Momentum Tricks for Bloggers

Everyone struggles to keep up with their blogging. It’s not only a problem for financial advisors, investment professionals, and the folks who support them. Writers grapple with this problem, too.

Below my friend Laura Laing shares some of her tricks for keeping her momentum going, including picking themes in advance, working on her blog on specific days, and having extra material so she can take breaks from generating new ideas. Laura and I welcome any suggestions you may have for managing this challenge.

Momentum Tricks for Bloggers

by Laura Laing

Launching a blog is exciting. Keeping a blog going can be exhausting Every single blogger in the history of blogging has asked, “How can I keep going? Should I keep going?”

And I’m no different So I’ve built up an arsenal of tools to help keep me interested. When I’m interested, I keep writing and posting.

— I post three times a week — usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

— Mondays are usually an interview with someone about how they use math in their work. This is a quick-and-dirty post based on an email interview. I try to get ahead on these, but even if they’re last minute, I can usually pull something together PDQ. They are also my most viewed posts of the week, typically — because the person being interviewed often helps promote them.

— Each month is centered on a theme. This way, I can set a monthly editorial calendar. I develop this during the previous month, but my plan is to have an entire year in place, so that I can work ahead or at least gather great ideas and plug in guest posts.

— Currently, I’m planning a new weekly schedule for admin and writing. On Fridays, I load my Monday post (an interview usually). On Tuesday mornings (my admin time), I write Wednesday and Friday posts. Eventually, I’d like to get ahead.

— I take breaks from blogging. These aren’t scheduled at the moment — in fact I’m currently on an unscheduled break, as I try to recover from a really challenging work schedule in January and February — but I am looking at ways to do that. So far, I’ve just gotten burned out and stop posting for about 10 days or so. It’s not the best thing, but it is incredibly helpful for inspiration. When I get back from my break, I’m usually raring to go.

— I have back-pocket posts for when the well is dry. For example, there’s a crazy web video series about a mathletes team. I know that when I’m really uninspired (or exhausted or overworked), I can simply write up a quick intro and link to two or three of these episodes. They don’t drive a lot of traffic, but they keep me posting.

When I have a sense of what is coming, I’m able to really focus creatively. One great benefit of my blog is that I can write about things that no one wants to pay me for. I can also try out ideas (that may become paying gigs), and I answer questions that folks have.

Laura Laing is the author of Math for Grownups and blogs at http://www.mathforgrownups.com. Yes, she writes about math, so you can count on one thing: if she can stay motivated, so can you. Her next book, Math for Writers, is coming out later this year.