Top 7 Most Valuable Time-Management Tips for Bloggers

By: | October 18, 2016 | Tags: , , |

Time-Management Tips for Bloggers

Top 7 Time-Management Tips for Bloggers

by Luisa Brenton

We’ve all heard the saying, time is money.

When you’re trying to not only create high-quality content for your blog but also build a large, loyal audience, time can burn away so fast you’ll have no idea where the last six months went.

Of course, putting together a successful blog isn’t just a matter of taking a lot of time to work on it, it’s knowing how to work effectively and efficiently so that all those hours and hours you’ve put into it can lead to a payoff that makes it all worthwhile.

So how do you accomplish all this?

Good question – here’s 7 time-management tips for bloggers to help you on your way.

1)  Have Clear Goals

Knowing specifically what you’re trying to achieve with your daily or weekly blog will allow you to focus on what’s crucial while not getting bogged down with distractions and non-essentials.  For example, if going into a particular day you have a set goal of expanding your audience through LinkedIn, then you don’t want to get bogged down playing around with Facebook. 

And if all the ideas swirling through your head makes it a little tough to settle on where exactly you want to go with your blog, simply ask yourself what you really want from it. Then write out a list of four or five goals for the year, and use it as an anchor when it comes to making your daily and weekly decisions. 

2)  Always Have A Way To Capture Your Ideas

Thoughts will go in and out of your head throughout the day, and for most people, their great ideas hit them when they’re doing something totally unrelated to blogging.  So when those moments of brilliance hit, you want to be able to get them down before they slip away from you.  Keeping a notepad with you at all times, or even just using a note-taking app on your smartphone,  will allow you to have your ideas ready to go when you sit down to write and let you use your writing time for actual writing, not trying to figure out what you’re going to write about.

3)  It’s Just You and Your Blog

Thanks to the ceaseless wonders of the internet, there’s an infinite amount of entertaining distractions that can waste time whenever you sit down to write.  So tunnel-vision is critical if you want to make the most out of your writing sessions.  Don’t check your email, treat YouTube like the plague, and put yourself in the single purpose warrior mindset that you’re just going to write. 

In addition, always keep in mind who you’re writing for.  The last thing you want is for your writing to slide into different voices, and by keeping a laser-locked focus on your audience and the purpose of the blog, you’ll stay mentally sharp and not waste minutes or hours having to revise what you’ve done. 

4)  Full Steam Ahead

When you start writing a post, keep going.  Don’t revise, don’t worry about sentence structure or word repetition, and don’t bother with being super clever.  Every time you stop to fix something or pause to come up with something witty, you’re breaking your momentum and burning time.  Of course this can be tough to do because as human beings we’re hardwired to correct mistakes while trying to do the best we can do, but if you can ignore the temptation to create perfection as you write, you’ll be far more efficient with your time and will get those posts completed without burning yourself out. 

And remember, you can always go back and revise afterward. 

5) Speed Up Your Proofreading

So you’ve hit the revisions stage which means it’s time to switch gears from free-flowing writing machine to careful, meticulous proofreader.  However, while you might be a passionate, entertaining blogger, it’s very possible you’re not so crazy about the grammatical side of things.  Luckily, we live in the modern age and there are apps that can save your proofreading time, not only identifying mistakes but also actually making the corrections for you. 

6)  Don’t Force It

While you’ve got to churn out posts to build an audience, if you’re one of the independent bloggers who’s new to the game, you’re most likely not under the thumb of advertisers or demanding readers to put out a set amount of articles per week. 

What this means is that if you’re not feeling that writing spark when it comes time to start typing, don’t bang your head against the wall.  It’s perfectly okay to put the blog on hold for a while until you get more in the writing groove.  Forcing yourself to bang out posts when you’re not into it will only cause uninspired writing which will lead to uninspired readers.

And that will most likely bring a fast end to your blog.

7)  The Power Of “No”

There’s a certain thrill a blogger feels when they’re approached for the first time to guest post on another blog, but the thrill can turn to irritation real fast when you start giving up your time for other people’s websites without any real tangible reward.   However, this goes for anyone else who is caving – although probably not realizing it – in on your blogging time. 

By figuratively – or literally – closing the door to others when it’s time to write, you’ll keep your eyes on the prize and not risk wasting the precious time you have to build your blog. 

7 Time-Saving Tips for Bloggers

 Host blogger’s commentary:

Readers, please share, so other bloggers become aware of these time-saving tips.

What time-saving tips do you follow that you recommend for others? I look forward to your views in the comments section.

To save even more time on your blogging tasks, click here to get your own downloadable PDF of a free blogging tools list.

Related Posts:

How to Blog Productively: 16 Experts Reveal Their Secrets

Warning: Your 24 Hour Day is Shrinking

How to Easily Find Time for Stress-Free Blogging

19 Strange Ideas That Will Amplify Your Productivity

How Six Bloggers Went From Zero to One Million Unique Visitors Per Month

  1. Lisa Sicard

    Hi Janice and Luisa, wow, this is the first time I’ve read not to guest post. But I do get it – I only did a couple this year because of the time factor. I have to focus more to produce more on my blog. I need to “feel” it too – something valuable to share before I can begin the process. It’s hard to just write for the sake of creating a new post. I find if I go for a walk I can come up with many ideas. Love your idea on that too how to keep those ideas from falling from the wayside.
    It surely is not easy to continue to blog year after year without getting creative and changing things up a bit. Thanks for sharing these great tips Luisa!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Lisa,
      I just came from your site, your Twitter account, and your List.ly article. I am SO impressed! I am hoping my Twitter followers will expand once my ebook is published any day now.
      I am trying to teach myself List.ly so I can increase traffic and blog about it. Your article inspired me. Fingers crossed I get traffic.
      As far as your comments, the article has an Interesting twist on guest posting. I’ve stopped since I need the time to work on my ebook.
      Thanks for finding the time to come by. You must be so busy with such an engaged community.
      Janice

  2. Bill Kasman

    Excellent reminder and a timely one for me. I really must get my head around my time management. At the moment it’s more like time wasting! I particularly need to pay attention to your numbers 2, 3 and 4. Maybe I’ll also delete my YouTube channel – it simply leads me astray!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Bill,
      Regarding #2, I am constantly taking notes in my phone. Evernote has reduced the number of devices to 2, so I usually take notes in PAGES, part of my Iphone. The notes are on the cloud for easy access.
      Thanks so much for all your support on social media. The last time you stumbled my post, I had almost 100 hits from StumbleUpon that day. Honestly, I can’t thank you enough.
      Janice

  3. Howard Bray

    Hi Janice,

    I came here from your post on Kingged.com and am loving the many quality posts on your blog.

    For this post, the best for me will be having a clear goal. With clear goals it’s easier to manage your time, whether you are a blogger or not.

    Thanks for sharing great posts on your blog. I think this will be one of the blogs for me to visit daily now!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Howard,
      I read your kind comments yesterday when they came in, and I was very touched. Thank you for the compliments on my articles and suggesting you may be a daily reader! I would love to have your readership.
      Janice

  4. Julie Syl Kalungi

    I literally said No to guest blogging until I have the right balance between ranking posts and endless leads. then I have the luxury to guest post. Although others believe its the other way round…no one really wants a rookie writing for their website!

    I laser focus, no audio, video or mail gets my attention when I am writing 🙂 Awesome post Janice

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Julie,
      Thanks for commenting on my post. I, too, have stopped guest blogging indefinitely. As you know, I need the time to try to get my book off the ground.
      I wrote about tech-free times. It sounds like that’s when you write most productively.
      Janice

  5. Olivia Morris

    I love your tips too. I am seriously going to disable Grammarly on my site until I am ready for that proofreading time. Then I will enable it again. I find it distracts me from the writing, while I try to figure out why it’s underlining in red! Then I go and correct it and forget what I was going to write next. I think losing the flow of words makes me less effective. Thanks for posting this one the Blogger’s Pit stop…

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Olivia,
      Thanks for clicking my link over at Blogger’s Pit Stop. I don’t know why the squiggly red lines don’t distract me. It’s hard to know how focus I’d be without them. Thanks for writing and letting me know your action plan.
      Janice

  6. Robin Khokhar

    Hi Janice,
    As always amazing tips, I was a great enjoy to read this post.
    Thanks for sharing.
    have a great day.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Robin,
      Thanks for commenting. I just came from your site. I commenting on your backlinking article, but I only see syntax errors, so I don’t think it posted. I Emailed you my questions about the backlinking post on your site. Thanks for the kind words about my article!
      Janice

  7. Sumit

    I am with you on every point here.
    Especially #4. A lot of people (including myself) get distracted in structure, formatting, grammar, flow, etc. The first draft should be a crude output of what you want to write. Subsequent drafts can then be about everything else. I read it somewhere (don’t remember where) – “Write as if you’re drunk, edit as if you’re sober”

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Sumit,
      I love the quote. Others here agree with you. However, I need to fix the red squiggly line now! I can’t be focused if it is there distracting me. Thanks for writing.
      Janice

  8. Jigar Patel

    Interesting article and I’m glad I found something on the topic.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi,
      You’ve been a huge support to me on Twitter, if I am correct. Thanks for coming over and commenting on my post. I’m glad you found it valuable. Thanks as well for all the help on Twitter.
      Janice

  9. Tanya

    These are great tips, I tend to get my best ideas while cleaning, often writing entire posts perfectly in my head and then go blank once I open my computer. Keeping my blog & business bullet journal nearby is imperative. Stopping by from SITS Sharefest and Hope you Linkup with us at Pretty Pintastic and Small Victories Sunday linkup both going on now on my blog.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Tanya,
      I’m on my way to link up. I don’t know how you and your co-hostesses have time to pin all our pins, but I appreciate it.
      Janice

  10. Cathy Lawdanski

    Great tips, Janice. I got sucked into the “guest blogging” vortex for a while. Parts of it were good. I was flattered to be asked. I got in front of new people. But after I while I had to be more discerning on whether or not to accept all these generous invitations. Keeping your why in mind and your goals is essential to good time management.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Cathy,
      Thanks for writing me. Great to hear from you. I am trying to stop guest blogging– way too busy. However, I am tempted! Thanks for reminding me to keep my goals in mind.
      Janice

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