How to Be More Intentional About Your Blog Content (& Save Your Sanity!)

Tech, Blogging- How to Be More Intentional About Your Blog Content, Editorial Calendar, Posting Schedule, Blog Posts, Start a Blog

Donnie and I recently made the decision to stop posting monthly income reports and instead do some sort of experiment with the blog each month, sharing our findings with you.

We really wanted to hone in on the areas where we were weakest and see if we could create some sort of plan or system to improve in those areas and improve our blog in the process. I think it’s kind of ironic, then, that as a blogger that talks so much about organization and productivity, one of my weakest areas was content planning. And that’s what I decided to tackle this month.

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How to Be More Intentional About Your Blog Content (& Save Your Sanity!)

Confession time: I have never been a work-ahead blogger. For almost the entire 4+ years that I have been blogging, I have blogged in “real time,” often finishing my posts the night before they were set to go live (or in the wee hours of that morning ?). There have been several times where I have tried to get ahead, only to have something take longer than I expected or for life to get busy or for something else to need my attention. No matter how hard I tried, I would always slip back into finishing everything at the last minute.

The Problem

But finishing everything at the final hour was often stressful. I would stay up later than I wanted to, which would throw off my routine for the next day. Sometimes my content would suffer because I just needed to get it finished rather than take the time to turn out the quality that I really wanted. I also hated the feeling that I was constantly behind and always felt like I had a deadline looming over me at all times.

For years, I didn’t do much to solve this problem because I just thought it was the way it had to be. The first two years I was blogging, I felt like I was hustling to gain some momentum and grow the blog. At the beginning of year 3, Donnie joined me full time, so I felt like we spent years 3 and 4 trying to make sure this thing could support our family.

Tech, Blogging- How to Be More Intentional About Your Blog Content, Editorial Calendar, Posting Schedule, Blog Posts, Start a Blog

photo by elle and arre photography

But when the beginning of year 5 hit this January, I knew we had to make some changes. We couldn’t live in “hustle mode” forever, so I decided that this year was the year that we needed to work on some systems that would help us bring a little more sanity into our lives. And that started with getting ahead with our blog content.

The Plan

So as I usually do when I recognize a problem that needs a solution, I sat down and made a plan. It was fairly simple, but if I could pull it off, I was pretty sure that it would significantly decrease my stress level, and that was the goal! So here’s what I decided to do:

1. Take 10 days to get 10 blog posts ahead.

I knew if I was going to get several posts ahead in my editorial calendar, I had to do it fast. When I had tried to get ahead in the past using a longer timeline, I always failed because as I was taking the time to create the content, posts were publishing and I was losing that backlog that I had built up. If I committed to do it in a shorter timespan, though, I knew I could make myself do one big push to get it done, and then it would be finished.

To execute this part of the plan, I began by making a list of the 10 blog posts that I wanted to write. Some of them were projects that were completed that I just hadn’t blogged about yet, like the plantation shutters in our dining room.

Tech, Blogging- How to Be More Intentional About Your Blog Content, Editorial Calendar, Posting Schedule, Blog Posts, Start a Blog

Some of them were posts that I was able to write without doing a separate project, simply writing out some strategies I’ve implemented and using photos that I already had to illustrate my points (like my How to Get Organized When You Don’t Have a Lot of Time post).

Tech, Blogging- How to Be More Intentional About Your Blog Content, Editorial Calendar, Posting Schedule, Blog Posts, Start a Blog

Others shared a new angle of a space I had already “revealed,” like my post about organizing my boys’ room. I may not have been able to write 10 project posts in 10 days, but by taking photos that I already had and using them to illustrate different concepts, I could churn out a post per day without too much trouble.

I chose 10 posts because I post twice per week, so for me, that was about a month of content. If 10 posts seems too daunting, you could get 5 posts ahead or even 3. Or if you post more often than I do and like the idea of being a month ahead, shoot for 15 posts in 15 days or something similar.

2. Continue to create two new posts per week.

Once I had built up my backlog of 10 posts, I simply had to write two new posts per week to keep 10 posts in the “hopper.” This is the same number of weekly posts I was churning out when I was writing posts in “real time,” but the difference was, I now had a buffer. If something went wrong with a project or I needed some more photos or I wanted to improve some aspect of the post, I had a breathing space to get it done. I no longer felt like I had to publish posts that weren’t as good as I wanted them to be because I could take the extra time to make the improvements, and that felt like a weight lifted.

To keep myself on track, I started by brainstorming a big list of posts. I created a Google Sheet that had tabs for my 3 main content areas– decor, organization, and blogging– and wrote out every post idea I could think of that fell under those three categories.

Tech, Blogging- How to Be More Intentional About Your Blog Content, Editorial Calendar, Posting Schedule, Blog Posts, Start a Blog

I highlight a post in yellow once I’ve written it and scheduled it out.

Then in that same Sheet, I made a tab for each month of the year. I thought about the different holidays and events that fell during each month and wrote down content ideas for different seasonal posts. Seasonal posts can be a great traffic booster, but I’ve always been terrible at doing them because I never planned far enough ahead! That is changing this year!

Once I had my big list of content, I planned out my content for the next 3-ish months so I knew what was coming up. I even put it in a Google Sheet that Donnie, Brittany (my sister/assistant), and I share so that our whole team is on the same page. I highlighted any posts that involved Donnie’s help (usually with building something) in blue, so he knew when he needed to have projects completed. (And also because I’m bossy. So there’s that. 🙂 )

Tech, Blogging- How to Be More Intentional About Your Blog Content, Editorial Calendar, Posting Schedule, Blog Posts, Start a Blog

Then, I always have a running list on my phone (in the Notes app) of the next 10 posts I need to write so I know what I should be working on next. I was committed! I was dedicated! I was a post-writing machine! Well, sort of.

Lessons Learned

Now I would like to say that I executed this very simple plan perfectly, but I am human and things rarely go according to plan! I discovered a few “sticking points” along the way, and I thought I’d share them as a forewarning so that you don’t get caught in the same traps I did.

1. Watch out for the “safe zone.”

Once I was 10 posts ahead, I felt on top of the world! For the first time in 4 years, I wasn’t scrambling to put my post together at the last minute. I felt “safe.” Since I knew I was ahead, I had the brilliant idea to hold a Free Printable Valentine’s Week where I posted one new printable each day for 5 days. I loved the idea, but it meant that I had to write three extra posts that weren’t even going to get me further ahead in my schedule. The posts also ended up taking longer than I had planned.

Tech, Blogging- How to Be More Intentional About Your Blog Content, Editorial Calendar, Posting Schedule, Blog Posts, Start a Blog

In the end, I got everything finished and actually loved posting Valentine ideas for a week, but I will think twice before I get overly ambitious again. The point of getting ahead was creating less stress and less work for myself, not to create more work for myself once I had gotten ahead. That defeats the purpose!

2. Life happens.

As I’m sure is the case with everyone, life happens. I ended up having an outside project that I thought would take me a weekend take me almost 10 days, and that really threw a wrench into my plans. My kiddos have been home sick from school. I felt under the weather for a few days. Life happens! As I type this, I am currently about 7 posts ahead instead of my preferred 10, so I got behind on my plan. But that’s okay! Now when life happens, it just means that I’m a few less posts ahead instead of missing a post or two altogether (which would not be the end of the world either).

The Upsides

Along with things that didn’t go exactly according to plan, there are some awesome upsides to my little experiment:

  • I feel like I’m being much more intentional about my content rather than just posting whatever happens to be easiest at the moment.
  • I have posts stored up that could fit pretty much anywhere, so if I’m invited to be part of a hop or sponsored post, I can simply push those posts back a bit on my editorial calendar to make room for the new opportunity.
  • Since I know what I’ll be posting when, I can be better about planning collaborations of my own and inviting others to be part of series or hop with me.
  • It is much easier to batch my schedule since I know which projects are coming up. I can do all of my shopping at the same time, do a lot of my project creation and photography at the same time, do all of my photo editing at the same time, etc.
  • Finally, I just have more peace of mind knowing that I have a plan, goals for how many posts I need to finish, and some extra padding in case life happens and I can’t get it all done. And that has been huge for me.

Whether you do it the same way I did or come up with a whole different plan of your own, I encourage you to take some time to be intentional about your blog content! It certainly has felt like a weight lifted for me, and I’m excited to tweak my plan and get even more organized with my content as the year goes on.

For more tips on growing your blog and online business, see these posts:

How to Start a Blog: The Definitive Guide for 2019

How to Plan a Viral Blog Post + a Free Blog Post Planning Printable

My Top 5 Interior Photo Tips for Bloggers

My Favorite Photography and Videography Equipment for Bloggers

How I Screwed Up My Blog’s Facebook Page (And What I’m Doing to Fix It)

My Instagram Experiment: The Biggest Benefits for Bloggers

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Do you have any specific strategies you use for planning on getting ahead with your blog content? I’d love to hear about them  in the comments! 

Have a wonderful day!

98 Comments

  1. Awesome tips! I’m going to go get started on my 10 posts! 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yay! Glad it was helpful, Margo! Good luck! <3

      ~Abby =)

  2. Nancy @ Slightly Coastal says:

    Oh I’m so happy you wrote this “today”. I struggle with the same thing and then I fall into the trap of doing something just because I need a post and I always feel like my readers know it. When I’m in a crunch I feel like my writing suffers the most. The fact that you broke this down into how you organized it in Excel helps tremendously. I’ve tried to do it before but it ended up feeling like a jumbled mess and I would go back to paper. Lots of lists. I single-handedly have killed a tree, I’m certain of it.
    Hello tabs for your post categories! Why didn’t I think of that?

    Thanks Abby!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you, Nancy! Happy Friday eve! <3

      ~Abby =)

  3. Christene Holder says:

    I love this idea. I have wanted to get ahead on my content for a while now. Thanks for being so honest about your own struggles. For so long when I started blogging I thought that every big blogger was like majorly organized with their content and planning months and months ahead. I thought I was doing something wrong and that I was a bad blogger. Not that writing the day before is bad – it’s just not how I ultimately wanted blogging to look for me. I wanted to be intentional and be able to adapt to changes that come at the last minute.
    So far I’m 5 posts ahead (yay!) but I’ve been falling into the same trap and haven’t refilled my backlog. It’s a learning experience but I’m going to work towards 10 as well. I am happy to say that I have an editorial calendar. I use Trello to plan out my content in the “calendar” view that you can add to boards.
    I’m really excited about this new “series” you’re doing instead of the income reports. I can’t wait to play along with the challenges.

    >> Christene
    Keys to Inspiration

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Christene! I’m excited too! Have a wonderful day!

      ~Abby =)

  4. Brittany Wise says:

    I love the ten day, ten post idea! After BookBoss, I wish I had a few in the buffer to give me some relief 🙂 You’ve inspired me to knock out 1 or 2 today just so I’m ahead for launch next week. Have a great weekend!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yay! Good luck on your upcoming launch, Brittany! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  5. To have 10 posts finished and ready to go sounds truley like a dream to me, and is something to strive towards. I’m always behind a few days, thinking I should’ve posted this or that last week… But I try not to stress about it either, it’s not the end of the world like you say.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It was the same way for me for so long! A great thing to work towards for sure! Have a great day!

      ~Abby =)

  6. Great ideas! I’ve been trying to be one week ahead, but that’s cutting it too close. I fall behind with just one unscheduled crisis in my week. So for now on, I will try to be one month ahead.
    Aimee
    http://Www.lifetimeorganizing.com

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It’s definitely been so helpful for me! Hope it will be for you, Aimee! Have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  7. This is something I am trying to work on as well! Thanks for sharing your plan.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Glad it was helpful, Holly! Have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  8. Ipuna Black says:

    Thank you for sharing this. Sometimes it seems like all the other bloggers have it all figured out! Nice to know it is a process we are all constantly tweaking. You have great tips here. Thank you! ❤️​

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It does seem that way sometimes. And maybe some are! For me, I think it’ll always be a process and that’s ok! 🙂 Happy Friday, Ipuna!

      ~Abby =)

      1. Ipuna Black says:

        It’s okay with me too! ?​ Happy Friday to you too, Abby!

  9. Love this idea. I have found it hard to get into the swing of things this year, so it is just what I needed! Thanks?

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yay! Glad it was helpful, Fiona! Happy Friday! <3

      ~Abby =)

  10. Alix @A Hedgehog in the Kitchen says:

    I love the idea of getting 10 posts ahead! This is my new goal! Thanks so much, Abby!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yay! Glad it was helpful, Alix! Have a great weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  11. I love these ideas! I try to do this too, but I’m never ambitious enough to be 10 posts ahead. I feel good if I have 5 posts ready to go! =)

    1. justagirlabby says:

      5 is great, too! For years, I would have been ecstatic about 5… or 3! Lol! Have a great weekend, Courtney!

      ~Abby =)

  12. Tasia @ The Frugal Farm Girl says:

    Oh my goodness I love this! I also love you admitting in your blogging you are not as organized as one would think! I am the same way. I have the best intentions and have what toics I want to write each week but for me it is consistency. Something always seems to come up that hinders it. Excited to see this new series on your blog.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yep! Life is so unpredictable which is what makes it such a challenge! This really has helped SO much! Have a great weekend, Tasia!

      ~Abby =)

  13. Thank you Abby! I cannot tell you how timely this was for me! I am a new blogger trying to figure out how to incorporate this into my life. I definitely want to take a weekend (or 10 days) to get 10 posts ahead so it won’t be quite so stressful. I do have a (probably silly) newbie question. Do you have your 10 posts as drafts scheduled to go out in wordpress or do you wait and put them in on the day you post? It may be a personal preference thing, but I am curious what the pros do! Thank you for all the help you give us!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      I have them scheduled in WordPress! 🙂 Up to you, though!

      ~Abby =)

      1. Hi Abby,

        Just want to echo Alyson – thank you for sharing what you have learned with all of us! I”m new to this also, and your generosity is so greatly appreciated!

        1. justagirlabby says:

          You’re too sweet! So glad it’s been helpful! Have a wonderful week!

          ~Abby =)

  14. Hi Abby, I have your blogging e-book, and I had a question about our domain name. We are writing a blog to help bring traffic to our e-commerce sight, but many of the posts don’t necessarily relate to our business. We aren’t sure if we should make the blog it’s own domain name, or just leave it as a page on our ecommerce sight. We are also open to the possibility of having affiliate links on our blog, if the opportunity should arise. We thought about having a stand alone blog and a smaller one attached to our site to help with SEO, and double dipping on some of the content, but I wasn’t sure what that would do for SEO. I read that google doesn’t like copying text, but I also read that that’s outdated and google is sophisticated enough to know the difference between similar content on two sights and an all at once mass populated copy. I’m glad I didn’t promise a quick question! 🙂 Thank you!

    1. Donnie Lawson says:

      This is a great question Jodie! Unfortunately I’m not up to date on Google’s duplicate content possibly penalty.

  15. Rachel @ A Mother Far from Home says:

    Love this!

    I’m always 3 weeks ahead (2 posts a week) and each week I write two more posts (for 3 weeks ahead) to keep me that far in advance. I slot in any “urgent” or “spur of the moment” posts as I feel like. It has taken SUCH A HUGE LOAD of stress off of me. I feel so free and able to focus on important things like tracking, strategy, and product creation, etc.

    It truly makes a difference 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      It really does! I am LOVING it! Have a great weekend, Rachel!

      ~Abby =)

      1. Rachel @ A Mother Far from Home says:

        And, just wanted to add, that once the initial hurdle of getting those posts done, it is actually NO MORE WORK than waiting last minute but it simply takes all the mental stress and anxiety away. It’s a non-negotiable for me now having gotten into the groove.

        1. justagirlabby says:

          So so true!

          ~Abby =)

  16. Karen Marie Kedzuch says:

    Abby,
    10 posts ahead is a great idea. I was at a conference chatting with some blogger pals who gave me a golden nugget for new bloggers. Don’t hit send when you start until you have a library of posts. About a month they suggested. The bells were ringing in my ???head. This would have saved me from the hamster wheel.
    Thanks for your terrific support,
    Karen Marie

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you, Karen! Have a wonderful week! <3

      ~Abby =)

  17. Corina | Now THAT I Can Do, Mama! says:

    It was great reading your system! I recently started walking off about a week every month to write posts for the whole month. This came out of learning the importance of focusing on tasks from Ruth’s productivity for bloggers course. I have loved the benefits I have come from it similar to the ones you listed. Are used to use Google sheets as an editorial calendar to plan ahead, but I hated that I couldn’t just drag and drop to change posts around. There was copying and pasting going on and if I didn’t do it right the conditional formatting that I had set up would get all wonky. I now use Trello to organize my posts and I absolutely love it! I have a column for Post ideas, posts to write and schedule, posts that are written and scheduled, and publish posts. Are use a card for each post and the checklist feature within cards to list the things I need to do for that post. Since you can save checklists, I can simply load the same checklist on each card without having to rewrite the basic steps for each post. My favorite part is the calendar view where I can drag and drop those posts around to change the dates instantly. It is finally a system that is truly helping me stay organized!

    1. Corina | Now THAT I Can Do, Mama! says:

      Sorry about all the typos! Was dictating while nursing ?

    2. justagirlabby says:

      Yay! Thanks for sharing your system! Sounds like it’s working wonderfully… congrats!

      ~Abby =)

  18. Lydia @ Thrifty Frugal Mom says:

    Ah, it’s comforting to hear that another long time blogger struggles with this! I was ahead at one point about a year ago and it felt amazing! But we’ve just had so much going on- including a really rough pregnancy, colicky baby, a relocation etc.- and I’ve been back to barely staying on top of things. We will be settled into our new place soon and my colicky baby is 6 mo. old and has become a bit more content, so I’m really hoping this summer to be able to catch up on blog stuff, and getting ahead on writing blog posts is one of my big goals!

    Thanks for sharing what worked for you- it was helpful!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Glad it was helpful, Lydia! It definitely can be a challenge… and it sounds like you’ve had a lot going on! Baby steps… <3

      ~Abby =)

  19. Love this post to see that it’s not just a struggle for “newbie’s” like me. I’m preparing to launch my blog and trying to grasp how to work writing/editing/photography/etc. into daily life and while I know consistency in content creation is key, it’s overwhelming a bit to think of diving in. I’m planning to have a few posts in each category up and running before I officially launch and I’ve been struggling even with that. Of course, right now I’m also just trying to get familiar with all the tools and creating some general processes to help me along later, so I’m sure it will get a bit easier. But I love the idea of having some buffer built in and I’m glad to know I can be successful even if it takes me 5 years to figure out how to do that! 😉

    Also, while I always appreciate a behind-the-scenes look at the numbers, I really appreciate this monthly experiment approach. It helps me see what you are still struggling with and offers unique insight that you don’t see when you look at the numbers alone.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yay! So glad it’s been helpful, Rachel! <3

      ~Abby =)

  20. Great idea Abby , thank you for sharing ! ?? Its rainy here, so a perfect weekend to get ahead of the game and be more prepared !

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Woohoo! Glad it was helpful, Christie! Have a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  21. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I recently started blogging (only have 3 posts published since I started in Nov) and this is sooo helpful! Reading this has motivated me to set up more dedicated blog time during my day so that I can hopefully become successful!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful, Amy! <3

      ~Abby =)

  22. I’ve been terrible at having content ready, and have written posts the same day I hit published. But I also want this year to be different, so I’m going to try to get 10 posts ahead. I’m wondering if you write them up somewhere else besides in WordPress? I was thinking about this post and how would I make it easier on myself and I realized that I could create all my posts inside Google docs. It seems pretty straight forward, because I’ve worked with people who do just that. I don’t always have my laptop open, like on weekends, but if I wrote them in Google docs, I could write them with my tablet. I’m writing this on a tablet too. You’ve got great ideas!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      I write mine and schedule them in WordPress but it really is a personal preference! Google doc would be great, too!

      ~Abby =)

  23. Katie Jones says:

    “And I’m bossy. So there’s that.” Lol, love it! Me too! Admitting it is the first step. ? Love this post and thanks for the inspo to get ahead not fly by the seat of my pants!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you, Katie! Us bossy girls gotta stick together! 🙂 Have a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  24. Erika Bonaldo says:

    Thank you for the great Tips Abby, I needed this 😉 Happy Anniversary, many blessing!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Erika! <3

      ~Abby =)

  25. I have tried other ideas for blog planning and your plan blows all the others out of the water! I can’t wait to implement the spreadsheet and get ahead on writing my posts! Thanks so much Abby!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, so glad it was helpful for you, Kinsey! Happy planning! <3

      ~Abby =)

  26. Hi Abby
    Really loved this post. I love hearing about the minutiae of how others organise different aspects of their lives. I’m in the process of creating my own blog around ‘finding a little extra time in the day’ via time management hacks and organisation habits, and seeing how you plan ahead is very useful for somebody in the early stages of trying to figure it all out. Also, thank you for the “Building A Framework’ book – it is proving to be invaluable resource.
    Thank you, Jess

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it’s been helpful for you, Jess! Have a great week!

      ~Abby =)

  27. Alina @ DeclutterBlog.com says:

    Good idea with planning, Abby! Keep it up, you do write interesting and engaging posts.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Alina! Happy Monday!

      ~Abby =)

  28. Twila Nairn says:

    Thank you, Abbey, This is so helpful. I need to get started on those extra posts soon! I am so new to all this and I have found your site to be so helpful Thanks again!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it’s been helpful for you!

      ~Abby =)

  29. Great tips! we got 7 posts done before starting our blog but we posted them all at once from the start so we didn’t have any as a cushion 🙂 I have multiple post written but the photos are what seems to take me the longest! Editing, tagging, etc. I’m not extremely tech savvy so it takes me longer to do even little things. We’re learning as we go! We’ve also been trying to do 3 posts a week but maybe that’s a little ambitious for just starting out (we’ve only been live for 7 weeks). Organization is definitely something I need to work on though. Thanks for the helpful post!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful, Cheryl! Have a great week!

      ~Abby =)

  30. I am definitely a plan ahead person. I try to get the next month done before the end of the current month because each month as a different ‘flavor’ or theme. It has been working so far. I love the idea of planning out the months with the holidays and events in mind. This past month I created an extra post for Valentine’s printables as well ;-), and it caused a bit of a rush for me as well.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks for sharing, Ayanna! Sounds like you’ve got a great system! Have a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  31. Rachael Bucey says:

    My writing is definitely the best when I wake up in the middle of the night with a series of “WOW” Ideas. I always keep a little notebook next to my bed or in my vanity so I can write these ideas down when they come to me. This way when I do have a little extra time to write I can be intentional. I always love hearing that other bloggers can get “stuck” too.

    XOXO Rachael
    https://aduchessandablog.blogspot.com/

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Love that idea! Thanks for sharing, Rachael!

      ~Abby =)

  32. Abby, this is exactly where I am with my blogging. I lie in bed at night with my head swarming with ideas. I keep thinking, “I’ve got to get all these ideas out of my head and written down somewhere so I feel like I’m in control.” The madness of doing things on the fly has just got to stop!

    Thanks for assuming me that, for one, I’m not the only one who’s ever felt this way and for giving me the encouragement that I’m on the right track for thinking I need to be more intentional.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you, Pam! Have a wonderful weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  33. Wow! This is so helpful. I am a new blogger and I had a brief hiatus. I want to be super organized and consistent when I jump back in. I’m going to make my Google Doc right now!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yay! So glad it was helpful for you, Rae! <3

      ~Abby =)

  34. I am working on my first 10 blog posts right now before my site goes live. I have been struggling customizing WordPress a little bit but I am getting there slowly. I would love for you and Donnie to publish an article on how to manage all of this if you are solo. I work full time, have four kids and will be doing this 100% on my own. The writing part will come back to me quickly but the technical stuff has me so overwhelmed already. I think i spent 12 hours watching video tutorials this weekend and another two on live chat. Forums are impossible to comb through lol. I was hoping to go live Feb 26 but due to technical difficulty am now shooting for March 9th. I am so looking forward to the relaunch of Building a Framework. Hoping some of the questions I seek will be in there! God Bless

  35. These are rally helpful tips. I get overwhelmed at times on how to make time for my blog posts when mommy and work duties get in the way. Thank you for these tips !

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad they were helpful for you!

      ~Abby =)

  36. I am new to blogging. I found your post and have referred to it many times. Thank you for your tips on getting started.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad they’ve been helpful, Phyllis!

      ~Abby =)

  37. Janae De'Lisa says:

    This was a big help!! Week after week I am stumped on what I should write.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you, Janae! <3

      ~Abby =)

  38. Hi Abby!

    Just discovered this post and wanted to say that I found it super helpful! I’ve just recently started blogging and have struggled to find a routine. There are some great tips here which I can’t wait to implement! Thanks so much for sharing.

    Rachel x

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful, Rachel! Good luck on your blogging journey! <3

      ~Abby =)

  39. Susan Velez says:

    Hi Abby,

    I love how you got more intentional with your blog. The biggest take away I got from the post is that writing your content ahead of time can definitely be a huge lifesaver for growing a blog.

    I’ve made it a point to always have new blog posts in my queue. I try to stay ahead at least 3-4 weeks of content. This makes it a lot easier without me having to worry about writing a new blog post the day that it’s due. I post new content on my blog 2x per week because I want it to grow faster.

    It’s hard to share on social media when you don’t have a lot of content to share.

    I’ve found that having my content pre-written and ready to post in advance has left me with more time for promoting my blog and writing guest posts. I still try to write 2 new blog posts each week, although it doesn’t always happen. It’s nice knowing that it’s alright if it doesn’t always happen every week.

    Now I just need to take the time to create my social media images for all my pre-written content. I tend to struggle with that part, I guess it’s because it takes a while to create my images.

    Thanks for sharing these tips, I know that they will help so many people become more intentional with their blogs.

    Have a great day 🙂

    Susan

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Sounds like you’re definitely on the right track, Susan! Best of luck with your blog!

      ~Abby =)

  40. Damjan Markovič says:

    Hello Abby!

    I know that you don’t know me, but I just wanted to say thank you – I’ve just launched a blog myself in which I’ve put in a lot of work and one of the articles that really helped me to have a pretty successful launch, was this one.

    I know quite a bit about digital marketing etc., but your blog post was a nice reminder, to plan things out and to prepare my content in advance. Because as you said, life happens:)

    Anyways, just wanted to say thanks and I’ll keep following you on Pinterest!

    All the best to you and your family,
    Damjan from trytoblog.com

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it has been helpful for you, Damjan! Love to hear that! Have a great week!

      ~Abby =)

  41. Julie Rogees says:

    You are definitely my inspiration. Thank you for all your tips and organization ideaa.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, you are too sweet! Thank you, Julie. So glad they have been helpful for you! <3

      ~Abby =)

  42. Hi Abby! I put my editorial calendar in Evernote (each item on the calendar has a link to the note for that item, so when I start working on it – or even just get an idea for that post – I can just click it on the calendar and start typing away!). Over the summer, I am posting twice a week, but I am trying to write 3-4 posts per week so that by the end of the summer I will be ahead! Then when things get busier, I can be writing one or two per week to maintain things.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      That sounds like a great strategy! Thanks so much for sharing, Joy! Have a wonderful day!

      ~Abby =)

  43. Carrie Myers says:

    I just reread this post again since you included it in the latest email. Now that I’m blogging it resonates with me more and now that I’m live even more so, in fact, I realize I have to write and post and get it out because I have subscribers (only 10 but they are important). I’m using trello to organize and I like your idea of being more intentional and writing ideas down.. Thanks For this and it shows how you can repurpose your older blogs to be just as important the second time around.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you, Carrie! <3

      ~Abby =)

  44. Agreed! It is so important to batch, and have a reserve so you can stay ahead and LET life happen! I need to do this again….

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Yes! It is so much less stressful when you’re ahead and those inevitable things do happen!

      ~Abby =)

  45. Amy @ The Quiet Homemaker says:

    This is so awesome! Thank you so much for posting this. It really made me feel so much better about not being ahead. I started working on this last week. I would like at least 1 post per week for 1 to 2 months. At this point I am just trying to be consistent with one post per week. (I started my blog back in November.) I know that consistency is the key and it is an area where I have been lacking. Thank you for the tips and tricks!
    Blessings,
    Amy

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you, Amy! You are right… consistency is so key! If that is only one post per week, that is totally fine! Just so your readers know what to expect! Keep up the great work! <3

      ~Abby =)

  46. Blooming Sunshine says:

    Hi Abby! I just discovered your blog today and I LOVE it! I’m a beginner, and it’s nice to see other bloggers sharing tips and strategies with us newbies. I think the spreadsheet is a perfect idea to organize posts and get ahead. Thanks so much for sharing. I’m looking forward to more. ?

  47. Jenny Empson says:

    I love the 10 day buffer! I have been looking for a good post schedule to get going, so your Google Sheet is easy and perfect for moving things around! =)

    1. justagirlabby says:

      So glad it was helpful for you, Jenny! Happy blogging! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

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