23 Oct 2015

10 Ways To Make Time For Blogging

For most bloggers, blogging is a rewarding but time consuming hobby. We are (nearly always by night) writers, marketers, project managers, social media mavens as well as website developers, and although these are amazing skills to have, I know we ALL struggle to find the time to blog, especially with a full-time job. Since finishing my degree, I have been struggling to balance my work life, blog life and social life, but I am slowly getting there. Here are my top tips to juggle all of the above!

How to make time for blogging

1. PRIORITIES 

The biggest time killer for blogging is being distracted from your actual blogs purpose. It can get confusing trying to juggle writing posts, commenting on blogs, being active on Twitter or YouTube, working on a web design and creating a media kit. Having a list of the things you want your blog to achieve on a monthly/yearly basis will instantly give to direction on how you should be spending your time e.g writing more product reviews and monetising content.

2. SET GOALS

Linking to the first point, the best way to focus on your goals is to set them in the first place. If you define what success looks like it will be ten times easier to reach, this could be 100 page views or 1000, you have to start somewhere. Plus, this can reveal things that aren't working so you can focus your time on things that you know work. 

3. MAKE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR 

I use calendars like these to plan out Marketing and Social Media content for clients and trust me, you need to learn how to use one. It makes a huge difference in productivity and you'll soon learn to love being over organised. If you need some inspiration for your own editorial calendar check out Pinterest for a ton of printable pages, or you can even make a scrap book of magazine inserts or articles you found useful to pluck inspiration from.  

4. MAKE EVERY POST COUNT

Although consistent blog posts are great for SEO - unenthusiastic, bland blog posts aren't great for keeping readers engaged. You don’t have to blog everyday you'll drive yourself crazy, instead write something that is full of creativity and genuine passion even if it's only once a week. 

5. SCHEDULE POSTS

We all know that keeping up with your 5+ social media accounts everyday can be a bit overwhelming, especially when it's key to building your own 'brand'. I use Buffer to schedule in tweets that link to old and new blog posts. This puts less pressure on having to tweet organically if you are super busy, but remember organic engagement is important too!

6. GET SOCIAL

Your social life is totally 'bloggable'. If you are going out to a new restaurant with friends, wearing a new lipstick and some sassy new shoes - these are three things that are going to be useful to readers e.g. how many hours did that new lipstick last for? Always aim to shoot two birds with one stone. 

7. BITE SIZE

You'll be happily surprised at how much you can get done if you simply set aside 30 minutes a day to blogging. Use a planner to break up your ideas into bite size pieces e.g:

Monday - Take photos
Wednesday - Write content
Thursday - Edit photos and check content
Friday - Publish and share

8. TIME OUT

Taking time away from your blog can be just what you need to come back with a fresh mindset and new ideas. Don't put too much pressure on yourself, blogging is meant to be fun!

9. TAKE BULK CONTENT

Ever have an Instagram block? If you were a pro time-saving blogger you'd have a ton of photos saved for a rainy day! I have 20-30 photos that I know I can fall back on if I ever need them. Not every photo makes the cut for the blog, so use the other decent ones and roll them out on social media to keep your readers intrigued.

10. YOU CAN'T DO EVERYTHING

I tend to compare myself to other bloggers A LOT. You know the ones who always have killer content, post photos of their fabulous social life 24/7, whilst I'm sat at a desk... These bloggers are more than likely 'full time' bloggers and have tons more time to devote to a killer blog. 

I hope these points help you define more focus on your blogging journey, but remember, as long as you are truly doing the best you can.  It's enough!

Happy Blogging.

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