The Blog Post Process

With every blog post, there’s a sort of process that goes along with it. Whether it’s creating images, scheduling social media posts, or writing the content, you probably have some sort of rhythm going on, whether you realize it or not. After a few months of fine-tuning it, I’ve found a process that really truly works for me. But first, I want to talk a little about the two places I keep track of these ideas before they become true blog posts in the making.

1. The Editorial Calendar - I’ve tried almost every calendar in the book, and while I think a lot of them are great, they weren’t working for me personally. I’d been using sticky notes to keep track of posts I wanted to write, but if I missed a deadline, I was able to quickly pick it up and move it to a new day. On a little sheet of paper, that’s hard to do. So, I converted a wall calendar into an editorial calendar. Using the sticky notes (I use the small ones), I can create a calendar that I can see.

2. The Idea Book - For posts that don’t have a spot on the calendar yet, this is where I keep them. I use a generic spiral notebook I bought at Walmart, probably for less than a dollar. I have pages of sticky notes just stacked on top of each other. I also have a few pages for each month for the rest of the year. So, I have four pages for “August,” four for September, etc. That way, if there’s a post I know I want to write at that time (say a post about going back to school), it has a spot to stay until I’m ready to move it to the actual calendar.

Once I know that I have a blot post coming up, I follow this list of things to do: 

And if you’re on a reader or don’t want to enlarge the picture, my process is:

• Title
• image
• write the content
• SEO
• add a click to tweet button
• add URL to bit.ly
• add the bit.ly link to Sendible (That’s what I use to manage my social media accounts)
• Add to pinterest

Do you have a blog post process? Here's a quick look to help you start one! Click To Tweet

There’s two main reasons I keep my list in todoist – one, because I keep everything in there, and it’s so nice and easy to bring it together with a little template that I just upload to todoist. Two, every time I knock one of these off my list, it helps my Todoist Karma – which is just a measure of your productivity. The more you get done, the higher your points are, and getting points is a great way to motivate yourself.

Creating a template and a checklist of what I do throughout the blog post process allows me to make sure everything is done and I never miss a step.

What’s your blog post process?