Every business owner approaches blogging differently. Many write daily, some blog once a week, and some only a few times a month. It all depends on what is important to you and what you have time to post. One thing is certain, creating consistency is key with your articles. Start by asking yourself these questions before setting up a blog schedule:
- can you keep a schedule?
- do you like writing?
- can you create consistent high-quality content?
- do you have many ideas to write about?
It’s suggested that publishing at least one new blog post a week is optimal because it helps you maintain your readership relationships. Being consistent helps with search traffic and can attract new readers. Writing every once and awhile doesn’t work and blogging too much can cause burnout. Pick a frequency that works best for you.
Try building a blog post schedule for ideas you wish to focus on. By creating a list with a concrete plan it will help you make blogging a regular business routine.
If you feel you do not have time to write or you feel your writing is not up to par then consider hiring someone to help. If you do choose to write them yourself keep these ideas in mind:
- Stick to your schedule. If you start publishing once a week, keep publishing once a week.
- Try to publish your content around the same time each time you post. For example, “all posts go up on Monday mornings at 10 am” or whatever schedule you settle on.
- Always focus on high-quality content. Do not get caught in the “anything is better than nothing” trap. Quality articles are best.
- Add variety.
- Add good visuals such as infographics, illustrations, and photos.
- Post your blog articles on all your relevant social media networks utilizing hashtags and links.
- Add SEO (social media optimization) to help your blog posts get a larger readership.
Once you have a content plan, when is the best time to blog?
The general consensus suggests that the best time to blog is in the morning between 8 am and 11 am on multiple days such as Monday, Friday, and Saturday. When sharing your posts, keep in mind certain social media apps have different peak times as well. Posting to Facebook works well in the morning and Twitter is better in the afternoon to stimulate the most social sharing. Instagram has a high viewership around 2:00 pm. Don’t be afraid to play around with different times while monitoring your statistics on your blog and social media apps. This will give you valuable information to help you maintain steady readership.
The idea is to create steady posts. Make sure you have a fallback list for vacations and sick time, as you never know when your schedule can be altered by unexpected events or a vacation time. Have backup articles and don’t be afraid to repost older blog posts. When in a pinch, you can always update or add to an existing blog article. Just because you wrote it 5 years ago does not mean you can’t update it and promote those ideas again.