Tips on keeping the WordPress posts flowing

Many of us either have a blog or website to which we post recent news, events and other timely bits of information. It’s often easy when we start such an effort to write several of these articles covering topics we know at the outset need more attention or deserve an article, but gets harder over time as we hunt for new topics to write about. Sometimes, the problem is simply that we get busy during certain parts of the year, but want the timing of our posts to remain consistent.

Here are some tips for maintaining a steady stream of posts on your WordPress site:

1. Break a large subject into several parts. A single topic is often more readable and more useful as smaller chunks. Just try to make sure each chunk serves a purpose in itself and is not just a “cliff hanger”
2. Create a series of posts. This can be testimonials or informal interviews with different people on a subject, a profile of a different person’s perspective on a given topic or otherwise connected posts that will give your readers something interesting to read, and returning for more.
3. Write several posts when you have extra inspiration or time and schedule them for posting at a later date. (At the right side of the post editor, click the Edit link next to “Publish Immediately  and enter a date in the future, at which time your post will appear just as if you wrote it on that date.)
   
4. Reflect on a recent event or post from a site related in some way to your site. Resist the urge to re-post someone else’s content, even if you give them credit, but if you can add more to the conversation, you may not have to come up with the topic all on your own.
5. Scan your calendar as far in advance as you can and prepare announcements for events or deadlines you know about in advance and schedule them to become public at just the right time. Then you just have to fill in the holes in the posting schedule you’ve decided on.

There is no absolute posting frequency that every site must maintain; it really depends on your site, your audience and what you want to communicate. There’s also no shame in realizing you were too ambitious with your intended posting schedule and need to adjust it a bit. Be clear about your goals. If you want visitors to return for fresh news on a regular basis, make sure your posts appear consistently. If you just need to make sure that the important milestones and deadlines through the year get announced on time, there may be fewer posts during the summer or extended holiday breaks, which is okay as long as it fits your particular goals.