Action Trumps Everything is a book about a new principle called CreAction, which is how entrepreneurs balance thought and action in the face of an uncertain future. This principle can be used by anyone, entrepreneur or not, to help guide yourself though the good, the bad, and the unexpected in life.
Through extensive research, we have concluded that entrepreneurs function in a different way than people who do not define themselves as entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs tend to act rather than think their way through almost any situation—a formula we call “CreAction.†Of course, this does not imply that they are impulsive and/or irrational; it does, however, emphasize the importance of action versus thought about the next step or move, or how to handle a situation.
This principle and way of acting can be applied to blog writing.
1. Be timely: Thought and consideration for writing each blog post is necessary, but what is most important is the relevance and timeliness of a blog. Ideally, spend some time researching your next blog topic by looking at what is big in the news that day, what is being searched, and how it can apply to the theme of your blog. Now, write it the same day!
2. Don’t procrastinate: Don’t agonize over every detail, delaying the output of your work. We have seen many bloggers pine over what they are going to write and every word that is in their blog, when what they should be concentrating on is finding a topic that is newsworthy, relevant in that moment. Just get the blog written and posted immediately.
3. Get your readers acting: Concentrate on promoting conversation and interaction between you and your readers, as well as the readers amongst themselves. Getting your readers intrigued and involved in a topic that is sensitive and timely will help attract new visitors to your site as they search for that topic, and keep old visitors engaged. Isn’t that the goal, after all?
4. Promote quickly: Last but not least is getting your blog “out there.†It is key to act immediately after your blog is posted to gain visibility and traction to your site right away. Obviously, you will want to post it on your Facebook page, “tweet†a link to it on Twitter, etc., but don’t forget to use your contacts and networks to help spread the word. Email your friends, colleagues, fellow bloggers, etc. and ask them to help get the word out. Use services like Delicious.com, Stumbleupon.com, Reddit.com, Sharethis.com to get the word out as well. In addition, a great way to promote visibility for your blog is to network with other bloggers and link over to eachother’s sites or make a guest blogging arrangement. This is mutually beneficial and most bloggers are happy to build these types of relationships.
Let us know if you agree with these principals or not in the comment area below.
I am very interested in this theory, as Harvard Business School reports that the most successful entrepreneurs are those that ACT. The degree of success actually was directly proportional to those who acted on an idea sooner, than those who planned it out with excruciating detail. While each situation benefits from planning, strategic outcome scenarios and implementation, the sooner you can make something happen, even if the plan is on a napkin, the sooner you get the results. When building a structure, you still need an architect and blueprints in order to get through city councils and project management, and when building a proper website, you still need a siteplan. The sooner you get started, the sooner you are benefiting.
Working schedule is apparently one of the key factors in having a successful blog. Of course, discipline works in any field of industry.
With regards to promoting your content, there are certainly a lot of ways such as promoting it by answering questions posted on forums, Q&A sites and blog discussions and using your content as a resource for your answers.
Yeah I used to spend too much time doing all the other stuff too. Its important to spend some time to figure out stuff but make sure you keep time aside for implementation.
I really like that catchprase, “actions trumps everything”.
I’ve worked on a few things lately where you try to get everybody’s opinion, understand what’s required, figure out the best approach to implement, read up on new technologies, etc. In the end, most of that effort didn’t matter. I could have just spent 2 hours implementing the first thing that came into my mind and then told everyone it was available, and they would have loved it.
It’s a struggle, but I’m consciously trying to be more action-oriented and to spend less time in analysis paralysis (or reading blogs!).
I have to agree that taking action on time is the most crucial thing in blog success!
I think we need to also focus intensely on what we want to create. To do this we have to be clear about why we want to create it and how we will measure our success.
Thanks for sharing the ideas