One of the toughest things about blogging is time- there is rarely enough of the stuff! We can’t help you slow time down, however we do have a wealth of tips to help you speed up tasks which are part of your blogging day. Here are 10 of those tips to get you started- why not pick your favourite three to try out next time you sit down to blog!
1. Create a Content Calendar
It might seem strange to start a post on how to save time by giving you yet another task- but if you do this properly you’ll save loads of time in the long term! A content calendar doesn’t have to be in-depth; all you need is a spreadsheet with a few prompts to help you over the month. There are usually a few key ‘post types’ that you’ll use on your blog. For example, if you’re a beauty blogger you might use the following types of content; tutorials, product reviews, industry news, haul posts.
What you can do is work out the types of posts you use regularly and schedule them in weekly or monthly. For example if you blog about travel, you might decide to write up one city guide a month, 2 product reviews a month and 2 travel tips posts a week. Scheduling this in by day will give your time some structure, and is a great way to write in advance if you know what you’re posting, when.
2. Write up a List of Prompts
This is a great thing to have if you often find yourself struggling with content ideas. If ever you feel a rush of creativity coming on, write down all the ideas you can think of. They don’t necessarily have to be fully formed blog post titles, just really simple concepts that you can then draw inspiration from. For example, one of my prompts is ‘top 5’s’, and if ever I run low on ideas, I’ll think of a ‘top 5’ tips to write up. It works every time!
3. Write Follow Up Posts
It’s especially important to do this if one of your posts is exceptionally popular with your readers. You could think about answering any questions people had on the post, or if it’s a topic which can be followed up then you can follow it up a couple of months later. For example, if you’re a beauty blogger and you write up a glowing review of a new face cream, follow up a few months later to say if it’s still working for you, and if you have any more thoughts now you’ve been using it for a while.
4. Work Out if You’re Blogging too Often
Lots of people get worked up about whether they are spending enough time blogging, but are you spending too much time on your blog? Have a look round at other blogs in your niche to see how often they post and if you’re going over the norm, you could also consider asking your readers what they think! It’s what I tend to do if I have an issue r a question, and I pretty much always get a really helpful and honest response.
5. Schedule!
There is a reason that some bright spark invented scheduling for both blog posts and social media; because they knew it would save people LOTS of time! Almost all blogging platforms allow you to schedule- use these tools! They really do help, and scheduling means you can choose when you blog leaving you with more free time. Don’t be a slave to the publishing schedule!
6. Plan Your Week in Advance- Including Your Social Media Output
I used to write a to-do list at the beginning of every week; as I got busier and busier I got worse and worse at planning- it was a nightmare! When things are really hectic, I often find that planning is the first thing to go out of the window- but it should be the last! As soon as I made planning a priority in my week again I realised I wasn’t quite as busy as I thought, and was able to allocate my time properly. Never underestimate the power of a good weekly to-do list!
7. Focus on One Task at a Time
We’ve all been there; you’re writing a post, and then you get an email. The next thing you know its one hour later and you’ve been rummaging around your inbox replying to emails and are no further along with your blog post.
Emails can wait, so can twitter, and so can replying to comments! The world won’t fall apart if you leave it half an hour to reply to an email. Stay focused and battle tasks one at a time.
8. Keep All Your Materials Organised and Saved in the Same Place
A small but significant change; taking the time to sit down and create labelled folders of all your blogging material will save you lots of time in the long run!
9. If You Feel Like Writing, the Keep Going!
If you ever really feel like writing- sit down and just write! You can edit later, just indulge yourself and allow yourself to write without editing if you feel like you can keep going. You’ll have at least 2 or 3 posts in no time! Need ideas?! Just search ‘blog post ideas’ in our search bar, we have plenty!
10. Create a Series
Creating a series is a good way to take the pressure off when it comes to creating content ideas. Even if it’s just monthly and not weekly, that’s one post per month that you should be able to write up relatively quickly. If you like this idea, take a look over our guide on how to create a great blog post series.
How do you save yourself time? Are you struggling to find time for anything but blogging?! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
We all hav the time – we just have to know how to find it.