Keeping to a Schedule

Summer of the Blog
Regular content makes for regular traffic which is a good thing if you’re trying to build your readership. The easiest way to keep your posts regular is to write out a blogging schedule. A schedule will give you a clear picture of what needs to be done to get posts out on time and will make it easier to write posts in advance. It also can help you avoid accidently putting up your best post on a holiday or big event (like the Olympics) when very few people are going to be online to see it. A schedule can be incredibly useful if you can manage to keep up with it.

Day 26

1) Make your schedule realistic and varied. Don’t plan more posts than you can realistically write. Use a variety of different post styles to keep your content interesting and to keep things manageable. Figure our how much crafting you can do in a week and base your schedule around that. I only do enough in a normal week to have 2-3 posts on what I’ve been making. Other posts in my schedule have to be made up out of other kinds of content like my mini series and that stuff generally has to be planned in advance.

2) Keep backup posts on hand. If maintaining a consistent schedule is important to you, write a handful of timeless posts when you find yourself with spare time. Keep them saved for days when you’re too busy to squeeze out a post or when a secret project pops up that you can’t blog about. The best backup posts are things like inspiration posts and technical posts that don’t age or need to be in chronological order with other posts.

3) Roll over extra content. If your schedule was meant to only have two posts on what you’ve been crafting and you happen to finish four small projects that week, save two of the projects to post the following week instead of lumping things into two extra long posts or posting more frequently than normal. That gives all of your projects a chance to shine, and it also gives you some wiggle room if the following weeks aren’t as productive.

4) If you decide to write a series, write your posts in advance. It’s weird when you start a series and leave things hanging or randomly have huge delays between posts. If you have to photograph things, photograph them as soon as possible so you don’t do something dumb like lose your swatches for a series before you get a chance to photograph all of them while traveling back to school from Christmas break . I might have learned that from experience…

5) Don’t worry if the schedule doesn’t work out. I tend to write my schedules when I have a lot of free time, but when school, work, or life becomes too hectic, my schedule gets forgotten. I just try to squeeze out a post when I can. You know who notices when I deviate from my schedule? Probably just me because I never publicly announce my blogging schedule. Not keeping up with a schedule isn’t a big deal when other people don’t know about it. When life mellows out, I sit down and try to write a new schedule that will hopefully be easier to maintain in that period of my life.


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Comments

7 responses to “Keeping to a Schedule”

  1. Lauren

    Hah. Number 4 made me giggle!

  2. This is something I’m always going back and forth on! I usually work out a schedule, and then completely don’t do it and end up reworking it in two weeks, anyway. My new process has been to just keep track of all the blog posts I want to write, and then space them out evenly over the week. Thus far, it’s been a good way to keep up with stuff!

  3. These are all great tips! I often find myself writing posts when I can and scheduling them for days when I know I won’t have too much time to blog. So far, so good! Thanks for the tips!

  4. I always intend to do this for myself, but never have. Thanks for the nudge! I’m going to try setting up a schedule for myself using your suggestions!

  5. As a new blogger, this is a great tip. I’m still getting my blog off the ground and I think this is just the thing to keep me on pace. Any other tips for new bloggers?

    Kayla.
    (Check out my site @ http://www.theruralknitter.com)

    1. If you click the “bloggin” label at the bottom of the post, it will take you to everything I’ve written on the topic. I also recommend checking out the Blog Hub group on Ravelry.com. It’s very useful.

  6. I need to start doing a schedule for my blog, I really need to get more organized! I think I’ll grab an organizer and give it a try 🙂

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