So you want to blog?
Maybe you’ve just started, but if you think you have done the hardest part, think again! Creating your website or publishing your first blog post is a lot of fun. What comes afterwards, aka figuring out how to blog consistently, is not.
Blogging done right means to blog consistently and the importance of it is threefold:
- Your SEO will benefit a lot from your fresh content
- It will ensure your followers to come back to your website
- You will be able to produce more content chunks that you will be able to link all together
However, blogging regularly is not so easy in practice. You will run into common bloggers problems; like having difficulty to find a topic, failing to find inspiration to write about it or worse, the rise of unexpected and unplanned issues. All this will often result in a loss of motivation and you will fall into classic procrastination schemes.
In order to produce posts for your blog on a given basis (weekly in my case), you will have to hack your writing process by dividing it, setting time apart and sticking to that.
Hack your brain & stop procrastination
People who don’t ever want to achieve anything treat each of their project as 1 big task. But you’re not like them!
In order to avoid procrastination, a good practice is to break projects into small, achievable items. This is a core principle of the GTD (Getting things Done) which is a proven productivity framework. One that I have applied to blogging.
In other words: If you want to blog consistently, simply break down your writing into parts that make sense for you.
Break down your writing (how to blog)
I don’t know about you but I am really bad at shifting my mind from one activity to another, like going from planning to writing. Breaking my blogging writing process has been instrumental in achieving my Graal of blogging weekly.
Also, take into consideration how your brain works. In my case, planning and organizing ideas work better for me in the morning, but my writing flow is at its best after sunset.
The following process works fine with me but won’t necessarily be perfect for you, so you might want to adapt it to your schedule and preferences to figure out how to blog in a way that works for you.
1. Topic selection, plan & research (1h30)
As the first part of my writing process, this is where I’ll find my topic. (I recommend my blog post on how to find your blog & blog posts topics if you don’t have a crystal-clear vision of yours)
To help me choose, I maintain a list of potential blog post topics (based on your recommendations and interests), from which I’ll usually just pick one topic that makes sense with my editorial calendar. This is also the step where I do SEO keyword (google keyword planner) & share potential (Buzzsumo) research.
I will then do some background research around my chosen topic: find related great blog posts, dig some relevant statistics and resources to mention.
A key component of this part of the process is putting together my article plan. This way, when I’m in my “writing session” I won’t have to bother myself with blog post organization, overall logic & statistics.
2. Writing session (1 to 2h)
Once you’re done with your strategic research and editorial plan, you can get to the best part: writing. If you follow this blog post’s advice, you will have a few days break between your “topic selection, plan & research” and “writing” sessions. During this time, your brain will continue to link the dots and basically work on the blog post without you noticing… Ain’t it magical?
My advice: find how to get in your proficient writing mode. For me, it’s usually at night, sipping some Yerba Maté or red wine, with some jazz music in the background.
Yerba Maté
3. Proofreading and promotion (30 minutes to 2h)
Proofreading
I find this last part very important. It is crucial to re-read your article before publishing it, as you will often find things you’ve written during your creative writing process to no longer make sense.
“Write drunk, edit sober” – Ernest Hemingway
In this part, you’ll find yourself reorganizing sentences, moving around paragraphs and correct mistakes. If you can, also have someone else you trust (or hire a virtual assistant) read your article, as they will always have relevant comments for you. It’s better to have someone who knows how to blog for this part as they’ll give you advice and help you get better.
An awesome tool I use for both syntax and typos is Grammarly. It comes as both a web-based, OS-based or Chrome extension editor (which I use) and will give you recommendations.
Promotion
Blog post promotion can be a pain in the ass. Hopefully, I’ve already got your back and shared my tricks on how to automate your WordPress blog post promotion in this article.
Set it once and forget about it, ta-dah!
Set time aside and treat it as non-negotiable
Now that you have a working system to break your blog post writing and hack your inner writer, you must block some time for each part to ensure you complete them.
We’re constantly interrupted or have something that comes up at the last moment and we always have other stuff to do. If your calendar is empty, you’ll never blog. Set time aside for each of the steps of your writing process and stick to this schedule.
==> Go ahead and block time in your calendar for your writing steps.
All good?
If you ever have to change one of your blogging time slots, you just have to drag-and-drop it to another day. But promise yourself that you will never delete it.
If you want an accountability partner I’d be happy to do it!
Summary
If you have read until here and applied my recipe, you should have a working blog post writing process and no more excuses.
Here is what we have broached:
- Understanding how to blog in your case and hack your brain to blog efficiently
- Why and how to break down your writing process into 3 steps:
- Topic selection, plan and research
- Writing
- Proofreading and promotion
- Why and how to block time to make it work
Any tips or hacks of your own to master blog post writing process? Let me know in the comments 😉
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