1. Know What You Don't Know

Let’s face it, when you’re running a business, you don’t always have time to read up on current industry news. With purchase orders, payroll, and clients to deal with on a daily basis, only the biggest innovations and findings make their way onto your radar, but the Web is riddled with blogs that make your industry news its top priority. They are in the business of knowing what you don’t even know you don’t know. No one will ever know everything about their particular industry, but taking the time to figure out what you don’t know will ensure that your blogs are not misleading or out of date. Take an hour and become familiar with resources that will help you sort through the vast amounts of information out there. A quick search will reveal helpful “top 50” lists for the best blogs pertaining to your specific interests. Make sure to include a few small business blogs in this mix.

2. Set Up a Google Reader Account

Now that you know where to go, you’ll need to visit these web sites on a regular basis.  This is no small task if, like me, you have 10 or more sites on this list.  Since Google likes to make your online life infinitely easier (and of course, cooler), it’s no wonder they have developed a customizable blog aggregator for your reading pleasure. After signing up for a Google Reader account, you can “subscribe” to blogs by entering the URL and adding the site to your list. The Reader imports the content from these blogs into an easy-to-read interface allowing you to read multiple blogs on one site. The feed is updated constantly and the posts are ordered by time of post.  Users can choose to read posts in the order of publishing time or view all the content from one blog. Put the Reader on your Bookmarks Toolbar and check it every morning, during lunch, or on the go (Google Reader is available on the iPhone, iPad, and most recently the Android).

3. Create Your Own Mini Reference Center

Not everything you read will be relevant to your business or interests, but keep track of what is. Clicking the star next to the article title that you found interesting will put those posts in a “Starred Items” folder for later viewing. Unfortunately, Reader does not allow users to organize these starred items by folder so I like to bookmark the actual sites and organize them into folders. Clicking the title of the article on Reader will direct you to the actual web page. For example, my Firefox folders are “Social Media,” “SEO,” and “Food for Thought” to name a few. This allows me to organize pertinent articles by topic.  Now, whenever I want to write a blog post about social media, I can go to that folder and quickly locate highly relevant content.

4. Use These Articles As a Jumping Off Point to Brainstorm Original Ideas

In journalism school, they taught us that within every article are seeds of 2 or 3 new story ideas in need of development. Decide what you find most interesting about an article. Maybe one sentence or fact sticks out. Copy it to a “Brainstorm” document (remember to include the URL so you don’t lose track of the original location) and think about how you can develop more or add your own unique spin. Doing this will leave you with a library of little story nuggets ripe for the picking!

5. Remember Math Class and K.I.S.S.

K.I.S.S. stands for Keep It Simple, Sweetie. I heard this from my elementary school math teacher when I was thinking too hard and complicating a problem. The same principle applies for blogging.  Dense, 3,000 word articles do not make good online reading. Leave that to the experts and keep your stories short and simple.  Most importantly, your stories must be helpful. You read blogs like this for entertainment and procrastination purposes, and often, you read a business blog to get your questions answered. Evaluate the obstacles facing your clients and attempt to solve their problems in a straightforward, succinct manner.

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Edited by: Thu Dang