YOUR BLOG SCHEDULE - HOW TO ORGANISE IT
Do you keep falling behind with your blog schedule? This is how to make sure it never happens again.
Something a lot of people take note about me is how organised I am. But they're not really saying, "Holly, how are you so organised?"
That’s not usually what they say.
What I tend to hear is…
So wait, you publish 3 blog posts a week?
And wait, you have a YouTube channel?
And hold on, you run your own business too?
Wait, you find time to exercise?
Oh my gosh, you’re planning a wedding?
Just wait a second.
How do you manage all that?
It may not sound like a scheduling conversation right at the start, but when it comes down to it, it’s all about how to get everything done.
And the way that I manage to publish content to my blog, Youtube channel and social media is through time management and scheduling.
So I thought today we could talk about some of those tips, tactics and mentalities that I have that might make you get better control of your blog schedule.
#1 | PICK A PLANNER
You can wait until the night before to publish a post or wait until an idea springs to your mind. But until you actually pick a planning method that works for you, you’ll never be on top of your schedule.
It’s not just going to happen magically, you need to do the work. So whether it’s paper or digital, pick and planner and stick to it.
#2 | HAVE A PLACE FOR STORING YOUR IDEAS
Again this could be paper or digital but either way it needs to be something you can access from anywhere.
You don’t want to be that person who is sitting at her laptop the night before a blog post is due to go live wondering what to write about.
Feel like you can’t come up with any ideas? You might want rethink who your audience is right here!
Now listen, I’ve run out of ideas before, sometimes I hit writers block, it happens. But if you truly know your audience, what they’re thinking about and what they want? Then you’ll never run out of ideas, there will always be something you can talk about.
I was in denial for so long about this and that was because I wasn’t 100% focused on my audience. So once I honed in on that it really opened my eyes to a lot of things and that’s when you get into a different way of thinking.
Keep your list of ideas in a safe place whether it’s a notebook you carry around or online in somewhere like Evernote.
#3 | CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR BLOG POSTS
This has honestly revolutionised my blogging process.
So instead of just sitting down to write a blog post and not knowing what you want to write about or where it’s going, you write a plan. You create an outline that tells you what you’re going to cover.
So you start off with your chosen keyword, your headline, your content upgrade if you’re including one.
Then you write down some notes for your intro, write down your different subheadings and notes underneath those, so you’re breaking your post up into sections and then your conclusion.
This way, you’ve got a solid plan for each post and you’re not going into it blind.
#4 | CHOOSE HOW OFTEN YOU WANT TO PUBLISH CONTENT
I want you to stop trying to publish content when you think you should, because you shouldn’t be aiming to please everyone.
But I do want you to start publishing content when you CAN.
Think about it. You may just be publishing 300 word blog posts every day right now because you think that’s what you *should* do - but is it really working for you?
And that’s really unfortunate because your blog is yours. It’s up to you what you do with it.
The reason people say to publish content so frequently is to get that constant stream of traffic to your website. But it’s not going to be worth any of your time if you’re not consistent with it.
Let’s say you work full-time, you write a blog post every day, you’re promoting it, taking photos for it, planning - it’s taking your whole time and your whole attention.
So don't think "I have to post content every single day for people to even know I exist." Think of it as you could pick a schedule that works for you and create even better content, if you chose to publish less frequently but write more words for each post. And that’s what your audience would appreciate.
Would that make you rethink it?
#5 | HAVE A BLOG POST TASK TEMPLATE
Keep in mind that for each blog post you’re likely doing a lot of the same tasks, so instead of keeping it all inside your head, why not create a task template?
You might sometimes forget to add internal linking to your post or run out of time to do keyword research.
But with a task template you can stay on top of all your tasks for every single one of your blog posts.
Really take note of your process, start to get an understanding of what goes into it.
As soon as I started YouTube and ended up loving it, I wanted to make the process as streamlined as possible. So I made a template task list of what I need to do for every single video, from the planning to the filming to the editing to the actual promotion of it.
This is where social media automation tools come in really handy because you can just schedule your promo for one blog post all in one go.
#6 | SCHEDULE TIME IN YOUR CALENDAR
If you want to really get on top of your blog post schedule, you need to start paying attention to your time and your calendar, and start blocking it out for the time you need to spend on your blog post schedule.
I made a video called how to effectively plan your day. It’s a great run through of teaChing you how to prioritise, and use things like time blocking, to help you figure out how you can make the most of your time and get everything done.
So even at a minimum you just need to know when you’re going to work on your blog content, and how long that’s going to take you.
So note down how long it took to take blog photos, how long it took to write the outline, how long to write the content - you get the picture.
If you mark that time on your calendar you’ll then know what you need to do to stay on top of your blog schedule.
This really helps you understand the equation of time when it comes to working on your blog . Time blocking will really help you see how you can move things around so you can get on top of your schedule.
I highly recommend you check out that video so you can get a much better idea of what time blocking is and start to apply it for yourself.
#7 | BATCH CREATE
Stop telling yourself there’s only one way of doing things or that you’ll never be as productive as such-a-person, because that kind of thinking won’t get you anywhere.
Okay?
No matter what you need to do to get on top of your schedule, batching your tasks together is the way to go.
You might think that by planning a post, taking pictures for it, writing it, formatting it, then moving onto the next one that you’re making the most of your time. But you’re really not.
What's better is to outline all your blog posts for the week at once. Then set aside time to take all the photos you need. Then get yourself into writing mode. Then format them all.
Yes this means you need to be a week ahead, but isn’t the point of all this to get on top of your schedule?
Give yourself the focus time for each set of tasks, because if you don’t there’s a chance you could miss something.
Getting each batch of tasks done in one go will make you feel so much better and more excited about getting your content out there too.
#8 | PUSH THROUGH
Lastly I just want to tell you to push through and just know that your schedule is going to work out.
There’s no need to complain, no ned to stress out, nobody else to think about. Such-a-body might be posting content five days a week because that’s what works for them.
You can use that to stress yourself out OR you could do what works for you.
Don’t complain. Push through. Stay focused. Keep doing the work. Find the time and make it happen if it’s what you want to do.
You know what you and I have in common? The ability to decide our own blog schedule. You have that ability and so do I.
So if you’re thinking, "wow, I’d love to push myself to try publishing a video every single day for a month like Holly did.'
When did you make time to plan for it?
When did you make time to plan all your content?
When did you make time to batch create it all?
Did you put it in your schedule? Put it in there.
Right it’s time for you to go and get on top of your blog schedule but first, I have a question I want to ask you...
What does your ideal schedule look like, your ideal one? How could you incorporate that into your life in some way?
Remember to become the boss of your blogging schedule so you can get one step closer to a breakthrough.
