So we’ve talked before about planning what you’re going to blog about over a month, and how you can schedule social media tweets, but why? What exactly is the point in planning ahead what you’re going to blog about? Is it really a good idea, or just a bit too controlling?
If you’re a casual blogger, then you might wonder if it’s really worth planning ahead, but once you start scheduling ahead, then you’ll see it’s really useful!
By scheduling posts, it doesn’t feel like every post is a rush. Feeling like you don’t have to hurry to get a post done, especially when it’s something you’ve agreed to post because you’ve received an item to review or payment is a great feeling! This also allows you to be a bit more flexible with posts – if something comes up that you think can be posted quickly, then you can just move the prescheduled post to another day.
Planning your posts ahead of time means that you can make sure your posts are amazing. (More amazing, we mean) If you’re going to do a recipe, for example, you could choose to make the recipe at a time of day that you have the best light in your kitchen. If you’re doing outfit posts, you could get a few done at the same time and spread them out over the week – the same goes for make up posts, nails of the day, etc etc.
Of course, planning ahead and writing one extra post a week means that when you go on holiday, or when you’re feeling a bit blogged out, you’ve got some posts ready and waiting so it doesn’t look like you’re not doing anything!
Finally, by scheduling your posts and tweets about the post, that gives you a bit more time to talk to your readers – instead of panicking about getting that post up and promoted, you could take that lunchtime to tweet to new people, or maybe reply to some comments!
Do you schedule posts? Whats your main reason for it?
I have at least one or two scheduled posts waiting in the wings – and this is normally because I have rather a lot to blog about (I take photos of things nearly every time I’m out and about), but don’t like updating more than three times a week. I find there’s a big dip in comments if I do. Plus, as you say, it relieves the pressure a bit when you don’t have the time or energy to blog!
X
That’s interesting about the comments! I don’t like to post too often on my personal blog (although I should be doing more than I currently am!) and no more than once a day on here – if I have that much to say, then scheduling helps give me time to do something else.
I definitely do schedule posts. I have sort of a basic weekly schedule and then I try to plan 4 weeks out. My full time job is at a business that gets a lot of seasonal activity, so I work A TON around the holidays. I made a list over the weekend of some of the things I want to post about, and will hopefully be able to have everything done for the holidays by the end of October. We’ll see how it goes!
-Becca
I schedule posts as much as I can, and I am working on scheduling them further ahead than the couple of days that I have been doing. What are your tips for getting posts scheduled further in advance? I seem to only be able to get ahead a few days, or up to a week, and then they catch back up to me.
Thanks!
Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth!
I (try to, at least!) get most of the posts on here written at the weekend – Sunday’s are pretty quiet, so I try to get everything done for the week ahead then. It’s whatever works for you though – if you find yourself in a super productive blogging mood, take advantage and try to write as much as you can!
At the very least, if you have a certain amount of time a day to blog, try to fit in one extra post, or maybe scheduling social media bits. The little bits will add up!
I schedule when I get an idea right away that I think would be good later