Blogging is a valuable tool for writers wanting to grow and connect with an audience. It provides us with the opportunity to go deeper than a quick social media post. It also gives our readers a place to hangout with us in cyber-space.
But anyone who has done much blogging knows that it can also be stressful. These are my tips for reducing that stress.
12 Tips to Reduce Blogging Stress
- Find a place to keep all your blog post ideas. I’ve discovered that ideas appear at the oddest times. I’ve also found that if I want to keep them, I have to catch them and put them away the moment they occur to me.
- Work ahead. I try to schedule my posts as far out as possible. For me, that’s a week or two in advance. I also have a file of posts to use in case I need them.
- Utilize the practice of cluster blogging. It sounds complicated, but it’s not. In a nutshell, it’s writing multiple posts on similar topics.
- Find some blogging buddies. I have an agreement with several bloggers who have the same focus as me. We agree that if we’re in a spot and need a last-minute post, we can take one from each other’s sites and give credit.
- Keep a file of images. I keep all my previous blog images—and images I take specifically for my blog—in a file. That way if I need something quick, I don’t have to find something new.
- Set goals 24 to 48 hours in advance of the real deadlines. The posts on my site go live at 4:00 am every morning. In addition, certain days have specific topics. Today is Social Media Monday. When I set my goal for when to write today’s post, it’s by 10pm Saturday evening. That way, if life happens, I still have time to readjust and not disappoint my readers.
- Keep a checklist. I have a checklist of things to look at before I hit publish. I know the things that I need to double-check, like formatting, captioning images, etc. By keeping a list, I’m able to be more consistent with the quality of my posts.
- Break up long posts into two parts. When I see a post is running long, I look for ways to break it into two or more posts. That keeps my audience reading because the post length isn’t too long, and it keeps them coming back to read part two.
- Pay attention to the comments. The comments section of your blog is a gold mine. Pay attention to questions and what’s said to find topics for future posts.
- Redo and reuse. I hate to think that all the previous posts I’ve written are only read once. I also don’t want to repost the same thing (because of SEO algorithms that penalize this practice). The way to overcome this is to rework your post and then reuse it.
- Don’t over stress. Life happens, sometimes you have to skimp on certain things. Or you might miss a post altogether. Be consistent while you can and don’t sweat the mistakes.
- Give yourself some grace. It’s impossible to put up perfect posts. All of us find stupid typos and formatting gaffs. Don’t assume mistakes are unforgivable.
These are the things that have helped me reduce my blogging stress. What would you add to the list? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below. I always learn so much from you all!