Consistency is key in writing for blogs. To make your blog rank higher on SERPs, Google needs to consider you a relevant resource for your target audience. When you keep producing good content, people will always want to know what you have to say. Millions of blogs get abandoned over the years; to avoid that, you need a plan for your blogging. It’s one thing to know that you need to be consistent. However, it’s another to produce good outputs like clockwork. Here are some times that could help you publish regularly and not get left behind.
Many bloggers begin with grand notions about their blog. They have good intentions—they might want to post frequently but quickly realize that it takes a long time to come up with a post worthy of sharing with their friends or followers. So they end up revising their schedule or publishing what they can when they can. Which often isn’t a lot!
It’s much better to publish consistently, with pieces being few and far between, instead of promising to deliver a lot and failing to meet the mark. Even if your readers don’t realize that you’re publishing less often, you will know that you’re not meeting your promise, which could cause you to get demotivated and stop posting altogether.
Make good use of your time before writing. Know what you’ll be writing about even before you sit down and type the words. You don’t want to be stuck trying to develop an idea, using up the time for getting the words down.
Produce lists of ideas you can draw ideas from—you should keep a file of inspirations, one-liners, or concepts you can flesh out and turn into posts at a later date. Structure brainstorming sessions into your routine—these are important when your list of ideas is becoming shorter.
Devote blocks of time to sitting down and writing posts. Don’t think it’s acceptable to write whenever the mood strikes you—even if you’re producing something creative, you still need to treat writing as a discipline. To be good at it, you need to practice consistently.
Accept that there will be days when the words will come quickly for you, while there will be others where coming up with them is a struggle. However, you need to show up either way—the more you appear in front of a page, the easier it will be to get the words down when you want them.
Many writers, especially new ones, make the mistake of banging out several hundred words and calling it a day. No matter how good of a writer you are, there’s still room for improvement. Besides, editing and proofreading allow you to catch embarrassing mistakes, tighten your sentences, create better transitions, and produce snappier headlines. Also, don't stick to one type of post. Vary your output, because some posts will always be easier to write than others. The topic’s complexity or your personal preferences can affect how quickly you can write a topic. Here are some types of posts that are easier to make:
● Roundups
● Reviews
● Tip sheets
● Short guides
● Interviews
Intersperse your in-depth articles, analyses, and case studies with the types of posts listed above. Depending on how often you release content, you can schedule different types of posts to appear on particular days. For example, you can have Short guides on Mondays, link roundups on Tuesdays, and so on.
Besides producing informational content, you can also write posts geared toward audience or reader participation, like challenges. Also, don't write without a content calendar. Creating an editorial calendar will help you establish a rhythm in your work. At the very least, a calendar lets you plan your posts, so you know what deadlines are coming up. A calendar can also help you see what posts you’ve already written in the past, which comes in handy when writing a series or creating a pillar page.
Make the writing process more manageable by grouping similar tasks. What most people think of as “writing” can be broken down into several activities like pre-writing, drafting, editing, and proofreading. If you’re publishing your work online, there are additional steps, such as sourcing images for your article, optimizing the text, writing meta descriptions, and much more.
If you write one article from start to finish, you won’t get much work done. It’s because switching between contexts takes up brainpower, which slows you down. Instead, batch your tasks. Do all your pre-writing in one day, concentrate on drafting in the next, and so on.
It can be draining to come up with new articles every week. It’s even more so when you don’t know who you’re writing for—how do you know what appeals to them if they’re strangers to you? When writing content for your brand, have a specific person in mind. It would help if you thought of your ideal reader, someone who will benefit the most from the content you release.
Finally, always remember your blog’s “why,” the reason you’re writing for it. If your only goal is to bring in traffic or make money, you will find it challenging to power through slumps. Your “why” should relate to your company’s mission—otherwise, it’ll sound hollow and uninspired to your readers.
It can be challenging trying to produce content consistently. On some days, you’ll naturally feel more capable of producing work—you’ll beat your deadlines, find time to help your teammates, and produce insights. On other days, you’ll feel unable to write a single sentence. This happens to everyone—while you can’t be at the top of your game 100 percent of the time, you can put systems in place so you don’t fall too far down when you’re not at your best.
Besides setting up a system for your work, you could hire a reliable third-party service provider to help you produce content. Trust Ranked to help you strive for the best rankings for your blog. We provide optimized weekly content to more than 2,000 enterprises and agency partners worldwide—contact the team to learn more or activate your free trial!