Scheduling is a very important part of blogging. You need to schedule time to write, take photos and edit them, plan out blog posts, brainstorm new ideas, etc! Having a content schedule planned out in advance will take a lot of stress and worry out of blogging. I just recently started planning and making a content schedule for my blog. I find it easier than randomly deciding I wanted to post something on any given day. Read on to see my tips for a (somewhat) consistent content schedule!
My tips/tricks for content scheduling are simple. All of these tie into each other and they might seem a little redundant, but I wanted to make sure I included everything.
- Take time to figure out what you want to cover on your blog for the upcoming weeks or months. - To be honest, I plan out my blog posts from week to week. That's only because my work schedule is always changing and I never know which days I'll be scheduled off. This is working out for me (so far), but I would like to plan out my content for a longer duration so I can give myself more time to not worry about what or when I'm going to post. Planning posts for a month is incredibly easy: just pick a theme for the month! If it's August you're planning for then pick topics for back to school. If it's December create a calendar of Christmas or Holiday themed posts.
- Make lists. - After planning your posts for the week or month, make a list of everything you'll need to finish these posts. This includes taking pictures, editing pictures, creating something, contacting a sponsor, writing the post and lots of other steps. Scratch off each of these steps as you go and you'll be that much closer to sharing your ideas with the world!
- Create a schedule that works for you! - I plan out my posts whenever I get a day off. I also take and edit photos and format my posts on the same day. The easy part about blogging is I can do all this one day and have my entries scheduled to post throughout the week no matter what my work/social schedule looks like. It might sound backwards, but I try to schedule posts on days when I know I'm super busy. In the moment feedback makes me nervous so what better way to blog than to do it on days when I can't constantly check my pageviews or comments? The scheduling feature on Blogger and Hootsuite (I'll post more about this late) has been a huge help with this. Find time whenever you can to plan for your blog. It doesn't have to be a set time everyday or week, but it'll really help keep you sane in the long run.
- Use a planner/calendar. - I'm a visual learner, so I use a notebook style planner to write down my content schedule. I already know my Truly My Way posts are on Sundays so I have those filled in and I know I have to take time out of my days during the week to dedicate time to making my blog better and writing about it. A planner or calendar is an easy way to see when you'll have time to plan for your blog and see what posts your readers can look forward to! There are tons of sites out there that offer blog content schedule PDFs and plenty of other resources that you can print or fill in on your computer if you don't want to buy a planner.
To be totally honest, this post almost didn't happen because I did a poor job of content scheduling. I waited until the last minute to sit down and write and wasted time I could have been spending with my boyfriend or catching up on the sleep for the week. Content scheduling is a Godsend because it prevents situations like this or anything else that might pop up in my life. I definitely plan on planning my weeks as far in advance as I can. How do you plan or schedule on content for your blog? Let me know in the comments below!
