Is it okay if I publish two blog posts in one month and then seven blog posts the next month?

How much does consistency really matter?

What does it mean to be consistent when it comes to my blog?

A few of questions that have been coming up recently about blogging. If you have been around awhile, you know that I talk about being consistent often but I have never actually broken down what it means.

Consistency can feel scary and overwhelming. Like you need to produce a ton of great blog posts in order to be considered consistent.

I am here to tell you that that is not what it means to be consistent. I want to share with you tips on how to stay consistent and what it really means when it comes to your blogging.

BLOGGING WITH NO PLAN

In the beginning, when I started blogging in 2014, I did not have a plan.

I wrote when I wanted to.

I shared when I wanted to.

I showed up when I wanted to.

It worked great for me because I was not in the mindset of growing a blog. I was just sharing my story and whoever found it and read it, I was happy enough. Soon though, I realized that I wanted women to read my blog. I needed to learn how to do it so that it made sense in my life. I wanted it to fit smoothly with everything I already had going on. Especially when I became pregnant again in 2016.

I was more than a blogger.

I was a mom.

I was a wife.

I was a business owner.

I wanted to make sure that I had room for blogging in my life. I had to throw away the idea of blogging with no plan. I needed to create a blogging strategy so that I could continue to do what I loved while also making a difference in my life and in the lives of those who found their way to my website.

I didn’t know what that looked like in the beginning. I had a business coach that always stressed the point of being consistent. I laughed. I mean, come on, how important can it really be?!?!

The thing is…

It is one of the most important steps to being a successful blogger and business owner. It wasn’t until I started writing and publishing on a consistent basis, did I truly see growth. If you are looking for a way to stay organized when it comes to all of the different blogging pieces, here is The Ultimate Blogging Planner that you can purchase.

WHAT IS CONSISTENCY WHEN IT COMES TO BLOGGING?

My opinion on consistency may be a bit different than others. We are complex and have so many things going on in our lives that we need to know what we can commit to when it comes to starting a blog.

When I talk about being consistent, it isn’t about publishing a blog post once a day. It doesn’t even mean publishing a blog post 5 times a week.

The best thing about having a blog is that you get to do it so that it suits you.

Being consistent as a blogger means that you are publishing new content on your site on a regular basis. The advice that I give to my clients is that they start small. Start with publishing two times a month and build from there.

Whatever schedule you decide on, keep it the same for a little bit. So if you are going to publish two times a month, make those two times the same every month for three months. For example, publish on the 10th and 20th of the month every month.

Being consistent doesn’t mean that you need to publish all the time. It means that no matter the schedule that you choose, do it on the same days.

If you choose to publish once a week, publish on the same day every single week. That way your followers and your readers will know when you are coming out with fresh new content. If you take a week off, share an older post on the day that you would normally share new content.

My schedule for a long time was once a week. I then decided to up it to twice a week and I did that for a long time when I finally decided it was time to do it three times a week. I would publish Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

I was able to do that for a little while and then I began to get overwhelmed and knew that the three times a week just wasn’t going to work so I went back down to two times a week. I am now just getting back into publishing two times a week.

Consistency means that you are showing up on a regular basis. It also means that YOU get to choose what that means to you. Whether it is once a month or once a week, you create a plan that works for your life.

CREATING CONSISTENCY AS A BLOGGER

Where do you even begin when it comes to creating consistency as a blogger?

It means that you need to know what you all need to do in your everyday life.

It means that you need to know how much time you have to dedicate to blogging.

It means that you need to know your goals for blogging.

It means you need to be ready to create a plan that works in your life.

I want to break this down so that you can easily integrate blogging into your life without feeling like you are running around scattered all over the place. I have been there and I know how overwhelming that can feel and how you WILL walk away from blogging if you stay there too long.

STEP ONE| Grab a piece of paper and write down everything that you do every day of the week. You can have a separate piece of paper for each week so you can start to brainstorm everything that you do.

You will need to brainstorm everything. Making and eating breakfast, school drop off, making and eating dinner, housework, and everything in between. You will soon start to see pockets of time in your day when you can and can’t work on your blog. Moments when you have things that need to be done and moments when you can better manage your time to work on your blog.

STEP TWO| Map out your blogging goals. What is it that you want to accomplish with your blog? Do you want to monetize it? Do you want to get in front of other audiences? Get crystal clear on what YOU want to do when it comes to your blog.

You don’t need to know how you are going to reach these goals yet but mapping them out is going to help you know how much time you need to put towards your blog. If you want to monetize your blog in 6-12 months, you will need to spend more time on it than if you didn’t want to monetize it at all. Here are some ideas for goals that you can set for your blog.

STEP THREE| Be generous with the amount of time that you give yourself to write a blog post. Especially as a beginner blogger, your writing times are going to be longer. Be prepared to spend anywhere from 4-6 hours per blog post.

Now that doesn’t mean that you need to schedule a 4-6 hour chunk of your time to write at once. Look back at your days of the week, do you have two hours on a Monday and two hours on a Tuesday, use those hours to work on writing your blogs.

It is important for you to be honest with yourself about how much time you actually have in your daily life. Start small and build from there. I want you to remember that blogging is a long-term game. You don’t need to rush the process to be successful.

STEP FOUR| Grab a planner and begin to map out your time. Time blocking is such an awesome thing to do. In the beginning, you will not know how much time you need to do certain tasks so give yourself a week or two to narrow down how much time you will need. This will help you to put the time blocking into your planner.

Right now, just estimate. Stick with what you put in and revise it. Take notes and see what times are working and which ones aren’t working. The following week, you can adjust it even more.

I love to use different coloured highlighters to highlight the different parts of my day.

STEP FIVE| Just write. It is going to be hard at first to stick to a schedule. I find that it helps to put it in a planner. Stick to it like it is an appointment. It will get easier the more you do it.

Writing is a habit and it takes time for you to adapt to having it in your life.

STEP SIX| Pick a blog schedule and stick with it for at least a month. Don’t change everything right away. Allow yourself a few weeks to get used to this schedule. Again, it takes time to build up the habit of showing up as a blogger.

Consistency means that you need to show up on a schedule that works for you. Remember that you have a life outside of blogging. Do not put so much pressure on yourself to write three times a week because you will not stick with blogging.

Are you needing help with how to create a blogging schedule that works for your life? Schedule a blog strategy session with me and I can help you with goal setting and helping you reach your ultimate blogging goals.