As bloggers, we tend to pressure ourselves to keep creating great content. Of all the things we do, blog post writing is what we usually put at the top. While this is a huge part of blogging, it is not the only part. Sometimes, when we put too much pressure on ourselves, we tend to do more harm then good. Today, let’s talk about why it is okay NOT to publish that blog post before it is ready, and why it is okay to spend your time on things other than blog post writing.
This blog post is a great example of this conundrum. I thought I had finished writing it, but when I went back and read it again (which you should aways do, it is one of my favorite things to do before I publish a blog post). So I took a break, came back to it, and made sure I was happy with the final product before publishing.
Now, let’s remind ourselves that there is more to being a blogger than just blog post writing
More Than Just Blog Post Writing
There is more to being a blogger than just blog post writing. While it is a huge focus, it is not the only one we have as bloggers. Besides, our focus should not just be on blog post writing, but on writing the best blog posts.
Sometimes we have a blog post almost ready to publish, but there is something missing, or we do not feel like it is our best work. We have two options here:
- Publish the blog post anyway
- Take a break from the blog post and do something else
Let’s take a look at both these scenarios, and the pros and cons of each.
Publishing a Blog Post Before It Is Ready
There are few levels of publishing a blog post before it is ready. Before we publish a blog post we should ask ourselves these questions:
Is this blog post useful to our audience?
Does it tell a complete story, or teach a complete lesson?
If this blog post is not quite finished, is it still worth our readers’ time?
If the answer to these questions is YES, then we may be able to go ahead and publish our blog post.
For example, let’s say I wanted to publish an article with a total of seven tips, but I have only come up with five. This article may be complete with five tips, and I can go back and add a few more as I come up with them later. Stay tuned for more on this topic after we talk about what we should do if we answered NO to any of these questions.
If the answer to these is NO, we should strongly consider working on something else until we can ensure our blog post is our best work.
Why would we not publish it? Because if it is not worth our readers’ time, and does not teach them anything, we are just wasting our readers’ precious time, and they will not be likely to come back to our site. If you publish low quality blog posts, you place yourself at risk of alienating your audience. They will not come back if they do not like what they are reading.
As we all know, writers’ block is all too real. The best thing you can do when you have writers’ block is to well, something other than the content that is blocking you. We talk about this more in our article The Best Guide to Beating Writers’ Block for Bloggers.
This brings me to my next point.
Taking a Break From Your Blog Post Until It Is Ready
This is a huge part of my blog post writing strategy. I have at least two to three blog posts in process for just this reason, so I can always have something work on if I get stuck on one in particular, and this is one of the strategies I use to beat writers block regularly.
What else can you do to stay productive if you cannot quite finish that blog post and just do not want to write? Things like working on your social media strategy and more.
As a blogger, it is important to stay productive, even when we are not focusing on blog writing. Blogging burnout is all too real, and feeling productive can help us fight it.
Continuous Blog Post Writing for Everyone, All the Time
If you are not publishing that blog post now because it is not ready, there are no shortage of things to keep you feeling productive like we just talked about. Sometimes, this may mean going back to an older blog post and enhancing it with hot new content instead of publishing that new blog post.
I have always looked at blog post writing as a continuous process. I am always learning new things, and when I do, I like to go back to the blog posts I have already written an add to them. This is great for a couple of reasons. For one, I am ensuring my readers always have the most up to date information, and I am making my blog posts even better.
Another thing we an do is to take a look at Google Search Console and see what other keywords your articles are gaining impressions from. When you see impressions coming in, it may make sense to freshen up your content in a natural way. Be sure to check out Neil Patel’s guide on how to do this here.
I am also helping my site in the eyes of google. In Brian Dean’s list of 200 google ranking factors, factors number 30 and 31 relate to the “freshness” of your content. Google loves when you are making sure your readers are getting the most up to date information, and will look upon your site favorably when you do this.
Go Beyond Blog Post Writing
As a blogger, one of the best things we can do for ourselves is to go above and beyond just writing blog posts. When we do publish a blog post, it is important for us to ask ourselves if we are publishing great content, or if our content could still use a little bit more work to make it the best it can be.
Here is the complete list of resources in this article, to help us stay productive, and go beyond blog post writing.
Simple Things to Do Before You Publish a Blog Post
How to Write a Blog and Create the Best Content
The Best Guide to Beating Writers’ Block for Bloggers
How to Be Productive Without Writing a Blog
Of course, blog post writing is a big part of being the best blogger you can be. Being the best blogger means going beyond writing a blog post, and asking yourself tough questions like “is this really ready to publish?”. We all hold ourselves to strict deadlines, but sometimes it s a good idea to wait to hit that publish button, and spend our time refining our content. There is nothing wrong with not publishing a blog post, especially if we are being productive in other ways.