“To Blog is a blog, but a blog has to post.”

Every year we always tend to start with a New Year’s Resolution. If you aren’t quite sure what a new years resolution it all comes down to this “Things I say I plan to do differently but most likely won’t.”

Below is a quick clip of the Hallmark Movie called A New Years Resolution.

So how do we resolve this consistent issue? We FINALLY plan out our goals for the year.

Start off by asking yourself this one question. 

What is it that I would like to accomplish in a year? 

What would you like to accomplish this year? Use this time to break your goals down.

Social Media Goals:

• Do you have certain goals for your social media accounts and presence? Perhaps you hope to grow to a specific number of followers. Do you intend to score sponsored posts and/or brand collaborations?
• Maybe your goal is to be more personal and step outside your comfort zone by reaching out to your audience via Insta stories or creating a youtube channel! Whatever those social media goals happen to be,  – WRITE THEM DOWN. Period.

Blog Goals:

• Take this time out to think about what specific goals you have for your blog. Do you want to have a specific amount of blog traffic by next year? Do you want to make a specific amount of money through your blog?

• What about your blog appearance? Do you want to rebrand your blog? Change the original theme? Be more consistent? Change your niche? WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?! Write those down too! 

Personal Goals:

• Do you have any specific personal issues you are struggling with? Organize them as well. “Too many people use the New Year to beat themselves up for not being good enough.” Traci Stein, Ph.D., a psychologist says that’s not a good way to inspire yourself to change, and it just makes you feel bad.

• Perhaps you want to eat healthier, quit smoking, drink more water, go out on more dates, and spend time with your kids. Write it ALL DOWN. Period, Period. (Yes that was twice.)

Utilize a Weekly Scheduling Template

If you aren’t someone who has spectacular memory you probably may need some assistance. You can use this to help schedule anything! Whether it be new or existing clients, blog post content, or even social media content!

Use a scheduling template to stay organized and to help make sure that you do not overwork yourself. If you need an idea of where to get started with this particular step click the link here for (WEEKLY SCHEDULING TEMPLATE) Use this guide for whatever you think works best! 

Organize your Monthly goals into weekly goals. Plan out what you want to do for each week and what you want to accomplish. The best way to do this is to make a list and state what you plan on doing. Once your weekly list is completed organize what you want to do each day. This doesn’t have to be exactly the same each day unless that’s how you want to order and complete those tasks.

Create A Bucket List

You can use this to write down things that you wish to accomplish in the next year. It can be goals and adventures related to your blog OR just general things you want to accomplish.

SOME BLOG BUCKET LIST IDEAS:

• Score 3 sponsored post/brand collabs
• Make $1,000 from my blog
• Create an e-course and sell it
• Grow to 10k Instagram followers
• Travel out of the country and write about it
• Guest post on 5 of my favorite bloggers’ websites
• Quit my full-time job
• Create a second blog site
• Have 50 Recorded Youtube videos on your channel
• Have 500 Instagram posts

HOW TO PLAN YOUR BLOG CONTENT EACH MONTH:

When planning out your content try your best to be as organized as possible. Normally I’m someone who likes to have their blog content planned out in advance. If my content is already planned out ahead of time, it allows me to have a more consistent schedule. I plan on using this method and checking to see if I notice an increase in my blog traffic because I am posting more consistently.

SO HOW DO I PLAN A MONTH IN ADVANCE?

FIRST – Throughout the month I collect blog post ideas. I typically write my ideas out as they come to me. I use my phone, and notes, or I use a planner if it’s in reach. 

Before the end of the month, I look through my blog post title ideas and plan them out throughout the month. I then use my monthly calendar spread to plan when I want to have each post published. Depending on which site you are using there are tools available to you for easier post scheduling.

PRO TIP: If you blog about multiple niches/topics, try to dedicate specific days to each topic. For example, I chose Sundays for Self-care/motivation posts, Mondays for Skin Care, Tuesdays for Hair tips, Wednesdays for Nails, Thursdays for Fashion, Fridays for Social Media, and Saturdays for Relationships. Setting specific days of the week for each niche helps to make sure you aren’t ignoring any of your topics throughout the month.

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As for writing the actual content, I try to write in advance. If I don’t write in advance I try to jot down some notes that highlight the main points I want to address. I create multiple drafts and add to them as I go along throughout the week. When it’s time to write the actual post I go to the document, open it up, and get to work!

Normally I go through 2 or 3 posts at a time and add a little to each post before publishing them on the publishing day. I read through the key points and write about the key points. I read over the content and check for errors before saving. On the final day before posting I gather all the photos and links, I will be incorporating into the post and save them to the document to buy time.

I know I will have my content written and ready to publish on the date it’s due to go live! It’s so important to stick to your schedule as much as possible if you want to stay consistent! When it comes to blogging it’s all about self-discipline. Always remember this “You get what you create and you create what you want.” Happy Blogging!