If you have a blog, you probably already know that posting consistently is the key to success.
But how do you make sure to have a regular, frequent, and consistent blogging schedule that doesn’t burn you out within a few weeks?
I’ll let you in on a secret: you don’t necessarily need to blog every day. In fact, quality and consistency are so much more important than quantity.
To be successful, you need to:
- Know your personal goals,
- Understand how much time you can realistically devote to your blog, and
- Choose a system that limits disorganization and wasted time.
In this post, we’ll go over the fundamentals that need to be in place before you schedule your blog content.
We’ll also look at how to choose the right app for you, the six most popular blogging schedule apps bloggers are using to schedule posts, and some tips for keeping up with your blog post schedule once you get going.
Keys to Creating a Solid Blogging Schedule
Before you can start scheduling posts, you need to do some preliminary stage-setting first. You’ll need to define your goals, determine how often you can realistically post, and then map out your content ideas and create an editorial calendar.
Let’s look at these stages one at a time.
1. Define Your Goals
You won’t get very far very fast if you don’t have a good idea of where you’re going.
What’s your goal? Do you have a product you’re wanting to sell, or are you looking to do some affiliate marketing with your blog?
Or maybe you want to become an influencer, gain a following, and increase your authority and credibility online.
If you haven’t thought about these things yet, now’s as good a time as any. Sketch out your blogging goals by answering the following questions:
- What kind of audience am I trying to attract?
- What are the needs I’m trying to meet with my content?
- What does success look like (follower count, views, sales numbers)?
2. Decide How Often You Can (Sustainably) Post
Running a blog is a time-consuming business. You’ve got writing, designing graphics (or taking photos to accompany your articles), publishing, and promoting, just to name a few hats you’re expected to wear as a successful blogger.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming you can spend a few minutes a week on your blog and get the kind of blog traffic and growth you’re after.
…But that doesn’t mean you need to post a 2,000-word article daily and spend 12 hours per week promoting your brand on social media, either.
Thankfully, it’s possible to have a successful blog within a range of time commitments. Just look at Brian Dean, the founder of wildly successful Backlinko, who became famous for posting once or twice per month in his first few years.
The key to a successful blog posting schedule is not how often you post, but the quality of your content. You need to decide on a frequency that will let you maintain quality, thorough posts.
The best advice is to start small; develop a schedule that’s not going to burn you out. If you think publishing one or two posts per month is all you can manage at the beginning, that’s fine! It’s better to write a few quality posts than a bunch of rushed, uninteresting articles that won’t get traction anyway.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, try gradually adding more posts into the mix until you’re used to publishing your optimal number on a regular basis.
That might be once or twice a week, or you may decide to hold steady at once or twice a month. More frequent posting may grow your audience faster, but if you can’t sustain that pace or quality, it isn’t worth it in the long run.
Remember, blogging is a marathon, not a sprint — so keep your focus long-term.
3. Map Out Your Content Ideas
Your schedule needs content to fill it, so the next step in your process should be to come up with plenty of blog topics to write about. This involves brainstorming, keyword research, and dividing your topics into meaningful groups and subgroups.
If you need help developing a content strategy of your own, check out my post on that subject here.
Choosing the Right Blogging Schedule App for You
So, now that you’ve laid out your goals for your blog and how much time you’ve got to devote to blog content creation, it’s time to find a process that will keep you organized, consistent, and far from burnout.
We’re living in an age where there’s literally an app, or several, for everything. So how do you choose the right app for managing your blog content schedule?
In the end, you need to choose the process that works for you. It all comes down to your needs:
- Are you a solo blogger or a team? You may need more communication functionality and the ability to assign tasks.
- Are you willing/able to pay for software? There are some do-it-all apps out there, but they don’t come cheap. Set your budget before you start looking, and you’ll be less tempted to splurge on the first amazing platform that catches your eye.
- What do you need the app for? Do you want automated publishing, project management, or collaboration capability (or all of the above)? Listing out your must-haves will help you sift through your options with a purpose.
6 Apps to Make Your Blogging Schedule Process Easier
If you’re old-school, you can always use a simple spreadsheet to track your blog post ideas and deadlines. In fact, HubSpot has a nifty editorial calendar template that you can download for free and even integrate with Google Calendar.
But if you’re reading this post, you’re probably looking for more sophisticated options to make your blogging life even easier.
Let’s take a look at six popular apps that help you get your thoughts organized, layout your blog schedule, and may even have the option to automate publishing from the app.
1. Trello
If you’re a visual person, Trello is a godsend. It’s a productivity management app that has endless uses for your projects, idea boards, and teamwork.
Trello is built using the kanban method of workflow planning. You build lists that contain groups of cards, and your organizational system is up to you.
Trello even comes with helpful templates to get you started, like this editorial calendar:
You might make a list for each stage of your workflow (like the board above), or you may organize your board by blog category. Whatever floats your boat!
The great thing about Trello is that it also includes a calendar function, which lets you see your scheduled posts in a timeline view:
You can drag and drop cards in the calendar view to reassign them to different due dates. It’s a quick way to see your upcoming blog schedule at a glance and make sure there are no gaps.
Price: There’s a free version that comes with lots of functionality. If you find the need to level up, premium subscriptions start at $9.99 per user per month.
2. Asana
Like Trello, Asana is a productivity tool that lets you organize your tasks, projects, and files and collaborate with others in your team. The app comes with list, board, calendar, and Gantt chart views, so you can choose the layout that works best with your productivity style.
Get started with the editorial calendar template, which lets you schedule blog posts, attach files, and organize by content status or task:
Asana is a bit more complex than Trello and comes with a higher learning curve, but it has more customizability than Trello as well.
Price: There is a free version, and starting price for premium plans are $10.99 per month per user.
3. Airtable
If you like a spreadsheet layout but need more functionality and automation, Airtable might be a good option for you.
Like Trello and Asana, Airtable comes with templates to help you get started on whatever project you’re working on, like this blog editorial calendar:
It levels up a basic spreadsheet with features like kanban card stacks, calendars, and file attachments. It also has hundreds of integration options to sync with other apps you use, including Gmail, Evernote, Mailchimp, Trello, and WordPress.
Price: There is a free plan available. The Plus plan starts at $12.00/month per user, with a free trial.
4. Your Content Management System
If you don’t struggle to keep your tasks organized and simply want a way to automate the scheduling of your backlog of blog posts, one simple way to schedule your blog posts is through your Content Management System (CMS).
Your CMS is the platform you’re using for your blog. The most common CMS in use is WordPress, but there are many others including Squarespace, Wix, Blogger, and Tumblr.
Most CMS include a built-in scheduler that lets you choose a time for the post to go live:
And some, like WordPress, even have an option to share new posts automatically on your social media accounts.
5. Monday.com
Monday.com is a digital asset management platform designed to help teams manage everything from projects to data, and it’s extremely customizable. You can choose the content calendar template, which can be viewed in many ways, including list format:
And kanban format:
This app lets you customize the categories on your board based on what you want to track, like the status, topic/category, and various benchmark dates.
It also comes with integrations like Gmail, Outlook, Mailchimp, Slack, and Zoom, and your favorite productivity apps.
Price: $7.80/month per user. There is no free version, but there is a free trial.
6. Coschedule
If you’re working with a slightly bigger budget, you may want to consider CoSchedule, which is a suite of marketing tools that includes a blog calendar function.
It centralizes your blog and social content to save you time from jumping across different browser tabs and apps, and it lets you drag and drop blog posts to different days and times, and the accompanying social media posts will automatically readjust themselves to match.
(source)
Coschedule also connects directly to WordPress, which lets you convert projects to a WordPress post when you’re ready. You can schedule your social media messages alongside your new blog posts, to kill two birds with one stone.
Price: There is no free version. The starting price is $40.00/month with a free trial and increases based on users, features, and social profiles.
Tips for Sticking to a Blogging Schedule
Unfortunately, no matter which app or method you choose, sticking to a blog schedule is still up to you and how well you stay on task.
Here are a few advanced techniques to help you stick to whatever blogging schedule you’ve chosen for yourself:
Get Ahead Before You Go Live
If your blog is brand-new, hit pause on your launch date until you’ve built up a decent backlog.
Decide how many posts you want written and scheduled before you launch. Some suggest having 10 articles in the lineup, and others like to keep at least 3 articles ahead.
Staying ahead of your content schedule is a good way to give yourself buffer time in case something urgent comes up and you can’t write for a few days.
Batch Your Tasks
Rather than working on one blog post at a time from start to finish, you may find more success batching your tasks.
For instance, you might do all your outlining and researching for the week or month at one time, writing posts & drafting at another time, designing graphics at another, and so on. This method helps you get into a mental zone and be more productive because you’re not having to switch between types of tasks.
As an added bonus, this method means you’ll have a few projects you’re working on at once, so if you find yourself blocked on one of them, you can switch to another.
Set Yourself “Soft” and “Hard” Deadlines
That way, you can still be on track even if an unexpected delay or illness causes you to miss a soft deadline.
Don’t Plan to Post New Content All the Time
Reserve time for updating old posts, which will take less time and contribute to increasing your traffic with much less work.
Work “updated” posts into your content schedule to give yourself a bit of breathing room.
Blogging Schedule Apps FAQ’s
How do I create a blog schedule?
Start by determining how many blog posts you aim to publish per week. Draft a to-do list for each post, considering research, writing, and editing. Factor in time for creating social media graphics and promotion. Using scheduling plugins can help you streamline this process and maintain a regular schedule.
How to make $1,000 dollars a month blogging?
To achieve this, focus on publishing quality content consistently that resonates with your target audience. Enhance your marketing efforts with social media channels, and consider offering ad spaces or writing guest posts. Monitoring your progress with tools like Google Analytics can provide helpful insights.
What do bloggers do all day?
Most bloggers divide their day between various blogging tasks: researching topics, writing content, editing, creating graphics, promoting on social media, engaging with their audience, and often learning about SEO and marketing strategies. They may also spend about an hour or more reviewing analytics and planning future content.
Is it OK to blog once a week?
Absolutely! It’s more important to publish consistent content that’s of high quality rather than focusing on quantity. Many bloggers find a weekly publishing date sustainable and beneficial.
How do you get 1,000 views a day as a Blogger?
Apart from ensuring quality content, promoting your posts on various social media channels, engaging with readers, and utilizing SEO strategies can boost your views. Collaborating on guest posts and sharing on community forums can also help.
How long should a daily blog be?
A daily blogging schedule doesn’t necessitate lengthy posts. A detailed post might range from 500 to 1,000 words, but it’s more about offering helpful content to your readers than meeting a word count.
What is the best schedule for blog posts?
The best schedule often depends on your target audience’s preferences and your capacity. Sample blogging schedules include posting daily, 3 times a week, or weekly. The key is to maintain consistent content that serves your readers.
How do I start a weekly blog?
Begin by identifying your niche and target audience. Once you find your writing groove, draft a list of topics, and allocate specific days for research, writing, and promotion. Setting a consistent publishing date can help build audience anticipation.
How often do the most successful blogs post?
The frequency varies, but many successful blogs post multiple times a week. However, it’s their commitment to quality content and understanding their audience’s needs that truly defines their success.
How many blog posts should I write per day?
This depends on your goals and capacity. If you can produce quality content daily without experiencing writer’s block or sacrificing quality, go for it. However, for most bloggers, focusing on 1-2 well-researched articles a week proves more sustainable.
How many blogs should I post a day?
It’s not about how many blog posts you churn out but the value they provide. For a business owner or an individual, focusing on one well-crafted post that resonates with readers might be more beneficial than multiple daily posts.
Helpful Tips:
Remember, creating quality content is more crucial than quantity. Use tools and scheduling plugins to streamline your blogging process. Regularly review your blogging efforts, adapt based on feedback, and always prioritize your target audience’s needs.
Blogging Schedule Apps Help Make Your Journey Easier – Summary
As a new blogger, finding ways to stay consistent is key to building a following and growing your blog. Before you can choose the method or program that’s right for you, though, you need to have a good understanding of your goals and a timeline that works for your lifestyle.
Then, picking an app and a method all comes down to your individual needs, preferences, and mental process.
And even once you’ve chosen an app, the journey has just begun: now It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work!
When I started blogging I was publishing one blog post every few months, which is not the best way to start your blogging career.
Nowadays, I try to publish a minimum of three times a week to encourage google to index my content fast, cover more search keywords, more topics for my audience, and to stay up to date with industry changes and trends.
Be realistic with your goals and output, use blogging schedule apps to help stay consistent and make it happen!