FreeA calendarAbout 30 min
Write Ahead and Publish With Random Gaps
You finish posts weeks before they go out, then let them out one at a time on uneven days. No bursts.
Why This Matters
The worst mistake is writing ten posts in a weekend and posting them all on Monday. Then nothing for two months. A burst looks like mass made pages, and a gap looks like a site that gave up. A buffer of finished posts lets you ship on a steady drip even in a slow month.
✓ How To Do It
- Start the buffer first. Do not publish anything new until you have four finished posts that passed the claims sheet from Give Every Number a Source or Cut It.
- Pick a number you can keep. Two posts a month beats ten in one month and none after. The earlier lesson, Publish on a Fixed Cadence, covers picking the pace.
- Now add gaps that are not even. Roll a die. The number is how many days until the next post goes out. Do not post every Tuesday at 9. Vary the day and the hour.
- Use your CMS scheduler if it has one. If it does not, keep the finished posts in a folder marked ready and publish by hand from a reminder.
- Set the real date when the post goes live. Never backdate to look older. Google reads publication dates, and a wrong one hurts you.
- After each post goes live, open the live address on your phone. Check the title, the images, the phone number and the links. Make sure the page is in your sitemap.
- Log each post in a sheet with the date, the address and the one question it answers.
- Each month, refill the buffer back to four. If the buffer drops below two, slow down. Do not rush a weak post to keep the pace.
Done WhenA calendar showing four finished posts in the buffer with uneven publish dates set.
Reference List
Tips & Pitfalls
- Do not produce dozens of near copies on a schedule. Scaled content is a spam policy problem no matter how evenly you space it.
- Hold a post if a claim cannot be sourced. A late post beats a wrong one.
- Social and email can follow the post by a day. Do not blast everything at once.