Starting a blog always sounds like so much fun, right? And in the beginning, you’re so excited about posting, sharing and getting comments. But after the first few posts, you start to get a little lax – you either forget to post or feel like you’ve got nothing to write about. A month later, you’re not posting at all and you give up hope.

Sound familiar? Never again, my friend!

The key to starting a successful blog and keeping up with it is to 1) LOVE what you’re writing about and 2) have a plan of action.

Last month I shared with you why having a blog for your business is so important, and today I’m sharing with you how to come up with a ton of blog topics and a plan for how to actually get them written and scheduled – complete with a worksheet to get you started!

Coming Up with Content

First thing’s first – to blog consistently without the burnout, it’s important to love what you’re talking about. If you’re blogging for your business (and you’ve got a business that you love), you’ve already got a head start because you’ve already got lots of things to talk about.

To come up with content, start making a list on the worksheet of things you could write about when it comes to your business. If you use Pinterest often, take a look at the types of things you’re pinning and use those for inspiration. For example, if you’ve got an entire board dedicated to fonts and type, write that down as a topic you could write about. If you’re in love with layouts and have a ton of gorgeous spreads pinned, write that down too.

Another way to come up with topics is to think about the questions you get asked about your business. What questions are your customers asking? What do they need to know about your business? Turning those into blog posts creates awesome and sharable content for your readers, and it helps them get to know your business better.

Try to come up with a list of 15 to 20 topics to start with. Some of the topics may even turn into weekly features, like a weekly post about fun new fonts or a series on layout design – things like that make your topics go much further.

Actually Getting Posts Scheduled and Written

Now that you’ve got a list of topics, it’s time to get them written down on the calendar. Having a plan for your posts is so important because if you open your calendar and see what you’re going to be writing about, it’s so much easier to sit down and write than if you were going into it blindly.

It also helps with the roller coaster we go through with blogging – some days we want to post 46 times and other times we could go weeks without having anything to post.

Take out a blank calendar or open up your Google calendar. Start off by deciding how frequently you’d like to post. If you want to take your time and come up with well-researched posts or share DIYs that take some time, start with posting once every week or every few weeks. If you’re more interested in sharing shorter posts, you can choose to post a few times each week. You can always change how often you post, but this will serve as a basis for getting them scheduled on your calendar.

Start writing your post topics down on your calendar according to how often you’ve decided to post. Think about different series or columns you could do, like a Music Monday or Font Friday. You can start with just jotting down the idea or an idea for a title; don’t worry about writing the post until later.

Schedule out all of your ideas and depending on how often you’re going to post, you’ll have enough content for a few months. Repeat this process each time your editorial calendar is looking a little bare, and keep a small notebook in your bag to jot post ideas in when they come to you.

When you’re in the mood to do some writing, take out your calendar and write a few posts. If you use WordPress as your blogging platform, you can schedule them to go live on a certain day at a certain time – this comes in handy on the days you feel like blogging but don’t want to post so much in one day.  It’s also helpful when the holidays or vacation time rolls around – you can easily get your posts ready before your time off and schedule them to go live while you’re gone.

When you’re blogging about your passion, it’s much easier to stay consistent with fresh blog content and grow your blog – you’ll beat the burnout and enjoy writing and sharing what you love.

About the author: Mariah is a Graphic Designer/Wedding Stylist who has a passion for helping creative entrepreneurs turn their passion into profit.