My Improved Blogging Routine - How I Write My Blog Posts

If you're looking for a way to improve your blog posts or simply want to know what tasks I execute when writing, this post will be beneficial for you. This is quite a flexible routine that I have adapted to my routine, so you can definitely follow it or make changes to suit you. I actually wrote a similar post to this a while ago, but my blogging routine has since changed, with a lot of elaborate and more detailed steps added, so I thought it would be helpful to share the new and updated version.

1. GAINING INSPIRATION AND IDEAS

The first, and arguably most important, stage of my blog routine is coming up with ideas that I want to write about. Sometimes this is easy, especially for routinely posts such as my monthly favourites, but with others it can be a lot harder to think of ideas that I find interesting and think my audience will enjoy reading. If I'm stuck or need some inspiration, I will often take a look at Pinterest and Bloglovin to see what type of posts are popular at the moment and gain some ideas. My Ultimate Guide To Blogging post has some great resources and prompts for writing blog posts, which I'd urge you to take a look at if you're struggling to think of topics to write about. I also look at the ideas section of my editorial calendar to see if there are any possible posts waiting to be written.

2. MY IMMEDIATE THOUGHTS

When I find an idea that I want to write about, I will create a new post in Blogger and start to write down all of my ideas. This will usually be a list containing a series of points that I want to mention, links I want to include or products that I want to mention, depending on what type of post it is. I then go on to split these ideas into smaller, more manageable sections, with each one having a different primary focus. That way, I can see which parts of the posts have a lot of ideas contributing towards them and which sections are lacking in content. Each of these sections will later form a paragraph of my finished blog post, so I ensure that I'm including vital content about them right from the start of my blogging routine.

3. RESEARCHING THE TOPIC

To fill in the gaps in my knowledge and thoughts, I will start to research the topic that I'm writing about and gain extra views and opinions that might support or contradict my knowledge. If I'm writing a product review, I will find out things such as the price, where it is available and details about the ingredients, whereas if I'm writing a more detailed, comprehensive post like my Guide to Making A Successful Media Kit, I will analyse other examples and do more extensive research so my post can be filled with helpful information. It's often helpful to get other people's views on a particular subject, and I'll often share a link to their work if I've found it to be extremely helpful.

4. CRAFTING THE BLOG POST

Once I've got all of the content and ideas for my blog posts, I then start to craft it. I will focus on one of the smaller sections at a time, making sure I include all of the points I aim to write about without overloading the paragraphs with too much information. I like to keep open a dictionary and thesaurus to consult while I'm writing, as well as having a makeup item or book with me that I might need to reference. This part of writing blog posts is probably the easiest, as it merely consists of rewriting your initial thoughts and providing evidence to back them up. I find that approaching it this way is a lot less daunting than trying to write a post from scratch and also helps to ensure that you're hitting all of the right points.

5. PHOTOGRAPHY AND CREATING GRAPHICS

Aesthetics are a huge part of blogging and are increasing in importance, so making graphics and taking photographs that are of a good quality is something that you shouldn't rush. I like to wait until the weather is good to take blog photos, as the natural lighting makes them look clearer and means you won't have to do as much editing later. I gather everything I want to be in my photo and arrange it all accurately, adjusting everything slightly in between shots. I then flick through the countless, virtually identical images to find one I like, which I then edit on my phone and modify using Photoshop.

As for creating graphics, such as the one you can see above, I start by finding a stock image that I like and is free to use. There are many great websites for finding these, but my favourite is probably Pexels. New images are added to the website regularly and they are free for commercial use, so you won't get into any legal trouble. I usually take these into Photoshop and add the title of my post before uploading them into Blogger.

6. QUALITY CHECKS AND EDITING

Once my post is all written and my images have been created and placed in the post, I like to check over everything and ensure that it is the best possible. Although some spelling mistakes slip past, I strive for perfection in my post and work my hardest to ensure that the finished product is something that I'd want to read. I will remove the placeholder title that I created and come up with something more inventive and creative, whilst including any important keywords that help my search engine optimisation. I will also scan through the text on the hunt for any spelling mistakes and grammatical errors with the help of Grammarly and I will use a thesaurus to improve the quality of my writing. I have a tendency to repeat words such as 'really' and 'good', so this is the time where I'll remove them and opt for more advanced vocabulary.

8. FINAL CHECK AND UPLOAD

Before releasing my post so that it's on the Internet forever, I like to do a last quick check over it to make sure everything is how I want it. I then click the publish button, and my post will either be uploaded right then or scheduled for when I want it to be uploaded, meaning it's out of my hands. I then do a bit of promotion, such as uploading my posts to Pinterest and Google Plus, before sitting back and hoping that my readers like what I have produced.

That is my blog post routine, covering everything from getting inspiration to publishing a finished post. If there's anything that you'd like to know more about or if you want to hear more detail about some of the specific processes, just let me know and I'll be sure to assist you. Thanks for reading and let me know about your blog post routine down in the comments.

Love from Daisy x