This is the Blogging Strategy You Need to Adopt

The great thing about blogging is that you can, literally, write about anything. The sky is the limit.

Also? No one is going to read it for awhile (harsh, but true), so you can experiment with relatively low risks. So, blog about baking scones today and about solving the problems of the world tomorrow-whatever you want. That inevitable stage between start-up and growth gives you time to grow.

Lately, I’ve been really excited by how Quora helps me figure out what to blog about. The questions are like prompts and the upvotes let you see what people actually care about, so you’re not just shooting into the dark.

It’s the difference between a blank page and a blank page with a question at the top that a bunch of people really want you to answer. And when your post gains some traction, it can ladder up: from Quora to Medium to bigger audiences.

Here’s an example of laddering up:

Two days ago, I saw a question on Quora: What does it feel like to be poor?

The question was interesting to me. It also had a lot of views and the answers already there had some upvotes, so I figured it was something other people were also interested in.

So I interviewed people and wrote an in-depth answer. Then I realized my answer was really blog-length material, so I cross-posted to Medium.

Yesterday I had a tweet from an editor at Huffington Post wanting to republish my blog post. So that happened. Then this morning I had an email from a different publication offering to pay me to reprint my post.

I’m not sure I would’ve been able to do this without Quora, so that worked out well for me. And, it helped a lot that I could see on Quora that the topic was something that would draw interest.

So, do this:

Make a list of topics that interest you. Go crazy here. Pick things that maybe you don’t even know a lot about, but want to. Or anything you may have expertise in.

Look at the questions people are asking on Quora about that topic. Pay attention to questions that get asked a lot or that have a lot of attention.

Answer some questions.

Start a Medium account and cross-post your best answers.

You can add a form from Upscribe to your Medium posts to start collecting email addresses.

Keep writing. Answer questions daily, write on Medium at least once a week. You’ll narrow your focus as you see what you enjoy writing and what readers are responding to.