Over the last couple of weeks I’ve talked about how to blog consistently and how to vary your blog content. But once you have your content ready to go, how do you create a blogging schedule? And how in the world do you stick to it all year? Keep reading for some useful tips!
Tips for Creating a Blogging Schedule
- Determine your blog’s purpose. It’s easy to lose motivation if you lose sight of why you’re blogging in the first place.
- Did you know that people who write down their goals are more likely to accomplish more than people who don’t write down their goals? So, yes, you should create a blogging goal – a SMART goal. Here are some tips on how to do that:
- Make your goal specific. Determine who your reader is, what you want to accomplish with your blog, and why.
- Make your goal measurable. How often will you blog and for how long?
- Make your goal achievable. Ask yourself if the goal you’ve set is realistic given your personal and professional responsibilities.
- Make your goal relevant. Be sure that it aligns with your blog’s purpose and that it is worthwhile.
- Make your goal timely. How long will it take you to reach your blogging goal?
- Check Google Analytics to determine which are your high and low traffic days and create a blogging schedule that benefits your blog and your content in the best way possible.
- Don’t overcommit.
- Create a blogging schedule that is consistent in frequency just as much as it is consistent in content. A well-balanced blog will include posts that inform, educate, entertain, and inspire your readers. Read on for some sample blogging schedules.
Sample Blogging Schedules for Photographers
Who: Busy mom of three and photographer of babies and children, blogs once a week on Mondays
- Week 1: Highlight your baby photography
- Week 2: Share a post that informs or educates
- Week 3: Highlight your children photography
- Week 4: Share a post that entertains or inspires
Who: Full-time teacher, part-time family photographer, blogs 2x/week on Mondays & Thursdays.
- Week 1 Monday: Highlight Client Work
- Week 1 Thursday: Share a post that informs
- Week 2 Monday: Highlight Client Work
- Week 2 Thursday: Share a post that educates
- Week 3 Monday: Highlight Client Work
- Week 3 Thursday: Share a post that entertains
- Week 4 Monday: Highlight Client Work
- Week 4 Thursday: Share a post that inspires
Who: Full-time wedding photographer, blogs 3x/week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays
- Mondays: Share a post that informs, educates, entertains, or inspires
- Wednesdays: Highlight client work
- Thursdays: Highlight client work OR share a post that informs, educates, entertains, or inspires
Guiding Questions to Create Your Blogging Schedule
Now it’s time to determine your blogging schedule. Answer the questions below to figure out a schedule that will work for you. Remember to ask yourself:
- How many times a week will I publish content?
- Which days of the week will I publish content?
- How often will I share blog posts that inform?
- How often will I share blog posts that educate?
- How often will I share blog posts that entertain?
- How often will I share blog posts that inspire?
How to Stick to Your Blogging Schedule
Ok, so now you have a blogging schedule, yay! Let’s now focus on how you’re going to stick to it. Here are some tips:
- Reserve time in your calendar every week to write your content. Because if it’s not on the calendar, it’s not happening.
- Create an editorial calendar. I know – this one is easier said than done. But it’s well worth the effort.
- Keep a running list of blog post ideas. Use an app like Evernote to store your ideas.
- Create blog content in batches. It’s much easier to do a set of small similar tasks rather than one long task. Creating content in batches will allow you to get more done faster, which will give you a sense of accomplishment. Plus you’ll have most of each blog post DONE even before you actually sit down to write the content.
- Work ahead. Prep evergreen content during the off-season. Life will undoubtedly get in the way at some point this year and, sooner or later, you won’t be able to write that blog post the night before it’s supposed to go live. But if you’ve worked ahead your content will be ready to go well in advance of its publication date.
- Have a system for gathering client and vendor information to include in your blog posts. This way, when you sit down to write content you have something to work with already.
- Invite guest bloggers to create content for your blog. You can’t be an expert on everything so find people who can provide quality content and will benefit from being introduced to your audience.
And there you have it! Creating a blogging schedule takes a little work but it will allow you to blog consistently, attract more clients, and increase your bookings. I’d say that makes it worthwhile, no?
