Take the pressure off.
Jan26Written by:
2010/01/26 08:02 AM 
photo credit: Anonymous Account 
Have you been here?
You're having a great run of posts on your blog. You keeping up with your post frequency, getting lots of great comments and your subscriber numbers are on the rise. Then it happens. You get writer's block, you're struck down with the flu, or your computer crashes and you have to send it away to be repaired.
What happens to your post frequency, your stats and more importantly your readers? Everything on your blog grinds to halt until your life is back on track. This could take days or even weeks and your readership will suffer as a result, with people becoming disheartened because you don't seem to be posting anymore.
There is a way to combat these outages of content regardless of whatever has caused them. If you plan ahead a little bit and get on top of your future articles, you can ensure that your readers never go without. If you have posts waiting in the wings and scheduled for a specific date you can concentrate on creating fab new content, rather than trying to keep up with your schedule. You'll become pro-active rather than reactionary and you’ll be able to create much better content.
Here are some great reasons why you should get ahead with your blog posts:
1. Less Pressure
Pressure is a killer for a blogger. The pressure to keep up with your post frequency can bring on the dreaded writer’s block quicker than any other factor. If you trying to generate great content for your blog then pressure to meet that self-imposed deadline will only limit what you can come up with.
Get out of that pressure loop and have a few days of writing to get ahead and put posts in reserve. That way when you sit down to write you know that if it doesn't come together in one sitting that you will always have other posts scheduled.
Plus you won't feel the pressure if you know that there's no deadline to hit.
2. More Guest Posting Opportunities
A great way to develop your online brand is to write for other blogs in and out of your niche. We all know this makes sense and we know what the benefits are so I'm not going to explain them here.
But how do you find the time to write those all important posts for others? If you've taken the time to get ahead of your post schedule then you'll find that you have more time to write for other people.
At the time of writing this post for The Brave Programmer, I've currently got posts written and edited for a further 20 days! It means I can comfortably work on this post as well as the other 2 guest post I have to write this week.
3. More time to be creative
As I've already said, by getting ahead of your post schedule you can relieve that pressure of having to hit that deadline allowing you produce better content. Another benefit of getting ahead of yourself a bit is that you can use the extra time to brainstorm lots of new ideas or write those posts that you've wanted to work on for ages.
Creativity is squashed by a lack of time. You need space and time to come up with brilliant ideas to drive your blog forward so you need to create that time and getting ahead of your post schedule is a great way to do that. You could even take the extra time to work on an ebook or other online product.
So what should you do?
Write. Simple. Take a day off or plan a weekend just to write. Write like your life depends on it. Try to create a few new pieces of content and schedule them in line with your normal posting frequency. If you can try and get a week ahead or if you post multiple times a day then try and get a few days ahead.
I know this won't work for every blogger out there because they have blogs that need to stay on the pulse of ever changing trends ( Mashable is a great example of this) but the majority of us aren't like that. We post something every few days or once a week so it's easier to getting ahead of the game.
Spend the time to get ahead and you'll reap the benefits as a blogger.
About the author:
I'm Ben Lumley, a blogger from the UK who writes about self development at 6aliens.com. I am passionate about self-improvement and productivity. I also work for an education company called no limits education who inspire young people to success in life. Why not connect with me on Twitter @benlumley6 or if you liked this article then why not subscribe to my RSS Feed?
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