Let’s Talk- 4 Reasons I Have a Blogging Schedule

Happy Friday fellow readers! This week and next week, I’ll be doing a mini-series, this time about blogging schedules. Next week, I’ll talk about how to make your own schedule, but this week, I want to talk about why I think it’s important to have a schedule in the first place.

When I first started blogging, I didn’t have any kind of schedule whatsoever. I posted whatever I could, whenever I could. And as a brand new blogger, that worked for me! It created a lot of new content for my blog, drew in new followers, and got me used to the format and style I wanted for my blog posts.

But after keeping this up for about a month, I knew something needed to change. I was tiring myself out trying to constantly create new content, and I felt guilty because I would go a week or so with absolutely no motivation to write anything, so nothing would be posted! I’m not saying I needed anything rigid or daily, but I knew I needed a regular schedule for several reasons:

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Reason #1- It reduces stress.

This one may seem a little counter-intuitive. After all, a schedule gives me self-imposed deadlines, and usually deadlines=stress. But I’ve found having a schedule does just the opposite. Yes, now I have a deadline, but I also know what posts I have to write. For me, the biggest relief comes from knowing when posts have to be posted. When I’m on a writing roll, I might write three or four posts. Then, I can schedule posts a week or two in advance. Which means, if there’s a week I just don’t have time to write, I don’t have to stress! I usually have a few posts waiting in the wings, ready to be published!

-now that I have a blogging schedule

Reason #2- It helps me plan around hiatuses

There are times when  I go on vacation, or I know work/school is about to get really busy, or sometimes I just know I’ll want a week away from the computer. Having a schedule means I can plan for those times; I can write posts way ahead of time so that my blog is still active, even if I’m not hovering near my laptop like usual.

Without my laptop…

Reason #3- It gives my blog some consistency.

Having a schedule gives my followers an idea of what to expect and when. They can look forward to their favorite posts, whether it be reviews, discussions, or something else! Readers will know the days they ABSOLUTELY MUST visit my blog, and they’ll still enjoy the rest. Plus, anyone looking for new blogs to follow will probably be more likely to follow a blog that has consistent posts, rather than a week full of posts, then two weeks without anything, which is what my blog used to look like.

Reason #4- It makes blogging more enjoyable

This one is pretty closely tied with the stress reduction, but having a schedule just makes blogging more enjoyable for me. I know what posts I have coming up, so I know how much time I’ll have to spend blogging, so it’s easier to fit it into the rest of my life, which means I can enjoy blogging instead of stressing over what I’m going to post today. It also means that if I don’t necessarily have a post when I should (see: the past two weeks when I’ve been taking my sweet time reading these books and haven’t posted a single review), I’m not too worried, because I know there are other posts that will be making up for that absence. So, having a schedule just makes the whole blogging experience a lot more fun for me!

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Thanks for reading!

What about you? Do you have a blog schedule? Does having a schedule seem helpful to you? Or maybe you disagree with me and think a schedule is a terrible idea? Let me know in the comments below!