[All photos in this post where taken by Corey Marshall of Miss Foodie Problems at the
Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve]

Blogging consistently isn’t easy.

I may not go as far to say that it’s “hard”, but it’s definitely not the easiest thing to do. For some of us, we blog when we can while others deliver content with an impressive schedule. If you fall in the former category then you already know blogging consistently doesn’t always happen. Heck, doing anything consistently can be a challenge. Trying to exercise, strategize a business plan, or learn a new language are just a few things that lose momentum along the way. You may begin strong, fall of the horse a bit, and seesaw back and forth between the two. That has happened to a lot of us, myself included. To be honest, I struggled with blogging consistently for a few years and recently cracked the code. If you find yourself struggling then I have a few tips on how to turn consistency from “not the easiest thing to do” to “Pssh, I got this!”

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If you have trouble being consistent with blogging, then it’s most likely connected to something in your life. To figure it out, you should really take an honest and hard look inward. Maybe you’re busy with your full-time job and anything after hours is difficult to do. Or, we can be blunt and say the thing you’re not supposed to say: you lack discipline. When it came to determining why I was so inconsistent in blogging, I had to face the facts – I lacked discipline. I can have great moments where I get things done, but I can let myself easily get distracted and watch all the Twilight Zone episodes. Once I could see where my problem with consistency was I could better address it.

If a lack of discipline is your issue then you need to free yourself from things that can pull you away when work needs to be done. Turn off the TV or don’t work in your bed. If you have very few hours left in the day after work, then a great option will be for you to carve out time when you can work. Maybe you devote an hour before bed each night to work on posts. By doing that, you’ll at least get some things started in the one hours during the work week and can finish it on the weekends.

The point here is to be upfront with yourself and see what’s stopping you from getting your great work finished. And just because I’m referring to it as a “problem”, doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. I’m sure we can agree that it’s not the best, but it is something that you should attempt to address in order for your blog life to thrive.

Once you understand what is stopping you from blogging consistently, the next important thing for you to do is to be realistic about your schedule. This means looking at your day-to-day life and seeing where writing blog posts, editing photos, creating graphics, cutting videos, etc. can fit in. Whatever you have that’s important for you to devote time to, do that; but when you’re organizing your days and weeks figure where you can put content creation in there.

• Can you edit photos on your lunch break?
• Do your kids sleep through the night so you can work on a new post?
• Or do you have the luxury of spending a Saturday locked in your room to get as much done as possible?

To figure out your options, look at your schedule and determine where you can get your blog work done. Then make sure you do your best to stick to that. Sure when things come up that need tending to, you focus on them. But once they’re done go back to your regularly scheduled program and make sure you get things done.

Consistency looks different for everyone. For me, I would like to publish two blog posts a week and another person may hear that and think two posts a month are perfect. What I define as consistent blogging may not be what you think it is and that’s fine. There’s no one rule that can be applied to every blogger because every blog and the person behind it is different. The only thing that matters is what fits for your website and your readers. With that said define what is ideal for you and work towards that. When you have a number that you think fits, try to pick the days that you can post so your readers get a schedule from you. But don’t feel tied to the days of the week. If you have great content, share it when you get it. Excitement translates well from you to your readers.

So you know how much time you have to work on your blog and how often you want to have posts go live on your site. That’s awesome and you’ve already done half of the work. But the other half is actually planning to get it done and creating posts in advance. That means you should really utilize the time you set for your blog in your schedule to get as much as done as possible. Better known as creating batch content, this is where you write as many posts as possible and prep them to go up on a later and upcoming date. If you spend the day at home writing, there’s a good chance you can get a few posts completed and schedule them for the following week. Then as the week approaches you can take a few hours to get another blog post done. Then here comes the weekend again where you can get a few more posts done. It’s a very systematic way to get posts ready to be published and then schedule them to go up when necessary. By doing this, you can eliminate the amount of days where your site is unusually quiet and make sure you have great content going out to your readers.

After I decided to batch my content, the biggest game changer for me in overcoming consistency was to create content that had an extended shelf life. That was creating content that could be posted at any time throughout the year. The intent isn’t to post the valuable content once it’s done, but whenever you choose. Maybe you post it when you have writers block and need something on the site. And let’s be honest, at some point in the year these kinds of posts will come in handy. Perfect times to publish these kinds of posts are when you’re traveling or you get sick. It’s hard to come up with an entire blog post while you’re in Cuba with limited access or when you have tonsillitis, but it’s not too hard to schedule a post when you’re overseas or hit publish when you don’t feel well. Plus they’re easy to edit if necessary. 

What’s important to note is that time or event specific entries won’t work. Anything around a concert, festival, or holiday probably won’t last long past their date. Examples of good posts that have a long shelf life can include:

• The Top Downtown LA Restaurants to Check Out This Weekend
• 10 Best Donut Shops on the Westside
• 15 Perfect First-Date Spots
• Where to Grab Cocktails in Pasadena

What has really helped me is the minute I think of a post with a good shelf life, I write it down and outline it as best as possible. I then try and write the post as soon as I can, edit the photos, and save it as a draft post on my website. Then I go back in a few days later to make final revisions and then save it for whenever I need it.

Who knows, this post might be one I wrote a few months ago…

Blogging consistently can be a bit of a challenge if you don’t know how to approach it. However, if you take the easy steps listed here I think you’ll be able to get a better grasp on delivering content on time and on schedule. If I can go from posting whenever I wanted and with major dry spells, to having a solid posting timeframe I know you can do it too. Addressing your issue with consistency, designing a schedule, and creating content that can be both batched and posted at any time will give you the ability to blog consistently and deliver solid content that your readers will be even more excited to receive.