5 Time Management Tips for Bloggers

Since I have started blogging, the number one question I get is: 

For some reason, it makes me laugh every time I read it, because the answer is: I HAVE NO IDEA..lol I could sit at home all day and just blog {seriously}. Between, writing posts, promoting and my blog design business – I really could do it all day, every day. But hey, that’s not reality for me, so I must manage my time wisely and here are my tips for doing just that. 

My mind works in two ways. Sometimes, I can just sit down and write whatever comes to my mind, but other times, I just draw a blank. This is where my “write it down” strategy comes in handy. I carry a notebook around with me all day and whenever I get an idea for a post or see something, I write it down. This gives me a full list of ideas for when I am just not feeling that expressive or creative. I highly encourage this. 

This is one of those wishy-washy topics. For me, I sit down on Saturday’s and write {almost all day}. I do this because my husband works on Saturdays, so it is a great day for me to work on blog stuff without it interfering with “us” time. My advice to others would be to set aside time to just write. This could be 30 min a day or a full day like me. I think everyones schedule will look a lot different. 

YES – I schedule posts, which is a tad obvious from the previous tip about about me writing on Saturdays. I really try to schedule posts for the whole week when writing, but I like to think I have an “open” schedule. If something comes up during the week and I want to write; i just write. My schedule is not a strict schedule, I leave plenty of room for flexibility and just my heart on any given day. 

I plan my posts in my planner each week. This also helps me make sure I have a good balance of posts so that I am not doing all product reviews, or all posts on blogging and nothing on my life or marriage. For me, planning produces structure, balance and focus.

What really helps me is setting small goals for my blog. I say small, because I am really talking about “extra” things I want to do to enhance my blog. For example, here are a few things on my list: add popular posts section, update share this buttons, decide on new comment widget, and search for businesses to partner with. I guess it is really more of a “to do list”, but I write these down in my blog notebook, so that when I have extra time, I can work on them. Blogs don’t “grow” in a day. I takes time to get things exactly how you want them and having a list of goals or to-do’s will help you get there without feeling overwhelmed. 

This is a biggy. In today’s world of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google + etc., it seems like there is always some way you could be doing more. My advice first promotion tip: Hootsuite. With hootsuite, you can schedule all your facebook posts and tweets for the week as well. By doing this, you can have your posts set up to automatically be tweeted at whatever time of day you would like. I LOVE this. I can be at work doing a million other things on a Monday morning, but since I have scheduled with hootsuite, my blog is still being promoted without me even having to be at a computer.

Now, my advice for Pinterest: As far as my blog goes, I only “pin” my own images when I feel like they are “pin” worthy – meaning they might cater to a Pinterest user. On Pinterest, people love a good “how to..” or “10 ways to..” type post. I do not pin every post I write.

Instagram: I just post to Instagram on the fly in my spare time. Sorry, not much depth or insight here. I have been trying to post images from my blog more, but mostly, it is just a collection of my life in images.

Google+: Ekk.. I know I have said this before, but I am still learning the ins-and-outs of Google+. I try to promote my blog posts through this outlet, but honestly it has been last on my list and gets neglected. I need to be better, but priorities people.. priorities.

Yikes, I guess this is counterproductive, but so worth it and time very well spent. Encouraging other bloggers and networking with them is vital to your blogs success. + to me the best part of blogging is meeting new friends and really getting to know people. I think it is an awesome environment to encourage each other and really be “friends” {even if we will never meet face-to-face}. I strive to respond to every comment and every email. I really enjoy this aspect of blogging. It takes time, yes, but it is my favorite part. I guess that is why I always got bad conduct marks in school for talking.. I like to talk people.

I hope this helps you and answers some of your questions! Feel free to leave me comments or ask me questions below 🙂 I would love to hear from you.

p.s. if you want my iPhone wallpaper you can have it for free!