready to compose and/or edit. Since I always use images and sometimes audio I’ll usually have a memory card reader plugged in to the computer with one or more cards in it. Then I can pick audio or image files off it, especially if I’m covering an event.

Although I often know what I’m going to post I will always check my email and news feeds to see if there’s something interesting to write about or pass along to my readers. After doing this I get started. One of the things you learn pretty quick is to avoid re-creating the wheel. By this, I mean I’ll open an old post and copy out of it things like the image and/or html tags (if I’m using them again). This just saves time re-keying things.

Since most blogging software has common elements in the admin panel I’ll refer to them as WordPress labels them and hope you can figure it out. Once I’m on the “write a new post” page I’ll insert my image file at the top of the post (most of the time) and then start typing my text. I try to insert website hyperlinks to any company names I type or links to web pages on the topic I’m referring to. If I’m borrowing someone else’s words I always attribute them and make their text show up in italics. This sets it off visually. I think this is critical. Otherwise, I’ll make things bold or italics just like you would in a Word document or email.

Once I’ve typed my text and inserted my image or audio file links and any links to websites or pages I’ll compose a title for the post. That gets entered into the “title box.” Then I will select and copy an excerpt from the top of the post and insert that into the “excerpt box.” This is what the blog subscribers will see. Then I select what category I want it to have and I hit the “publish” button and there you have it – a new post. I always check it on the website immediately for mistakes or the need to change something. Then I can edit it immediately before anyone sees it. The blogging software has a preview function but I seldom use it since I can correct problems so quickly and since I’ve grown so accustomed to what it will look like unless I’ve done some typos.

Pretty simple eh? It really is. You don’t have to insert images or hyperlinks even. What’s most important is what you “say” in your post. That’s your “voice” just as if you were speaking directly to someone in front of you or on the phone. Develop it and your blog will take on the unique character that is YOU.