Productivity tips for bloggers who just need some clarity
Do you wonder how to become a more productive blogger?
You need some first-hand productivity tips for bloggers if you’ve just realized:
- Blogging isn’t easy, no matter what everyone else says.
- There are tons of things that need to be done. All. The. Time.
- The to-do lists have the ability only to grow even if you try to “keep it simple”.
- Once you sit behind the computer, time flies and you feel like you’ve accomplished one big “nothing”.
- You get frustrated by the minute and don’t know what’s the best way to stay organized and just get things done.
You see, I know what you mean!
No matter if you blog for a week or over three years (like me), blogging will always feel like racing.
And that’s good.
Why?
Because you need the challenge that blogging is. It helps you grow and improve yourself. It keeps you alert and focused on getting better, on being better.
But how do you stay on top of all things you do when blogging?
I mean, here’s just a tiny list of things you should be doing regularly if you want to have a successful blog:
- writing blog posts
- editing them
- updating them every few months
- creating new pins
- scheduling or manually pinning those pins
- social media promotion
- self-education, taking courses
- creating products
- researching for affiliate products
- guest blogging
- staying alert for the latest updates from Google, Pinterest, The Universe…
- planning all that
- sticking to the plans you’ve made
And all that is just a brief overview of what you might be doing every single week.
So, how do you blog effectively? How do you stay productive while blogging?
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Productivity tips for bloggers that actually work – all tested!
I’ve been doing the blogging dance for over three years, managing two blogs, and I’m in no way as organized as I wish I’d be.
There are so many things I include in my daily schedule, and I struggle to accomplish.
But my secret is that I don’t allow myself to complain about how unproductive I am (that’s pure self-love here) and I know that if I didn’t do something yesterday, it doesn’t mean I can’t do it today.
But also, I’ve come up with ten productivity tips to follow that have helped me be more organised and focused while blogging.
Today, I’m sharing them all with you.
1. Ignore the fluff, focus on what’s working
Yes, there are so many things that need to be done, the ideas above just touch the surface of the perfect blogging to-do list.
But you know what?
Not all of them will work for you.
And that’s okay.
Probably guest blogging isn’t your best option if you’ve just started your blog and still need to pile up content.
Maybe Pinterest, no matter how awesome it works for some bloggers, isn’t your perfect place to attract traffic.
It’s possible not to be able to come up with a product to sell immediately and all that is okay.
Don’t split your focus everywhere as you will end up focused on nothing.
Learn what works for you and do more of that.
For example, my main focus for my first blog is to drive more and more traffic as I earn mainly from ads. With over 250 000 page views per month, I believe I’m doing just fine (here’s how I drive so much traffic to my blog).
My second blog (the one you’re on right now) earns well through ads and also affiliate sales, so this is what I focus the most on.
Find out what works best for you, and do more of it, ignore the other fluff.
No, you don’t have to start by having ten different income streams. It would be amazing if you do, but that comes with time and experience. The keyword here is “give it time and gain experience”.
2. Batch working
This is something new I’ve just started, and it works wonders for my productivity.
It’s batch working on the blog.
Batch working is when you dedicate big chunks of time on doing only one thing. This drastically improves productivity and makes things easy for the future.
For example, today is my batch working day for writing posts. Once I finish writing this post, I will jump straight into writing one more. It may fry my brain by noontime, but it will give me two pieces of content that I will publish two months from now.
Yes, batch working helps me pile up content for months ahead, and that means less pressure on my shoulders in the future.
Here are a few things I do as batch working:
- Writing my FB posts – I’ve got a Facebook group that requires me to post 3-4 pieces of content daily, batch working saves me tons of time every day.
- Creating pins ahead – I usually create 20 pins per post and keep them in a folder with the post name. Once I’ve pinned half of them I go on and create 20 more. It takes me a little bit more than 20 minutes to do that, but I’ve got posts that have over 50-60 ready-to-go pins. No, that’s not a joke, I’m that fast at creating pins.
- Researching blog post ideas – I usually do that while I’m writing blog posts. During my research I see at least 5-10 new blog post ideas, I write them down as “possible ideas” and eventually write posts for them (or merge them into one big post).
3. Block the same time
Block the same time every day for the same task.
If you usually do the same things every day, block the same time for the same task.
With the time you will teach your brain to focus on that thing at that hour. Yes, your mind can do that.
For example, most bloggers write their blog posts mainly in the morning. Choose one or two hours in the morning and block them for writing every single morning.
Last year, while I was growing my first blog, I was waking up at 2:30 a.m. (no, not a mistake, that was my morning routine) I was spending the early three hours of the day writing blog posts. Just after two weeks of sticking to the schedule, I was able to sit at 3 a.m. and start writing without even questioning myself if I should do it.
4. Hit the publish button once a day
Publishing something every single day will drastically improve your productivity level.
How?
You see, we’re used to measuring productivity in time. If you didn’t work for 5 hours straight, you might be feeling like you’ve done nothing.
It’s time to change that mindset.
It’s not about how long you’ve been working on your blog, but what you’ve put out there into the big wild blogging world that matters.
Hitting the Publish button once a day is something I’ve learned from Income School Youtube channel (strongly recommend you look at their videos).
Publishing something new every day is what makes you consistent in blogging. It could be a new blog post, or a Facebook post, or a new pin, Instagram story, Youtube video… it’s your choice. Just publish something new somewhere every single day.
Measure your productivity with the amount of new content you put out there and not with the number of hours you hustle.
5. Create your own system
One of the most important productivity tips for bloggers isn’t so much about blogging.
Instead, I’d like you to focus on finding out what works for you and create your own system.
Spending endless hours planning your day in a way other bloggers do isn’t going to work for long. Things that work for them might be very inefficient for you and vice versa.
I keep searching for information on how others are doing it, but so that I could get ideas that I can tweak into my own system and not copy them.
6. Use tools to keep track of your progress
Some bloggers like to use one tool that fits everything together.
Others prefer to have everything written down on paper.
Use whatever works for you, but find a way to track your progress, set up goals, and schedule tasks.
Here’s how I keep track of my work:
- Trello to track my pins from my Pinterest marketing strategy
- ClickUp for content planning
- Numbers (for iMac) for my content calendar
- Bullet journal for daily scheduling, goal setting, monthly achievements
- a simple notebook for any types of ideas and brain dump
7. Step back and reflect weekly
Here’s one productivity tip you must adopt before it’s too late.
Reflect.
Reflect on your blogging journey, on your goals, on your systems. Do it weekly. Spend an hour every Sunday and got through the things you did throughout the week. What worked? Does something need tweaking? Is it bringing you results? Why? Why not?
Reflecting is the single productivity tip in blogging that could save you time, money, effort, sweat, and much more.
Only by stepping back and looking at what you’ve achieved (or not), you can find out what your next step should be.
So many times I’ve started some projects I believed are the-best-ideas-ever, and I’ve ended up cancelling them in a week time because they just aren’t as good as I thought.
Reflect.
8. Dedicate time for learning
Productivity isn’t only about doing something.
Knowledge is a powerful productivity tool.
You can have awesome ideas while taking a blogging course, reading the comments in a Facebook group for bloggers, or scanning another blogger’s latest blog post.
Dedicate time to simply educating yourself on how to make your blog more and more successful. It’s part of being a productive blogger.
9. Schedule, delegate, delete
I bet you’ve heard of this one.
If something needs to be done by you – schedule it.
If it’s something you can delegate – do it. Delegating doesn’t always mean giving it to someone else, but also finding the right scheduling tool (like scheduling Facebook posts, or pins).
If something isn’t important, won’t bring you money and it’s irrelevant to your goals – delete it from your to-do list.
But what if you’ve got a task that goes in none of these categories?
If it’s an idea you need to work on, something that needs to be done, but isn’t a necessity, create a list you will review every week. Put that list aside and don’t look at it more than once a week.
If you usually plan your week on Sunday afternoon, take that list and see if any of the tasks are due for the week. If it isn’t, just ignore it until next Sunday. In this way, you will not delete it, but it also won’t clutter your mind and regular to-do list.
10. Rest, recharge, tweak, experiment
The last one of my productivity tips for bloggers is to find time to rest and recharge.
A tired mind won’t serve you as well as recharged one.
Find time for self-care, even if you have three kids and really want to make that blogging thing work. Get a subscription box sent to you every month to remind you that relaxation is just as important as working hard.
Go for a walk in nature every weekend.
Play with your kids mindfully.
Take a long bath.
Read a book that doesn’t have the word “blog” or “make money” in the title.
Laugh with friends.
Rest.
Tweak the things until they work for you. Have diversity in your daily routines until you find the one that actually works for you.
Experiment. With everything. Experiment with your self-care routines, with your planning systems, with your blogging schedule, with your ideas. Experiment with your abilities to be productive.
If you liked my productivity tips for bloggers, I would love to know about it. Leave a comment and hey, please, ⇓share⇓
Productivity Tips For Bloggers Who Want To Get Things Done
Blogger, dreamer, procrastinator, and lover of everything soul-touching. My mission is to make you laugh, provoke your thoughts, light up your day and inspire you to fall in love with life and yourself.
