Blogging builds your  audience, increases your SEO and keeps your web presence current (assuming you’re blogging high value, relevant content).  When I look back, my company all started because of a blog post, and you might be able to say the same thing! 

BUT – blogging can also be incredibly time consuming and if not managed properly it can take us from other areas of our businesses (and our life) that also need our attention.

Blogging is a necessary and important part of my workload but it’s also important to me that I’m always working to produce consistent content F-A-S-T-E-R!  Today I’m sharing my best tips for what has worked for me.  I’d love to hear what you’d add to this list in the comment section below!

1. Create a Plan.  Know ahead of time what you blog and when so that you can sit down and crank out  content for multiple posts in a single sitting.  For example your plan might look like: Monday – Sneak Peak Posts or Photo Tips on Slow weeks  /  Wednesday – What to Wear /  Friday – Feature.  It doesn’t even have to be the same one thing every week either, for example, you can take it so far as to say 1st and 3rd Wednesdays are Wall Art, 2nd is What to Wear and 4th is Wordless Wednesday. 

2. Set a Schedule.  One of Laura Winslow‘s amazing tips when she guested on last weeks episode of Video Friday was the free WordPress  Editorial Calendar plugin.  We immediately put this plugin to work at Go4ProPhotos.com and are loving it! But in order to effectively use the calendar you’ve got to be drafting and scheduling blog posts in advance. Not sure how do that? Lot’s of you had questions on scheduling so I’ve created a step-by-step video for you down below! 

3. Bust em’ out.  Set aside a couple of days a month (or more if you need them) and let those be your blogging days. Two ways I’ve made these days more effective is by keeping a journal with me for new ideas and having a secret Pinterest Board that is just for blogging inspiration. Then when I’m ready to draft out next month’s posts, I can pull out my two secret creative-juice weapons and get to work. 

4. Blog Stomp.  We’re talking about blogging like a machine so I couldn’t leave out Blog Stomp. Now I want to be clear that I am in no way affiliated and am not sharing this for any reason except that they really are that awesome! If you haven’t checked them out, I talked about them in THIS video (10 Web Tool for Photographers) or you can learn more at their website blogstomp.com 

How to Schedule Blog Posts & Facebook Posts