Don’t publish blog posts every day
When I first began blogging years ago, I went through a phase of publishing DAILY. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t long until I ran out of steam.
If you’re pumping out blog posts nearly every day as a long term strategy and not seeing results, I want to talk about a more manageable and productive writing process and publishing schedule that will still grow your blog and allow you the time to create work that you’re proud of.
Before we dive in, I have an important question: when was the last time you updated your portfolio? No matter what experience level you are, we could all use fresh writing samples to showcase our work.
With my free guide, I walk you through several types of writing samples you can create all on your own to build a portfolio you can be proud of! Show your prospects what you got.
I recently discovered the Tony award-winning Newsies: The Broadway Musical on Disney Plus. The performers are so talented and the soundtrack is epic. I’ve been listening to it non-stop for like, two months, and it’s still not old yet (unless you ask my husband). And it all got me thinking about the writing/creative process.
I found a ton of behind-the-scenes videos on YouTube where they showed rehearsals, the performers in their dressing rooms preparing for shows, backstage tours, and even clips from recording the album. It’s clear that they spent days, weeks, months…creating something profound.
And even though they aren’t writing, it still says something about the creative process of producing art. It takes a LOT of behind-the-scenes work to reach a quality final product.
It takes time
In a world where we move at lightning speed for just about anything, it’s important to give your blog posts the time they deserve. The writing process is called a process for a reason, so I encourage you to embrace it.
I’m currently working with my student who I tutor on a research paper she’s writing and the final product will probably only be maybe three pages, but she has a MONTH to plan, research, draft, peer review, revise, and hand in her final copy. A month.
And for a good reason.
Good writing takes time. Good art takes time. Not just Broadway performances, but even high school research papers and blog posts, too.
Sample timeline
Throughout nearly eight years of blogging, I have experimented with different publishing schedules, from daily to weekly to monthly. With Robin Writers, I am publishing weekly and find that as long as I plan far enough ahead, this schedule works great for me and allows me to balance the other tasks I have to do well.
To show you what my typical writing and publishing process looks like, I want to share a rough timeline that works for me and may work for you:
Prep (one day)
I will create an outline of what I want to write so that when I write the first draft, I know what I am going to say. This outline will consist of research if needed and notes to gather my thoughts.
First draft (one day)
All I do is dump words on the page to get everything out. (More on first drafts here!)
Big ideas (one day)
Now that I have my first draft out of my system, I review it to make sure if I have the big ideas down and that they make sense. I also decide if I missed anything or wrote about anything unnecessary and revise accordingly.
How it sounds (one day)
I want to make sure the post sounds good. Did I articulate my ideas the best I could? Can I use stronger language? Can I describe something more eloquently?
Film/edit video (three to four days)
Around this point is where I feel confident enough about all that I want to say, so I am ready to film my YouTube video for the post (I’ll include a video for most posts). That will take one day plus about two to three days to edit the video.
Proofreading/final read (one day)
Now, I do one or two more reads of my post and check for grammar and other mechanics to make sure I catch any last errors or anything I want to edit. I copy and paste my blog post into a WordPress draft, make sure it’s formatted properly, choose or create imagery if needed, and do last checks before hitting that publish button.
In an ideal scenario, I could take five days on one blog post (nine days including a video), as outlined above. It’s possible for me to do it faster, but when I am really taking my time through each phase of the process, five days would be fabulous.
Side note: In order to have some wiggle room and to always stay ahead, you bet I have a backlog of blog posts already drafted at any given time. Right now, I have ten posts drafted waiting for their time to shine. This is a HUGE life saver to always have a backlog of content. The worst is having to rush every week to create your blog posts from scratch, and if you end up needing more time on something, you’ll want to have a backup. I’ve definitely been there before and was so relieved.
Main takeaways
Don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t pumping out a blog post per day, or even every other day. Give each piece the time it deserves. Give yourself time to be thoughtful about what you want to say. When you do this, you are now creating quality content rather than just a ton of rushed content. Quality work is what your readers will want to return for.
Good art takes time. Dancing, singing, acting, writing…it all needs time to be great.
Don’t forget about giving your portfolio a boost!
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Calendar from featured image by José Augusto Camargo from Pixabay
