Recently one of my good friends from my homeschool group (one of the few I know offline who know about my blog… I get shy talking about it!) was talking to me and said, “I don’t know how you keep up with your blog. You post so consistently!” So I thought, “Why not write a post on that?” (And there’s a small tidbit from a post: “How do you come up with content for your blog?”) I betcha she didn’t know she inspired a post! So hi, Katie! *waves*
I used to be pretty bad about blogging. If you scroll back to a year, year and a half ago, I posted all of one or two times a month. It wasn’t until January of this year that I sat down and set a schedule for myself. I had been reading posts – “How to get more followers on your blog,” “How to grow your comments,” etc., etc. and all of them said the same thing. “POST CONSISTENTLY!”
Now, I’m still not a perfect blogger and I certainly don’t have a large following (I just hit fifty on Bloglovin’ – THANKS, EVERYONE!) 🙂 … but I do try to post consistently, and because of that, even if I don’t have many followers, I do have pretty loyal ones. I get lots of sweet comments and emails, and they make my day! I’d rather have a small following of loyal bookworms who care enough to write back, than a large following of people who I never hear a peep out of. Where’s the fun in that?!
So, in January, I decided that I loved blogging, and I wanted to do more of it! Beforehand, I’d write up a post in ten minutes and hit publish when I felt like it. That just didn’t work for me. (It might work for you, though, so go for it!) I needed to find a good schedule for my blog that fit well with my own schedule. At the time I didn’t know about a handy-dandy tool on WordPress that allowed me to schedule my posts so they automatically publish at a certain time, so I wrote drafts and hit publish in the mornings. I followed a blog that published on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and I thought it was a reasonable amount.
So I went for it! Thanks to the automatic-publishing tool, I don’t have to worry about getting online (because if I did I’d always forget, especially on Fridays – I have a bible study group and piano lessons!) and if I’m on vacation, I don’t even have to touch the computer. I write all my posts for the week on Sunday. If I’m being an over-achiever that day, I’ll write more. One day I had a lot of time on my hands and wrote posts for the entire month! (Back in the leisurely days of the summer, of course!) Sometimes the posts run out and it can pile up on me (as has happened last week and I told you I’d be on a hiatus. Obviously, that didn’t work out because I love blogging too much, and my system works well for me, so I’m writing this on Friday when I’m not busy!)
If I really don’t feel like blogging, or know I’ll be out of town a week or so in advance, I just send one of my kind blogger friends an email and ask them if they’d like to do a guest post for my blog! Guest posts are amazing. They attract attention to both blogs, and I don’t have to write the post. 🙂 If I’m on a blogging kick (like right now; I’m clearly getting a little rambly in this post), I write up a few, and I’ve got the week done!
And you know what? It doesn’t matter if I did everything that fit my schedule or followed a dozen blogs telling me how to write more posts. It all boils down to the fact that I LOVE blogging. I mean, I told you all I’d be away for a little while… and look how long that lasted! I just can’t stay away. 🙂 You make time for what you really want to do, right?
what’s your blogging schedule like?
Talk to you in the comments!
I’ve been struggling so much with this lately!! On the last day of September I had set up posts for two weeks, I had felt sooo accomplished!! So I laid back a little on writing posts and worked on only brainstorming…the this monday snuck up on me AND I DIDN’T HAVE A POSTTTT. So today, (tuesday) I worked ALL DAY on posts and brainstorming them and I have about 16 posts brainstormed BUUUUUT only about 1 and a half done. :/
I so wish I had your ability to write posts in ten minutes!! (lucky, lucky duck you.) But I go through so much editing and revising my posts and making sure I don’t sound plain blah.
ALSO I tried scheduling my posts once or twice and it posted at the wrong time! I had to figure out the military time that wordpress made me use, which wasnt too hard but then I realized it’s in a different time zone….so yeah…there’s that…now i just remember to post Sunday, Tuesday, and Thrusday at 10:30!! It’s not too hard.
ANYWAYS sorry for my long comment!! Great post as always!!
OH ALSO I TAGGED YOU TO DO THE CANDY BOOK TAG!!!
Ugh, I feel ya… well, as for writing posts in 10 minutes, that was last year. I soon realized that they weren’t very high-quality posts, and… now it takes about half an hour; ten minutes typing it up, about ten minutes taking/editing a picture, adding GIF’s… and ten minutes checking to make sure there are no typos and scheduling it. It does take time, but I love every minute of it. 🙂
Lol! I had to do the same thing. Somewhere in your settings you can change your time and it makes things a hundred times easier. XD
Ooh, THANKS IZEL! I’ll do that sooooooon.
You sound so organised! I only wish I could have posts prepared even a week in advance, but unfortunately my blogging schedule summed up in a word would be ‘non-existent’ (or do hyphenated words count as two?). I have tried to post more consistently in the past, but I always end up slipping, and then the entire schedule is out of the window. This post has inspired me to try again though!
Great post.
Aw, thanks! … I try to be, at least, lol!
I hope you keep trying! But sometimes the best posts can be the most random. You just have to get a handle for it! Good luck, Laura. 🙂
AWW this is such a cute post, Emily! I love blogging so much, and when I joined the book community, I did not expect myself to continue with the blog for more than a year. It’s amazing how I’m still keeping up with it, honestly! 🙂
Like you said, consistent blogging is truly the key to keeping up with the blog! But when life gets in the way, it’s always nice to take a hiatus or ask some blog buddies to fill in with a guest post 🙂 Great post, Emily!! I loved reading through it!
Thank you, Jillian! Wow, that’s so sweet. When I started blogging, I certainly had no idea how much I would love it, or even any clue as to how long I’d keep it up. I’m glad I started it, though. In fact, don’t we share the same blog birthday? (April 3, 2014? Or maybe I’m confusing you with someone else.)
Thanks again Jillian!
My posting schedule is nonexistent….except for Wordy Wednesday which is on a break. You and other faithful schedule posters really inspire me to be better at organizing my posting. I night try the Monday, Wednesday, Friday….but we’ll see…(You know how I love procrastinating…*eye roll*) Awesome post Emily! I feel inspired!
Ooh, you totally should, Madi. I live for your posts! Haha me TOO. Half the time I forget what post is going up each day… lol. Good luck! Glad I inspired ya. XD