• Where will the ideas come from?
• When will I have time?
• What will I write about?

Ideas are all around you each and every day. If you write about common everyday things such as a question from a customer, an experience on a project, an observation from your desk or an email you receive, the ideas will turn into great articles. Your customers DO want to read about these things, because they often address questions they are afraid to ask, observations they have made as well, and insight into doing business with you. You are an expert in your specific industry, and your customers trust what you have to say!

There are several methods that work great for capturing your ideas that pop into your head at inopportune times, and turning your ideas into great articles.

1. Remember those small spiral-bound Mead Memo Pads? They are cheap and fit into your pocket, purse, or the cup holder of your car. Keep a memo pad with you at all times and scribble your ideas down to refer to later.  One blogger I know uses her memo pad religiously and NEVER forgets an article idea.
2. Another option is using sticky notes. Choose a specific color for your blog post ideas and keep a pad at work, home, and in the car. Jot down quick ideas and stick them where they won’t get lost. When you sit down to write, look for your color-coded sticky notes with ample ideas. If you need to, stick them to the computer, TV, your brief case, or where ever you know you’ll find them.
3. Feeling particularly full of ideas? Write them down in a brainstorm list. I have certain times when I get tons of ideas floating into my head, so I write them in a brainstorm list. For me, key times are during business meetings when important, interesting, and inspiring topics come up. Another time I get inspired with blog post ideas is when I am reading books or magazines. I’ve been known to rip a page from a magazine I’m reading to serve as a reminder of what I want to write about. I simply set it on my desk.
4. Keep a clearly labeled folder of ideas near your computer. Slot ideas in the folder. I get ideas from junk mail, advertisements, newspaper articles, magazines, and even things my kids have written, said, or drawn.  It’s great to flip through your file for article ideas when you are ready to write.
5. WordPress offers the option of draft blog posts. Feeling particularly inspired or have some time on your hands right now? Write a few blog posts and save them for later.

Anyone can write great articles for blog posts, and every business should consider adding a blog to your marketing mix. The information, relationships, and business growth that result from blogs are priceless.

I was spending time visiting with my connections on Twitter at about 10:00pm.

I have over seven hundred followers on Twitter, mainly comprised of my target market. My target market is mothers, mom bloggers, mom entrepreneurs, and women experienced in using social networking tools. I have to say these ladies are a fantastic wealth of information and some of the most helpful people I’ve ever met, or should I say tweeted.

About five minutes later I read a creatively titled tweet about actor Jack Black that enticed me to click on the included link.

The link brought me to a news release about Jack Black starring in an upcoming episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, a popular children’s television show. My familiarity with this show, coupled with my enjoyment of Jack Black’s goofy humor made me think that other mothers might enjoy this as well. I noticed that the press release stated the episode was scheduled to air in three days. Good! I had time to blog about it.

At 10:40pm I wrote a blog post on Yo Gabba Gabba and Jack Black

At 10:40 I logged into my WordPress blog, wrote a blog post, found a great picture from Flickr, ran spell check, and linked to the video clip. I published the blog post before the 11pm deadline, so that my blog would get emailed to my subscribers yet that night.

I returned to Twitter at about 10:55, created a humorously titled Tweet that included a link to my blog article, and shared it with my followers. I logged onto my Confessions of a Mom fan page on Facebook, and posted a link to the article too.

Yo Gabba Gabba contacts me at 11pm

By 11pm an email arrived from the Yo Gabba Gabba Friends website, stating they had already seen my blog post, read it, and wondering if I knew about a special contest they were running. They provided the link that described the giveaway of a phone call from one of the show’s characters to one lucky kid. I responded to their email, thanking them for the information. I immediately went back into my blog post, added the contest information and link, and published the changes.

What did I gain from this?

1. I got great story to blog and tweet about that is interesting to my readers.
2. My site was able to provide news that my readers care about, and I look professional and “on top of things” in the process.
3. I added value to my website with the relevant contest, for those mothers who enjoy that kind of thing.
4. I gain traffic from Google for the rich content and well searched keywords, especially as people start leaving comments to the blog post.
5. I gained several new subscribers to my website and new followers on Twitter, included Yo Gabba Gabba who is now interested in following a customer evangelist. (I guess that’s me)
6. I gained two more writers interested in writing for me, and a couple customer evangelists of my own (jump on Twitter and see for yourself all the people recommending me)
7. Oh, and I got a great compliment from one person comparing me to the next great Erma Bombeck. While she was at my site, she read one of my more creative pieces and felt the need to let me know what she thought and that she’s looking forward to reading more from me. Wow, thanks!
8. Most of all, I got motivated to keep at it. Affirmation goes a long way toward working hard to build a business.

What did others have to gain?

Yo Gabba Gabba is building brand, connecting with viewers and merchandise purchasers (moms make 85% of purchasing decisions), a content-rich blog post mentioning their keywords and linking back to them, indirect access to my entire subscriber base, and the ability to read subsequent comments left on my blog about their show/product (they probably paid Jack Black plenty to appear on the show and producers may have to prove ROI.)

What can you accomplish in the next 30 minutes?

Chances are you can do more than you think. If you are waiting to really dig into blogging, and other social marketing tools, it’s time to get started making a significant difference in your business or organization. Imagine what you can accomplish in a couple hours. Oh my!