Ride the Wave
Very few bloggers have a perfectly consistent writing schedule. For most, writing may be easy one day and difficult the next. Considering the importance of posting frequency, however, good bloggers don’t just write enough when they’re in the zone; they ride the wave.
It’s not difficult to tell when you’re “on a wave.” Writing one post will take you little or no effort, and you’ll often feel inspired to write more. When this happens, the important thing is that you don’t fight it. Keep writing as long as the feeling lasts. Here are a few ways to keep going after you’ve filled your normal quota.
- Build a cushion of emergency posts. It’s possible to develop a “cushion” by writing several time-independent posts in case of a blogging emergency. That way, your blog is protected from occasional periods of inactivity.
- Post ahead of schedule. With advance posting, you can get ahead of your normal posting schedule. Similar to a cushion, this allows your posting frequency to remain consistent despite delays. The only difference is that, instead saving the posts for a rainy day, you set them up to post automatically so your blog can fly on auto-pilot for a few days. Ideally, you can use this time to write even more posts and stay well ahead of schedule.
- Compose a series. Many of the best series posts are written all in one sitting, so a wave is the perfect opportunity to write one. You can write one long post and break it up afterward, or write the whole series in sections. By doing it all at once, your series will flow very well from one post to the next.
Exactly how you ride the wave doesn’t matter as much as riding it in the first place. By taking advantage of these upswings, you can maintain a consistent post frequency in spite of occasional downturns. Done correctly, your audience won’t even be able to tell the difference.