If you’re just setting out, the thought of writing a regular blog can be daunting. Even the most prolific of minds run dry from time to time. But the key thing about blogging is that you don’t have to think as big as you think – you see?! No?!

OK, I’ll explain.

Successful blogging is all in the planning and not so much the writing (but don’t tell anyone I said that!). And the best thing to do is build up a reserve of content. But you have to start somewhere, right? So this post looks at five really easy ways of getting blog content together – fast!

1. Borrow from other blogs

Look around at what other blogs are featuring. The blogs you consult don’t necessarily need to focus directly on your topic area, but just by looking at some of the ideas floating around, you’ll trigger your own thoughts.

This isn’t as random as it sounds. For example, if I looked at a very broadly popular blog like Zen Habits and saw something on productivity, I could use this as the basis of a post for my own blog on ‘book pitching productivity’.

Quite quickly I could come up with something short and pithy on how to repurpose book pitches for different publishers; how to minimise distractions when writing; or even how to fit writing book proposals around a day job. In a nutshell, just use other blogs as a hook – it’s what everyone else does!

2. Repurpose something you’ve already written

If you’re an expert on something – and everybody’s an expert on something – it’s very likely you already have a text which can be quickly converted into a blog post.

If, like me, you’re a writer, this could be an article, you’ve already written or perhaps a paper or a talk you gave somewhere. But it might even come from something like an email or tweet you’ve sent that wouldn’t take five minutes to flesh-out.

Don’t start from scratch, again, look around you, what have you already got?

3. Brainstorm the area you specialise in

Write a random but full list of ideas about what you do. I guarantee there’ll be something on that list that to you might seem inconsequential, but for new-comers or outsiders is probably fascinating.

Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees and getting it all down on a scrap of paper (or whatever) makes it instantly clear which idea – hidden under a pile of others – will be valuable to readers.

I also like mind-mapping techniques to help you branch out into other areas of thought, but that’s an idea for another post – see once you start blogging you can’t stop!

4. Collaborate with someone

An additional option for the idea-starved is to ask an existing friend or colleague, or someone from a blog you know and like, to work on a post or two with you. Brainstorm some ideas (as above) and then email back and forth a few times until you have something that feels right.

If it’s truly co-authored, you can each feature it on your own blog which might even cross-pollinate your audiences. And if you’re really savvy, you’ll collaborate with several people at once and store up lots of good content in advance of dry spell.

5. Ask an expert

This can mean two things. One, if you are out of ideas on what to blog about, find out what blogging pros like Darren Rowse of ProBlogger would recommend for ‘bloggers block’. Two, set up an easy way for experts in your field to contribute to your site. For example, for PhD2Published, I’m interested in content that advises early-career academics on how to get their first book published.

To help me canvas opinions on this, I regularly email publishing houses and published academics and ask them for their top five tips on book pitching. By asking someone outright, and keeping the amount you need them to contribute to a minimum, you can speedily gather relevant, quality material.

It’s that simple!

Blogging doesn’t have to mean embarking on a mammoth writing spree – you’re not writing a thesis or a book! And you don’t need to be boiling over with angst about political wrongs, or ever-distracted by complex philosophical thoughts. You really don’t need to think big at all. Just think – even a little – and it’ll come together!

Having knocked heads and discussed some ideas together, mainly with JC’s eye-opening input, we have compiled some of the main issues that add to as well as detract from great online portfolios. The post is split into rights and wrongs.

Rights

Be mindful of your target audience. Ask yourself the question: “Who is this portfolio site aimed at?” Knowing this, whether it is aimed at potential clients or art-directors, will help clarify exactly how you present your portfolio site. Be aware that the majority of visitors will want your work to be accessed quickly and easily.

Make your best work visible from the start. If you are an illustrator, have your best piece clearly visible or at least easily accessible from the homepage.

Be honest. Try not to embellish facts and details to look more impressive. This will come back to bite you eventually. Have a portfolio that truly represents your work and who you really are.

Be descriptive. Explain clearly and concisely everything that is appropriate to write about (see this post for writing well). This doesn’t mean waffling needlessly about your work, your interests and your background. Give enough information to create a picture of the kind of person you are and describes your work with detail and clarity.

Be mobile phone compatible. Viewing portfolios from a phone like an iPhone is becoming more and more prevalent. JC views a great deal of work from his iPhone, and will likely skip over portfolios that don’t ride well in mobile format. Here’s JC’s comment on iPhone mobile compatibility:

‘I’ve seen that generally they work better with blog-like layouts because thumbnails might end up being too small on the iPhone’s screen. I don’t have much experience with other mobile platforms, but most art directors I know have an iPhone.

Creating an iPhone version of the site is a good solution as well (a la Poolga). Sites with lots of thumbnails could consider organizing them in a list format, so that they are more viewable on a phone.’

Make your work shareable. JC uses the example of an art-director wanting to share samples of the work they see with a client or other members of the creative team. Make it easy for people to email links of specific images, for example, or to be able to copy and save images and other files from your site.

You might also want to consider adding social networking buttons to your portfolio so that it can easily be shared amongst everyone, even going viral.

Have professional and accessible contact information. Include a physical address. People like to know where in the world you are and this will add credibility to you. Include your agent or representative details if you have one. Make sure it is obvious from the homepage exactly where the rest of your contact information is.

Showcase your work in context. Whenever you can, display work you’ve done in the way it was published. For example, if you created an illustration for an advert, you can present an image of the final ad including the illustration in its entirety. Not only does this allow for people to see your work in its applied context, increasing the confidence in your prospects, but this will add value to the work you present.

Be clear and simple. Don’t make the process of viewing your work any more complicated than it should be. The best portfolios are those that display all they need to without being excessive. Clarity means that your site is easy to navigate and avoids clutter. Think zen!

Have your work easy to keep up with. People perusing your stuff might not be looking for your style for their projects right at that moment, but they may need you in the near future.

Make it easy for potential clients and so on to follow your work through enabling RSS subscription, creating a small blog that people can subscribe to, having a Twitter and Facebook account linked to from the site and having a mailing list to sign up to.

Categorize your work. As well as breaking your site down into relevant and distinct pages, consider dividing up the work you showcase according to category, perhaps into separate pages. Categories like ‘editorial’, ‘advertising’ and ‘personal work’, make it easier for prospects and art-directors to distinguish between the types of work they want to see.

Wrongs

Never updating your portfolio. Try to keep your site fresh and ‘buzzing’. It looks unprofessional if nothing changes in a long time. Updates also benefit the way your site gets indexed in search engines, as Google loves active websites.

Small thumbnails. Taking the guessing game out of opening portfolio pieces is recommended for the sanity of people browsing your work! Avoid a page full of tiny thumbnails that, when clicked, take a long time to load. If you do use thumbnails, make them large enough, so that users get a feel for them before clicking on them.

Being trigger-happy with your window settings. Most web surfers prefer having control over the windows and tabs that are up on their screens. Avoid having your page maximize itself, and cut down on pages that pop-up in separate windows.

Use low quality images. I get put off sites that contain images with low resolution, or appear blurry. It looks unprofessional and is a shame to downgrade work that otherwise might have appeared nicely in higher quality.

Make sure images and other files strike the right balance between resolution and internet load time. Save images for the web through editing programs like Photoshop or Gimp.

Using Flash for the sake of it. Some flash sites are well designed and work well for the purpose of the site. More often than not, using flash on a site is unnecessary and overly ostentatious, often proving plain annoying. Other problems that come with flash sites include not being able to link to individual pages from elsewhere, not being compatible with many mobile platforms, including the iPhone, the site taking up the whole screen, the back button dis-engaging, non-selectable text and non-selectable images.

Watermarking images excessively. Placing large watermarks on images etc just makes a portfolio look ugly and tacky. Your true audience, those that care about the work you produce, will be unlikely to steal your work. It is those people who your site is for. Unfortunately it is almost inevitable that your files can be copied if someone really desired them. The good thing about the Internet, however, particularly if you have a following, is that stolen work will likely be reported.

If you must use watermarks, a small signature on an image can be ok.

One last thing…

Provide the option to browse further. Design your portfolio site, if you can, to cater for both people who are skimming your work, and for those who want to delve a little deeper.

This means having a simple opening page with easily accessible work straight away, but also having pages that provide further detail, including testimonials and awards, blog updates, archives, your about page and interviews. Keep these visible, but out of the way of visitors who first arrive.

What does everyone think? Have we missed anything glaring?

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Here are some tips you should observe in order to deliver better online copy (writing) that will draw readers in and transmit a professional image:

1. Use short sentences

You don’t need to needlessly complicate things to make a point.

2. Formatting

Mix up the use of bold, italic, underlining, colours and font styles to emphasize points and draw in the reader’s eye more effectively.

3. Be positive, not negative

State something that is, instead of what is not. Studies on the psychology behind this show better absorption of the message by the reader for written material delivered in a positive frame.

4. Use space

Break up paragraphs and blocks of text with well-defined breaks, so that reading is more digestible and easier on the moving eye.

5. Use short first paragraphs

This applies to longer pieces of copy like articles and blog posts. These will bring the reader in to read and read on.

6. Take grammar, punctuation and spelling seriously

Try and keep this area in shape, even if it is not 100% accurate. This will transmit a professional image associated with you and your writing. All the small details like apostrophe use are important.

7. Keywords

Including a smattering of keywords that relate to your niche (for example, the word ‘vector’ if you write about digital illustration) in your copy is good for search engine rankings, and will bring more targeted visitors to your writing. Keywords are especially effective in titles and opening paragraphs.

8. Repetition

Without overdoing it, repetition will emphasize key points. Repetition is an important element in persuasive writing too. Be sure to express the same point in different ways to avoid monotony.

9. Lists

Bulleted and numbered lists have been shown to be a popular and very readable writing method.

10. No passive-voice

This is when the subject of a sentence is swapped with the object. For example: “The girl saw the cat,” is in the active voice. The passive voice would be: “The cat was seen by the girl.” Passive writing tends to add unnecessary words to an otherwise clearly written sentence.

What other writing tips to do have that you would like to contribute?