How to stay inspired with blogging

I'm writing this blog post as much for me, I know I am awful at blogging regularly and tend to take a week out here and there. I'm trying to blog more often though and these guidelines are ones that I've set myself to try and improve how regularly I blog.

1. Set out what sort of topics I want to include on my blog. I don't want to be too restrictive with this, but I just want to have a basic idea of what my blog is about. I tend to focus my blog on four main areas: Fashion, My Life, Beauty and Recipes. I tried to set out basic ideas of what my blog posts should be about because I find it gives me inspiration. I also pick out what posts I like from other blogs and try to include something similar on mine. Sitting there trying to think of a post off the top of my head means that I'll just come up with something that my heart and interest isn't in.

2. Keep a notebook. Honestly, when someone ever mentioned that they had a calender or a notebook with post ideas I thought they were taking blogging too seriously. However, do you ever get that annoying feeling when you're in front of the computer wondering what to post? I usually have ideas for posts buzzing around my head and yet I actually post less than half of them. I'm trying to put all my ideas in a notebook now. I don't keep a schedule of when I should post a certain thing though, as I usually post what I feel in the mood to, rather than 'I shall post this because it's this day', as I feel that's too restricting (for me at least). 

3. Plan in advance. I've never been the most organised of people, but if you knew how busy I can  be you'd wonder how I have time to blog at all, and I'm sure it's the same for all of you who work! I work full time and my social life can be hectic at times. On top of that I am starting an OU course soon and taking on some design work. This means that in order to post I will have to do some planning. I usually write ideas in a notebook as soon as they come into my head and develop them whenever I want to post them.

4. Take photos in advance. This is near enough the same as plan in advance but I didn't want to waffle on in that point and then to overlook this. In the winter time when I get home it's usually dark, which I use as an excuse as to why I can't take photos etc as I prefer to take photos in natural light. I'm now taking photos for the week's blog posts over the weekend when I can use natural light.

5. Schedule in advance. When you are writing a post, at the bottom under post options there is an option to schedule your post for a particular date or time. I have used this feature before, but I've not really paid much attention to it recently. I really should though, it's a great feature to use for whenever I'll be particularly busy or away from the computer.

6. Don't overdo it. I find that if I spend my entire spare time blogging/thinking of posts/commenting on other blogs then after a few weeks I get burnt out and I take a week out. Now I'm trying to be active for less time per day, but without taking long breaks. However, if I want to take a break for a few days, I will.

7. But don't be away for too long.  Sometimes when I've not posted for weeks and weeks, I lose my blogging mojo. It takes a few posts to get back into it and to be honest the ones straight after I return probably aren't my best. It seems strange as well but I seem to be more inspired and have more ideas for posts when I am blogging more regularly. I guess you just have to find a good balance between spending time on blog stuff and non blog stuff!

8. Use other social media sites wisely. You know, I signed up to pinterest ages ago but I didn't realise the true value of it until about a week ago. In fact it is largely what inspired me to write this post. I pin recipes to my boards, which hopefully I can try out and post on the blog. I  also pin craft ideas, which maybe I might try out and share on this blog and you can see what a total failure I am at crafting.


9. Last but not least, have fun and don't worry about rules. I know this seems to contradict all the other points I made, but they were just helpful pointers, not hard and fast rules. I just don't want to conform to one thing or to feel forced into posting on a certain day. Blogging is meant to be fun and a hobby, not a chore. 


Sorry for the long post today! I hope that you found some of these pointers helpful. I'm not an expert on motivating people, or blogging, but I just wanted to share some of the guidelines I'm trying to use to blog more regularly. 


Some of you blog so regularly, how do you manage it? If you don't blog regularly, are you trying to get into more of a routine, or are you happy with how often you are posting? I'd be interested to hear other people's views on this.