Maybe a Blogging Workflow Would Work for You
November 15, 2007
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But now that I’m writing a blog that is much more focused, I’m able to concentrate on the content that I want to create and it’s been easier than I thought it was going to be.
Obviously a workflow such as this isn’t going to work for everyone, so feel free to modify as you need. And if you’ve got a workflow that works better for you, I’d like to hear about it.
Work out a posting schedule
One of the best things that you can do, provided that you’re not writing a time-sensitive blog that has to get posts live before anyone else, is try and work out a posting schedule. Magazines and newspapers do this all time, with both short- and long-term scheduling for articles. Say you’re going to write a series on the best ways to monetize your blog, and you want it to run the second week of December. What I would try and do is research as much as I could up until about the first week in December, and then write the posts, time stamping them in WordPress to go live on the Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for example.
Obviously this would give you the opportunity to post about "immediate" things that pop up, such as Google’s recent nuking of Pay-Per-Post, and still give you the chance to work on future posts. This would help reduce the chance that you’ll wake up one morning with absolutely nothing to post about. It happens. Trust me on this.
Keep a blogging notebook
This is something I go through in cycles, being very diligent about writing down any potential posting topics that come into my head, and then having long periods where I don’t write the stuff down and struggle to remember what that killer post was going to be about. In the end, it’s just better to write it down, because if you don’t record it somehow, it may as well have never happened.
Post to your blog first
If you’re trying to make money from blogging, it’s best to get your material out before you do anything else. If you’ve got a few comments waiting for approval, maybe deal with them first, but if there’s too many, worry about getting the post done first. Then move on to your comments and Akismet.
If you’ve got a few posts ready to go for that morning, write them all at once and then timestamp them to try and stagger them throughout the day to give readers a reason to keep checking the site (or polling your RSS feed). And make sure that you submit your posts to BloggingZoom.
Comment Time
After that’s done, it’s time to fire up your feed reader of choice and check out the "competition" - the bloggers in your niche. If there’s something that you can contribute to one of their posts by way of commenting, go for it. While it’s certainly better to be in the first 10 or so comments, if you’re not, chances are at least the blogger you commented on will check out your site. Even if it doesn’t bring traffic from others who read the comments.
After that I’d check out the blogs that sometimes wander into the fringes of your niche for interesting content. You never know - sometimes someone gets a good rant into their head and they’ve just gotta post it - niche be damned.
And that can sometimes make for some very interesting reading. 
Research
After that, take some time to do some surfing. Go read Valleywag. Or Fake Steve. Whatever. But keep an eye out for potential posting material, and if you come across it, or it just hits you, write it down. An immediate post isn’t always best. Let it simmer for a bit.
It’ll just give you something to post the next day when the whole cycle starts over again.
Conclusion
Like I said, this is just the pattern that I’m trying to get into for myself, and it’s certainly subject to change without notice when something cool comes up that just needs to be posted. Your mileage may vary, and if you’ve got another workflow system that works for you, I’d love to hear about it.
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November 15th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
thanks for your awesome note!
November 15th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Great post with some good ideas. I try to maintain a schedule for posting. Generally I post fairly late at night so the new post is ready for my readers each morning. I have also developed a schedule of subjects that I post on a regular basis. So wednesday is often wednesday light where I find a light inspirational video to take you over the hump toward the weekend. Sunday is… you get the idea. It works well and I can think ahead about what my posts will be. I have become much better at writing things down in my several journals which I keep all over the place just in case. I’ve lost too many good ideas because I didn’t write them down.
November 16th, 2007 at 4:10 am
You have some good tips there. Being a new blogger, I am still finding my pace. I shall try your notebook idea and see how that goes
November 16th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Nick - I have to admit that I haven’t been very good about it lately, although I’ve set a goal for myself for this weekend to brainstorm and write down three potential posts for next week. Trying to get it into a habit and then it won’t be a struggle to do.
November 16th, 2007 at 7:42 am
Lenzjo: Glad you liked the post, and thanks for the comment. Stick with it and things will eventually come together.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Rod,
Good post and I must say you are far more disciplined than me. I usually plan out just one project and work it through. When done I haven’t a clue what I’m doing next until it hits me over the head.
Keep up the good work.
Griz
November 16th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Griz,
I wish I was always disciplined about it, but I’m not. Working on it, though.
Thanks for the feedback.
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:42 am
[...] One of the best blogging tips I got came from John Chow. Far more important than writing long, wordy posts, is to post consistently. I’ve more or less settled in to a routine on this blog where a post goes live around 7:30am, Pacific time. Then I submit it to BloggingZoom, and move on to following my workflow. [...]
May 12th, 2008 at 7:03 am
[...] last little while has gone down considerably. Way back in November, I wrote a post detailing how a blogging workflow seemed to be keeping me on track and posting regularly. I’d like to revisit that post, and [...]