My blog turns 14 today!

10 November 2020

I can’t believe it. Today, I celebrate 14 years of blogging. I started my Peace of Mind Organizing blog on November 10, 2006. My first post was, What is organized?

In the 14 years since, I’ve published 1455 posts (including my Worth Repeating posts, where I revisit favorite posts). I try to blog twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays), though that doesn’t happen every week.

Writing a blog is a lot of work—particularly if you dedicate yourself to posting regularly. But for me it’s been well worth the effort. This blog has helped me and my business in so many ways. Here are a few:

It helps my search rankings, which puts me in front of prospective clients
It lets clients and prospective clients get to know me and understand that I’m not perfect
It also lets clients and prospective clients know that despite my imperfection, I have expertise
It’s allowed me to connect with people and companies throughout the world
It’s given me a lens through which to look at the world
It’s helped record my personal history so I don’t have to rely on my memory (in a way it’s a very public journal)

One thing I like about blogging, over relying on social media channels to reach prospective clients, is that a blog is less ephemeral. Past social media posts are harder to find. Now I have a 14-year library all in one place that anyone can search or browse. I also prefer the spaciousness of blogging that social media doesn’t permit. I can use as many words as I want.

I like blogging so much that in 2012 I started a second blog, Organize Your Family History, which marries my passion for organizing with my passion for genealogy research. I try to post there twice a week as well (Tuesdays and Fridays). That blog has also been really beneficial to me.

Blogging regularly takes discipline. But it’s also something that can easily become a habit. I don’t pre-write (or even pre-plan) my posts. I just decide what to write each morning. I include blogging as a daily task on my Trello task management board, just in case I need a reminder. And I also keep a Trello board of blog post ideas.

I’m always open to blog post ideas from readers. If you have an idea for a post, please email it to me!

Photo by Jane Graystone on Unsplash

Tagged with: blogging, blogs, habits, writing