Following the crazy month that was the A to Z challenge, where I aimed to write every day other than Sundays and complete each post to compliment the next alphabetic letter I began thinking of where I would go from here with the blog.
One of my thoughts is regarding whether I should make the blog more formal and have a schedule for the days of the week when I would definitely be putting a blog post out.
The pro for this is people would know when the posts would be up and makes the whole blogging platform look that much more organised and professional.
The con is that sometimes life gets in the way. In fact its got a bloody awful habit of getting in the way. I'd hate to announce that a schedule was going to start running and then miss one of the days it's supposed to be on. That would definitely defeat the object of organised and professional.
What are your thoughts? What would you like to see from this blog in terms of a fixed schedule or my usual posting as and when I can manage it?
If the consensus is for a schedule, I would do my best to write the posts in advance and have them scheduled to go out for the correct days.
Let me know your thoughts on the concept. I'd probably look at doing three scheduled posts a week on set days and the odd one thrown in if something occurred out of the blue I felt I needed to tell you about.
What do you think?
I do see where a fair amount of people have something at the top of their blog which says when they post. The experts would say it makes thing nice and organized and people know when to expect you to post.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with semi-organized people like myself is that I start feeling pressured if I'm tied to a schedule. For now, I post once per week, unless there's something I feel compelled to blog about. Lazy, I know, but it gives me time to get around to other people's blogs during the week without the added pressure of keeping to a schedule.
My take? If you can manage a bi or tri-weekly posting schedule, fine, but if more likely than not, you won't be able to stick with it, go with fewer posts (and you can still let us know your schedule) per week.
Hope that helps.
I don't bother with a schedule--I don't mind them, since they can make things a lot more organized and easier, but life often gets in the way for me. So I just have a couple days when I almost always post, and then do what I can the rest of the week.
ReplyDeleteI aim for mon/wed/fri, but you won't find that anywhere on my blog. That way, if life gets in the way then I don't have to apologise. I'd rather deliver without promising than promise without delivering :) But to be fair, I'm only a teeny blog, perhap it's different for a bigger blog like yours.
ReplyDeleteThese days (and I know I'm generalising here)I think most people use some kind of follow system anyway, so even if they don't know when your schedule is, (or of you don't have one) they won't miss your posts. I know I haven't missed any of your posts in the time I've been reading you, and that's without you having a schedule :)
If you actually like to be uber-organised, Rebecca, go for the schedule! Personally, I wouldn't like the pressure but we are all different... As Sarah said, we probably mostly follow through the dashboard and will never miss a post as long as we remember to look at the dashboard...!
ReplyDeleteWhat about writing blog posts when you can, aiming to get at least one, if not two done each week, but only post them on, say, Wednesdays?
ReplyDeleteI'm planning to watch this video at some point: http://bubblecow.net/creating-blog-posts-that-attract-attention-free-video Might be useful to you too?
I try to do 3 times a week for my blog but I have yet to figure out what days. I get OCD about how I post and the fact 3 times leaves me two days between posts at some point drives me nuts.
ReplyDeleteJ.L - I completely agree with everything you have written. Since posting this blog post I have felt disorganised. Things get in the way and hey presto I failed to post on a day I was expecting to do so. If I set myself to a schedule, am I setting myself up to fail. I think I still need some time to consider this. Though my aim is to post at least three times a week/twelve times a month.
ReplyDeleteGolden Eagle - I absolutely understand about the life getting in the way. I'm also planning a big writing push, so that may effect the time I have for a scheduled blog. Always something to consider!
Sarah, I like that idea. Set myself the personal target to start with and see if I can do it. If I can, then I could make it more official, if not, no harm is done. I like that!
Thank you for not having missed any of my posts as well! I really appreciate you being here.
Linda - I'm not generally an uber organised person. I have to have a modicum of organisation about my life or I would forget absolutely everything. I have a running diary for all appointments in work and personally and have recently bought a separate one just to try and keep up with the blog. I'm not quite sure how successful that is being!
Clare - I like the idea of pre written posts when you get the time and scheduling them. It definitely could be something that I could try and if anything pops up that I need to blog about between those, they can be easily done.
Patricia - That can be an issues can't it? The two days between blog days, That's something I've also considered. Which three days would I actually pick!
It looks as though I'm going to try and stick to my own personal schedule without making it official to see if I can do it. Make some posts in advance and have them scheduled for when I'm busy and not actually stress over this at this point in time. :)
I aim at a post every two days. But some weeks I end up posting more, and others less. I can't think of anything worse than feeling pressured to write something just because it's Tuesday or something.
ReplyDeleteBlogging is supposed to be fun, not a chore. So do what feels right to you!
I blog m/w/f and find that many others do too. It seems to be a popular schedule, and works out well for me.
ReplyDeleteKate, I agree with you about it being a joy and not a chore. For now I intend to do what feels right and maybe if I grow, I may have to start scheduling but for now people seem happy if it continues as it is.
ReplyDeleteJoanne, I think if it works for you then that is what is important. We all work in different ways. I'd get twitchy following that pattern though as I get a bit more time to myself at weekends and also want to post at least one post at the weekend.
I decided to go for a schedule after A to Z, and found it an enormous help. Rather than wondering what to blog about and on what days, I now have themes to guide me. Of course there are weeks when I have a blogfest clashing with a scheduled post or when I simply didn't get the time to post. But even though I broke my schedule, nobody seemed to mind. My advice would be to go for it! Don't forget you can change it if it doesn't work out.
ReplyDeleteEllie Garratt