Now that you’ve started writing for your blog, it’s important to continue updating and posting new content on a regular basis. This is easier said than done, though. Let’s face it; writing good blog posts isn’t easy. There is a lot of effort that goes into picking a good topic and producing a few hundred words of well-written, useful content that your readers will be interested in. Even if you can find the time each day to write a blog post, it can be difficult to find the inspiration. Often, the best content is produced when you have a good idea and are in the proper mood to write, and many writers tend to produce content in bursts – several blog posts over a few days or even hours, and then longer periods with less production.

Be realistic

However, even if your production can be erratic with periods of higher and lower output, that doesn’t mean your blog updates should be. It’s important that you continue to add new content to your blog on a regular basis, rather than in spurts with dry periods in between. You want to give your readers a reason to check back regularly. If you have long periods where there is no new content, readers who visit your site several times in a row with no new updates may lose interest and start visiting your site less often. Additionally, regular updates are helpful for search engines. Search engines generally like fresh content, and by updating on a regular schedule, search engines will learn when to visit your site and will index your new content faster. The best way to resolve the differences between your production schedule and the need to add new content to your site is to create a publishing schedule for your blog. By planning out in advance when you want new posts to be published, you can write content in advance during your creative periods but still keep up a steady, regular blog update schedule. There are several factors to take into consideration when creating a publishing schedule for your blog.

How much content can you create?

Most importantly, how much content can you create? There’s not much point to creating a publishing schedule if the schedule doesn’t match the real pace of content creation. It’s all well and good to say that you will post every day, but if you have a difficult time keeping pace, you will inevitably start falling behind. On the other side, if you are a prolific writer, you might simply have too much to say to limit yourself to just one or two updates a week. Match your publishing schedule to your production schedule.

Think about when your readers want to read your blog

When do your readers read your content? By looking at your traffic data, you can determine when people tend to visit your site. Early on in your blog’s lifetime, you might not have enough traffic to see any real trends, but over time this data will be valuable. Depending on the topic of your blog and the types of visitors you attract, your visitor traffic patterns might vary significantly. For example, Travel content tends to get more traffic on Fridays, when people are planning for weekend trips. New video game releases typically happen on Tuesdays, so a blog about gaming can expect to see additional traffic for content around new games during the middle of the week. Tailor your publishing schedule to when your readers are looking for your content.

What’s on the horizon?

What items are upcoming that you want to write about? Developing an editorial calendar can be an extremely helpful part of your publishing schedule. By determining what you want to write about in advance, you can help make sure that you don’t miss a story about important topics, and help overcome the problem of sitting down to write a blog post but not knowing what to blog about. Create an editorial calendar for at least major items.

Think beyond your blog

What else is happening around your schedule? Blogs don’t exist in an isolated environment. Keep track of other news and events in your field. It’s easy to write a great blog post but have it lost when some other big event drowns it out and takes precedence. Breaking news and big events attract attention by their very nature, so don’t compete with them unless your post is about that news and those events. It would be a shame to write a great piece on an iPhone app the same week as Apple’s annual developer conference and have your blog post completely drowned out by news on the conference. Publish your content when it has a chance to be heard. Finally, be flexible. A publishing schedule is there to make it easier for you to keep your blog fresh and add new content on a consistent basis. If you have a lot to say in a particular week, or if you have breaking news that you want to report, go ahead and write a blog post about it. Ultimately, you’re writing your blog to make your voice heard and provide content for your users. Don’t force yourself to slow down just to adhere to your schedule – your schedule should be a baseline, not a straitjacket.

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About author:

Everett Whitehead is an experienced emarketer who specializes in search engine optimization, SEM, and other areas of online marketing. Active in online business since 2002, Everett is privileged to have worked with many well-known brands over his career. If you would like to retain a Boston SEO Consultant or would like an SEO question answered, he can be contacted by clicking here.

All entries by Everett Whitehead