There's no way around it. If you want to increase your blog following you gotta consistently write blog posts. As bloggers we all know how difficult it can be to do that and this is coming from someone who has struggled with it since their blog's inception over 3 years ago. I've gone MONTHS without publishing even one post. Fortunately, there are definitely things we can do to make the process so much easier on ourselves.
Insert blog scheduling! I've tried this a few times and it never really worked. Not because I was doing it wrong, I just wasn't willing to fully commit to it. So that's Step 1. Commit. It's all about figuring out what's going to work best for you personally. Everyone's "life" schedule is different and we all have our own unique commitments. So maybe not all of these tip will apply to your life but I hope at least one of them will help if you're having trouble keeping up.
1. Figure out a happy consistency
How many posts per week are right for you? Once you can figure this out making your schedule and sticking to it might feel much more attainable. I post twice a week, occasionally three times. I lay it all out in my schedule. Of course, how often you post can change over time. For me, two posts per week is just what's realistic right now. I know it's not much but once I was willing to accept that that's all I can handle with my other commitments I was a lot happier.
2. Plan and schedule by month
Schedule your whole month of posts one month prior. For example, I already have my whole schedule for July planned out in a real planner (see ugly black planner above... I need to step up my cute planner game) which I use as my blog calendar. Some people may prefer using a web-based calendar but writing things
down has always been more fun to me. It also helps to have a written calendar if you want to brainstorm or write out more specific details for posts. I've accidentally written full posts in my calendar before! But, you know, once the time came to actually type up the post it was already done. This brings me to my third tip...
3. Write your ideas down
Any time I have an idea for a post I write it down immediately or I most likely will forget it. Sometimes those ideas come when I'm working on my schedule so I will just write them there, other times I'll be in the middle of driving somewhere. I use the Notes app on my phone a lot to jot down things. I keep a running word doc on my computer for when I have a random idea in the middle of the work day. Sometimes I'll even see an image online or in a magazine I really like that I'll either bookmark or cut out and attach to my planner to go back to later. Your ideas are valuable, don't loose them!
4. Set "due dates" for publishing posts
This has been one of the new things I've done and it's helped so much. Adding dates puts a kind of deadline on my posts. Now I'm able to hold myself accountable and I'm also much more motivated to set aside
time to write because I want to stay on the schedule I've made. It's sort of like homework but so much more fun.
5. Schedule photo shoots in advance
This last tip is more for style bloggers but it could also apply to anyone that has "professional" photos on their blog and doesn't take them themselves. Whoever helps you with your photos just make sure you schedule these shoots as far in advance as possible and try your best to stick to the commitment you made. I've made outfit shoots a big priority because they need to be. They're a large part of what my blog is all about. This brings us full circle back to committing to make your blog a priority!
Of course, you don't have to always stick to your schedule. Like this post... I was going to post it a while back but something else came up so I decided to save it for later. And actually, today I had an outfit on my schedule but I won't have it ready until later this week so I thought now would be the perfect time to publish this one. So, if you have an awesome idea you want to post right away go for it. The post you were going to publish can be archived and posted at a later date. That's been one of my favorite things about the schedule. You can potentially set yourself up for new content all the time. How awesome is that?!
I hope these tips helped. Are there any that really work for you that I didn't cover? I'd love to know!
Of course, you don't have to always stick to your schedule. Like this post... I was going to post it a while back but something else came up so I decided to save it for later. And actually, today I had an outfit on my schedule but I won't have it ready until later this week so I thought now would be the perfect time to publish this one. So, if you have an awesome idea you want to post right away go for it. The post you were going to publish can be archived and posted at a later date. That's been one of my favorite things about the schedule. You can potentially set yourself up for new content all the time. How awesome is that?!
I hope these tips helped. Are there any that really work for you that I didn't cover? I'd love to know!
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