How to Become a Lifestyle Blogger (Part 3 of 10): How To Create a Blog Schedule

Alright, so we’ve talked about why you need a lifestyle blog, we’ve established how you get one started, and now? Now I’m going to tell you how you can create a blog schedule so you can build your readership and successfully blog and provide you with the tools to get it done!

Over the years, I’ve learned that one of the biggest challenges about having a blog is not necessarily, knowing what to blog about (stay tuned for that post!) but rather about how to do it in a consistent and strategic manner. Your readers want to develop a relationship with you. This means generating a certain level of trust and expectations and in order to do this, you must make time for them in ways that will inspire that trust, loyalty and above all, sales.

Creating a blog schedule isn’t difficult and when you have one, neither is blogging. Here are 5 vital steps that you can employ in your blogging strategy to help create the consistency and expectations your readers deserve.

Be realistic.

This is probably the longest and most difficult of all the steps. If you’re going to write a blog that is successful, you need to be realistic about what kind of time you can commit to a blog. After writing literally hundreds (if not thousands) of blog posts, I can say with some certainty that the average 400 – 500 word post is going to take you anywhere from 2 – 3 hours to complete from inception, to keyword searching, writing, editing, image sourcing and promoting. Depending on your niche, attending events, cooking, conducting interviews, etc… can add hours onto each post. How much time do you really have?

Now that you’re a lifestyle blogger, you need to make sure you have the time to post and update your site. The easiest way to do this is to get a planner and schedule certain topics on certain days. It’s totally up to you to decide how much you post. It could be a few times a week, every day, or a few times a month. Find what fits within your schedule and work with it!

Sit down, make a list of your blogging goals and in very realistic terms, evaluate how much time you can create to write quality blog posts. Can you really handle 3? Maybe just 1? There’s no shame in writing one post per week. It’s usually a good idea to aim for 2 to 3 so your content stays fresh and you develop a good reservoir of posts quickly. Start small; when you have that down pat, add some more.

Select “themed” posting days.

Some call these categories, others topics. The point is, choosing a specific focus for the same day each week makes it easy to come up with content for that day. For example, Thursdays right now are Tipsy Thursdays … So what do I write about? fun cocktail recipes. See what I mean? To determine the best themed content for you, look at what’s important to your customers or most interesting to you. Make a list. Write it down. See what comes out. If you can only commit 2 posts per week but you have 4 themes you want to discuss, schedule each theme every other week so you can cover everything you want to.

Schedule your posts.

This may take a bit of trial and error and a whole lot of monitoring via GoogleAnalytics, but in time you will see what the best days and times are for your posts. I typically schedule posts a month in advance. That way, I’m never left scrambling for content. Essentially, you want to write down, on specific days a working-title for each and every post so you have a map of where your blog is going. You can do this through virtual programs such as WordPressEditorial Calendar,Evernote, or the old fashioned way (and my preference), in a binder with a few printed calendars and some loose leaf paper. Speaking of which, continue reading for your FREE blogging schedule printables!

Execute.

Set aside one day a week to write your posts. For me, this is Saturday. I get up, make myself a giant pot of coffee and sit out on my front stoop and look at my schedule for the next week. Then I write, write, write. Every blog platform allows you to schedule your actual posts to go live when you want them to – this way you don’t have to worry about publishing them at the right time. It’s already done. To ensure I actually write the posts on Saturday, I set my phone alarm to go off on first thing Saturday morning so I can’t avoid it. I also have a recurring alarm that goes off throughout the week so I remember to check comments, post updates to specific social media sites and promote my brand by commenting on other people’s blogs. But more on that later.

Re-Evaluate.

As time goes on, what worked for the goose, may not work so well for the gander. Essentially, you’ll have to monitor which posts get the most reaction, which days see more voter turnout than others, and of course, which posts you enjoy writing the most. If something isn’t working or blogging feels too much like work, change something. Make it work for you. If you’re excited to write and you give your readership valuable content, blogging will be a much better experience for everyone involved. And who doesn’t want that?

For your FREE blog planning printables, just right click the images above, select “Save As…” and then print baby print!

Do you have a blog schedule? How often do you post? Any lessons you’d like to share with us? Leave a comment below and tell us how you manage your blog posts! Or better yet, leave me a question on blogging and I’ll do my best to answer it for you!

In the meantime, read:

o   Part 1: Why You Need A Blog
o   Part 2: How to Start A Lifestyle Blog
o   Part 3: How To Create A Blog Schedule (Free Printables!)
o   Part 4: How to Write Great Content & Own It!
o   Part 5: How to Build Your Blog Audience
o   Part 6: 10 Things your Blog Should Definitely Have (Free Infographic!)
o   Part 7: Keep Your Blog Fresh!
o   Part 8: What NOT To Do To Your Blog
o   Part 9: Beyond Blogging: What To Do Moving Forward
o   Part 10: How to Do It: Free Ebook for Entrepreneurs, Bloggers and Brands!