Do you start out each year with the intention of writing regular blogs for your website? You start off with a flurry but as you get busier, they fall to the bottom of the to-do list. Sound familiar?
I publish a blog each fortnight and think that I may have been late only once or twice. Today I want to share with you my top tips on how to be more consistent with your blogs.
Map out a batch of blog topics
The tip at the top of my list is to prepare a batch of blog topics in advance. In this blog I explain how I map out a year’s worth at a time. If you’re writing a blog once a fortnight that’s only 13 blogs needed for half a year or about 7 per quarter. Easy!
Create dot points
Once you’ve got your list of topics, keep it handy at all times. For the first couple of months I had my list with me and any time I had 5 minutes up my sleeve, I would come up with about 5 dot points for each topic. Each of these dot points becomes a subheading.
Then when you sit down to actually write the blog, there is very little thinking involved! You have your topic, you have your subheadings and now you need about one to two paragraphs under each and before you know it, you’ve written a 500 word blog!
Map the process
I am a super organised and process driven person by nature. That’s part of what makes me good at what I do. So, I love having a process to follow as it makes sure that I don’t miss a single step when it comes to a task. A blog is not just about writing. It includes finding images, publishing, creating graphics for promotion, posting on social media and repurposing. When you produce a blog you shouldn’t have to think. Just do!
Document
Once you have mapped out the process, make sure you put a reminder in your calendar, Asana or content calendar. This will make sure that you have allocated a regular block of time to complete all the moving parts. If it’s in the calendar, it has to happen!
Add a team member to the process
If you need to be made accountable to be consistent, then so be it! Grab an accountability buddy to make sure you both keep on top of writing. You could even outsource the writing to a copywriter or virtual assistant. A virtual assistant can also take up other tasks in the process which makes you more consistent, as they are relying on you to complete your part before they do theirs.
If you need help articulating your blogs and keeping on track, you can grab my free blog template here.
Consistency is easy once you are organised and have a system in place. If you need help with blog consistency, check out my blog writing and blog builder packages. Both will have you producing value driven content on a regular basis.
