Number 800!

This post is blog post number 800.  Holy that’s a lot of blog posting Batman!

In honor of 799 other posts, I was thinking of doing a play on the number 800 and share with you the many things about this blog that involve 800 in some way.  But since I rarely have a blog post of 800 words, I figured I’d just share with you some of the things I’ve learned over the years and from writing 799 other blog posts.

What have I learned (in no particular order)?

1. Social Media is important. That is probably an understatement, but when I first started blogging, social media was nothing compared to what it is today. The reality is, conversations are happening on social media and you get to be apart of them. Not only can you respond to what other people are talking about, but you can actually engage with other people by sharing your content and viewpoint.  If you have a blog, podcast or vlog, social media is a MUST and is a very powerful way to share your content and join the conversation.
2. You can join the conversation. More than just a 140 character tweet or Facebook post, you have the opportunity to join the conversation in an influential way.  You can start a blog, podcast or even vlog. These platforms give you great opportunities to share with others your viewpoint or learnings.
3. Be consistent. I tell ministers all the time to start a blog and share about what they are learning in their work. The problem is that many of them start one but very few of them actually finish one.  It’s because they start fast with blog posts daily as they have so much to share. But then they stop in large part because they fail to develop good habits of posting regularly.  Start slow, but be consistent.  Post 2 times a week instead of daily so you can build up a bunch for those weeks you have no ideas. You don’t have to blog everyday, but you do need to be consistent.
4. We are becoming an increasingly visual world.  When I first started blogging I never had pictures included or apart of my tweets.  Now, its rare if I don’t have multiple pictures in my posts and if I’m not creating some sort of visual content like a picture or video to communicate my message.  The reason being is that we are becoming a YouTube generation. Someone would much rather watch a video or see a cool image than read an 800 word blog post.
5. Expand your reach by trying new mediums. I love to write and process what I am learning.  That is why I started a blog. But, with podcasting and vlogging you can expand your reach by providing the same quality content, just in a different way/platform.  I have been doing a lot of vlogging and podcasting lately and it has really gotten me excited but also provided another way to share my content.
6. Find your niche. When I first started blogging I targeted small church youth workers and wanted to give them free resources or ideas that worked in that environment because that is what I was doing.  And I had a great following.  But, over time and change of job roles, I had to change my niche to Online and Student Ministry focused (that’s probably still a little too broad, but I’m working on it).  Anyways, the point being is target a specific group of people and speak to them.  You don’t have to speak to everyone in the world.  The more targeted you are to your audience, the quicker you can become at being an expert in your field.
7. You can make a difference and have an impact. I may just be a ministry blogger/vlogger/podcaster guy (is there a word for that??) but you can have an impact in your particular field.  Through my blogging I’ve been able to network and connect with people to the point where I have connections from all of the world now and people actually contact me about questions in this field.  It’s really surreal to me because never would I have expected this when I first started.  You can make an impact on others as well!

So, 800 posts down  and I can only hope for many, many more hundreds of posts in the future.  These are some of the things I have learned.

What about you?  What have you learned through your blogging and content production?  Share below or on social media with the #ymsidekick hashtag so we can be learning from each other.