The cornerstone of a good content marketing strategy is a company blog, but creating quality, informative blog content on a consistent basis can be incredibly difficult. It takes persistence, creativity and a commitment that lasts longer than a few short months. In short, your blog is always a work in progress.

The following are some steps you can take as you work on your blog content writing process:

Prewriting and topic generation

Everyone, including the most seasoned writers, get writer’s block from time to time. You can probably relate, no matter what level of writing you do. That’s why it’s so important to focus first on gathering some ideas before you sit down to develop a blog post draft.

If you’re completely stuck, try carrying an idea notebook or download a note-taking app on your phone to make sure you have a place to jot down any ideas that come up as you go about your daily life. Once you have an idea or topic in mind, expand on it before getting started on your draft.

One of the best ways to do this is through free writing, which allows you to write anything that comes to mind without worrying about formatting or if your writing will make sense in its current form. In other words, just sit down, write and don’t stop to edit—you’ll have time for that later.

Getting started with a rough draft

As you write the first draft of your blog post, don’t focus too much on proper grammar, spelling, word count and the general nuts and bolts of your content. Instead, concern yourself only with getting your ideas into a workable draft that you will condense or expand upon later.

At this stage, it is important to set aside some quality alone time to concentrate on writing. Find your happy writing place, such as a coffee shop, a quiet restaurant, the library or your home. Turn off your cell phone and steer clear of email and browsing the Internet. This is your time to focus on your blog content writing.

At the end of this stage, it might be a good idea to let someone else read through your piece to give an opinion on the readability and interest of your writing. Make sure it is someone you trust both personally and professionally.

Edit and fine-tune

After you have a rough draft, it’s time to revise and edit for general flow. This might take some time, as many writers go through several rounds of revisions before reaching a final version.

Next, you should check for grammatical errors, hard-to-read paragraphs, spelling mistakes and other issues that might impact readability. Many writers have found that they are most successful when they print out a document rather than reading off a screen. Again, it might be necessary to have someone else review your blog post to catch any errors you might have missed.

Of course, there may be times when you simply can no longer develop ideas and blog content due to time constraints and other issues that arise with your business. If this is the case, consider working with a professional copywriter to help you create consistent blog content.