17 Secret Strategies to Help You Save Time & Blog Consistently

Blogging consistently is definitely important to blogging success, while simple, it can be hard to implement.

I’ve been blogging for over 5 years, though I’ve gone through lots of bouts of blogging consistently and then blogging inconsistently. And if you were to look at my Google Analytics, you could probably tell when I was consistent and when I wasn’t.

In this post, I’m going to break down 17 strategies to help you blog more consistently. You don’t necessarily have to use all of them, it could be just one or two will help you to stay consistent with your blog.

1. Set Boundaries on Your Blogging Time

There is nothing like having all the time in the world to get something done that ensures it never gets done. Setting boundaries on how long you’ll spend working on blogging stuff will help you to focus and get more done. 

It also helps you with balance when it comes to life and being stressed out about stuff. I recently moved cross country and I went to having a place all to myself with all of my time my own to living with family and being responsible for my niece and nephew for part of pretty much everyday. 

The amount of my time that I control has shrunk considerably. Having those boundaries placed on my time has meant I value it that much more and put it to good use. I’m not saying you should add more to your plate in order to implement boundaries, just saying they are effective.

Maybe your boundary is that you only write on the weekends, or that you always take a specific day off. Whatever it is, make sure you stick to it and it will help you stick to your blogging commitment.

2. Create a Blogging System

While the content of each blog post may be (and should be) different, the process of creating a blog post and promoting it is typically the same. Which means there are opportunities to systemize that process or at least parts of that process.

I usually talk faster than I types, so a lot of times I’ll use the talk to text feature on my phone to quickly produce a rough draft of a blog post. Either way, I know where that step takes place in the process and I build my deadlines or system around what needs to get done when. 

My process usually looks something like this:

1. Brainstorm blog post ideas
2. Create a rough outline
3. Write the intro and conclusion
4. Draft the post
5. Edit the post and load it into WordPress
6. Create the featured graphic and other pins for the post
7. Craft the meta description and pin description based on the content of the post
8. Select the post category
9. Edit the permalink
10. Schedule the post to publish

Knowing these are all the steps and systemizing it helps to make sure I don’t miss a step and can produce content consistently.

3. Schedule Brainstorming

You’ll notice that in the last secret, I mentioned that step one for creating a blog post for me is brainstorming blog post ideas. I don’t just sit down and think of a post to write, I conduct regular brainstorming sessions.

During these sessions, I come up with tons of blog post ideas so that I know exactly what I need to write when I sit down to start outlining. 

I also make sure to write down ideas as they come to me when I’m not working. A few different ways you could do this is to keep a folder on ideas, a secret board on Pinterest, or by recording something into your phone.

Related: 9 Super Simple Ways Brainstorm Blog Post Ideas

4. Use an Editorial Calendar to Plan Ahead

Trying to sit down and come up with a plan to publish a post same day is almost the perfect recipe for failure. Throw in remembering that a product you’re an affiliate for is launching soon and all of the sudden your trying to do a ton of things last minute. 

I don’t know about you, but the more last-minute things are the more stressed I get. I like to be prepared and take my time. An editorial calendar helps with this a lot.

After I do a massive brainstorming session I start putting together my editorial calendar for the next three months.

I then look through the products I’m an affiliate for and see if there are any launches I need to plan promotions for, and I make adjustments to my editorial calendar.

Lastly, I look at my personal calendar to see what I’ve got going on, be it a vacation or perhaps a product launch of my own. It helps me to know just how far ahead I should have posts scheduled out so I don’t end up overwhelmed and stressed out.

I use ClickUp (it’s free) to manage all my business tasks and keep track of my editorial calendar and Airtable to help me gather and keep track of data or quotes from others. The thing I love about ClickUp is my ability to view the calendar as a calendar and a list:

I can also load a checklist of my system from a template and set deadlines for each step of the way to ensure everything gets done on time:

My editorial calendar helps to make sure I can put out blog content consistently and if you don’t already have one, I suggest you start creating one.

5. Update Old Content

If you’re really pressed for time a quick way to put out content is to just update and republish old content. This can also be good for SEO, Google likes good up-to-date content. This is especially true if you’ve been blogging for a long time and have lots of older content that could do with a refresh.

For example, I have a post about marketing on Pinterest that I wrote years ago and is in desperate need of an update. You can tell because it talks about BoardBooster a tool that went out of business in 2018. 

One thing to note though, when you change the publish date, make sure the time has already passed – scheduling it in the future can mess up links to that post. 

Sometimes, what I’ll do is update it and a week or two later (when it’s in my editorial calendar to go live), I’ll just change the date to that day and voila! It’s republished.

6. Use Blog Post Templates

Templates can be great time savers. The fact is that you probably only write a few different kinds of posts, perhaps some like this: 

• Reviews, 
• Roundups, 
• Educational posts, and 
• Promotional posts

If you’ve written a few of each already, then you can likely build out some templates that save you time. With content blocks you can repurpose in WordPress, you can use these to build out templates for your blog posts and save you time when it comes to writing them. 

The easier it is to write posts and the fewer barriers you encounter when you write them the easier it is to stay consistent when it comes to blogging.

7. Have Fall Back Posts

Fall back posts are posts that are easy to throw together quickly and don’t require you to produce that much of the content. They include:

• Roundups
• Outreach/Quotes
• Guest Posts

Roundups

Roundups can be of anything. But to keep the focus on your blog, one of the easiest roundups to do is on your blog content. For example, on my personal finance site I have a post that rounds up my best “payoff debt” content on the site. 

But you could also do a quick round up of your favorite tools, or other bloggers you admire, or content you’ve read recently that resonate with you.

Outreach/Quotes

Reaching out to other bloggers can be a great way to produce some content. Think of a topic or question that comes up in your niche a lot and then get other’s takes on the topic. You can do this a few different ways, by posting in a relevant Facebook group, or by emailing them directly.

Whatever method you use make sure you make it super easy for people to participate and provide their quote. Personally, I like to set up a form in Airtable so all they have to do is fill out the form.

Guest Posts

If you’ve been blogging a while you’ve probably received some pretty terrible guest post pitches. And you should definitely ignore any that offer to pay to guest post.

However, every once in a while you get a guest post pitch from a genuine blogger and those can be great to fill in your editorial calendar to ensure you’re blogging consistently.

8. Stop Wasting Time

One of the biggest reasons I see bloggers failing to take action is that they don’t know when to stop researching and perfecting things. 

I used to have this same problem and occasionally I still do. I have learned to recognize when I’m using research or planning as a procrastination method.

If you’re spending more time reading and researching rather than taking action to get a blog post written and done, then you likely have the same problem. 

A new mantra for you should be “done is better than perfect.”

9. Automate Your Blog Promotion

If only writing the content was the heavy lifting when it comes to being a blogger. Unfortunately, the idea that if you write it they will come, is untrue.

If you write it, you then need to promote it. And promotion can take a lot of time, or you can automate it with tools and save yourself some time and get back to creating more great content. 

Scheduling out your blog content, allows you to get ahead. Automating and scheduling out your blog content gives you a lot of time back.

I try, though admittedly am not always successful, to schedule my email broadcast about the post when I schedule the post to go live.

I also use tools like Missinglettr and SocialBee to automate my social media promotion of the blog post. SocialBee, I use, to promote evergreen offers and Missinglettr to craft social media posts to go out once it the blog post goes live. I got both as lifetime deals on AppSumo.

10. Batch Like Crazy

I outlined my system for creating blog posts, but what I didn’t mention is that I try to batch every step. So I brainstorm a bunch. Then outline a couple of months worth of posts. Then I start writing those posts. Then I create the graphics and start loading them into WordPress.

Not having to constantly switch between tasks by doing posts one by one, helps me to focus more and be more productive. Allowing me to get more done.

11. Have An Accountability Buddy – Masterminds Are Great For This

Having a blogging friend to help hold you accountable to your blog publishing goal can be a great way to make sure you stick with it. If having your audience be able to rely on you to release content regularly isn’t enough to motivate you then a Mastermind to help you break through any mental barriers holding you back can be great.

Last month, I had a call with a mastermind group and we all threw down some tough love on each other. We called each other out, when the stuff we were saying didn’t make sense or if we seemed to be making excuses for not getting something done. The honest feedback helped me to figure out my next move and plan my approach to 2020.

12. Set Posting Goals with Rewards

Maybe you need a little something extra to help you blog consistently. A reward of some type, maybe a movie out or something else you enjoy. That you only get when you get ahead on your posting schedule could be another way to help you focus and blog consistently.

13. Set Reminders

Another reason I love ClickUp is that it’s great at sending me reminders. It will send me a daily update with everything on my plate and it makes it easy to keep track of where everything is.

Sometimes life can get a little crazy and you just need a reminder to help you stay on track. 

Maybe you set up a recurring appointment in your calendar so you are reminded what days a blog post should be published. Or use an editorial calendar that will send out reminders to you.

14. Replace Time Sucking Habits With Productive Habits

Just how much time do you spend on social media? How much of it is on your phone? If you struggle with staying away from apps and websites that kill your productivity try using a tool like RescueTime which allows you to set “Focus Time” which will block your access to those sites for a set amount of time. 

Rescue time will also track how productive you are with your time on your phone and computer and you can set goals about how productive you’d like to be. So you can spot trends of what works when you are productive and what may be causing you to fall behind schedule.

So work on replacing bad habits with productive ones, like maybe swap time you spend in Facebook groups for time spent creating social media graphics.

15. Focus On Consistently Posting Before Other Blogging Goals

Chances are you have lots of blogging goals, they could be related to growing your email list, hitting a certain number of sessions, or growing your social media accounts.

The truth is the success of any blogging goal almost always comes down to being consistent. So focusing on posting consistently before your other goals will actually help you to hit your other goals. 

Start doing less of the other stuff and start doing more to blog consistently.

16. Reevaluate What Isn’t Working

If you struggle to keep up with your blogging schedule it could mean you need to reevaluate your blogging schedule. 

Or maybe your schedule is just fine, but your systems or automations need to be reevaluated. If something doesn’t seem to be working well and is holding you back, reevaluate it and see if it can be improved.

17. Set Realistic Expectations

If you are simply blogging on the side and have other responsibilities at home, then trying to publish a blog post 5 days a week is likely unrealistic. 

Do what you can and be realistic.

If that means posting just once a month, great. If it’s once a week, awesome. Being able to maintain it is what’s important. Don’t be over-ambitious, and be realistic about how long it takes you to create a blog post and set a realistic goal.

Bottom Line

If you’re struggling with blogging consistently then these 17 strategies will help you to save time when it comes to creating blog content and publish consistently:

1. Set Boundaries on Your Blogging Time
2. Create a System
3. Schedule Brainstorming
4. Use an Editorial Calendar to Plan Ahead
5. Update Old Content
6. Use Blog Post Templates
7. Have Fall Back Posts
8. Stop Wasting Time
9. Automate Your Blog Promotion
10. Batch Like Crazy
11. Have An Accountability Buddy – Masterminds Are Great For This
12. Set Posting Goals with Rewards
13. Set Reminders
14. Replace Time Sucking Habits With Productive Habits
15. Focus On Consistently Posting Before Other Blogging Goals
16. Reevaluate What Isn’t Working
17. Set Realistic Expectations

Do you know of other tips or strategies to blog consistently and save time as a blogger? Let me know in the comments!