Blogging requires consistent effort on your part to keep producing content and sharing it with your audience. In order to do this, there are certain behaviors and strategies that you should cultivate and practice.

In this module, we’ll look at different strategies you can employ but one universal tip that applies to any blogger is that you have to write a great deal. The more you write, the better and faster you’ll get. If you find writing arduous, it will get easier the more you do it. Dedicate time to researching, writing, and editing without worrying about the outcome. Think of it as a skill you’re learning and honing.

Another universal tip is that consistency counts. Consistency is important for posting on a regular basis, but it’s also important for your writing skills. If you set aside a little time each day for writing, you’ll see a great deal of improvement quickly. It’s a bit like exercise to train your body. Daily writing trains your brain to write.

How to Create Strong Writing Habits

Step 1 – Create a Goal

Create a goal to write a certain amount per day. For example, commit yourself to writing at least 1,000 words per day. Set a daily goal that’s something you can actually achieve but don’t be afraid to push yourself a bit. Whatever your goal, make sure you’re consistent with it. You can also use your ideal post length and commit to a certain number of posts per week. For example, if you want to set a goal of 200 words per day, you can commit to publishing two 500-word posts per week.

Step 2 – Hold Yourself Accountable

It’s not as easy as just setting a goal. You also have to keep yourself accountable. Sometimes this is hard to do by yourself. You can enlist the help of a blogging partner. The two of you discuss your goals and then check in once a week or at any pre-arranged and regular interval to see if you’re both sticking to your plan. If you have a coach, they can help with this too.

Another idea is to tell your social media followers what you’re doing. Post to your wall that you’ve set a goal and then report about it. You’ll have to be accountable to everyone you know on social media.

You can also use an app or software program that helps you create habits and track progress. On example is coach.me, which has a free habit tracker.

Step 3 – Create a Process

In order to blog consistently, you need to establish a process and create a schedule. List the specific tasks you need to accomplish each week and estimate the time it will take to perform each.

Here is an example of a blogging task list:

• Brainstorm topics using customer data (20 minutes)
• Create titles for those topics (20 minutes)
• Create headlines or sub-headlines (20 minutes)
• Write introductions in inverted pyramid style (30 minutes)
• Write article bodies (3 hours)
• Create or find images (1 hour)
• Edit and re-edit (1 hour or 30 minutes per post)
• Create your social media plan to promote your posts (30 minutes)

You can create the same type of process for any related content as well, such as your lead magnet. This allows you to continue working on your blog posts while also taking on other projects at the same time.

Be careful that your process does not include non-writing tasks such as creating a marketing strategy or monitoring your efforts. All tasks should be focused solely on writing and publishing.

You may want to turn off social media and email during your writing time. It’s best to create an environment with as little distraction as possible.

Step 4 – Add Your Tasks to an Online Calendar

Many people only use online calendars to keep track of meetings or appointments. But highly organized people use this valuable tool for everything. Your calendar shows you visually what you need to do day by day and week by week. It also keeps you honest. Your calendar gives you a complete snapshot of how you spend your time.

In the sample task list above, there are about 7 hours of work. These 7 hours should be distributed over the week. If you work on your blog for 1 hour per day, you might make it 2 hours on Monday and Friday because you have work Tuesday through Thursday. Or, you can split the work into a regular 1.5 hours per day. Choose according to what works best for your schedule.

Next, decide when you will work. For many people, morning is the most productive time and best time for writing. Even if you’re not a morning person, you may feel freshest in the morning and this might be the optimal time to use your brain power. Also choose a blogging time when there are the least distractions; for example, before the kids come home from school. Some people prefer to blog late at night or before sunrise.

You might choose to break up your tasks into different times of day. For example, you might find that you have better brainstorming sessions at night when all your other work is done, whereas the best time for the actual writing and editing is the morning.

These match up with the reader’s buying process.

1. Write content that provides a great deal of value and engagement from other readers. Follow the steps in the previous modules and promote your content on social media.

2. Convert your visitors to subscribers. As we mentioned also in the previous module, put a clear call-to-action on your website with a high-value offer and get visitors to sign up. Once subscribed to your blog or email list, you can build a closer relationship with them. The incentive can be a “lead magnet.” This is a small information product you use as an enticement to get readers to sign up. The lead magnet is only available to subscribers and should directly address your reader’s pain points.
3. Send your subscribers content to build trust. Offer high-value content that’s exclusive to subscribers. Create a schedule for sending out emails. A sample schedule that also includes promoting a specific product or service early on might be something like this:

• Email 1: A confirmation email. This is an anti-spam email that is used as a double opt-in to ensure that the email address is correct. This is automatically sent by your email marketing platform.
• Email 2: A “thank you” email that offers access to the lead magnet for download.
• Email 3: A “get started” email with basic instructions, tips and tricks, and ideas to get started once the reader has consumed the lead magnet. These are the next steps.
• Email 4: An overview to your solution and how it helps to alleviate the pain you’ve identified through the lead magnet and previous content.
• Email 5: The benefits of your solution, testimonials, and proof that your product or service will solve the reader’s problem.
• Email 6: A special offer, free trial, free hour of consulting, free webinar, or other promotion.
• Email 7: Additional resources such as information about your products or services aligned with the opt-in, or more information on your special offer.
• Email 8: A “check-in” message, which is a personal message to touch base and ask for questions or feedback from the subscriber.
• Email 9+: Weekly emails with additional information that’s relevant to the lead magnet and core topics of your blog, including your blog updates and additional recommendations of products and services.

This is just a sample of the type of schedule you might create if you are selling something specific. Depending on your market, you may want to add multiple ‘nurture’ emails early in your schedule with lots of tips and helpful information before introducing your own solutions.

4. Sell Multiple Products or Services Your Audience Wants to Buy. You can sell multiple products or services through your blog, but the strategies for doing so are different. A good way to sell multiple products is to start with your highest-priced products first. This is called a reverse funnel.

The strategy is to blog about the specific problems your audience faces, get them to sign up for your email list, build a relationship with them there, and finally lead them to a recommendation for paid products. But start with your most expensive offering first.

The idea behind offering the highest-priced product first is the Pareto Principle, which states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. In other words, most of your revenue will come from a small customer base, so it’s best to focus on the few customers who will account for the bulk of your income. For example, if you have 100 subscribers, there may be between 2 and 20 of them that will buy high-priced items. As you focus on the highest-ticket items, you’ll also sell lower ticket items to your other customers along the way.

If you are going to take this approach and focus on a high-priced product, you need to make this product as valuable as possible for your target market. Look at all of the products you offer and figure out a way to make this product extra special. For example, if you are a business consultant offering a consulting package for $10,000, guarantee for the client a specific outcome. You could guarantee that your client will save $15,000 over time by investing $10,000.

Another strategy is to sell products through free webinars. Offer exclusive free webinars to your subscribers where you give them high-value training or other information. During the webinar, you can also pitch your high-value product. If you design it well, your webinar can offer a taste of the quality of your premium products, which could be coaching calls, membership sites, consulting, coaching programs, or online courses.

Other Tips to Help You Maintain Your Blogging Schedule

Plan your diet well to optimize your productivity. For example, you may find that you’re most productive at your second cup of coffee. Or you may feel that you’re more productive if you eat a light breakfast of just fruit and yogurt. Find out what works best for you and plan accordingly.

Choose the right length of time after waking up to get started writing. You might feel that you’re best at working as soon as you wake up. On the other hand, you may feel that it’s best to have a cup of coffee, watch a little TV, and do some light exercise first. Decide on how long after waking up you’ll start.

When you work for any serious length of time, take short breaks to re-energize. When you take a break, physically get up from the computer. You may want to stretch or do some housework or other busy activity to clear your mind so you can refresh. You’ll find it much easier to focus when you sit back down to work again, and it’s also better for your body.

In addition to developing good blogging strategies, it also helps to develop good reading habits. Reading informs a person’s writing. Get into the routine of reading blogs, websites, and news. Subscribe to your favorite blogs. A good way to put it all together and save time is to use an app that lets you put all of the blogs and sites you read in one place, such as Flipboard or Feedly. Schedule time to read each day to keep in touch with what’s happening in your niche or industry.

You can also use tools like Evernote to keep track of your brainstorming. Whether you brainstorm on paper or maintain a list on an app or your smartphone’s notes, keep your list somewhere consistent. Another trick that helps with brainstorming is to sign up for Google Alerts for keywords related to the content that you create.