MY ROUTINE FOR A SUCCESSFUL BLOG POST

Believe it or not, blog posts don't just grow on trees; they take quite a bit of planning and this can sometimes take hours or even days. For me, I seem to have settled into a routine for blogging that is working brilliantly for me. This particular routine is proving to be beneficial when it comes to increased blog traffic, social engagement, and more. Now, of course, everyone is different and this might not work for 100% of people because some aspects, such as having a blog planner, isn't always the best for you but there is definitely ways to make it work for you.

BE INSPIRED

For me, it starts with being inspired. This can happen in a million different ways; from a day out that I felt was worth sharing, an opinion that sprigged up in my mind half way through a car journey conversation, or even that night when I couldn't sleep and ended up seeing my surroundings in a whole new light. If I think of a post, I like to get it written down ASAP. In other ways, I have a browse through Twitter and Bloglovin to see what audiences are currently enjoying or if there's anything I'd like to contribute my opinion to. It can sometimes be the most effective choice to reflect the needs of the audience, but do keep it unique.

PLAN THE POST DATE

This is either something that you already do or a moment where you realise this could work for you and 'omg I really should get doing that right now'. Whether you want to use paper, whiteboard, an electronic calendar or, like me, a 'Numbers (Excel)' Document, this is pretty simple. You can plan out when each blog post will be going up throughout the month so that you can ensure there's no clash. For example, I like to have a 3/4 day gap between my blog posts - this is in order to give each post enough 'screen time', as well as some time to plan and write my next one. I find it beneficial to look at these posts from afar - this way I can make sure there aren't too many similar posts going up at once.

PLANNING IN MY PLANNER

Since starting my Dot Creates planner in the New Year, I'm over the moon with how well it helps me with my blogging routine. In the pictures around this post, you can see the general layout of the blog post planning page and how I use it. The way that I use it by basically putting a brain dump on the page, writing the post, then going back to the page to check that everything has been done (then adding some highlighter for colour). One of the parts of this that I find particularly useful is the small tick boxes at the bottom because that reminds me to share the post across all my social media, especially the one that always passes my mind: Pinterest. I think that having a planner like this (or even a document or somewhere to write stuff down) is super beneficial and really makes sure that you don't miss anything out thus creating a more thorough blog post.

PERFECT THE TITLE

I do plan on publishing a post this year on how to create a blog title that will increase blog traffic but, as we all might believe, this whole SEO game is quite a mine-field and can take some getting used to. For now, though, I think one of the main things is to 'think like a google-searcher'. If you are aiming for your post to reach a wide audience you have to think about what the audience wants. I think, there's a lot to be said about this - so let's save it for a future post.

TAKE THE PICTURES

I'm sure that some people might write the post before the pictures get taken but, for me, I just do it this way. I like to take multiple pictures at a time and see which suits the post title the most. Something that I find pretty important when it comes to adding the photos to the posts is to have more than one photograph. You don't always have to have multiple photos in your posts, I like to mix it up, but sometimes it can help break up the post and make it an easier read. If you studied any kind of English in your school years, you'll probably know that if the teacher gave you a block of text you groaned but, when pictures were introduced, that text became a whole lot more exciting.

SHARING + SCHEDULING

Once my writing has been done and it's been through spell check (I use Grammarly which I really recommend) I then go ahead and share it on social media. The most important ones for me are Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest - these are the places where I personally think draw in blog traffic for me. Once I've shared the blog post on these platforms, I will schedule a tweet for that post to go up twice every day. For you, you may only want to promote this post once a day but, because I post every 3/4 days, and because I receive satisfactory blog engagement from Twitter, I like to promote this multiple times. Across all my time blogging, I have found that this does make for a more successful blog post. Again, this is one of the subjects that I aim to go more in-depth within a blog post - let me know if you'd like to see a post about tweet scheduling.

What is your blogging routine? And what are your tips for

a successful blog post? Share them in the comments.

TWITTER // INSTA // PINTEREST