A few months ago I asked this question on Twitter, “What is the hardest thing about blogging?” The answer was almost unanimous. TIME. Blogging takes a lot of time. Understandably so, there is a lot to do: write posts, create a pin-able image for that post, take and edit pictures for the post, promote, socialize, answer emails and comments… etc.
They say that the best learner is the teacher, and I am hoping that is true with this post, because even I struggle with managing my blog time.
Hopefully this post will help all of us manage our blogging time.
Use a blog calendar
Using a calendar is a great way to help keep your days, weeks, and months organized. There are a lot of great blogging calendars out there (I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to them) or you can use any planner/calendar you like. I am currently using one I picked up at Target. It is a monthly and daily calendar. On the month calendar, I write my plan for that months posts. On the daily calendars I write my to-do lists for the day. I rarely stick to my blog post calendar, but having a plan helps me stay on track. The daily calendar helps me prioritize my list, and feel accomplished when I get to cross something off the list.
Calendaring is different for everyone, so find a method that works for you and stick with it!
Set a timer
Using a time can help you moderate your activities. There are so many different tasks bloggers need to complete in a day, it can be helpful to hold yourself accountable for your time by setting an alarm. Choose an amount of time you will dedicate to each activity and try to follow that set schedule. Remember to leave yourself adequate time to write quality content.
The #1 activity I use a timer for is social media.
Limit social media
Don’t let social media suck the life out of you.
Promoting your blog and networking through social media is important. But, it can quickly waste all of your time.
Here comes the Harry Potter nerdy side of me.
A dementor is a creature that has the power to “kiss” a person and take their soul. The person will be alive,
“But you’ll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no . . . anything. There’s no chance at all of recovery. You’ll just — exist. As an empty shell.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Spending too much time on social media can leave you an empty shell with hardly any work done. Don’t let social medai suck the life out of you! I can crank out more and better content when I limit my social time. It’s hard, but I think we can do it.
In order to manage your social media time, I recommend scheduling your social posts and setting a time limit.
How to schedule your social updates:
Twitter: I use Hootsuite to schedule my twitter status updates. It lets me write the post and then select a time I would like the status to go live.
Facebook: I am using Facebook to schedule my facebook posts. Here’s how:
Write your post and then click the arrow next to post, select schedule post.
A box will pop up for you to select a date and time for when you want your post to go live. You will see the post on your timeline, but your fans will not see it until it is published.
There is some debate online about whether or not using a 3rd party service to schedule posts hurts your visibility in fans’ news feeds. Earlier this year, Facebook announced:
people will see fewer implicit stories from third-party apps in the future. However, people will continue to see interesting and relevant content from third-party apps that their friends have explicitly chosen to share”
To me, that sounds like you will be fine if you choose to use Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule your Facebook posts.
Pinterest: Here are my 2 favorite options for scheduling: Viralwoot or Tailwind. (This is an affiliate link. If you purchase a plan through Tailwind, I’ll receive a small commission. No extra cost to you and it helps me fund this blog!)
Viralwoot allows 100 free scheduled pins a month or you can purchase a plan for more pins.
I’ve used the free version of Tailwind for a while to track my Pinterest analytics, but just started my trial for scheduling pins. I really like their pinning calendar. The trial includes $100 free pins. After that you’ll have to upgrade to $9.99/month to continue scheduling pins.
Your turn, how do you manage your blog time?
Oh, I need this. We sound a lot a like. Off to finish the article now!
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Haha, I love the Harry Potter reference. 🙂 I use Tweetdeck for scheduling my tweets and it saves me tons of time. Different time management apps can help a lot as well (Toggl is my personal favourite so far) – we’ve blogged about some of these a couple of weeks ago.
Great post, Kirstie!
Oh, and thanks for the link to your Pinterest board – so many great tips! (I’ve just followed you) 🙂
Thanks for following on Pinterest!
I have heard a lot of good things about Tweetdeck, but haven’t used it myself.
Wow! Some great ideas Kristie! I use a calendar but really need to start scheduling my facebook and twitter. I am addicted to Pinterest so I do enough on my own 🙂
I used to have that Pinterest addiction too. 🙂
These are really great ideas! I need to try using a timer, I think that would be very beneficial and using a calendar is a must for me!
I’ve found a great calendaring system! It’s actually a plugin called edit flow. It not only has a calendar so you can input tenative post ideas, but also allows you to write editorial comments on posts to others. One of my favorite features is the editorial metadata section that works as a checklist. You can have a list with check boxes, form fields or date– I use it to make a checklist so all my posts are ready for publishing. Absolutely love it!
Sounds cool, I’ll have to check it out!
The timer is a good idea. I tend to stay online for more time than I had originally planned and then realize I didn’t even get done what I was supposed to get done. I do agree social media can suck the life out of you. Then after all your efforts the outcome can be really disappointing. Thank you for including how to schedule Pinterest! I was looking for more options. Visiting from #SITS Sharefest
Thanks for stopping by! It’s crazy how fast time goes when we’re on social media! It kills my time! Let me know how scheduling pins goes!
Ive never thought about setting the timer for the time I’m actually on social media. great idea! Thanks.
If you try it out, let me know how it goes. It takes a lot of self discipline for me!
I have to set times for Twitter and Facebook, they are THE BLACK HOLE!!!! They can suck a day away just like that…. I am going to try a written blog plan next year, wish me luck!!!!
For the whole year? Or just a month at a time? I can’t WAIT to hear how it goes for you.
I am LOVING Tailwind. They had a special over Cyber Monday, so I purchased it to save me some cash while I anxiously wait for access to Ahalogy (and it’s free!!). I also really wish there was a decent scheduling tool for Instagram, too.
I have a feeling that Ahalogy isn’t going to be free once they open it back up… but maybe!
Hi Kristie,
First I have to say that I spent a long hour yesterday going through your How to Start a Blog series. I am absolutely hooked with your blog. It’s very straightforward and your voice are exactly what I was looking for. I came back this morning and found this post. Amazing! It is indeed all about TIME… Thanks for the tips! You and your blog are being great help!
WOW! Thank you Flavia! Your blog is coming together, most new blogs don’t have as much set up as you do! Good job. I can’t wait to see where it takes you. Do you have any questions for me?
Hi Kristie!
I do have a question now! 🙂 – If I want to schedule on Tailwind, old pins from one of my boards, just to refresh them, do I schedule the pin on the same board? I am guessing they will be duplicated though, how can I refresh my old pins without cluttering a board. Is that even possible? Thanks!
Sorry Flavia, this got lost in the sea of comments. I love tailwind. It is okay to have pins on the same board. Duiplicates are okay as long as they are spaced out time wise!