Routine and habits develop from formulas.
Sometimes we stumble on a formula that works. That we can repeat.
Other times we think it through. We test. We rework. We polish. Then we put it into practice.
It’s no different with blogging. Many marketers that attempt blogging forget about developing a formula. Some that are persistent and stubborn will stick it out until they stumble on one.
But those that are struggling to stick with a consistent blog schedule can turn things around by developing a formula. A formula that turns blogging into a routine or a habit.
Here are some tips for developing your own blogging formula.
1. Breakdown The Entire Process
In order to start a formula for scratch you have to breakdown the entire process. Whatever you’re doing now to create a blog post, work backwards and forwards and break out all the pieces.
How you brainstorm ideas. How you finalize ideas. How you take an idea and research. How you add your own thoughts to posts. How you organize posts. How you write posts. How you edit. How you format, publish and share.
Breakdown the entire thing. Every little step.
2. Organize The Tasks
Once it’s all broken down you can start to organize things. One of the biggest challenges people have with blogging is they try to sit down at the computer and come up with everything from scratch.
Imagine being a musician and being asked to sit down at the piano and write a song from scratch. It doesn’t happen like that very often. Sometimes, sure, but not often enough to be successful.
There is also a formula.
Some musicians will keep a notebook with them at all times. Even the Notes app on their phones. They’ll keep title ideas for songs. Then they schedule writing sessions and they’ll scan through their song ideas. Then they write songs. Then they choose the ones to record. And so on.
After you breakdown blogging, organize the tasks into an order that works for you. Maybe once a month you brainstorm ideas. That’s it. For maybe two hours once a month. Just that one task.
Then each week you research. Then another block is set for writing.
3. Assign Responsibility
You may realize that you’re not the one that can do it all. Many marketers try to be the one to do it all with their blogging, but it’s challenging. Especially if you’re in charge of other things.
Some of the best bloggers you know aren’t writers. They are good at thinking. They’re good at coming up with ideas. They’re good at sharing and engaging on social media. But they hire people to write and format their posts for them.
Others are good writers, but they need ideas. And they need someone else to handle engagement on social media.
This one is about self awareness. It’s about knowing your strengths. Then it’s about assigning responsibility for the other areas of blogging. Because you can rarely do it all yourself.
4. Schedule Recurring Deadlines
A key to making things habit is to schedule them. With some habits, like breakfast, you’ve done it so often that you do it without consulting your calendar.
But with work it’s a little different. And blogging is work. You can’t count on yourself to do the tasks associated with blogging unless you add them to your to-do list or calendar.
Recurring tasks or deadlines are perfect for each task. If you need to brainstorm ideas once a month then pick a day of the month, like the first Tuesday, and set it as recurring. If you write three posts each week, but do it all in one afternoon, pick a day of the week and set it as recurring.
Recurring is a key for revenue in business. It’s always been a key to developing successful professional formulas.
5. Forget About The Stats
The final thing to remember about a formula is to put your head down. Forget about the short-term returns or the short-term stats. Especially with blogging. If you focus on the short-term you’re going to become discouraged.
Think about that musician. Most of what they’ve written doesn’t work. I think I remember reading Dolly Parton say that she has written 5,000 songs and that three of them have been great.
I think she’s done a little better than that, but even so, that’s not a good success average in how we normally would calculate return.
But Dolly took the long-term view. She knew that a handful of good songs could make an incredible career. The number of misses doesn’t matter.
You will write blog posts that don’t do well. You will have months and years when traffic doesn’t come in. But it doesn’t matter because there is an opportunity with blogging. More people are reading blogs than ever before. Over 409 million people view more than 21.9 billion pages each month according to WordPress.
But it doesn’t happen overnight. You create the formula. You work it over and over. Then in a few years you lift your head up and see the results.
Conclusion
Blogging is no different than anything else. You become successful by developing a formula. A formula that becomes habit and routine. One that ensures that you’re working toward the long-term and doing the work that others will find excuses for. Develop your own blogging formula and you can win at content marketing.