{Necklace from Bookish Charm on Etsy}
Do you wish you had more time to devote to your blog? Do you wonder how other people run online businesses, blog, and send out newsletters? Do you make excuses about why you don’t blog regularly?
What if you could get an entire month’s worth of blog posts written in one day? If that sounds appealing, follow these 6 simple steps:
1. Write down blog post topic ideas as they come to you.
I don’t know about you, but I get blog post ideas when I’m in the middle of creating, in the shower, in the grocery store, and in the line at the post office. If I don’t write those ideas down, I tend to forget about them.
I carry around a pocket-sized notebook that I use to jot down my ideas as they come to me. Each time I sit down at my computer and open up my Google calendar, I check that notebook. If there are new ideas, I add them as tasks to be written and scheduled.
This one simple change keeps me from running out of ideas. And, I don’t waste time brainstorming and picking a topic when I sit down to write. It probably saves me an hour every week—and I can write and schedule a blog post in less than hour. This frees up an extra hour to spend creating—love it!
2. If you’re running low on topics, spend 30 minutes brainstorming ideas.
I’m going to give you my secret for coming up with a long list of amazing blog post titles whenever I’m running low. If I spend 30 minutes brainstorming ideas, I can come up with a month’s worth of posts. And here’s how I do it: I swipe headlines from magazine covers.
Think about it. Magazines have already done the hard work of figuring out what types of headlines grab your attention and get you to buy. If you use their copywriting skills and plug in your own topics, you’ll have kickass headlines.
Want some examples? Let’s say that you sell eco-friendly, handmade organizational products. You probably blog about recycling, reusing, and organization to attract your target market. If you used the above issue of Good Housekeeping, here’s what you might come up with:
- Change 15 Best Foods to 15 Best Organizers for 2011
- Change Get More Done—Faster to Get More Organized—Faster
- Change Dr. Phil’s 4 Secrets to Real Change to My 4 Secrets to Recycling with Ease
- Change Get Richer Without Risk to Get Organized Without Causing Harm to the Environment
- Change Cozy, Healthy Comfort Food They’ll Love to Chic, Decorative Desk Organizers Your Coworkers will Envy
- Change Scary New Superbug that Targets Kids to Scary New Documentary that Shows Our Planet Is In Trouble
3. Write Your Posts in Advance
I try to write my posts at least one week in advance, and I also like to have a few stored up in case I get sick or need to take a couple days off for a family emergency.
If you’re running a small business, you might not have the time to post more than once a week—and that’s fine. You should only post valuable content, so if you can only commit to providing valuable content once a week, don’t try to post more than that. If you can, I suggest posting more in the beginning to build up your library of great content.
If you’re posting once a week, you have four blog posts to write each month. Set aside one day each month where you sit down and write all four posts. If you already have the topics scheduled, this shouldn’t be too hard. It’ll probably take one full day of work—but then it’ll be done for the entire month. That means you’re only writing blog posts 12 days a year. If you say you can’t commit to that, you probably don’t want to hear what I’d have to say to you.
4. Before scheduling your posts, wait one day.
After writing for a full day, it’s best to take a break and revise them the next morning. You’ll be looking at each post with fresh eyes, and it’ll be easier to find mistakes.
Read each post out loud. Delete anything that’s redundant and change any sentences that are awkward to say. This will make your posts more enjoyable to read.
5. Schedule each post for the day you want it to go live.
When you schedule your posts, add pictures. If pictures of your art or products complement the post, use them. Remember to always add a link when you show a picture of your stuff, so interested readers can buy. If none of your own pictures or products complement the post, you can find creative commons photos you can use on Flickr.
6. Check back on the day your post is scheduled to be published.
You want to make sure it gets published, and everything looks good.
Plus, you may want to respond to comments and promote your post on social media sites.
That’s it. Six simple steps to writing a month’s worth of blog posts in one day.
I get my best ideas in the few moments right before I go to sleep, or even in the middle of the night, so I keep a little pad of paper on the nightstand with a pencil and flashlight, and I record them immediately…. or I forget them. It works GREAT, unless of course my cats knock the pencil off the stand!
Great post!
I think keeping a notepad by your bed is a good idea, I always seem to get ideas before I go to sleep. I wonder why that is?
I also get lots of ideas in bed–I think it comes with the “creative entrepreneur” territory 🙂
LoL for me too! Near my bed I’ve always the last books I’m reading and a notebook to don’t miss any ideas 🙂
April, the magazine idea is pretty genius! Thanks for sharing it 🙂
great post, great advice. i’m taking it all in. thx.
Great tips April! I’m actually gonna print it off and keep it for reference. Thanks!
What a great article! I’m pretty new to blogging, and I can’t wait for your blogging workshop to begin so I can learn a ton. My problem seems to be coming up with topics. I can easily come up with things I want to write about, but they don’t necessarily relate to my target market. Since that’s what my blog is all about, I have to come up with other valuable content. I love the magazine idea! I’m definitely going to try that!
Hey Meagan! Another idea for coming up with blog posts is to do a mind map. Start with one main topic–and then figure out a bunch of subtopics or break down the main topic into smaller ones. For instance, I might start with selling at craft shows as a main topic, but I could get so many more topic ideas from that like: craft booth ideas, jewelry display ideas, top 10 tips for selling at a craft show, how to plan for a craft show, tips for applying to juried craft shows.
Lots of times we think of one good idea and don’t realize how many more topics we can get just from that one thing. Mind mapping and using magazines really helps me brainstorm lots of ideas in a short amount of time.
What great ideas!!! I tried the magazine thing last night and got like 10 more post ideas in 10 minutes. It probably took me 30-45 minutes to come up with the previous 10 just trying to “think” of things. I like the mind mapping too. I’ll go back and look at my ideas and try to break them down even further. Thanks so much!
Yay Meagan! That’s awesome 🙂
This is an awesome post! Thank you for all of the advice.
One other thing that I have found helpful is to set myself a loose schedule for each week. Ex. On Monday and Friday I have weekly features, on Tuesdays I generally post something about the business side of crafting, etc. I don’t always stick to this plan 100%, but it seems to help me with staying consistent and motivated in my blogging.
April, these are GREAT tips! I love the idea of spending one day just writing blog content and having it done for the next couple of weeks. Definitely going to start doing that!
I also liked the tip of getting ideas from magazine headlines. That makes a lot of sense and what a great way to brainstorm topic ideas! 🙂
Thanks for sharing these!
Love the headlines idea! I kept a notepad beside my bed for the most awesome ideas that come at bedtime. Then I looked at it in the morning and could not figure out for the life of me what I wrote in the chicken scratch, nor did I ever figure out the awesome posts that were written only in my head.
What a great post. I have a file with all my ideas written on little notes. Just need to remember to review them once in a while.
Another great tool (suggested by Saavy Blogging) recently discovered, is the WordPress Editorial Calendar Plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/editorial-calendar/
I have been able to start seeing where the holes are in my days and start just putting more and posts on the calendar. I have spent less time blogging subsequently.
But April, you have made me realize sometimes my post title needs work, it can be an afterthought in my race to get all the information in a post in a timely manner. Nearly 50% of my posts or more are about timely money saving deals. So getting some food to the table while it is hot can override my natural desire to make sure it is seasoned right.
Looking forward to learning more!
Very helpful ideas! Thanks!
These are all great tips! Thanks!
Found this post through pinterest and it’s one of the best I have seen. I have a year old blog and sort of overdid for a while. I have lots of things I am working on but just can’t seem to finish a post. You have given me some wonderful ideas and encouragement! Crossing my fingers and hope to bet back to blogging this weekend! Thanks!!!!
This is a fantastic post. I really love the magazine headline idea!
You really make it seem really easy with your presentation but I in finding this
topic to be really something that I believe I might by
no means understand. It kind of feels too complicated and very
extensive for me. I’m looking forward on your next publish, I will attempt to get the dangle of it!
This is a great tip. I am trying to work ahead myself but it can be a real challenge. At one point, I was podcasting daily and so I would post show notes as a blog post. However, I got sick and just never got back to that point.
Thanks for the inspiration here.
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