There are a few gifted bloggers who somehow manage to finish their posting requirements on time – how many they might be – even if they are slackers and crammers. But for the majority of us bloggers and freelance copywriters, posting regularly proves to be a hurdle.
Whether you’re blogging for other people or for yourself, implementing and diligently following a blog posting schedule will help a lot in completing articles on time, while getting enough rest for ourselves.
Blogging Schedule Ideas
- List all the blogs you need to write for, and how many posts you need to write per week/month. For freelance writers, your clients probably gave you posting requirements, so this will be easier. On the other hand, bloggers writing for their own blogs need to enforce a bit more discipline.
- Group your blogs into the niches/categories they fall into, e.g. tech, gaming, pets, political, and so on. The idea here is that when your mind is set to a particular topic, it becomes easier (and faster) to write a string of blog posts about that topic. Jumping from one topic to another in a short duration of writing is doable, but a bit more tedious.
- Assign days to these groups as you see fit. For instance, writing for your pet blogs happens during Mondays and Tuesdays, while writing about iPods happens on Wednesdays.
- So, let’s assume you’ve followed the schedule. If you think the required posts you’ve finished written for a particular day needs a bit more polishing, don’t pressure yourself to publish all of them on that day. Keep them in your drafts where you can return to them a day or so later. Remember: these are posts that just need a bit more polishing. The purpose of the blogging schedule is defeated if the drafts are just going to be full of half-finished articles.
An Example
The schedule below is adapted (not ‘as is’) from mine, a full-time freelancing career, but the essence stays the same for part-time probloggers, too. Every month, I problog for 15 gaming blogs, a tech/geekery blog, 4 blog-centric blogs (along with doing reviews for a blog directory). I also co-own around 7 active blogs and sites.
Monday – Tech blog/Blogging blogs I
Tuesday – Gaming blogs (just short posts, so manageable)
Wednesday – Blogging blogs II
Thursday – Own blogs & websites
But where’s Friday? It can be your spare day, the day when you fill in missing blog posts, polish and publish your drafts, plan on how to expand your own projects…or simply take the time off. Full-time problogging doesn’t mean you have to work the whole week. (Aside from the putting-too-much-cake-on-my-plate syndrome, one thing really makes a blogger’s time vanish – lack of discipline.)
In the example above, Saturday and Sunday is also up to you; aside from rest, these days can be used to explore your other hobbies and interests (which can also be fuel for blogging ideas). In my case, the weekends are reserved for writing literature and attending a six month-long poetry workshop, so it’s time well-spent.
It’s Your Own Time, Your Own Sched
I know some people to whom the regular Monday-Friday workweek isn’t to their taste. Some like resting on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Some evenly spread their work across all seven days, taking care to inject some rest and recreation to keep those days balanced between fun and business. It’s up to you.
Just remember, no schedule is wrong. Having it is way better than having none. As long as it’s comfortable for you and you’re getting the job done on time, the blogging schedule you’ve set is as right as it can get.
Originally posted on August 6, 2007 @ 6:35 pm
