I have 40 blog posts photographed, written, and scheduled to be posted on my personal site. When I tell people that they look at me like I might be crazy. Here is the thing: I love the flexibility that I get from being ahead. When I don’t have to worry about producing blog content, I can travel more.
For me, the best part about being a full-time self-employed blogger is getting to create my own schedule. I work hard and travel hard. Last year I spent 113 days traveling. The only reason that I can do that, is because I am still getting the work done. When blogging is your source of income, you need to commit to a posting schedule and consistently publish new content. Otherwise, readers could forget about you and brands might think you are unprofessional.
To prepare for summer travel, I needed to get ahead. Let me break down how I got 40 blog posts ahead.
1. Stick to an Editorial Calendar
When you are planning out months of content, you need to use a content calendar. As a food and travel blogger, I use a content calendar to make sure that I am creating the right balance of food and travel content. I am also planning content for holidays and events like the Royal Wedding and publishing it far enough in advance so that it has time to gain popularity before the holiday or event is over.
2. Find Ways to be More Productive
Everyone has their own work style. For me, I like to have days when I am in the kitchen cooking and shooting content, and I like to have days when I am just writing. This works for me and lets me produce more content.
If I really want to shoot a lot of content at once, I have a dinner party and invite friends over – because having too much food is a problem that food bloggers face. I shoot up to 5 recipes at once and then create series of blog posts based on a holiday or dinner party. It gives content continuity, and it is an efficient way of creating content.
3. Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Brainstorm
Sometimes the hardest part of sticking to my content creation schedule was coming up with new ideas. I found that keeping a notebook open next to my laptop so that I could quickly jot down ideas was super helpful. I also would have weekly brainstorming sessions when I would search Pinterest, cookbooks, and magazines for inspiration. I wrote everything down and had a running list of ideas to work from.
4. Change How You Think about Productivity
Your day doesn’t have to go as planned for you to get work done. Sometimes I just feel uninspired. I don’t have ideas for blog posts or am not in the mood to write. That is ok. I use those times to get other things done. Maybe it is squeezing in a workout, running errands, or cleaning up my home. It doesn’t matter what I do, just as long as I am getting sh*t done. I am taking things off my to-do list and freeing up time to write later.
5. It Doesn’t Happen All at Once
I set a goal of writing 5-6 blog posts per week. And over the course of a few months, I reached the point of being 40 blog posts ahead. I want to point out that this goal was sustainable only because I don’t have another job.
Final Thoughts
Being ahead of the game lets me have the flexibility to travel, and to drop everything to take on last-minute projects. With so many blog posts ready to go, I can commit my time to other projects, like SEO optimization, improving site speed, and pitching brands.
Do you write lots of blog posts in advance? Or are you up writing them the night before?