Recently I had opportunity to sit with a small group of Pre-Bloggers – people about to start their first blogs.

One of the question I was asked was for advice on how much content to have written before launching a new blog.

My answer came in two parts:

1. The Ideal Scenario
2. What I actually have done

The reality is that what I ‘preach’ isn’t always what I ‘do’ – so let me tell you about both!

Note: we give a lot of teaching and some great exercises on this topic in ProBlogger’s Guide to Your First Week of Blogging.

The Ideal Scenario

OK – here’s what I’d do if I was strategising for a new blog with a clear mind. Following this strategy would leave you with around a month of content and content ideas ready to go!

1. At Least 3-5 Posts Already Published

My ideal scenario for launching a new blog is to have at least a few posts already up and live on the blog.

The idea is that when you launch the blog you want people to arrive on it and see more posts than just your ‘I started a blog’ post!

These early posts should cover a range of topics within your niche and give your first readers a taste of what is to come in terms of topics, a sense of who you are and an idea about the voice that you’re writing in.

2. 5-10 Posts Ready to Publish in Drafts

When launching a new blog it is GREAT to have a few blog posts saved and ready to go written as a draft.

My reason for this is that often when launching a blog you can easily get distracted by other aspects of the launch. Design tweaks, getting a server set up right, promoting the blog, setting up social media accounts etc.

While you might have a lot of this done before launch there’s a good chance something will go wrong (it’s Murphy’s Law) and to have at least a few blog posts already written and ready to go is great as a backup in case you need them.

Having posts in reserve also takes a bit of pressure off and won’t leave you with that stressed ‘what am I going to write about today’ feeling!

3. 20 Blog Post Ideas Brainstormed

One of the hardest parts of creating regular blog posts – particularly in the early days when you’re getting going – is coming up with ideas of things to write about.

As a result I highly recommend doing some brainstorming before you launch – when the pressure is off. Put aside time to come up with as many blog post ideas as possible by what ever means suits you.

I personally like to use Mind Mapping to come up with blog post ideas (I’ve written about mind mapping here and here).

Keep these post ideas handy and add to them regularly and you’ll find you are never stuck for something to write about!

What I’ve Actually Done

OK – so the ideal theory I’ve outlined above is all good and well – but the reality is that I don’t know a whole heap of bloggers who have always stuck to their launch strategy – including myself.

My own experience is that often when starting a new blog excitement and adrenaline kicks in when you’re passionate about your new project and it is easy to launch much more impulsively!

Here’s the brief launch story of my two main blogs:

ProBlogger – when I launched ProBlogger in September 2004 I did so after writing about blogging tips and making money blogging for around 9 months on my personal blog in a category dedicated to the topic.

When I launched ProBlogger I brought all of those posts that I’d previously written over to ProBlogger.net so when I launched there was already 60+ posts live on ProBlogger.

I remember also at that point doing some brainstorming of post titles but didn’t have any posts saved as drafts. Instead I was so excited about starting ProBlogger that I published 40 posts in the first 10 or so days!

In hindsight – that was too many, I was naive, but I was so excited!

Digital Photography School – when I launched dPS back in April 2006 I set out with a year and a half extra experience and so decided to take things slower.

The blog was something of an experiment and I didn’t really know if it’d end up being much more than a hobby – but I decided to create more content before launching and went through the brainstorming exercise with mind maps that I link to above.

So I did have 20 or so post ideas mapped out and even wrote a couple of posts that I’d published before launching – but didn’t have too many posts written as drafts on launch.

My plan at launch was to only post 3 posts per week while I got going but again I got a little excited and in the first week I published 6 posts and from then on it was pretty much daily!

Can you see a theme here? I tend to get very excited with new projects and holding back and being measured isn’t always easy for me!

How About You?
I’d love to hear about your blog launching strategies? Do you publish many posts before launching or have posts ready to go? Any other tips for new bloggers?

And if you are looking to launch a new blog – check out ProBlogger’s Guide to Your First Week of Blogging for more tips and exercises to help you get your blog launched with the right foundations!

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

How Much Content Should I Have Ready to Go When I Launch a Blog?

@ProBlogger

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