How to Create a Working Blog Post Schedule
I started blogging about three years ago. My blog had a totally different purpose then and I just posted whenever I had completed a project and had something to blog about. A few months later, I moved into more of a lifestyle blog and felt like if I didn’t post every day, that I was failing.
I started Chloe Social in March of this year and at that point I knew that I was going to have to change up my blogging strategy. Since my plan was to focus on long form content and giving out all of the information that I possibly could, rather than short posts that seemed to barely have anything to learn in them, I knew that I could no longer commit to posting daily. It was already hard enough work and regularly creating posts of 1000+ words would make it impossible.
My plan was to post twice a week: Tuesday and Friday. This way, the posts were always sort of equidistant from each other.
But do you know what this did to me? It left me writing for blog posts at least four nights a week from the moment my toddler went to bed at 8 until way past my bedtime most nights. Needless to say, too much of that is not good for the soul. I was exhausted, sick of it, and completely burnt out, leading to my four month slow spell over the summer.
Since I first started Chloe Social, I’ve learned two things:
- When you try to post to your blog too often and put too many man hours into it, you get burnt out. Fast.
- When you get burnt out, you don’t post often enough (i.e., once or twice a month) and that really hurts your blog.
I realized that I needed to really focus on creating a schedule that would work for me: I wouldn’t be working too much and end up wanting to quit or barely touch my blog, but I would be working enough so that I could continue to grow my blog, create a good foundation for my eventual business, and really enjoy what I do again.
If your blog is going to be successful, you need content and you need consistency. This means that you won’t be successful if you rarely have new content and you won’t be successful (at least you won’t have continual growth) if you post often for a few months and then not at all for a few months.
I’m not going to tell you that you need to post on the same day(s) every week, because I like the excitement that comes with your favorite blogger posting a new post, but it should still be relatively consistent. Once a week, twice a month, choose your poison.
So how do you create a blog post schedule that works for you?
Blogging Time
Determine how long it takes you to research, outline, write, and edit a post.
Basically, what is the time frame from when you first begin a post to the second you hit Publish or Schedule?
This will change from post to post. Some posts come straight from my brain and I don’t need to research or use any outside sources to complete it. Other posts, I only look at one or two articles just so that I reaffirm what I’m talking about. And then there are some that I do a great deal of research on to learn everything I need to know before I begin writing. On average, I would put my research between 30-60 minutes.
Everyone has their own definition of outlining, but mine is very quick and basic. I write down all of my potential subheadings and sometimes include a short description of that bullet point. I do this ahead of time in order to make writing the post easier. 30 minutes tops.
Now we get to the good part: writing. As I mentioned earlier, I focus on long form content. Other than my blog traffic reports, I do not publish a post that is less than 1,000 words. Some of my best posts, like this one on social media engagement, are even over 3,000 words. The time is takes to write one post could be anywhere between 2-6 hours.
Posts that include content extras, like free printables, take an extra 30-60 minutes.
When I edit my posts, I hit preview to make sure that any social media embeds I’ve used are formatted correctly, I haven’t made any typos, and everything looks good to go. This usually takes about 30 minutes.
If you add all of that up, a blog post can take me anywhere from 4-8 hours. That is a long ass time.
Your Time
Determine how many hours you have each week to dedicate to your blog.
If your blog is your full time job, then you have forty or more hours each week to work with and can write multiple blog posts each week.
If you have a full time day job like I do, then you only have your nights and weekends to work on your blog. If you have kids to take care of some nights during the week, then you have even less time. And if you don’t want to be a total mole and you want to get out of the house occasionally, then you have even less time.
All in all, I dedicate about 4-20 hours to my blog each week, depending on if I have other engagements/responsibilities to attend to.
Your Schedule
Once you have those numbers, create a posting schedule that makes sense.
For example, if you have 8 hours to blog each week and it takes you 4 hours to fully create a blog post, then you do not want to aim for 2 blog posts/week. That will not allow you to grow in other ways, like offering services or products and marketing your blog.
Personally, I commit to one blog post each week. That is the most that I can fit into my schedule. Sometimes, if I have a busy week, I may not even get a post written, but I do work on other aspects of my blog.
You don’t want to overcommit to too many blog posts or else you’ll spend all of your time writing without working on other creative parts of your blog/business and you’ll get quickly burnt out. Allow yourself to take breaks as well. It’s good for the soul.
10 Comments
-
-
Chloe
Wow, you have so much going on!! I bet you would feel so much better if you did drop it down to one. That's still a good amount of posts, especially when you're sharing great content!
-
-
Sam Liang
I'm like you, minus the kids, the only time I have are during nights and some weekends (nights). I used to think blogging twice a week would be optimal, but when I start researching, first draft, and editing, one blog post per week is what I can do. The funny thing is that the busier I'm and less time I have, I tend to be more productive.
-
Desiree
Me too! I always feel more productive when I'm busy. I always wanted to be consistent with my blog but it didn't happen until I started a full time job. For some reason I feel better working both the job and the blog.
-
-
Juliet
Thank you for this post! I have been juggling around with my blogging schedule and it's been difficult at times and easier other times. I ideally would like to post 3x a week and I even rearranged my college schedule for next semester so I could commit to my blog more than I am this semester. But of course life is so unpredictable ... But I really love the fact that you mention that as bloggers we shouldn't push ourselves too hard to publish "x" amount of posts per week. There is no cookie-cutter amount of blog posts. We just need to do what we are able to do and what we are happy with! Sanity > insanity! - Juliet from www.thelittlejewelsoflife.com
-
Lisa Rai
I am local education entrepreneur, running a digital marketing training academy. I used to blog regularly before my startup but after I started up, I hardly find any time to seat for blogging. I used editorial calendars but could not stick to because of the business pressure. What would be your suggestions in my case? I am really passionate about blogging and love it, but it is only the time which is making things difficult for me. Will you suggest me to hire a writer in house or outsource contents which I am not very much comfortable with.
-
Chloe
Hi Lisa! Thank you for your comment. In your case, I would definitely recommend hiring/outsourcing for the majority of your blogging just to continue to have new content. However, since you do love blogging so much, I would never want you to give it up completely! I would still recommend using an editorial calendar, but a majority of the topics/keywords would be given to your writer, but I would suggest writing your own once every month or two--whatever time allows. If you are at all interested in hiring a freelance writer to outsource the majority of your blogging to, I would love to talk to you about this as I do a bit of freelance writing myself (if you're at all interested). Hope this was helpful!
-
-
Tushar Sharma
This has been a wonderful article i must say. you have done a great work and it will help the audience as it done the same to me keep it up Regards
-
kailash
This has been a brilliant article I should state. you have done an awesome work and it will help the group of onlookers as it done likewise to me keep it up
-
karan
This has been an awesome article I should state. you have finished an amazing work and it will help the gathering of spectators as it done similarly to me keep it up Regards
Comments are closed.
Krista
"That is a long ass time." - Lol, yes! Love this post! I've been trying to post twice per week, but with a full-time job, a husband who needs some attention every now and then, clients, and other commitments it's HARD! I've definitely found myself feeling burned out on it. I'll have to consider dropping it down to once a week. Thanks, Chloe! :)