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Why I reduced my blogging schedule

Do you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day and your blogging schedule is another addition to your workload? Do you feel like your blogging schedule is slipping? Or maybe you made the conscious effort to reduce your blogging schedule? Yeah… I did that too…

You may have noticed that my blogging schedule has slipped a little of late. Well, that’s not entirely true. It didn’t so much slip, it was more a conscious decision to blog less. To reduce my blogging schedule. But I’ve come to realise that, for me, this wasn’t such a good choice. So here I wanted to explain why I reduced by blogging schedule and why I have every intention of ramping it back up again…

Why I reduced my blogging schedule

Can we nip back in time? A while ago – well, over a year ago – I set myself a challenge. To blog once a day for 40 days. It was my 40 day blogging challenge. The aim was simple: I needed to get blogging for myself. At the time, I did a lot of blogging for other people’s sites and I saw the power it had. But for myself? Never had the time – too busy- nothing to say- insert any excuse you like. I had and used them all. I always like to try and test things so, when a client asks a question, I can actually help solve an issue because I’ve been there and done it. With blogging, I had done this for clients but not for myself, so I knew I needed to change that… so I started the blogging challenge.

What happened after 40 days?

After the 40 day blogging challenge, I reduced my schedule from once a day to three times a week because, really, once a day was not practical for me at that time – three times a week was. It felt good to have a plan and, after writing once a day for 40 days, three times a week was a breeze. I liked it. I got lots of information out, I had lots of lovely feedback, it generated traffic for my website, enquiries and clients. It ticked all the boxes.

As for the negative side of things, blogging three times a week is still pretty time consuming. I’m writing this blog at 11pm on a Tuesday night for a future Wednesday posting. Also, writing three times a week does mean that I can’t do everything else I want to do for promotion and marketing because there isn’t enough time. Well, OK, that’s not quite true. A bit less mindless social media time would generate this deficit. But I digress.

I decided a couple of months ago that I should knock one blog on the head, reducing to two posts a week – on a Wednesday and a Friday. I did also have a TEDx talk to prepare for, which did take a lot of time, I introduced a regular Live session on a Monday afternoon on my Facebook page, and I planned a lot of video content to record. But I felt like something was missing. In addition, I wrote guest blogs for Eventing Nation, become digital marketing partner for The Business Barn and landed two more magazine columns (joining my NFU Countryside column) in Absolute Horse and Equestrian Life. So I haven’t been sitting on my bum doing nothing.

But something was missing… I missed writing three blogs a week!

I know, I do wonder what planet I am on most days. The facts are this…

  • I love writing
  • I get great feedback from my blog posts
  • I reach my ‘tribe’ through my blog
  • People get to know me through my blog
  • My blog helps my SEO
  • Blogs help my web traffic
  • Blogs allow me to share unique content

So, in short, I will bring back Monday blogs, because of all of the above. At this stage, I’m not going to commit to a blog each and every Monday, but that is what I would like to achieve. I’m not saying I won’t knock it back to two blogs again in the future, but at the moment, I’m back at three. And I know it’s weird, but I’m kind of excited.

So, that’s why I reduced by blogging schedule- and why I’m ramping it back up again.

How often do you blog and why?

 

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The end of the 40 day blogging challenge

If you’ve been following me on social media, you will notice that I’ve been doing a blog a day for a long time. Well, 40 days to be precise. It’s been part of a self inflicted 40 day blogging challenge. I still have no idea why I went for 40 days. Probably the voice inside my head that gets me into a world of trouble. But there you have it, I’m now at the end of my 40 day blogging challenge.

So – the 40 day blogging challenge

The 40 day blogging challenge is exactly what it says on the tin. I have published a blog each day for the last 40 days. I have picked the theme, the length, the type. I have not followed any formula, only that I needed to publish one blog each day for 40 days. I’d seen in The Million Dollar Blog that there was a challenge called the 30 day blogging challenge (I believe there’s a book about this too). I can honestly say that I didn’t research the 30 day blogging challenge. I just saw it and thought ‘Yeah – I should push myself, let’s go for 40’. I know. I’m not quite sure what planet I’m on a lot of the time. But the intention was simple. To push myself in the world of blogging. To get under the skin of it. To really experience the issues my clients face when I tell them they should be blogging. And I feel this challenge has done this. Well. More or less.

40 day blogging challengeThere are some common issues that people seem to experience when blogging. These include…

  • I have nothing to blog about
  • I don’t like writing
  • I don’t have the time
  • I have no ideas
  • My images are rubbish
  • I don’t know what I’m doing
  • I don’t know what the point of it is

And so on. All are perfectly valid. And I’m not going to tell you otherwise. But all can be overcome. So…

I have nothing to blog about – have a look at this blog here

I don’t like writing – fair point. I do, so I haven’t experienced this issue, but even I got tired of typing. Have a look at this blog about dictation software for one idea on how to sidestep this issue. But you can also pay people to transcribe vlogs and videos, so this can be fixed.

I don’t have time. I find people make time for things they want to. I know everyone is busy. As I type this very blog I have dinner bubbling away, it’s twenty to eight at night (yep – this has been scheduled) and I have a to-do list to rival most people’s. But I make time. Because it’s important to me.

I have no ideas – refer to point one.

My images are rubbish. Fear not. Not everyone includes images in blogs, and this is an area you can address with tools like Canva, your iPhone and free image libraries.

I don’t know what I’m doing. Yeah you do. You’re writing about stuff that matters to you. Don’t overthink.

I don’t know what the point of it is. There are so many points that I’m doing another blog about it.

Did I learn anything?

Oh yes. I learnt loads. I learnt how to save time, use dictation tools, schedule, share content better – I learnt a LOT. I would definitely recommend a blogging challenge to anyone serious about content marketing, their business and improving the experience for their customers.

Would I do it again?

Yep. Actually, I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to do with my blogging for the foreseeable. I’m thinking three or four times a week might be easier and take the pressure off a little bit, to allow me to really get under the skin of something else.

Was it hard work?

At times it definitely was. I have a pretty hectic life. I have two small children, a business to run, horses, a dog, family – lots of things that take up my time. And blogging definitely does.

Was it worth it?

Yes. Without a doubt.

 

 

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When you’ve bitten off more than you can chew…

If you’ve been reading this blog, you might have noticed that each day, for the last 30ish days, I’ve posted a blog. I’ve been doing this because I really wanted to get under the skin of blogging – to fully immerse myself in it. Why? Well, I blog for my clients, I help my coaching clients create content and schedules, and I really see the value in it. But my own blog, my own content, has frequently found itself at the bottom of my ever changing to-do list. I decided to change that for 40 days. Because in order to learn, we sometimes need to When you feel you've bitten off more than you can chewpush ourselves.

Why 40 days? Well, because I’m always pushing myself… and I’d seen a number of 30 day blog challenges and decided to go one (or 10) better, with a 40 day blogging challenge. Was it a good decision? I don’t know yet. At day 30 something I realise that I have no more blogs in draft or scheduled, so I need to get my writing head on and crack on. Have I bitten off more than I can chew by insisting I publish a blog each day for 40 days? Of course I have. But does that make me feel that I shouldn’t have done it? Absolutely not.

I read Natasha Courtenay-Smith’s book, The Million Dollar Blog (looks like you can get a free chapter if you visit her site here!) and it cemented and expanded on all my blogging beliefs (if you’re even vaguely interested in blogging, I would really recommend this book!). Now, I didn’t read the book because I want to make a million dollars from my blogging skills (I’m really not THAT interesting!), but I loved reading the stories about some of the most successful bloggers out there and then thinking about the strategies that they used and applied helped them grow. I like stuff like this. That’s why I read so many business books and listen to so many audiobooks and podcasts. It gets my mind whirling. This can cause me to have brilliant ideas, or off the wall ideas and, in some cases, assures me that I’m not the only one with certain beliefs. Natasha mentioned a 30 day blogging challenge in her book (I think there’s actually another book about this – but I honestly haven’t read it or even Googled it, I just took the suggestion at face value!)… and that’s why I decided to go 40.

So, now I’m on day 30 something, in some ways I feel like I have bitten of a bit more than I can chew with the 40 day blogging challenge, but truth be told, I’ve learnt SO much that I can pass onto my clients. I will now be able to relate, completely, to the issues that they have when they blog, because in 40 days, I will have, most likely, experienced quite a lot of them. I’m also really loving the actual creative process. It sounds stupid as I write most of the day with my PR and marketing hat on, well, unless I’m coaching, but writing stuff, just for me, is rather liberating. Being able to write how I speak is also rather lovely – it’s easy and fast. Of course, I’m dealing with my ‘is there a typo somewhere?’ hang ups. Well, I say I’m dealing with, I have to give myself a metaphorical slap in the face about this as that little voice would stop me from ever pressing publish, but I think I’m dealing with it. A typo still drives me mad though. But at least it takes seconds to correct when it’s been spotted. I also know the good it’s doing for my website, my brand, my new direction and more. I’ve had lovely emails and comments as a result of some of my blogs. I feel that some of them have really helped people and, like I read business books and listen to podcasts and audiobooks to learn and reassure, I think some people are using my blogs in the same way. And that makes me feel really good. Like I’m making a difference.

Next time you feel like you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, think about how far you’ve come since you started the process you’re now feeling a little swamped by. I promise that by the time you’ve finished thinking about it, looked at all your successes, accomplishments and learning, you won’t feel half as bad.

What do you think? When was the last time you felt like you’d bitten off more than you could chew? How did you handle it? I’d love to hear.

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