My biggest tips for blogging every day for 5 years

Last week I celebrated a pretty big milestone – daily blogging for 5 years. That’s 5 full years of posting a new blog post. Every. single. day. During Christmas, during holidays, even during my month in Australia.

If you think you want to take on a challenge like this, here are my top tips for you.

 

Find your schedule.

It can be tough to get into a schedule that works for you. I have tried a few different things and I tend to switch between them depending on my mood and what I have going on in life.

There’ll be times when I have loads of ideas and want to just write. When those times come, I’ll open up a draft post and type away. Then I’ll move onto the next post. Later, I’ll come back to proofread, edit and add photos.

Ideally, I like to have my posts scheduled a week in advance. So by Sunday, I’ll be scheduled Monday to Sunday for the following week. Then during that week, I can start working on drafts for the next week’s post to finalise by the weekend. Of course, it doesn’t always work like that. This used to be a big cause of stress for me but over the last year or so I’ve been a bit more realised about it. Sometimes I might only have Monday and Tuesdays post done by Sunday night! It’s not a big drama anymore as I’ve started taking my laptop to work so I can blog on my lunch. Which I am currently doing now with this post! I wrote it last Friday and now I am proof-reading and adding the images on Monday. 

I find this really helps my productivity as having a limited time to write a post forces me to get it done. When I’m at home, I often procrastinate if I have all day! Also being sat in a quiet office at a table helps too, as at home I don’t have an office environment to work in. I’m either on the sofa or on the bed or cooing over my cat, who likes to stand on my laptop. I can’t wait for this to change when we move house!

The key is to try a few things and see what works for you, make the most of your time and if you have pockets of 20 minutes free here and there, use them!

Create content that is quick to write.

You don’t have to spend 4 hours on every post, there are many different blog posts that you can write in 30 minutes or less. Life updates, restaurant reviews, a chatty post – all these are pretty quick to write and schedule.

Plan when you’re away.

You need to plan ahead when you’re away as you don’t know if you’ll have internet or time to blog. You might even want to just enjoy your holiday and disconnect. I always have posts scheduled for when I am away. You can ask bloggers to guest post, write list posts or other quick posts if you don’t have much time.

I always find holiday-related content to post when I’m going away. Hauls of my swimming costumes, what’s in my hand luggage, things to do in the place I’m going – all great posts that are pretty easy to write!

Streamline.

What things can you do to make your process quicker? Can you batch edit photos? Can you create some stock photos to use again and again? Can you schedule tweets and get things automated? These things can take time if you do it manually, don’t work harder, work smarter.

Let little things go.

It’s natural to want to be a perfectionist. But if you want to blog daily, sometimes you have to let some things go. It’s okay if some photos aren’t 100% how you want them, or if you have a few spelling mistakes. People either don’t notice or don’t care as they realise you are human. Don’t worry about it!

Remember it gets easier.

I feel like I’ve become a right pro at coming up with blog ideas and getting them down quick. It does become second nature like brushing your teeth twice a day. You get into the habit and motions, you find the things that work for you and you find the best way to get things done quickly. Like everything, that all comes with experience.

If you want to be a daily blogger, you can, you just need to be willing to put a bit of time in and put less pressure on yourself!

How often do you blog?