One of the challenges many bloggers face is finding the time to blog regularly. One way to deal with this is to reset your expectations. It is great if you can blog everyday, but it may not be realistic for bloggers with many other responsibilities. Perhaps three times a week is a more achievable goal.
Another thing that may get in your way is the idea that every post has to be a certain length. Many of the articles and posts I put online are in the range of 400 – 600 words. Some bloggers write longer posts, perhaps 800 to 1000 or more words. However, there is no rule that says posts must be at least a certain number of words, or that all of your posts must be the same length.
You might try mixing it up. Continue to write some posts with your usual word count, but also do some that are short. For example, if your usual posts examine an issue in depth, do some quick tips that are just 150 – 250 words. Or link to a blog post or website that you found useful, with a brief description of what you liked about it.
These short posts can be created as you run across interesting ideas and sites, or you can set aside an hour or two now and then to stockpile several posts.
Here are some additional ideas for quick posts:
Put up a poll. Many blogging platforms have poll applications built in. Run a poll and get input from your readers about an issue. (Then write a post about the poll results.)
Answer a question from one of your readers. I get lots of email questions, and sometimes publish a question and my answer as a blog post.
Share a favorite quotation, and add a bit of commentary about why you like it or what it means to you. Here’s a recent example from my blog: http://idealady.com/does-success-mean-you-can-slow-down
Do you ever write blog posts such as “Seven Ways to …” or “Six Things You Need to Know About…”? Take a point from one of those articles and expand on it. For example, I could take any of the individual suggestions from this article and create a new post with more details on that idea.
Have an open mind about what a blog post can be and you will find many opportunities to create interesting and useful posts for your readers.
Answering reader questions in the form of blog posts and articles has always been one of my favorite ways to create content for my websites, and it usually turns out to be some of the most popular content when I use that method. It really is true that if one person has the question there is likely someone else (or many someones) with the same question in their mind who might be afraid to ask it.
Loretta, you are right that there are many people with the same questions. Answering one helps many!
Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for these blogging tips. I’m always running out of ideas. 🙂