Day 2: 45 Tips for Successful Blogging

I love Sharon and her creativity, and what an idea machine she is! She is great to brainstorm with -- I lay out all my half-baked imaginings, and Sharon helps plug the holes into a complete activity, or she offers an additional use of something I came up with. When I asked her to share in this year's 31 Days, I had a vague idea I tried to (poorly) convey: "...something about motivating yourself to write when it's the last thing you want to do. How do you come up with creative content, over and over and over?" Well Sharon has figured it out. She took that seed of an idea and grew this amazing, inspiring post, sure to help any new or blocked-blogger out there. 

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As a birth or postpartum doula, writing blog posts may seem like a lot of extra work for no reward, but I would like to suggest just the opposite. Positioning yourself as an expert on topics that come up during the childbearing year is a great way to establish yourself as an up-to-date professional, attract more business and provide resources to your current clients. Many doulas are hesitant to blog or don’t know how to start or what to write about. I have collated 45 tips, resources and potential topics that you can use to get your professional blogging off the ground or maintain momentum if you already blog.

1. Write your blog in manageable and doable chunks of time. Consider setting a timer for a focused 30-minute work session
2. Bullet point your ideas first to get the creative juices flowing and your main points down. You may not end up using all of them, but it starts the process
3. Go back and expand the bullet points into paragraphs
4. Walk away and come back later with fresh eyes and a new perspective
5. Reward yourself for your hard work with a little treat when you are done
6. Schedule time for writing blog posts on your calendar just as if it were an appointment with a client
7. Plan an intro paragraph, two or three paragraphs that go into detail in the body of the post and a concluding paragraph that sums things up nicely
8. Keep it short - try and limit your blog post to no more than 1200-1500 words

1. Five things you want families to know about birth (or postpartum, or breastfeeding or parenting or newborns) before the big day
2. Your funniest moment as a doula
3. “I’m the right doula for you if…” and describe the types of clients that work well with you
4. The item in your birth bag you always use is…(and never use is…)
5. Tips from a doula for a local hospital - (i.e., best parking, yummy food, items in nourishment room, tools available {squat bar, yoga mats, peanut balls, etc.} partner sleep accommodations and more)
6. How you handle the on-call life
7. Share a great birth story (with parents’ permission of course)
8. Review a recent continuing education event or conference you attended and how you are going to apply it to your practice
9. Birth or parenting book or movie review
10. Top baby items parents need (or the top items they think they need but don’t)
11. Interview a local professional of interest to parents (pediatrician, lactation consultant, etc.)
12. Favorite recipe for a labor or postpartum food (labor smoothie, lactation cookies etc.)
13. Top power foods to eat during labor
14. Collate interesting blog posts and highlight them in a post summary on your blog similar to what doula and educator Andrea Lythgoe does

1. Use Grammarly or other free software to check your grammar and spelling before hitting publish
   
2. Give your blog post a great snazzy title to attract readers
   
3. Use images to make your blog post visually appealing
   
4. Be sure your blog post looks good and is readable on mobile devices and tablets
   
5. Credit photos appropriately
   
6. Make sure selected image sizes work for Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest
   
7. Consider using gender neutral terms to welcome all pregnant people
   
8. Respond to comments on your blog post and social media promptly to engage readers
   
9. Keep a running list for future blog post ideas as you find them
   
10. If you are citing sources or research, include the citation at the bottom of the blog

1. Flickr.com
2. Pixabay.com
3. Photosforclass.com
4. Morguefile.com
5. Freeimages.com
6. Google images (click on usage rights to select only copyright free images)
7. Wikimedia

1. Blog regularly - try once a week or twice a month routinely
   
2. Keep your blog post short and to the point
   
3. Share promptly on your social media platforms
   
4. Routinely check links and resources on previous posts to be sure they still are current and working
   
5. Consider being a guest blogger on someone else’s blog or doing a blog exchange for a new voice and additional exposure
   
6. Invite colleagues and readers to participate in a blog carnival

Blogging can create new business opportunities for you and helps you share your expertise with other professionals, potential clients and the general public. It doesn’t have to take up lots of time or even be done every week. A regular and informative blog can help you to highlight your skills and can be fun to write.  I challenge you to write a post and email me with a link, I will be sure to circle back to your blog and leave a comment! I look forward to reading what you have written.

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Sharon Muza, BS, CD(DONA) BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE has been an active childbirth professional since 2004, teaching Lamaze classes to over a thousand families and providing doula services to more than 450 expectant families through her private practice in Seattle, Washington. She is an instructor at the Simkin Center, Bastyr University where she is a birth doula trainer. Sharon is also a trainer with Passion for Birth, a Lamaze-Accredited Childbirth Educator Program. In 2015, Sharon was awarded Lamaze International’s Media Award for promoting safe and healthy birth. Sharon has been an engaging speaker at international conferences on topics of interest to birth professionals and enjoys collaborating with others to share ideas and information that benefit birth professionals and families. You can find Sharon blogging on Lamaze International’s Science & Sensibility and DONA International’s DONA Doula Chronicles. To learn more about Sharon, you are invited to visit her website, SharonMuza.com.

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