To say blogging is time-consuming is an understatement – it can easily fill up your spare time if you let it. Unless you’re lucky enough to be a professional blogger you’ll most likely have to fit blogging around a job or taking care of the kids, and sometimes managing to be an organised blogger just doesn’t happen.
As I work every day and only really have evenings to write, I have to get my blogging organised otherwise I’d get way behind. I assumed that all of the much more experienced bloggers always had loads of posts scheduled way in advance – going by a recent Twitter chat apparently that’s not the case!
If you use your time wisely you can get ahead of yourself and save a lot of blogging stress. So here are my 10 tips on being an organised blogger…
Get yourself a notebook.
It’s impossible to remember everything so you need to be able to refer back to important ideas, websites or your favourite blogs. Write everything down in a notebook
Brainstorm some ideas.
Even if it’s just titles, write these down in your nice new notebook. Or you could do what I do and save these as draft posts in WordPress (just the title to begin with) – if I don’t note them down I totally forget all of my good ideas.
Prepare the photos.
If you have lots of ideas but are yet to actually write the posts you can still start getting together any photos you might need to include. This is especially a good idea if you need to take photos outdoors – if it’s sunny make the most out of it rather than waiting until you’ve written the post, the weather could change and mess up your schedule.
Set a plan.
How many posts do you want to publish a week – be realistic! I’d love to be able to write 3 or 4 a week but have settled for 2 then if I manage more it’s a bonus.
Get ahead of yourself.
Once you have a nice list of post ideas spend an afternoon churning out some blog posts. If you can get enough written in one go you can schedule one or two per week so you always have a few week’s worth of content planned. That way you’re always a bit ahead of yourself and it’s not too stressful if you get writer’s block for a few days.
Write shorter posts.
If you think of a topic that you can write quite a lengthy post on, it might be beneficial to break it down into a couple of smaller posts. Short posts are more likely to get read anyway, plus you get 2 blog posts for the price of 1!
Make the most of any quiet time.
Every Wednesday I have to sit in the car for an hour while Little H does gymnastics so I use the time to write a blog post. I have the WordPress app on my phone and type straight into it, then that when I get back to my laptop the drafts are there waiting for me.
Try recording your notes.
One thing that I haven’t quite mastered yet is speaking my notes into my phone rather than typing them. It would be so much quicker but I need to practice using this function a bit more.
Research link ups, Twitter chats and hashtags.
Look into some relevant link ups or Twitter chats that you could join, this gives you a day of the week to get a blog post ready for, and some link ups have a particular theme which can give you post ideas. Note down a list of hashtags so you don’t have to go hunting each time you post.
Schedule, schedule, schedule!
Schedule your social media posts as well as your blog posts. Use Hootsuite, Buffer or a similar program to schedule tweets and Facebook posts in advance. You can schedule the same post several times over a week to save time later.
So there are my tips on getting yourself more organised and saving some time. Are there any tips here that you don’t currently do? Or do you have any other ideas?
If you still need to get more organised, have a read of my blog post Top tips for being awesome and getting stuff done
Happy blogging!
some great ideas here I love a good note pad and I am always writing things down or just writing the title of a post and leave it in the drafts for when I have time to do it. ! I used to be really good at scheduling posts but have got a bit laid back with it need to start again #stayclassy
It’s definitely a lot to keep on top of isn’t it!
Some brilliant tips, I always try and organise myself well.I will have to try recording my notes. Great idea.
Glad you found them useful, would love to hear how you get on recording your notes!
Great tips since January I’ve been a lot more organised with my blog than I use to be. A note book or a blog planner is an essential
Great tips. I always find myself struggling to keep up. Meaning my photos are never as good.
Great post
L X
http://workingmumy.blogspot.com
#TheList
I agree, I definitely find the photos often take longer to sort than the writing of the post!
Very good ideas there, thank you so much for sharing #brilliantblogposts
Thanks for the tips I definitely need to take a slightly more organised approach! First step buy a notebook 😉 thank you! #thelist
Thanks for sharing your tips. I have just started blogging and this is what I’m working on, being organised.
#thelist
Ah, I wish I had seen this a few weeks ago, I am steadily getting myself organised and I think by the end of the month are will be on track and would have implemented most of your great tips! 😀 #thelist
Great tips! I have lists of post ideas and never enough time to actually write them! There is just so much to do with a blog x #TheList
Tell me about it, I definitely have more in my Drafts folder than in my Scheduled folder!
Ah great ideas Sarah! I’d really like to get to a point where I’m ahead of myself, but it hasn’t happened yet! On a bit of a blogging wheel I think. Keep it short is so worth remembering too…it’s easy to get carried away but, as you say, I tend to read shorter posts myself!x
Great tips. I try to schedule some posts for the week but don’t always manage it. I do schedule my social media posts though, it’s makes it all so much easier. 🙂
#brilliantblogposts
Great ideas! I try to schedule some posts ahead of time but others are more diary-style so tend to be my current thoughts and I don’t think they’d work so well if I scheduled them ahead of time as they wouldn’t make sense alongside my tweets and Instagram.
Like you, I try to take as many photos as possible – even if they don’t end up in a blog post, it is useful to have them just in case!
I use Buffer to schedule my link-sharing tweets ahead of time, especially now that I have a newborn – I just wouldn’t manage to share stuff otherwise! #TheList
Yeah I find that I write the diary /personal posts as I think of them, you’re right they would be weird to schedule. Buffer is a great tool!
I needed this! I’ve been wondering how to get organised with blogging a lot lately xx #Thelist
Ah fab, I hope it’s given you some ideas then. Good luck with getting organised 🙂
These are some great ideas! I’ve started to schedule some posts in advance, but I’m just not that great at it! I do take lots of photos beforehand though, which is super helpful, but I definitely need to get more organized. Writing things down seems to be the first step, and it’s recommended EVERYWHERE I look haha, so I think I’ll start there (: Thanks for sharing! #StayClassy
Love your tips. You are right that blogging is all-consuming! I have a gorgeous notebook for all my blogging stuff, and find it really helps to have one place to write everything down. I think I would also say it helps to avoid distractions when writing. I quite often turn off my social media if I need to get a post done so I can focus. Otherwise, I find myself getting distracted and it takes three times as long! x
Really great tips. I’m totally obsessed with notebooks and list. Love the idea of recording your notes! Must try that x #thelist
You are right about doing two posts for 1. Mine take 2-4 days. Takes hours to do the drawings but might practise doing shorter posts. Thanks for good tips #TheList
Really good tips here. Before baby number 2 arrived i was super organised but I haven’t blogged properly for a couple of months now and my stats have taken a hit! This has inspired me to try organise myself better and get back into it (with a newborn attached to me!) xx
Hey Sarah, thanks for so many great tips. Right I’ll be coming back to this post again to check I’m trying lots of them out! Thank goodness for the WordPress App. I love making the most of quiet time. the other Friday waiting around for my friend to arrive for dinner was no problem at all as I wrote a post in the meantime! #thelist
Thanks Sunita, really pleased you found it helpful. Writing posts while you’re waiting is great isn’t it, makes you feel so productive! 🙂
Great tips, it is so important to be organised! Blogging is so full on. Thanks for linking up to #TheList x
Great tips I so need to get better at a scheduling and I would love to get enough posts written to be a month in advance – maybe one day! #Thelist
This is very helpful! I love all of the points, but scheduling and brainstorming are two things I really want to work on. Currently my brainstorm session is when I have a random thought and email myself the idea! I have no blogging schedule except that I write two posts a week, but I would really like to change this. It’s very difficult fitting in blogging while working and with a baby boy! Thanks for the advice and sharing with #StayClassyMama!