Blogging About The Beijing Olympics or 2008 US Elections? This Might Help

January 2,2008

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Are you planning to blog about the around-the-corner US 2008 Elections or the Beijing Olympics? Or any other event? Blogging about upcoming events or seasonal blogging is a great way to build up your blog. Here are some reasons why seasonal blogs are so popular among bloggers:

They are in so much demand by the fans, critics and every associated with the event. People want up to date information about some thing and your blog may be the place. And this means loyal traffic.
The monetization potential of such blogs is huge. If properly monetized, such blogs can bring in lots of revenue.
Also, search engines favour such blogs more, since they provide instant information on a subject which is of most importance at that particular moment.

So, here are some tips on how to do so and how to do it better. I’ll focus on both the US Elections and the Beijing Olympics, to give you an accurate picture.

Step 1. Don’t Blog about Everything.

Simply because you cannot. Often the scale of such events is so large that you simply can’t blog good about all of it at once. You’ll not be able to give each aspect enough time and concentration and as a result will produce third grade content

Then What?

Choose a particular area of the whole event. Choose a particular team you like and favour. You’ll be able to blog more effectively if you have a passion and liking about it. Like the Democrats more than the Republicans? Blog about the Democrats, since you’ll able to blog at your best. Others will blog about Republicans. The Democrat supporters will come to your blog. Why not provide information about the history of each presidential candidate and then post about daily developments in their campaign and criticize or critique them accordingly?

In other words, set goals for your self. Choose one or two particular areas and blog well and at your best about them. Blogging about the whole thing will only make it worse for you and you’ll have a blogging-breakdown.

Unless…

If you really do want to blog about the whole thing, build up a team of bloggers interested in the same event. That way, each blogger can share the load by blogging with focusing on a single area and then you can gather all the information together and post it on a single blog. Or, everyone can choose a different focus for their own blogs and then you can link them all up together, to form a blog network. Both ways are good.

Working as a team is really good, if you really want to beat the competition and blow readers away with your fantastic and updated content. Every blogger in the team can post his or her own views and therefore this removes the monotonous feeling from the blog as there are different and often conflicting and controversial opinions.

Step 2. Create a Plan

This seems an obvious thing to do, create a plan before you start. But many people are stuck here, as to how and what kind of plan to make and what to focus upon while actually planning. Here’s a way to do it.

Make an editorial calender.

The first thing that you gotta do is that you have to take a calender and then mark the dates when your area of the event will occur. This will be your road map, guiding you throughout the whole event. For example, if you’ve chosen to blog about hockey in the Olympics, don’t mark out dates for swimming or anything else. Just hockey. This will help you focus on your goal and will aid you throughout the whole planning process.

Once you’ve done that, decide when you will write about your area on your blog. My tip is write with the flow. Try to follow the same pattern as your concerned area. For example, if a hockey match is played on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, write on these same days. This will allow you to keep your blog up to date on the event. Also, people are likely to search for information about the event soon after it has finished, and they will go no where else if they find it on your blog.

So you get the point. Try to blog with the flow of the event you’re concentrating on.

So, now you may ask, what to do on the other days? Well, you can post other but relevant stuff. We’ll get to that later in this article. Keep reading!

Decide what to post when

Now that you’ve set up the calender and have your focus embedded in your mind and have decided on the days to post on, you have to decide what to post when. This IS a big deal to worry about, as you might not think. Let me explain.

You’ve got to decide what to post when. What about you post the final scores of a game or the final results of a voting session immediately or soon after after the game or session has ended. This way, people who have (for some reason) missed the event can keep themselves updated.

Also, you could sit in front of the television or whatever you’re watching the event on and update your blog live, or as it happens. In other words, provide a live commentary on your blog. This might seem exhausting but it’s worth the reader appreciation you’ll surely get.

Step 3. The Way Ahead

Now that you’ve got your plan all nicely made up and your focus in your mind and that you’ve settled on the posting pattern, you’re good to go. But there are still some things that bloggers might be worried about. Let’s have a look at them one by one.

How to prevent blogger burnout

There will come a time when you’ll be so exhausted of blogging so much that you’ll have a blogger burnout and will get sick of blogging and will probably dump it . Bad, eh? Well, you can prevent it. Here are some tips:

In your plan, set some goals. For example, you could first set a goal to blog at your best throughout the whole of the first round of the elections. Or through the first set of hockey matches. Start small with your goals. If you achieve them, reward your self with something good, like a small break from your blogging(Delegate the work to some one else, so the blog keeps going). Then, set a new, harder to achieve goal. Like going out on the streets and polling people on their opinion on the Democrat hopefuls and then posting the results on your blog. This is often lengthy and exhaustive work. Do it. And then reward your self with a bigger prize. And so go on like this…
Appoint other bloggers to share the load. This is why team blogs are so good. A lot of the load is lifted off the shoulders of a single blogger. This is a lot more productive than what a lone blogger can do.

Use the available resources to your advantage

Use free and easy to handle blogging software, such as WordPress or Blogger. Don’t go for difficult software you can’t easily use. WordPress’ post-by-email feature can be a lifesaver for you since you just have to email the data(from your cell phone, for example) and it will be posted. No more carrying your computer around, when you can post from on-the-spot. Also, make good use of the many free plugins available for different software. They are there to help you with your work and to help your visitors. My advice: Choose WordPress.

Blogger’s Block

Heard of writer’s block? Well blogger’s block is the same thing, except that it happens to bloggers. Anyways, what I mean to say is that there will be times where you’ll have posted the scores and your commentary and now you’ll have nothing to blog about! You simply can’t think of new ideas. Here are some tips:

Poll the public. Go out on the roads and ask people about their opinion on a the topic you’re focusing on. Poll like a hundred or two hundred people to get a good result and then post the result on your blog. A good way to beat blogger’s block.
Interview some one. Why not interview the manager of your favourite hockey team in the Olympics? Or your favourite democratic hopeful? Even better, set up a kinda talk show and invite two or three people. Like the managers of the top three hockey teams, or the top three Democratic hopefuls. Then, encourage a debate and then post it on your blog. Even better, also make a video of it to make the experience better.
Ask your readers. Ask your readers what they say on a particular topic?

The above were only some of the ways you can beat blogger’s block. Keep thinking and you’ll come up with many more.

Step 4. Stick and Execute

This is perhaps the most important of all. I saved the important for last.

You’ve got to stick to the plan you’ve created. Don’t keep changing it. Make one and then stick to it throughout the course of the event. You can make some urgent changes though(like the shifting of venue or postponement of an event). These kind of things are expected.

You’ve also got to execute your plan. Keep blogging, no matter what. Even if you don’t get any reader response or get a cold response, ignore and keep blogging. As Mohandas Gandhi once said :