Daily Dose of Design: 5 Tips to Manage Blogging Time Better

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

5 Tips to Manage Blogging Time Better

 photo 6 Ways to manage your time as a blogger_zpsillb91ks.jpg

Although I hope to one day be a full time blogger, I think I can speak for a majority of bloggers who are tackling a to-do list during the day when you suddenly stop and say,
"When can I just go home and blog?!"
 
There are tons of bloggers who get to work on their blogs all day long. Having a full time job with the title "blogger" is a dream come true to a lot of people, but until that actually happens... there is a fine line between getting things done for school or work versus the many things to do daily for your blog. Lets be honest, I would much rather do everything blogging related before any essay or work related thing ever, but it still has to get done.

Putting a couple hours of blogging in on a busy day can seem difficult but if you're anything like me, its totally necessary. I always find myself asking How am I going to do to get everything done today and still find time to write next Tuesday's post?


 
Here are the tips I've found SO helpful in managing all the demands of every day life and your blog:

Plan and schedule posts

For your blog and social media postings, trust me scheduling ahead of time will be SO beneficial in the long run. There's nothing more stressful than having a post idea that you want to go live tomorrow but that hasn't been started yet. Whenever you have some free time when working on your blog, start and try to complete a couple of posts. This will make it much easier on the busier days or when you're having a bloggers block.

Create an editorial calendar

Before I was taking the time to make myself an editorial calendar each month, my ideas were all over the place and what came next was very unpredictable. Since my posts vary over a few categories, its especially helpful to mix up the topics and not have too many chunks of each day after day. If you're trying to post more consistently, having all of your posts planned out (for me anyway) has been my number one helpful tip in getting my content posted on time.

Promote your posts wisely

Taking the time to promote posts is one of the most important things to do after publishing a post. However this is very time consuming and you should only be spending the time on the outlets that you see are bringing you significant amounts of traffic. For me, I spend a lot of time engaging in threads in Facebook groups. I see a lot of traffic and referrals coming from engaging with other bloggers who are simply looking for engagement on their posts just like you are. Scheduling posts for Instagram and freelance writing work, I often find myself trying to decide between whether I should be getting a customers work done or getting mine out of the way to spend more time on another project. Allotting a certain amount of time per day to work on a project no matter how big or small and giving yourself a reasonable timeline is one of the most important things you can do. Whether it's your post or work for a client, setting aside a certain amount of time helps tremendously in not stressing yourself out about getting it done.

Have monthly goals that are attainable

This is another thing I recently started doing a lot. Looking back, I wish I would have set monthly goals months ago, but now that I've started I realize how important it is! When you have a goal set for yourself, you're much more likely to achieve it. Not only have I been working hard to achieve the monthly goals, but trying to surpass them is an amazing feeling. Don't just mentally think of your goals either, write them down and put it somewhere you'll see it and constantly think about what you need to do to reach your goals.

Have guest posters on your blog

If you're posting a lot throughout the week, often having guest bloggers create a post for your blog is a huge time saver AND a nice change for your readers once in a while. Have a place on your blog telling people that they can submit ideas or submissions - I've had quite a few requests for guest posts and if they're the right fit for my blog, I love taking them! That's the most important part though, deciding whether a submission fits your blog and is a reflection of your brand that you want your readers to see. It's perfectly okay to be picky - it's your blog that you put time and effort into. That being said, the right guest posts can be great for you just as much so as it is for the blogger submitting the post. Chances are that the writer of the post will help to promote the post, thus bringing new readers to your blog.

Make sure you add submissions accordingly to your editorial calendar even if that means moving some things around. I like to put a guest post somewhere in the middle of the week to create a nice break up between your own posts. Also, always have guidelines you want them to follow; formatting, images, word count, etc. to help keep the flow of your blog going.

What do you do to manage your blogging time?

XOXO

46 comments:

  1. Perfect ideas. I haven't really found something I like to schedule posts. I like the idea of an editorial calendar, I started it but have fallen behind a bit.

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  2. I'm not the best at time management. It's a constant struggle but I am getting a lot better at planning posts in advance and scheduling when I'll take photos which is the make or break on whether something will actually get posted.

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  3. These are great tips. I'm terrible at time management. I never space my jobs out properly. If there's something to do, I just do it. Which means I work ALL the time.

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  4. these are fantastic ideas! with three littles at home it's SO tough to stop and blog but it's my dream to at least be a full fledged part time (with a part time income!) blogger. Thanks for the motivation!

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  5. YES to all of this. Blogging can lose its enjoyment once it turns into a career if youre not structured.

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  6. I tend to do stuff in batches. Batch write, batch photo, batch type, batch YT video if needed, batch compile. That's how I stay on top of things.

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  7. Scheduling posts is an absolute MUST for me. I need to or else I don't get going fast enough.

    On Sundays I write out all of my posts for the week (unless I have written them ahead of time) and then just schedule them to release each day - it's flawless (unless I don't actually write them... lol)

    Great post xoxo

    Samantha | pearlsandpolkadots.net

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  8. I love these. I need some guest posters to be scheduled! and honestly, I need to actually schedule the blogging ;)

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  9. Great tips! m a full time blogger on two blogs and Im still pretty bad at getting organized. I think if you love what you do you find the way any time any place. :)

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  10. Scheduling posts definitely helps. And I have a monthly calendar where I try to plan out what I'm going to write about at the beginning of each month. Often times things get moved around or I prefer to write about something different but it helps to have some plan in place.

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  11. I find that keeping an editorial calendar really helps keep me in check. I would be lost without that.

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  12. These are great tips. I'm a blogger by night and a mailwoman by day. Life gets very busy with three kids and a husband that works long hours. I use a calendar to plan out my blogging schedule, I use a ca for promo . my problem lies with setting realistic goals.

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  13. I have so much to do and I am overwhelmed a lot and I have a editorial calendar! LOL I need to learn to say no sometime! Thanks for the tips... now I need to actually follow them.

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  14. These are great! FB threads definitely take up a lot of time in-between taking care of my 4 month old, so I definitely try and get ahead as much as I possibly can.

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  15. These are awesome posts! Time management can be super hard for me as a new blogger because I find that I want to give my blog all my time when I honestly have other things to do too. Thanks for the tips.

    All the Best,
    Allison Jones | www.LiveLifeWellBlog.com

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  16. Thank you for this list! I especially need to create an editorial calendar after reading this— such a good idea

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  17. I love these tips!! I've never had a guest blogger before and now I will consider it for the future!.

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  18. I hate to schedule posts, because my posts are like my babies and I don`t want to let them out to the world without a supervision :) But sadly, it`s a must

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  19. I use a scheduler but often forget to schedule my posts... I think i need to post more updates

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  20. All great ideas. It's simple in theory, sometimes hard to put into practice. :)

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  21. Great time managing tips. Might start using these so I don't get so stressed with blogging.

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  22. Great tips! I definitely need to manage my blogging time better than I do now.

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  23. I've been starting to plan further out over the last month or so and I'm really liking that. It's hard to change my brain style, but I'm trying!

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  24. I haven't tried guest posting but that's a great idea! Facebook is my main focus, I don't really get much traffic from other media outlets.

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  25. Thank you for the tips. I think creating an editorial calendar is a great idea. Going to work on that one soon.

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  26. These are awesome tips. I also engage in threads in Facebook. It takes a lot of my time, but it's all worth it.

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  27. I have recently started keeping a planner to help. These are great tips and I so think that sometimes....when will i get to go home and blog? lol

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  28. Those are some great tips! I can't live without my planner and it allows me to decide what I will be posting for the entire month...

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  29. These are all great tips!! I love to take one chunk of a day and write/edit all of my blog posts for the week and schedule them and my social media pushes for the upcoming week. If I can get that done then I feel so ahead of the game!!

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  30. Such Excellent tips! You get it girl! I don't know how you do it! I blog full time and run out of time! I pray you get a viral post so you don't have to work and can blog to your hearts desire!

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  31. My calender has been a lifesaver. You aren't constantly looking for when things are due!

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  32. I love regular Blogging & these are some great tips to make sure blogging does not become a hectic task in all of a sudden. Planning & scheduling a post plays an important role & setting goals makes it so interesting as well as you look to achieve better results.

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  33. I totally wish I could put 8 hours a day into my blog in hopes of being more successful. Unfortunately I can't seem to do that or keep up. Thanks for these tips.

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  34. These are wonderful tips! I manage my blogging time with the help of a planner.

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  35. We all try to juggle it all, don't we? It can get overwhelming, but if you make the time to work on your goals they can come true!

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  36. Great tips. I absolutely love scheduling my post using a social media calendar. It is a must for me.

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  37. This is so great. I need to make a editorial calendar BAD.

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  38. I love these tips!! I've never had a guest blogger, but I've been thinking about considering it in the future!

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  39. I am trying to manage my blogging time better. It can be hard some days but your tips should really help.

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  40. My blog is taking up too much of my time and not bringing in enough money to justify it. I've been trying different strategies, but to no avail, so I'm about to scale back and go full-time to work. *sigh* I tried hard, so I get an A for effort. :)

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  41. These tips are wonderful. I am planning to make a better post structure so I can add more guest posts, it seems like a wonderful idea to have others share their stuff on my blog, time to time.

    Noor | Noor's Place

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  42. Thanks for these great ideas. I will be working on getting my editorial calendar up and running. I think that will help a lot.
    -- Marva @ sunSPARKLEshine

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  43. These are all fabulous tips! I need to start my editorial calendar for next year! I'm a mess. LOL!

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  44. Great tips! I'm horrible with time management! I give myself an hour, but then I click on every click bate story on Facebook and don't get started on work until much later!

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  45. I get so demotivated at times when my blog isn't doing as i would like. But these are great post because I need to get in a rhythm of things.

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