When starting a blog, one of the big problems that bloggers face is a lack of time. Many people want to start a blog as a side business, so time is always important. In fact, blogging time is the number one frustration that new bloggers experience, so we’ll give you great tips to maximize your time and make the most out of your blogging experience.
What a lack of time really means
For most bloggers, a lack of time usually translates into something else; it might be a lack of interest or simply uncertainty on how to go forward. If you are passionate about something, you will find the time to do it. Let’s take an example. If you want to start doing Yoga you will find time a few times per week to fit in a session. The same goes for blogging.
If you are passionate about starting a blog and being successful, you can spare a few hours per week to get things going. You don’t have to do it every single day but spend enough time on it – at least in the beginning – to get it off the ground and publish great content.
Don’t let uncertainty stop you.
You might wonder, do I have the right strategy? Will blogging work? Where will I find the right topics? These are all valid questions, but you have to get past the uncertainty.
When it comes to the blogging time you will be spending, you should be focusing on ‘why’ you started a blog and what the great outcome could be. Whether it is to establish yourself as a leader in a field, to motivate people, or to make money from your blog, knowing what your goal is will help get you there.
Tips for busy bloggers to find time
This is a challenge for most new bloggers, as blogging time is hard to find when you still have a full-time job to do. Here are a few great tips for bloggers to keep in mind.
Start by prioritizing
Time management has a lot to do with successful blogging, as you have to prioritize and decide what is important to you every day. If you have a full-time job and a family, time may feel limited, but this is why effective time management is so important.
If you are starting out with blogging, make it a priority. See how you spend your time and make time for blogging at least a few times a week.
Start by making a list of everything you do in your spare time and see what you can reduce to make time for blogging. Everyone has a few hours spare a week, if you really want to make it work, so this is where you can fit your blogging time into your schedule.
Determine your blogging priorities
Now you want to focus specifically on your blogging priorities. You have to write the posts, handle comments, perhaps do guest blogging, spend time on social media, finding advertisers, create a media kit, and the list goes on.
When you just start out, focus on these areas:
- Writing great content
- Finding readers
- Building your community
- Monetizing your blog
Simply by naming your priorities they will become important and you’ll have a goal to focus on. You can now spend your time starting at the top of the list, until you’ve reached each goal.
Use batch processing for your important tasks
You can significantly boost your productivity levels by batching tasks together. If you do more important things together in batches, you’ll get more done as you’ll maximize your blogging time. Try to find specific times where you can do tasks on a daily or weekly basis, and it will soon become a habit.
For example, sit and take time to do your social media once a day, as opposed to logging in multiple times a day to check for replies and comments. Do all your emails in one batch, so that you don’t have to answer every email separately as it comes through during the day.
You can also sit and research a topic, write it and publish it. Depending on the frequency you want to publish, this can be once or twice per week to start.
Editorial calendars and idea generation
This is probably one of the most important things to do when starting a blog. You need to use productivity tools to help you come up with ideas and follow trending topics so that you don’t spend too much time finding and researching ideas.
Create an editorial calendar in advance, so that you can follow a specific plan when creating and publishing content. It might take a few hours at the beginning, but you’ll map your blogging time and scheduling for the rest of the month.
Break down bigger tasks into smaller pieces
If time is really an issue, take big tasks and break them up into smaller pieces. For e.g. if you have a long blog post or product guide to write, break it down into research first, then creating a draft, and then add the final content to complete the post.
By breaking down larger tasks, you’ll have more time to do it, as opposed to waiting for enough time to start and finish all in one go. Most bloggers will tell you that time management is an essential part of blogging success, so work smarter, not harder.
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