Hello friends! This post is geared more toward my blogging friends or those of you thinking about starting a blog. However, feel free to spy in on this post out of curiosity even if you don’t have a blog! Maybe something will apply to your life. I’m always struggling with how to set up a blogging schedule successfully. This changes with each season of life but lately I have found a good groove and wanted to share some blogging schedule tips!
I’ve been blogging for 5 years now which is CRAZY. The first few years were very sporadic and I wasn’t serious about it. I wasn’t doing it to earn income, it was just a every once in awhile type of thing. But in the past recent years, I have become a little more serious at blogging and have treated it like a part time job.
I am not a naturally scheduled person. I’m not a type A at all and I envy those of you who are! So, coming up with schedules, lists and goals is not second nature to me. That being said, I think it’s very important if you want to succeed at blogging. I have tried everything under the sun when it comes to setting up a consistent blogging schedule. I’ve gone through seasons where I tell myself “Ok, for the next month I’m going to put up a blog post every single day!” And even though I successfully put up a post every single day for those seasons, I killed myself doing it and the posts weren’t super high quality. So, here are some things I have learned:
1. Quality over Quantity. I used to think the more frequently I put up a blog post, the faster my blog would grow. However, as a DIY blogger, it’s super hard to do a new project every single day. That requires money, time, photos, editing, ideas, etc. It’s not just simply sitting down and writing a post. It’s just not possible to do it well (for me). I started thinking about the blogs I love and read and realized that I don’t even pay attention to how frequently they are putting up posts. Yes, it’s important to be consistent, but if a blog has a new post every day, I’m not more inclined to read that blog. It’s more about the quality and value of those posts. I have come to the conclusion that I would rather blog less frequently and have super valuable and quality posts and stay a little more sane than make myself go crazy trying to pump out half hearted posts.
2. Consistency Matters. So, even though you don’t have to be pumping out as many posts as humanly possible, it is very important to be consistent. And here’s why: I’ve learned that consistency is more important for me as the blogger than my blog readers. If I fall off the “blogging wagon” and take a week or two off, it is SO HARD for me to get back into the groove. I lose momentum. But if I stay more consistent, then I will keep being consistent. Blogging will become part of the routine and a habit. So, make a goal of how many posts you want to do each week and stick to it. Right now I try to put out 3 posts a week. Now, some weeks I may not be able to do that and other weeks I may have 4. But having a consistent goal keeps me accountable to myself.
3. Bulk Posts. This has been huge for me in terms of time management. When I can carve out chunks of time to work on multiple posts at once, my life is so much saner. So I will take an afternoon and work on 3 different DIY projects at the same time and take photos all at once. Then I can set aside an evening to edit all the photos at the same time and another chunk to write the posts and schedule them. It definitely does not always work out this way, but I love my life when it does!
4. Set Deadlines For Yourself. I am a contributing blogger for some bigger blogs and I also write articles for a number of local magazines. I have to operate on deadlines and I always stick to them unless there is an unexpected special circumstance. But I don’t give myself the same respect. I started to treat myself the same as those I work with. If I set a deadline for myself, I should stick to it just as seriously as I would for a magazine editor. This is how to really get things accomplished and stick to your schedule without falling off the wagon!
5. One “Pin-worthy” post a week. Coming up with multiple amazing posts a week may seem overwhelming. So I just tell myself I need to have at least one post a week that I can pin on Pinterest and it will hopefully do well. The other 2 posts can be roundups or recaps but at least one should be an original project or idea with some quality photos. This is just my personal rule but it helps me narrow down and focus my schedule for the week.
I hope those tips helped you! I am working on a ton of other blogging and time management tips that I am hoping to offer in a special way soon, so stay tuned!
For tips on how to deal with blogging writer’s block, check out this post!
Also, if you enjoyed this post you MUST sign up for my free email course, FOCUS!
