Hello everyone! Today's post is going to be about my blogging process - everything from how I write my posts to scheduling and promoting is going to be laid out! I love reading posts like this because I'm a little bit nosy, but also because I want to know how other bloggers get their posts up and published!
If you're curious about how I get a blog post published, then keep on reading!
IDEAS
The very first thing is, of course, the idea for a post in the first place! I keep all of my ideas in my phone with Google Keep (I've talked about how I use it right here!), and I also have a dedicated page for blog post ideas in my bullet journal. On top of that, I use Google Sheets to create an editorial calendar, and a looot of blog post ideas live in there. If I'm stuck for what to write, I check any one of these places and I have a bunch of ideas waiting!
If I'm still panicking because I have nothing scheduled for that week and no post idea seems to jump out at me, I go over onto good ol' Pinterest! If you don't make use of Pinterest and you're a blogger, I'd urge you to give it a go! It's like a treasure trove of ideas that are just waiting to be written!
RESEARCH
A blog post is a lot of work! I do some research before writing anything because I don't want to spread any false information. I look at other related blog posts, YouTube videos, articles, podcasts - anything I can use to make sure I can deliver a post in the best way. While researching, I make sure write down the points so that I don't forget anything important.
WRITING
I used to love writing blog posts on Google Docs, but for some reason, once I copied and pasted into Blogger, the format would change and loads of text would disappear. Very frustrating. So now I just stick to writing posts in Blogger itself!
I write best in the evenings, and I can usually finish a blog post in 2 days if I'm very focused. Work and fatigue get in the way, so I like to make myself comfortable when I know I'm going to be spending the evening working away at the keyboard. I make myself a cup of tea and get some music on and begin writing! This may sound weird, but I like to run through what I want to say in my head before putting it in the post, just to give myself a rough idea of how I want it to go. It leaves less time wasted and I'm not sat at the computer wondering what to say!
Finally, I'll go through and make sure I add all the relevant links and disclaimers if there are affiliate links.
PHOTOGRAPHY
I like to take pictures in bulk on a specific day so that when it comes to writing I'm not scrambling around trying to get a photo together when there's 10 minutes of natural light left! My photography skills are lacking, however, so I opt for stock photos sometimes. I love using Kaboompics for my stock photography, and I have a folder on my USB stick loaded with photos to use.
Once a post is written, I like to insert the photos and play around with the layout to see how it would look best. I separate different sections of the post with photos and then I schedule.
SCHEDULING
When I first started my blog, I liked to schedule posts up to a month in advance, because that's what all the ~cool~ bloggers were doing and I was brand new to this whole thing. The problem with this (for me!) was that I would constantly acquire new information and have to keep going back to edit before it went live. I also didn't like this because I would re-read the post and see that I didn't spend enough time making sure it was as good as it could be.
That being said, I now prefer to write a post up to 2 weeks in advance. I don't know how or why, but having a post being published earlier makes me want to research it thoroughly and spend more time working on it because I know I don't have enough time to waste. It's a bit strange, but that's what works for me! I'll schedule it in Blogger, then write it in my editorial calendar, Google Calendar and my bullet journal too.
PROMOTING
Once a post goes live, I tweet it out and change the link in my Instagram bio to the post. Sometimes I will upload a picture to Instagram telling my followers that a new post has gone live. I like to promote with Buffer and I schedule tweets a few times a day when most people are online to see it. Promoting posts is so awkward but it's something that has to be done! I don't like to bombard people with my tweets, so they're a few hours apart so no one gets annoyed! After that, I'll pin it to Pinterest.
Passive promotion comes from Bloglovin'. Once a post is live, it takes 1 to 2 hours for it to automatically go up on Bloglovin' so my followers there can read it too!
And that's it! Pretty easy right? What does your blogging process look like?