6 Lessons From Publishing 100 Blog Posts
Over the past 3+ years, I’ve published 100 blog posts.
It’s so crazy to actually write that out on the page.
Even though I’ve been blogging for a while, it wasn’t until a little over a year ago that I truly started to take blogging seriously.
I started publishing more content each month and made my blog a priority over Instagram.
Don’t get me wrong, social media is still powerful.
But as a Squarespace and Showit website designer and SEO specialist, I knew firsthand the impact of blogging.
So I went full force on creating bomb ass educational content that would serve readers.
But I’m excited to share what I’ve learned from publishing 100 blog posts.
1. Figure out when you’re best at writing
Do you work best in the mornings with a cup of coffee as the sun is coming up?
Or is it best at night when your day is almost over?
Can you set aside time a couple of days each week to write content consistently or do you prefer to set aside two whole days a month to batch content all at once?
I find that I’m the latter. I get into a groove and like to have hours at a time where I just crank out all the month’s content at once.
Not to mention that planning ahead takes a while, and I find that if I brainstorm all these ideas and then try to come back to them a few days later, I have to catch up on everything again.
Basically, I’m wasting time.
2. Get organized with a system and processes
Building out your blog can feel very overwhelming.
It’s why many business owners start and then quit altogether.
It’s best to document your entire process and create a checklist for yourself of all the work that goes into each post.
You can write this out and then add it inside of an organizational tool.
You use Asana, Clickup, or Trello.
I love Asana, which I’ve been using in my business for 3+ years.
You also want to find storage space for the content itself.
Personally, I prefer Google Drive to write out all my blog posts.
My process includes:
Keeping track of all my published blog posts in a Google spreadsheet
Keeping track of all upcoming blog posts in another spreadsheet - include publish date, the keyword I want to rank for, the title, the link to the Google doc with the specific post, and its status
A Google Drive folder with all drafted posts, and a separate sub-folder where the published posts go.
3. Don’t be too proud to get support
If you’re in the beginning stages of your business, chances are that you’re riding the DIY train and doing every single thing in your business on your own.
But as you gain traction and start to grow your business, you need to focus on outsourcing in order to scale (and keep your sanity).
Hire a virtual assistant
You’ll want to get a virtual assistant as soon as you can. They can help with all of the silly administrative tasks that take up your precious time.
My virtual assistant helps me with the following for each of my posts:
Review for any errors
Upload and format the content into the backend of Squarespace
Check my freebie graphics and links
Add the category, tags, images, and meta description
Schedule and publish
Consider bringing in a content writer
This was something I honestly never considered until a cold pitch email landed in my inbox.
But once I entertained the idea, I couldn’t let it go.
So I gave this person a chance with a test run of 2 blog posts and now we’ve been working together for months.
It’s been truly SO helpful!
With her support, I’m able to increase the amount of posts I publish.
And even if I have a crazy month, her support ensures that at least 4 posts will go out every month.
Now, I couldn’t imagine not having this support.
At first, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to admit that I had hired someone to sound like me.
But depending on the month and my schedule, I’m pushing out 8 blog posts each month. That can feel really overwhelming and unrealistic to achieve if you’re just starting out.
And increasing the number of blog posts you’re able to publish each month will typically help you achieve faster results.
So I would highly recommend a content writer if you’re planning to make your blog a priority.
4. Content writing gets easier when you repurpose
Blogging is much more intensive than writing an Instagram or Facebook caption.
But that’s where online business owners make the process more difficult.
If you think of your blog post as an integration of your already existing marketing strategy, then it becomes easier to repurpose your content across platforms.
If you have a blog post that includes “5 Steps to [xyz],” then each “step” can be an Instagram post.
Think about that...one blog post can become five captions.
When you combine your blogging efforts with your social media strategy, it becomes easier to manage all the moving pieces.
5. The more I write, the faster new blog posts rank in Google
This is the power of SEO, or search engine optimization.
As you grow your website’s authority on a certain topic, it’s easier for Google to understand the correlation between the search query (the exact words that Google is typing into the Google search bar) and your blog post content.
For example, the more blog posts I write about specific Squarespace SEO topics, the easier it is to rank for them. And, it becomes easier to rank for the main keyword - “Squarespace SEO.”
It’s literally the reason I rank on page 1 for “Squarespace SEO expert” and “Squarespace SEO services.”
Google sees me as an authority on the topic because I’ve written so much content about it already.
This is the magic of SEO.
Read more: Ultimate Blog Post Guide to Rank in Google
6. Blogging allows me to grow my business without being on all the time
I talk about this in my blog post - 7 Reasons to Be Blogging for Your Business.
But it’s a key thing to mention here as a result of my blogging.
Because blog posts are evergreen, I don't feel the pressure to show up on Instagram Stories every day.
People join my email list...from Google.
People purchase my passive offers...from Google.
People book a call and sign up for my 1:1 offers...from Google.
Being somewhat of an introvert and the fact that my energy can be drained from 2 sales calls in one day, I prefer marketing that is always working for me in the backend.
The overall impact
You can see some slow growth but over time before things really took off. Even though I started blogging on this website in June 2018, I didn’t start fully committing until late 2019, which is why you start to see a spike around early 2020.
It’s clear how much my visibility has grown just from blogging and incorporating SEO into almost every single blog post.
Have questions? Drop them below!
Have you been blogging for some time but not seeing results like this? As an SEO strategist, I love helping my clients create a blogging and SEO strategy that helps them get seen by people needing their services most. Click below to learn more about how I can support you!
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