You’ve heard the advice a million times: “Update your blog consistently!”

But for some reason, you just… don’t.

You can call it laziness or being unprepared. Maybe you’re waiting for your muse to smack you upside the head with a great blog idea.

Or maybe you just hate writing blog posts.

Whatever the case, the bad news is that you do have to create blog content on a regular basis.

The good news? I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve been the one rushing to write the night before or deciding that “no one will notice” if I don’t post this week.

I now create all of my blog content on a quarterly basis (that means 3 months of blog content done at once!) and it feels amazing. My audience is much more engaged and I feel like a total pro.

You can get 3 months ahead on your blog content too if you follow the tips in this blog post.

Wait! This post comes with a free checklist you can grab at the end of the post. Make sure to get it!

 

#1 How often do you need to blog?

I used to be terrible about getting my blogs done in advance. To be truthful, I’m writing this blog post four days before it’s supposed to go live because I decided to scrap the video that I originally created for this week and write this article instead.

I used to think that no one would notice if I didn’t blog on a regular basis. I actually had a business friend tell me that she went to Asia for 3 months and totally stopped blogging for her business without any negative side effects.

As a member of her audience. I’d beg to differ.

Producing regular free content builds that “know, like, trust” factor. Without regular contact, you lose your oomph!

This isn’t a concept I made up. It’s an actual psychological phenomenon called the “mere-exposure effect”.

Mere-Exposure Effect: A psychological phenomenon whereby people feel a preference for people or things simply because they are familiar. Also known as the exposure effect and the familiarity principle. This is interesting because it has no basis in logic. Just because we see a stranger occasionally does not make them any more trustworthy… we just feel like they are because we “know” them. [PsychCentral.com]

My recommendation? Produce new blog content at least twice per month (you can work your way up to weekly once you make it consistent).

 

#2 What’s your main blog topic and sub-topics?

My topic, for example, is copywriting.

Any topics in the category of psychology, language, and sales are right up my alley. These are the topics that support my business and keep me super niched (so that my audience knows what to expect!).

I tend to break my blog into the following categories:

(1) Sales

(2) Copywriting

(3) Business

(4) Psychology

(5) Writing

And yes, I do think it’s important to stay on topic. If you don’t, people get confused. Make sure you’ve picked a business niche that you enjoy writing about!

 

#3 How do you capture your ideas?

Your muse is sending you a plethora of blog ideas. You’re just not capturing them!

You get great ideas for blogs when you’re perusing Facebook, eating dinner, taking a shower, driving to the coffee shop.

Your best blog ideas probably arrive while you’re meditating, walking your dog, or trying to fall asleep at night.

And if you’re like most entrepreneurs, you probably think to yourself, “I’ll remember this later”. But you won’t! You’ll never remember it later!

To become a professional blogger, you’ve got to learn the discipline of writing down your ideas when they come to you.

When you plan 3 months of blog content in advance, you can pull from the list of ideas you’ve captured over the past 3 months and then fill in the gaps where necessary.

 

#4 How do you hunt for new topics?

Do you always wait for a stroke of genius before you write or do you have a method for coming up with new blog content on demand?

My friend Kelly Azevedo from She’s Got Systems once told me that her best productivity tip is “to glue your pants to the chair”. I couldn’t agree more and think this tip totally applies to blogging.

Creativity is not sexy (at least not when you’re a professional). You have to be the master of your own creativity.

Want to steal one of my strategies?

My favorite strategy for coming up with blog topics: Choose a “theme” for each month and combine that theme with each of your sub-topics (categories).

For example, if your sub-topic is “healthy entrepreneurship” and your theme for the month is “pickles” you could write an article about healthy afternoon snacks to keep on hand when you’re an entrepreneur. One of the snacks is (you guessed it)… pickles!

 

#5 How do you plan your editorial calendar (without wanting to rebel against it)?

Now that you’ve got a ton of blog post ideas, the next step is to attach dates to each post topic.

Before you schedule a single blog post, ask yourself this question: What events, holidays, and promotions are happening in the next 3 months?

While I strongly recommend making your content evergreen (so that people won’t feel put off by reading a Christmas post in July), I also believe you should be strategic about when you post certain blog topics.

For example, if you have a launch coming up, what blog articles can you schedule to support your launch?

Plan out all of your blog ideas in a Google Doc or on an actual calendar. Voilà!

At this point, you should have 3 months of blog ideas planned out. The next step is to create and publish the content!

Want some guidance applying the tips in this blog post? Grab the action sheet below so you can get 3 months ahead with your blog posts, too!

 

 

Do your readers also need help blogging on a consistent basis? Share the knowledge with them, too!