Bloggers are some of the busiest people on the planet. They have to manage and produce content for social networks, blog posts, and products. They also have to obtain new knowledge by reading more articles on the web while making sure all of the technology properly works. Sometimes, an email address can no longer send and receive emails. Other times, the blog stays in maintenance mode, and it’s up to the blogger to fix those technological flaws.
Since bloggers are so busy, many of them desperately want extra time in the day. Some bloggers go beyond the call of duty and only get four hours of sleep which is not enough sleep to live on. Although you can’t add extra hours to make a 100 hour day, you can implement tactics that allow you to save time and make you less busy. Here are 12 of those tactics:
#1: Use The WP Editorial Calendar
The WP Editorial Calendar is a WordPress plugin that allows you to see all of your scheduled blog posts displayed on a calendar. This feature is especially helpful for bloggers who schedule a bunch of blog posts in advance. The bloggers who schedule multiple blog posts risk making the mistake of not scheduling a blog post on the right day or the right time of day. Some bloggers have accidentally published two blog posts at the same time because they scheduled the blog posts. When I was starting out, that issue happened to me a few times.
The WP Editorial Calendar solves this issue by providing a clear layout. This clear layout will make it easy for you to see when your blog posts have been scheduled by the time and day so you never schedule two blog posts for the same time and day again (if you haven’t done this at all, you’ll never do so if you have the WP Editorial Calendar).
#2: Write Down A Month’s Worth Of Blog Post Ideas In One Day
One of the biggest time-eaters bloggers face is staring at the screen and not knowing what idea to write about next. That is why in every month, I always dedicate one day for coming up with a month’s worth of blog posts ideas.
When I wrote two blog posts every day, this would be challenging. I would come up with 60 different, legitimate ideas for blog posts in a few hours. Now that I only publish three blog posts every week, that process is easier. I only have to come up with anywhere from 12-14 ideas depending on how many Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays there are in the month. Knowing the ideas in advance makes it easier for me to write my blog posts.
[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1EAQ1pE”]Knowing your #blog post ideas in advance makes them easier to write.[/tweetthis]
#3: Outline Your Blog Posts Before Writing Them
Another big time-eater bloggers face is knowing the blog post idea but still staring at the screen. This time, the problem is figuring out how to continue writing about a particular idea. If your blog post idea was “10 Ways To Ride A Horse,” and you left it like that, then the idea is not enough.
The bloggers who write a blog post idea without outlining the blog post still have to think of the 10 different methods to ride a horse. This thinking results in delay which can eat up a big chunk of any blogger’s time. Outlining your blog post with all 10 of the different methods to ride a horse before you start writing that blog post will allow you to save that time. Then, you will already know what you need to write about going into the writing process.
#4: Have Guest Bloggers Write Content For You
If you are a very busy blogger or just prefer to save a lot of time, you can have guest bloggers write the content for you. I personally do not have guest bloggers for this blog because I want this blog to only contain content that I wrote.
However, there are big name bloggers who have guest bloggers write the content for them. The great thing for bloggers who want guest bloggers to write for them is that most guest bloggers will contribute to your blog for free. To the guest blogger, your blog is a way to get a backlink, spread the word, and build authority on the web (many writers who contribute to The Huffington Post make sure people know that they contributed to The Huffington Post). If you approve the guest post, then you have an extra blog post to be scheduled in advance. If one blog post gets published on your blog every day, and you get three guest posts every week, then you only have to write four blog posts every week. Writing four blog posts is less time consuming than writing seven blog posts of the same length, and the impact this can have in the span of weeks and months is powerful.
#5: Only Use Technology That Is Easy To Use
Some refer to technology as a reliable companion while others describe it as a nuisance. You want to focus on using the technology that is easy to use. If you do not know how to use a piece of technology, only learn the technology that is easy to learn.
There are bloggers who focus on learning some of the most challenging technological tools and features. Some of these technological tools and features take years to learn, but not all tools lead to equal results. Some tools that take years to master will lead to better results than the tools that take a few minutes to master, but then again, the opposite is also possible.
I only challenge myself with 1-3 technological tools that seem difficult every year, and none of these challenges take more than a few days. If I was stuck for a few months trying to learn how one piece of technology worked, I would lose too much time that I could have used to produce valuable content.
#6: Hire People
Hire people to take care of your marketing campaigns (although they can be very beneficial, they also eat up a lot of time). If you entrust someone to your marketing campaigns, be sure to set up a system for that person to follow. If you reward the people who buy your book with a free training course, you can hire people to provide the customers with the free training course they deserve.
If your blog is not getting a lot of traffic, you may initially have to hire guest bloggers. However, as your blog builds an authority on the web, the guest bloggers will eventually come to you (I still get emails from guest bloggers even though I say I don’t take guest posts). Even if you know how to perform a tedious task, you can hire someone else to get the job done so you can save time. Time is money.
#7: Write Content That You Want To Write
No matter how good you are at writing content, you must choose a topic that you are passionate about. If you grudge the writing process, then you will often drift off and think about some of the things that you would prefer doing instead of writing the next blog post. Be proud of what you put up on the web! It all goes under your name.
[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1EAQ1pE”]Be proud of what you put up on the web. It all goes under your name. #blogging #socialmedia[/tweetthis]
#8: Write Your Content In The Morning
The morning is the most productive time of the day. You need to wake up early to write content so you won’t have to worry about writing the next blog post in the evening. As the day wanes down, and more distractions come into play, it will get more challenging to write blog posts at a consistent rate.
By waking up in the morning to write your blog posts, all of the distractions will not have a strong impact in your writing.
#9: Schedule More Blog Posts
Unfortunately for me, writing and scheduling two blog posts are two different things. I made the mistake of updating my Mac to Yosemite before it was fully usable. The result was everything on my computer going dead. I could not access the internet or any of the content I wrote. Basically, the only thing my computer could do was turn on and show me all of the icons and possibilities that I once had before the Yosemite update.
After my Mac was taken to the Apple Store the following day, I got full access to my computer again. I could write content, access the internet, and do everything else just like before. However, one file went missing, and that one file contained all of my blog posts and blog post ideas. I had about 10 finished blog posts that I never got to schedule and a dozen or so ideas that never got written bout. I couldn’t even find the document on my Mac’s Passport To sum it up, it was a bad day.
Maybe the document is somewhere deep within my computer (that would be cool because I could create a “Lost Blog Posts” series). The lesson I learned is that it is important to schedule blog posts in advance for a long period of time. I got lucky because I still had a month’s worth of content scheduled. However, if I only had blog posts scheduled for the next day, I would have been pressed into the uncomfortable condition of writing blog posts with only a few days to spare (while knowing that I already put in the work, but that work was gone).
By scheduling more blog posts, you will feel more comfort in your blogging journey. Last-minute stress will be a thing of the past. Since I schedule over a month’s worth of blog posts in advance, I never have last-minute stress when it comes to writing blog posts. That is why I am always able to create long, insightful blog posts that are over 1,000 words long (and sometimes over 2,000 words long. I knew I should have turned this blog into a membership site…)
#10: Write Fewer Blog Posts
The fewer blog posts you have to write, the less ideas you have to think of. For the average blogger, more time is spent thinking of what to write about than actually writing blog posts. If you write one blog post every day, then you have to think of 30 blog post ideas every month. However, if you only write on the weekdays, you would only have to think of 20-24 ideas every month depending on how many weekdays are in that month.
The fewer blog posts you have to write, the less time it takes to come up with more ideas. That means you will have more time to write the content that matters—your content.
#11: Don’t Bounce From Idea To Idea
One you identify the blog post idea that you want to start writing about, you must only write content for that one blog post before you write any other piece of content anywhere else. The bloggers who write multiple blog posts simultaneously have to constantly shift their thinking from one blog post to another.
If I wrote one blog post about Twitter and one blog post about Pinterest at the same time, then I would have to constantly shift from writing about my Twitter knowledge to writing about my Pinterest knowledge. Each time a shift occurs, more time is lost. That is why it is better to focus on writing one blog post at a time than it is to start writing and finishing multiple blog posts at the same time. I only tried to write two books at the same time. Neither of those books are in the marketplace, and I’m not thinking about publishing them.
#12: Keep It Simple
Blogging is something that typically becomes complex in a short amount of time. Many bloggers insist on giving themselves work to do in the boat loads, and they insist on spreading that work out in dozens of areas. You need to keep your blogging strategy simple in order for it to be effective. The best plans are the simple ones.
In Conclusion
Blogging for a full-time income is a demanding responsibility. Some bloggers may find themselves fighting to stay awake late at night to write extra blog posts, respond to comments, or do anything else for the good of their blogs.
If you know some workarounds, blogging won’t be as demanding as it is now. Granted, these workarounds are by no means get rich quick schemes or anything of that nature. However, these workarounds allow you to save valuable time. The way you use your time determines how successful you become in what you do.
Which tip was your favorite? Do you have any other tips for boosting the productivity of busy bloggers? Please share your thoughts and advice below.
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