Reading the newspaper: Brookgreen Gardens in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For many of us, reading blogs has become as common as reading a newspaper. We expect to see certain articles or topics covered in our readers, RSS feeds, or email in-boxes every morning. It’s a comfort to have this reading material waiting for us each and every day.

For me, Google Reader has completely replaced the newspaper. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve even read the paper. I get most of my news and daily reading material through the blogs and websites I subscribe to. The best part of it is that it is completely free!

Some of my favourite bloggers post every single day, some of them will even post multiple times a day. Other bloggers will post one article a week.

We need to remember that blogging isn’t about quantity; it’s about quality. Every article you post should be something you can be proud of. It should offer the reader something, it should tell a story, or entertain.

When I started this blog, I wanted to write a post each and every weekday, and I did for quite some time. The key point is to deliver quality content on a regular basis. My posting schedule has changed several times over the years. Nowadays, I am putting up an article four times a week on average.

Here are some great ways to keep a regular blogging schedule . . .

1) Write Ahead of Time

On average I spend three hours a week working on blog content. I don’t need to worry about coming up with a post each and every day because I get ahead of myself with my blogging output.

2) Build Up A Buffer

Write when you have the time. Write when you get the inspiration to write. If you do those two simple things, soon you will have a stockpile of posts ready to go whenever you feel like publsihing them.

3) Plan out a Month in Advance

I plan out an entire month’s worth of content in advance every month. I started doing this last November because I needed to be able to focus all of my energy and attention on my novel for National Novel Writing Month. I didn’t stop with November though. I now plan out each month by the first of that month, and it feels great.

4) Go on Auto-Pilot

I basically set my blog on auto-pilot every month. I write most of my content well ahead of time, look at a calendar, and plan when is the best date and time to publish each article. This helps me spread out topics, link posts together, and create a monthly theme of teaching posts when needed.

5) Trim your Draft Folder

I picked this one up from Stephen King. He calls it, “Murder Your Darlings” and it basically means that you don’t have to use everything you write. Sometimes it is best to not publish a piece. You may want to hold on  to an idea for a while to fully flesh it out. You should be able to look at your writing with a critical eye and make sure it is up to the standard you have established with your blog.

Follow these 5 tips and your blog is guaranteed to rock.