Do you blog or aspire to but have a hard time coming up with ideas to write about? Then I suggest you write a “mission statement” for your blog.

Here’s what having a mission statement will help you to do for your blog:

1. Determine the goal. Why do you want to blog? Bloggers have opinions or information or experiences that they want to share. They invite a two-way conversation with their readers. 

2. Determine the audience. Who is going to read your blog? Family, friends, people with similar interests or goals? Writing for a specific audience will help you focus on the content. 

3. Determine the type of content. Having a written goal and knowing your audience will make it much easier to come up with topics for your blog, and prevent you from writing about topics that the audience won’t care about.

4. Determine frequency. Blogging on a regular basis is by far the hardest part of being a blogger. So putting a time frame in your mission statement can hold you accountable. I recommend blogging a minimum of once a week. With the launch of my new blog here, I’m publicly stating that I’m determined to post once a week, and I may occasionally post more often. (And you readers can hold me accountable, please!)

5. Stay motivated. We have all abandoned various goals and New Year’s resolutions, right? Let your mission statement for your blog stand as a written commitment. Print it out, display it next to your computer, and read it out loud every day. 

Here’s my mission statement.

The Sutter Communications blog will share essential information to empower its readers when it comes to the written word including writing and editing, book writing and publishing, blogging, public relations, social media, and media trends. The blog will primarily act as a “Sherpa” to guide readers and occasionally act as a “Sage” to share expertise. The blog also will celebrate the written word and the joy of writing and reading, in keeping with the Sutter Communications mantra of “We’re Wild About Words.” The blog will be updated at least weekly.

I’ve been blogging since 2009 and I’ve found it to be great fun, so much so that when I “rewired” after working as an editor and blogger for the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., I wanted to continue blogging. As a result, in 2015, I started a blog to promote my book Sutter’s Sodas Satisfy: A Memoir of 90 Years of Sutter Drug Co. I write to celebrate not only my family’s history in Burlington, Iowa but also the remarkable past (and sometimes the present) of that Mississippi River town.

Now with the launch of my business Sutter Communications, I’m going to share my love of words here. So what’s your mission statement? Please share it with us.

And if you’d like to learn more about blogging, check out my upcoming Blogging 101 class on July 18 at Writers and Books in Rochester. I’d love to see you there!