Developing and using a blog schedule is the best way to build repeat readers. The more someone comes back to your site, the more likely they are to make a purchase or order your book. In a perfect world, you’d have hours of uninterrupted creative time every week to write up-to-the-minute blog posts. Unfortunately, you live In the real world. Life is cramped and hectic, and you have to schedule your blog around your life. Here’s how to never miss a blog post again—no matter what life throws at you.
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Work Ahead
As the adage says, “Make hay while the sun shines.” There is simply no better advice than this. You have to work ahead while you have the chance. You never want to rush into publishing a blog the day you wrote it. Try to give yourself at least a week between the due date and when you need the post to go live. This action provides you with a buffer for the unforeseen circumstances that throw off your blog schedule.
Just thinking of the next week of posts is thinking small, however. To improve on this, you want to set aside an hour or two. Use this time to look at events or themes coming up in the next few months. Then, spend that time thinking about ways to use the information for upcoming blog posts. You don’t have to create timely content at the moment. National “holidays” occur on nearly every day, week, and month of every year. For example, write a blog post about National Pie Day or Bullying Awareness Month way before the actual date. Add it to your blog schedule, and you have a timely blog post that’s ready and waiting months ahead. Just find the days that resonate with your audience, and you’re all set.
Even if you can’t write out every blog post in advance, give yourself something with which to work. If you have writer’s block, spend your time gathering high-quality stock photos or doing keyword research. It doesn’t take a lot of creativity and makes it much easier to write a great post when you finally do have the inspiration.
How to Cheat at Posting
Imagine that all your planning fell through. Now, you face an update deadline with no time to write a top-quality article. Even worse, there’s nothing in the wings. There are multiple ways to fail forward, and turn this problem into something great for your blog.
If you have time, get a guest author. If you know several days in advance that you won’t be able to post (say, you have to travel unexpectedly, or your cold is unlikely to vanish in time to think), reach out to your blogging network. Offer a guest post spot on your blog if they can have the content ready by the scheduled post date.
Open up the floor to your audience. Asking advice or gathering information is a short post to write. Best of all, it engages your audience. Learn how your audience feels about an issue, then put this knowledge to work for future posts.
Share an anecdote and add a moral to the story. Quickly relating a mistake made or lesson learned is fast and easy. Spelling out the moral of your story also adds value for your audience.
Setting a blog schedule is all about doing work now to make life easy later. Work ahead whenever you can. If you can’t, for some reason, reach out to your network. Offer a guest post, tell a story, or even open up the floor to your audience. These all work as adequate stand-ins for blog posts, especially when used sparingly.