Hello,
I'm Mervi Eskelinen!
An artist, nerd and sorcerer, dedicated to make world softer and better for everyone, and to get you to make more art. Make art, change the world!
How to keep on blogging
All bloggers have been there. The moment of doubt, the questioning for why you are doing this. Not just getting those blog posts written. A short break becomes a longer hiatus and the hiatus becomes the end of your blogging. How can you keep blogging, when there are so many excuses for pushing it for later or quitting altogether?
1. Have a reason
Why do you want or need to keep on blogging? Is it your undying urge to write, is it for branding and other marketing purposes, to vent your feelings, to learn something or maybe another reason I cannot even imagine? Whatever your reason is, you've got to have one. If you don't have a reason to blog, your blogging vein will dry out very fast.
2. Make a schedule
Creating a schedule, at least a loose kind, helps in keeping you blogging. While it is a promise to your readers, it's also a promise to yourself. You promise that you will post at least this and this many times a week or month, or at least these days of the week or month. A consistent schedule, while it doesn't guarantee anything, also helps in getting more traffic, comments and shares. A schedule can be loose or strict. You can set exact days and times, or just decide to post certain times within a chosen period. I recently moved from "at least once a week" to "every Monday, Wednesday and Friday". I don't have exact times for my schedule, so sometimes I post earlier the day and sometimes the post may slide to after midnight and technically the wrong day. Thus my schedule is something in between of loose and strict.
3. Don't let quantity take over quality
Blogging takes time. Quality blogging takes more time. If you create yourself too strict a schedule, you will start to produce crappy content. And crappy content is not inviting for readers and is not great for keeping your motivation up. Daily blogging may seem like a great idea for getting more blog traffic and being consistent. Unfortunately, unless you can blog pretty much full time or don't have blogging partners, you'll only just start to create bad quality blog posts. Don't stretch yourself too thin, a less hectic blogging schedule is better than pushing out tons of terrible blog posts.
4. Start a series
Blogging series are a great way to keep on blogging. For example, I currently have a series called Shared Spaces, in which I every Wednesday collect a couple of links to interesting articles around a chosen subject. I've had other series before and those series have always been a good way to make myself get on writing each week. Your series can be weekly, monthly or other set timetable. Try creating a blog series with predetermined "plot" or a series which will grow and vary in time.
5. Add variation
Consistency is important for marketing and branding purposes. Variation keeps you from getting bored with your blog. For example, after having been publishing a bunch of Shared Spaces, I decided to add variation by including two freeform days to my schedule. These freeform days I can post whatever I like, such as this article you are reading right now. You can add variation, even if you have a strict schedule or tightly decided topics. The variation can mean so many things, including the contents and the format.
6. Read more
To get your blogging juices flowing, read more blog posts by other people, articles and books. Fiction and fact, both works. I often get an ideas for blog posts while reading books. I recommend reading new kind of material in addition to your old favourites. Don't only read those blogs and books you are used to read. Give yourself access to different ideas, thoughts and types of writing.
7. Write more
Last night I wrote an article, which I'm not going to publish. At least not anytime soon. I wrote it out of frustration over some mansplaining I encountered yesterday. However, the article feels a bit of repetition for something I've blogged and emailed before. Plus it has a huge likelihood for inviting more mansplaining and unsolicited advice, not to mention getting misunderstood as whining. Now, I don't feel like it's time for that post to see the daylight. Maybe some day, maybe not. But writing it, as well as writing other stuff, helps maintaining my writing and language skills. Besides, writing is the best way to get over a writer's block. Write something, anything. Not everything you write has to be published.
8. Keep it fresh
This point is closely related to the fifth point of adding variation. Instead of writing always about the same old things and creating always blog posts that are formed in a certain way, I recommend trying new subjects and new formats. How about using a whole nother platform for blogging. As I wrote the other day, I have a daily selfie project going on at Instagram. Those selfies include always a caption in a form of a short "diary entry", which I could also call blogging. Try also using Snapchat, Periscope or other streaming video services, microblogging at Twitter or writing short entries on Facebook. You can also use these trying of new things as a basis for a blog post, just like I did with the selfie project.
9. Be gentle
Sometimes you just can't blog. You don't have the time, you or someone in your family gets ill or somehow else the life or work sidetracks you from your schedule and your reasons. No worries, it happens. Sure, you made a promise to your readers and to yourself. Your readers, unless they are a bunch of buttholes, will understand. And you gotta stop being so hard on yourself. It's not about life and death. It's only about blogging.
10. Make it easier
Ask yourself: "Which ways I can make blogging easier?" Is it setting a very specific topic or is it by cutting yourself some slack? For me, for instance, recently the key for getting more blogging done was letting my writing off the leash. By this, I mean, I stopped worrying about keeping up certain topics (areas of marketing, web design and branding) and let myself write about pretty much anything. Previously I had been steering my blog towards info about online marketing and topics around it. Around the time I decided to blog on set weekdays I also established my blog as a lifestyle blog. I understand that you may need more strict rules for your blogging to make it easier for yourself. For me, the freedom brings the ease.
What other ways you have for keeping your blogging on? Scroll down to the comments to tell your tricks and tips.
This is a reader supported blog without paywalls and advertisement. If you appreciate my work and want to help me rewild the internet, please consider becoming a free or paid patron today. I can't do this without the support of readers like you. So if you can to contribute financially, I would really appreciate your help.
