5 Ways to Make Your Blogging Life Easier

Running a blog. It goes a little bit one thing like this:

• Consider concept
• Write a put up
• Take/supply/edit a photograph for the put up
• Format the put up
• Schedule or publish the put up
• Push the put up to social media
• Reply to feedback

However that's only the start, proper? That doesn’t embrace planning, goal-setting, editorial calendars, blog design, design tweaks, multimedia, a number of updates on social media, a social media workflow plan, visitor running a blog, networking, sponsorships, affiliate gross sales, creating products, launching products, e-mail advertising and marketing, creating newsletters, being a part of the running a blog neighborhood, going to occasions, maintaining with developments…

There’s a lot to do.

Within the 5 years I’ve been running a blog I really feel like I’ve made all of the errors. Certainly one of my largest ones was losing time. Once you’re running a blog on high of labor and life and different duties, that point you need to spare is is finite. After crashing and burning with my poor habits, I realized in a short time what would work to chop down wasted time, and I then created methods to be extra environment friendly.

5 Methods to Make your Running a blog Life Simpler

Batching

Batching is once you full the identical or comparable duties in a single time period. As a substitute of writing a put up with a headline, picture, put up physique, and many others, you may like to put in writing all posts for the week in a single go, edit and add all pictures in a single go, and many others. It means you’re in the proper headspace for every process, quite than switching between what you should do, then the following process, then again once more.

Batching can be super-useful for returning emails, scheduling social media, common writing, researching, picture sourcing, and the menial process you hate however should be performed (accounts, anybody?!).

I’ve even gone as far as to decide on which days I batch course of. This Blogs was content material creation, Tuesdays was e-mail and pictures… I’ve needed to make some changes this 12 months, however choosing days after I was most helpful was truly probably the most profitable technique I attempted.

Scheduling

This is applicable to each time and content material. I schedule my time when I've it, and I schedule content material.

For instance, if I've just a few hours spare, I’ll spend a few minutes earlier than I get began prioritising my duties and including them to blocks of time. I often try to “eat the frog first”, i.e. doing the factor that’s the toughest to do, so the remaining is simpler (and in addition will be added to tomorrow’s to-do record if I get interrupted, as they’re not as time-sensitive because the frog).

My frog is often content material creation. I would like to try this after I’m motivated and have area to suppose. Picture processing I can do later, and with much less mind bandwidth. So I schedule creation first, then different duties.

Scheduling content material is tremendous helpful for once you don’t have time to weblog every single day, otherwise you’re taking a break. Scheduling content material in your weblog and scheduling your social media means much less hands-on work, and extra time to work on different issues. Like binge-watching Netflix and consuming popcorn.

If you happen to’re scheduling your social media, do be sure you pop onto the platforms at sure occasions to answer folks. It’s finest for those who can put up and reply in actual time, but when that’s not at all times attainable (I do know for me it definitely isn’t), then schedule the updates, and reply when you have got time. Or once you’ve scheduled time in your day to reply!

Work out once you’re most effective

I’ll always remember one morning I wakened earlier than the birds and questioned if I ought to simply research for my upcoming take a look at seeing as if I wasn’t going again to sleep anytime quickly. I used to be quickly shocked to grasp how clear my considering was and the way nicely I understood what I used to be studying. My consideration was targeted and issues made excellent sense. I felt like I had mastered some fairly troublesome ideas (it was a third-year psychology examination, in spite of everything) and was nicely on my method to acing a take a look at – all earlier than breakfast! I knew straight away I used to be a morning individual.

Whereas working within the early hours hasn’t been achievable for me in the previous few years (two youngsters who don’t sleep, heaven assist me), I do know I’m extra environment friendly for mind duties within the morning, and might satisfactorily reply to emails and requests, add recipes, and do admin later within the afternoon. I’m fairly fried by night time and might barely string a sentence collectively, so I don’t even hassle.

A good friend of mine is the alternative – she doesn’t actually get her writing groove on till late afternoon, and can write up till bedtime. It’s all about figuring out once you’re probably the most environment friendly so that you aren’t attempting to put in writing a 2000 phrase put up on Fb algorithm adjustments once you’re canine drained and fuzzy. Once you’re environment friendly, you don’t waste time –  and as a bonus, you full duties quicker.

Automate

Bless you, web automation instruments, the place would we be with out you? They're fiercely mentioned, loyalties are sturdy – it’s laborious to not love one thing that makes your life a lot simpler.

There’s been loads of dialogue right here on ProBlogger about what sorts of instruments everybody loves to make use of for automation – every part from social media scheduling apps to creating studies in Google Analytics so that they’re despatched to you often and it saves you going searching for them.

You possibly can automate loads of issues in your weblog: If This Then That (IFTTT) is big for automated behaviours. It may well do something from posting your Instagram photos to your twitter account (thereby bypassing that pesky concern of Instagram pictures not displaying up in newsfeeds), you will be emailed when somebody mentions you on-line, you possibly can “like” a observe on Soundcloud and have it immediately downloaded to your Dropbox – loads of issues you possibly can set as much as mechanically occur after a set off of your selecting.

I needed to giggle after I noticed this automation for folks:

Electronic mail canned responses are a beautiful factor if you end up answering folks with the identical info again and again. Gmail specifically is helpful for this – it'll ship a pre-written response as a reply to inquiring emails. You can automate the responses to be despatched primarily based on the factors you select – typically sender, topic, key phrase, and many others. Very helpful for liberating up your time.

Automation doesn’t get a lot better than apps that handle your social media. Now not do you need to look forward to posts to go stay earlier than you manually replace them to your Fb! Or set reminders for once you wished to tweet out your hyperlink primarily based on when your viewers is on-line. There are many locations to go the place you schedule a bunch of posts to exit at a time of your selecting. Darren makes use of Sprout Social (see his social media scheduling workflow here), I take advantage of a mix of CoSchedule and Buffer, and there are lots that may aid you out in relation to Instagram and Pinterest, too – specifically Sked Social, Hootsuite, Agorapulse and Tailwind.

Planning

I can not advocate this sufficient! I haven’t at all times performed it, however it made an enormous distinction to how I spent my time, and the way environment friendly I used to be after I lastly had the time.

After I nailed the planning of time, I moved onto the planning of content material. It was necessary for me to take a step again and see the larger image of what I wanted to do and what I wished to attain when it got here to running a blog. It was now not sufficient to only present up every single day and do what wanted to be performed, I needed to plan first so I may very well be in management, quite than at all times working to catch up. I hate working.

The very first thing I did was determine after I was most effective now that I couldn’t do the early mornings any extra. Then I discovered which elements of the day could be used for which duties. Then I made the holiest of holies: the editorial calendar. Even when I didn’t know precisely what day I’d be running a blog that pot pie recipe, figuring out I had a put up to put in writing about pot pies (or creating achievable blogging goals) meant I wasn’t faffing round questioning what to do or what to put in writing. Once I end one put up, I take a look at my record and transfer onto the following. I transfer the calendar round after I write spontaneous posts, however having an overarching framework with which to reference has been the breakthrough for me.

You possibly can hearken to the webinar Darren and I did with Darlene of Digital Pictures Faculty the place we focus on how we method editorial calendars on every web site, and learn how to plan one for your self.

I take advantage of good outdated pen and paper plus CoSchedule for Veggie Mama, and I take advantage of a Google Doc and Google Calendar for content material right here on ProBlogger.

Bonus tip: Outsource

Typically it’s simply mandatory. Right here’s 44 Things Chris Ducker Thinks Bloggers Should Delegate to Virtual Staff.

And there you have got it! 5 (nicely, six) methods you possibly can streamline your workflow to get extra performed.

So what about you? Have you ever discovered some shortcuts that aid you weblog successfully? I’d love to listen to them!

Stacey was the Managing Editor of ProBlogger.com: a author, blogger, and full-time phrase nerd balancing all of it with being a stay-at-home mum. She writes about all this and extra at Veggie Mama. Chat along with her on Twitter @veggie_mama or be entertained on Facebook.

 

This text was initially Printed sixteenth February 2015 and up to date seventh April 2022.