Sunday, June 12, 2011

Creating a Blog Schedule For Your Knitting Or Craft Blog

Creating a Blog Schedule For Your Knitting Or Craft Blog by Loretta Oliver

Whether you've been blogging for a long time now or you're completely new to blogging one thing that can really help focus your efforts and make things less stressful is to create a basic blogging schedule. This way you know what you're going to write about ahead of time, or at least have a basic idea. It also helps your readers to know what to expect and when.

A lot of bloggers create their blog schedule by days of the week, Monday Mindbenders, Tuesday Teasers, etcetera. You get the idea. We're going to create a sample blog schedule for a knitting blog. I admit that I am not a knitter by trade, I just can't master the whole two needles thing, so if I use an incorrect term please correct me. Let's start our week on Monday and go from there.

Monday Machine Knitting: On this day you could write about the differences between machine knitting versus hand knitting, pros, cons, patterns, and so forth. Some great tutorial topics would be how to convert a hand knitting pattern into a machine knitting pattern and how to work in rounds on a knitting machine. There are also a lot of one day projects out there for machine knitting, like making a sweater in one day. You could review different machine knitting patterns, projects and accessories.

Tuesday Twos: Get it? Knit one, purl two? Okay, so maybe I'm not as witty as I think I am, but you get the idea. You're looking for a daily theme that you can easily write about. This could be patterns, frustrations, whatever comes up when you're knitting. Of course, knitting is just the example here, the same goes for any craft or really any topic at all, books, movies, cooking, collectibles, whatever your site is about.

Wednesday WIPs: If you're wondering WIP stands for work(s) in progress. So, sticking with our knitting example this would be whatever projects you are currently working on. Share pictures, talk about mistakes you might have made while going through the pattern, share a tip about the project.

Most importantly get your readers involved, ask them what they think and ask them to share what they are working on as well. You'll be surprised how many will blog about what they're doing also and include a link back to your blog post talking about works in progress. It really builds that community feeling even more.

Thursday Threads: Product reviews could go on this day. Talk about that awesome luxurious new wool you just bought, or the shiny new needles. Again, if you've got an affiliate link throw that in there and all the better.

Friday Free Patterns: Here is another opportunity to talk about products that you're using and the free patterns that you've found on the internet. The nice thing about free patterns is that they free us up to splurge a little more on the supplies. Tell your readers about the great hand dyed yarn you bought to stitch that scarf.

Even better if you create your own patterns and share them with your readers. You'll find yourself with a following of fans in no time at all.

Saturday Scarves and Socks: I couldn't think of an S word to go with the knitting category, so I threw in the scarves and socks, because everyone always seems to be knitting one or the other at any given moment. I personally wish that I could knit, just so I could make some of the great sock patterns I've seen on the internet.

Sunday Wild Cards: I like to leave Sunday as a wild card day where I might or might not blog. If I do then I just go off the top of my head.

Now, you've got a basic outline to follow each and every week. Of course, if something doesn't apply one week you don't have to stick to the outline, write what's applicable when it's fresh.

Also, don't be afraid to send out more than one post per day. Let's say you've already written your usual Wednesday post, and then your favorite knitting shop sends out an email for a one day only sale and you want to blog about it and shout it from the rooftops. Don't hold back on that, go for it. It's relevant, your readers are going to love it, and if you've got an affiliate link for that particular shop it's even better.

If you're just getting started as a craft blogger or want to get started check out How to Start a Craft Blog for Fun and Profit. It's a great guide that can give a nice boost to anyone looking to make a go of blogging professionally in the craft niche. Get started today! It's easier than you might think.

Loretta Oliver owns the cross stitch site Stitching the Night Away and authors a popular craft blog on a subdomain of the site featuring product reviews, project ideas, and various crafty features on a daily basis.


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