Blogging can get overwhelming. There’s a lot of writing, marketing, learning, and a bunch of other things as well.
Even the most passionate bloggers can sometimes feel overwhelmed by their work level.
When we get overwhelmed, our minds freeze. We have so much to do, but we don’t know where to start. The result is nothing getting done.
That’s what happens when you overwhelm yourself.
To get your work done, you cannot get overwhelmed by your workload. That means you must make your blog strategy less overwhelming.
Just because you make your blog strategy less overwhelming does not mean you are decreasing your productivity. You are just increasing the odds that you get everything done.
To make your blog strategy less overwhelming, follow these seven tips.
#1: Acquire More Knowledge
There are two reasons a blog strategy becomes overwhelming. The first reason is a time crunch and the second reason is a lack of direction.
Acquiring more knowledge accounts for both of those reasons.
If you learn more about your niche, then you will write blog posts in a shorter amount of time. If you learn more about blogging, then you have more direction with your strategy.
If your niche is blogging, then you get to feed two birds with one scone, but if your niche is not blogging, then no worries.
#2: Create A Plan
As you acquire more knowledge about blogging, you need to create a plan. What types of results do you want to see and how will you go about achieving those results?
That’s a plan in a nutshell.
Creating a plan gives you a sense of direction in your blog strategy. You know where you need to direct your time to get your desired results.
#3: Implement Now
If you learn without doing anything that you learn, you will quickly find yourself overwhelmed. Each time you learn something but don’t implement, you are adding something to your to-do list.
Learn without implementing for a few weeks, and that to-do list can get quite large.
When you come across new knowledge, you have to apply it in one way or the other. If you realize doubling your tweeting frequency results in more blog traffic, then implementing means doubling your tweeting frequency.
See what happens. If it works, great! If it doesn’t work, then at least you know (for me, it works).
Applying the knowledge can also mean writing a blog post about what you learned. When you write about the same topic you are trying to master, then don’t be surprised if you retain more of the knowledge.
The way I learn more about my niche is obtaining the knowledge and then writing about it in my words. Effectively communicating what you learned is proof that you understand the concepts.
#4: Outsource Some Of The Work
Time is always ticking and tocking. Those ticks and tocks can result in an overwhelming sense of urgency. If we had more time, we would not be as overwhelmed as we are now.
Luckily, there is an easy way to regain time in your day. In fact, it is the one tactic that you must leverage if you want to become a successful entrepreneur.
That one tactic is outsourcing.
If you outsource 80% of the work in your day, you will have a lot more time to work on the important parts of your blog strategy.
Your blog strategy will also be less overwhelming because you will have a team around you.
In other words, it’s not all on you anymore. You have people to help you.
UpWork is the best place to find freelancers who will help you with various tasks that take up your time.
I have freelancers on UpWork who schedule my tweets, create pictures, and manage my social networks among other things.
All of that time I gain now goes towards my blog and Udemy.
#5: Streamline The Writing Process
You want the writing process to go by as quickly as possible while ensuring you provide the value.
If you can cut your time spent writing a blog post by half, then you will have a lot more time available. Bloggers spend much of their time writing the content, so streamlining the writing process is the best way to open up more time.
I recently wrote a blog post that goes into detail about getting blog post ideas and then rapidly turning blog post ideas into blog posts. If you are looking to streamline your writing process, then you’ll want to read that blog post.
#6: Take Breaks
Sometimes when you feel overwhelmed by the workload, it is simply necessary to take a break.
It isn’t always a matter of giving yourself less work or working smarter. It is just a matter of abandoning your work and taking a break.
Just a 15-30 minute break. Nothing substantial.
That break will allow you to remove yourself from your work and go back to fulfilling the work-life balance. Then, once you are ready, resume your work.
You will feel less overwhelmed about the work since it won’t consume you as much as it did before you took your break.
I take breaks by watching videos, reading books, listening to audiobooks, or writing in one of my journals. There are plenty of ways to take a break that can also be useful for your blog strategy, but make sure you take a break that you enjoy.
#7: Have A Mentor
When you feel confident that blogging is for you, and you have an idea of what you are doing, having a mentor can bring you to the finish line.
I’m not simply talking about role models whose blogs you visit on a regular basis.
I am talking about the people who you can directly contact and then get insights from them specifically geared towards your question.
Maybe you find your mentor through one-on-one coaching. Maybe you find a mentor who is willing to respond to every email or tweet you send.
Try to find a free mentor or an inexpensive mentor to get started. Here’s the best way I know of to find a quality mentor for the lowest price.
Find a high value Udemy course related to the topic you are trying to learn. Buy it when Udemy runs a discount (you’ll save a lot from their discounts). Then go through the lectures (videos).
This is the key part. As you go through the lectures, ask questions in the discussion section of the course. Here’s what the discussion section of a course looks like:
Instructors tend to respond to these discussions because responding boosts their Udemy search engine rank.
It’s also common courtesy to the students who enrolled.
Now you have a mentor who will sort of work one-on-one with you for a fraction of the cost of most one-on-one coaching programs.
When people ask me questions on social media or through email, I respond as often as I can. When students ask me questions in one of my courses, I always respond.
An active Udemy instructor who teaches a course related to your niche may be the best place to go to find a mentor to make your blog strategy less overwhelming.
In Conclusion
Your blog strategy provides you with direction for the time you allocate towards blogging. However, that strategy can sometimes get overwhelming.
When your blog strategy gets overwhelming, working through isn’t the solution. You need to change your approach. When you feel overwhelmed, sometimes taking no action is better than taking action.
But if you choose to take action, you must take action in a smart manner. In an overwhelmed state, you must make small strides of progress as you head towards goal achievement.
Which of these tips was your favorite? Do you have any other tips for making the blog strategy less overwhelming? Sound off in the comments section below.
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