How to Post More Often and Feel Less Guilty

Hey guys! Rachel here with some thoughts on Teri’s post from yesterday about how often to post…and, more importantly, how guilty you feel about how often you post.

Part of the appeal of a blog is that it’s updated frequently, but in the real world, not everyone has time to post multiple times a day. Here are some ideas I have had for when to post/how much to post.

First, who are you blogging for and what are your goals? If you’re just blogging to update your friends on your life, it’s a little easier to update less often. But if you really do have readers — people who don’t know you but just like to hear what you have to say — then there is a little bit more of a responsibility. It’s not set in stone, but they do you the honor of reading your blog, so you should do them the honor of writing good posts for them. And if you want to get more readers, then it’s definitely good to post more often. People like consistency. But your blog shouldn’t be a source of stress or anxiety. You are your own boss and you can set your own parameters.

My advice: set a posting schedule!

You don’t have to share your posting schedule with anyone; actually, you’d probably be better off keeping it to yourself (that way, only you know if you miss a day or a post). But if you create one (in iCal, in your planner, in Google) it can really help you feel less stressed.

First, decide how many days per week and posts per day you want to post. A Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule is good if you’re not sure you can do a post every day. Once you’ve chosen your days, consider any posts beyond that bonus posts — they’re nice to have, but they won’t make or break you. This is how I look at weekend posts. If there’s something to say, sure, I say it, but if there’s not, no big deal. I’ve noticed a drop in readership from Friday through Sunday evening too, so I don’t kill myself to get up good content on the weekends.

Second, choose themes — it helps fight writers’ block. Again, you don’t have to tell anyone, but this can help you come up with your content. Let’s say your blog is called “Shopping, Shooting, and the Shore.” (Whatever.) So you could say Monday’s post is about shopping, Wednesday’s is about guns, and Friday’s is about the beach. Then coming up with ideas becomes a matter of filling in the blanks. And when something happens that goes along with your theme, you can say to yourself, “Oh, I’ll wait and post that on Friday, because it makes more sense then.”

Third, fight the urge to post everything IMMEDIATELY. You don’t have to! Realizing this is very liberating. See, there are those times when you will sit down and write a TON and then those times when you can’t think of a damn thing to say. So write when you want to write, but don’t click publish on everything. Save them for a rainy day! Even if it’s a recipe or a meal, you can just intro it by saying, “I made this a couple weeks ago and it was delicious.” No big deal. Also, like I said, if you notice a drop in readership on the weekends, then don’t post your best stuff on the weekends. Wait until Monday!

Once you set a schedule, it’s a lot easier to not feel stress or anxiety about blogging. I used to think, “Should I be blogging right now?” but now I can just think, “No, I’m going to talk about XYZ tomorrow, so that’s all I’m going to worry about today.”

And like I always say, don’t apologize. If you haven’t posted in a few days, fine. Don’t call attention to it. Don’t call attention to your “schedule.” Just do your thing; your readers will begin to sense when you post, but honestly, don’t stress about it too much — they won’t notice if you’re a day off. And don’t post crap just for the sake of posting. I’ll read a good blog that’s updated three times a week with interesting content; I won’t read a blog that’s constantly updated with the same food pictures.

Tagged as: Rachel