Not that this blog has some kind of huge audience, but the guilt of not updating is exactly the same.

And I’m writing about it because I know you’re having the same types of issues. I want to let you know that I’m not immune, that you have options, and that it doesn’t somehow make you less of a blogger to publish less frequently.

Because here’s the conundrum: you do all the stuff you’re supposed to do with blogging, and the result is that you help more people, or find more clients, or make more sales, or get more speaking engagements, or more in-store foot traffic, or all of the above, which now makes you too busy to blog.

Only, you better either keep blogging, or have some clients that pay every month, or else how are you going to keep yourself helping, finding, selling, speaking, meeting and greeting?

If you’re not consistent, the gravy train eventually stops — unless you’ve been smart enough to get stuff from several sources.

So what do you do?

First of all, you calm down, and ask yourself, do I really need to be publishing as much as I am?

Am I posting because I think I’m supposed to, or for linkbait, or to get more traffic, or because I truly have something to say?

The answer will be informed by your reason for blogging to begin with. You see, the idea is to publish Consistently, not necessarily frequently. My new commitment for this blog is weekly, for the main blog is three times a week, with two guest or round-up posts, and for the corporate blog, monthly.

When you’re setting up your blog, you’re going to want that to be your primary concern — how often are you going to commit to update, and why?

My Free Traffic Tips blog is the one that captures the much needed search positions that keeps traffic, and thus, regular sales, coming. It needs a serious overhaul, but even in its present state, visitors convert to subscribers at 7% which is great considering that only the least visited 10% of the site has subscription boxes. Sales result from about 81% of that traffic.

So to keep that party going, ideally I should be publishing daily.

Here, I’m blogging to share knowledge, to give the best thoughts I can on a range of marketing and web visibility topics. So I only publish when I have those thoughts. That could be several times a day, then not for several days, but it’s typically once a week.

The corporate blog is to establish a web presence for the corporate services wing of my business. It’s still in development, and right now I only want to have one corporate client at a time. So I’m quieter over there, making just enough voice to attract future prospects. I know it will typically take 90 days for me to form a trusting relationship, and each project will last between 3 months to a year.

Monthly is enough to establish a presence, so that’s how often I blog there.

The second thing you’ll want to do is what I’ve just done, establish the consistency and stick to it.

Next, think about format — you don’t always have to do a text post. Think about images, screenshots, screencasting, slide shows, or audios.

Finally, take note of all the other publishing you’re doing and map it out into a schedule. That includes submissions to social media, guest blogging, article marketing, video marketing, press releases, you name it. If it warrants input from you, it goes on your publishing schedule.

Bonus tip: help publishing isn’t a bad thing either. Team up with some friends and share a blog, get guest bloggers, pay a staff to re-purpose existing content, or hire writers to create unique content based on your ideas and voice.

I was living on blog island.

And it sucked ASS.

What’s blog island?

What’s more important than what it is, is how you get there.

To get to blog island, the first thing you have to do is start blogging.

And you do all the regular stuff that they say bloggers are supposed to do.

You figure out all the basic stuff like:

• how often to write
• what to write.…
• how to create buzz…
• how to write persuasive and engaging blog posts…
• when to send trackbacks.…
• why to comment thoughtfully on other blogs…

… all that sort of beginner blogger stuff.

And people start to notice you.

Then you make a left turn at My Poo Don’t Stink Avenue, and suddenly you’re on Blog Island.

Maybe you stop responding to comments on your blog. Not because they’re too many, but because you just can’t be bothered.

Or perhaps now that you’re becoming a BFD, you don’t see the point of stooping to comment on other people’s sites anymore. After all, you paid your dues right?

And why have a blog roll? Linking out to other people’s sites is stupid right? Because then you can hold them captive! Forever!

Could be you get such good results from blogging that you stop and use the excuse that you have all this work to do.. (Yep. That one’s about me. And not in a pat-self-on-back way…)

Blog Island is the place you end up in when you stop doing the things that made you a successful blogger in the first place.

Like…

Writing about other people you admire . and linking to their posts.

Or being passionate about something, then writing about it with every drop of that passion.

Or reading your favorite blogs, and linking to your favorite blog posts.

Blogging is as much about consuming, commenting on, and linking to great content as it is creating it. All 4 activities work symbiotically together to turn you into a great blogger whose posts are read by actual humans.

Stay off blog island. No excuses.