Blogging is very time-consuming, as any blogger will tell you. Way beyond actually writing a post, there is time for any research required, proofreading, editing, and creating graphics and photos. Once published, your post must be publicized, which can take hours of time in sharing to various social media outlets, exchanging shares with other bloggers, and using other methods to publicize your post.
Bloggers are busy people. Between jobs, children, spouses, and, well, having a life beyond the computer, we are all blogging on a time budget and looking for ways to make the most of our precious time.
As a personal trainer (and fascial stretch therapist!) in the California desert near Palm Springs, my job is extremely seasonal, made even more so by the fact that I work at a country club, where most of the residents have the financial means to “get out of Dodge” when the hot weather arrives. Most won’t return until November, and I’ve been laid off since June.
I’ve been using this time to invest a lot of time in various projects, the principal one being this blog. I have been able to work on not only improving my content but also my social media plan, which has enabled me to double my pageviews over the last five months.
My fear is that once I go back to work in November, I will lose a lot of the gains that I’ve made. During the summer I found I could spend four or more hours a day on social media and reading and sharing other blogs. I simply will not have the time to do everything. Not and have a life too.
I’ve compiled this list of time-saving tips for blogging on a time budget that will help me get more done in less time. I think they will help you too.
Blogging on a Time Budget: 5 Tips to Help You Succeed
1. Get Organized
If you don’t already do so, now is the time to start using an editorial calendar. It doesn’t matter whether it is a paper and ink version, the free WordPress Editorial Calendar, or a full-featured calendar like Co-Schedule. Whatever works for you is best. Fill in your post ideas, your deadlines, notes, and other details. You will be planning in advance what you will be blogging. No questions, worries, or flying by the seat of your pants.
2. Schedule Your Time
If you have ever tried to finish up a blog post while the children are crying, the phone is ringing, and you’re trying to prepare dinner, you know that not only does the post frequently sound somewhat disjointed because of the multiple interruptions, it can also take you twice as long to complete because you will continually lose your train of thought.
If you can possibly schedule blocks of time through the week, where you can work without interruptions, you will find that you will actually save yourself time (and a bit of stress, too). Use this time not only to write your posts, but to do the work involved in maintaining your blog: brainstorming ideas, returning emails, blogkeeping tasks, etc.
3. Social Media Strategy
Have you ever been sucked up by social media? You head over to Twitter to post a couple things, then, an hour later you’ve had some nice conversations, but you’ve lost an important chunk of your time. Yes, being social is what social media is all about, but when you need to make the most of your time, you must have a social media strategy.
Set aside some time during the week to schedule most of your social media posts. There are many tools out there to help, including Hootsuite and Buffer to schedule tweets or Facebook posts, Tailwind, Boardbooster, and Ahology for scheduling to Pinterest. Most have free or trial versions, so try a few out to see what works for you.
You can’t totally ignore social media after that. After all, it’s not all about selling your goods. Be sure to check in when you can, spend a few minutes engaging with your followers or share information with them. Just don’t let it suck you in.
4. Repurpose Content
If you’ve been blogging for a while, chances are you have some older posts that provide great information that would be worthwhile repurposing. Certain posts provide evergreen information that needs to be shared again. Others can be updated because certain information has changed and your readers should be informed.
There are a lot of ways to repurpose older content. You can simply refresh and republish, making sure that the information and links are up to date. You can take an old list post and break out the items, crafting a new post around one or two of the items. For example, with this list post, I might later create an entire post about getting organized with editorial calendars (or one about repurposing content).
5. Rethink Your Expectations
Finally, if you’ve tried some of the above suggestions and still find yourself struggling to keep up and stressed out by the whole thing, it may be time to rethink your expectations. Your readers deserve quality content, and if you can only achieve that once or twice a week, instead of four or five times, that’s what you should do.
Take a moment to think about your priorities. Make a list of what is important in your life, your children, job, spouse, friends, blogging, fitness, and other interests, and take a hard look at it. Yes, you want to make time for all of it, but, can you do that and still excel at everything. And not live in a state of stress 24/7?
Putting some or all of these tips into use can really help you save time, reduce your stress, and get the most out of blogging.
How do you make the most of your blogging time? What tools or strategies help you?
My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!
Sunday Blog Hop with Jenn
Meatless Monday with Tina and Deborah
Meatless Monday with Annmarie
Inspire Me Monday with Janice
Anything Goes with Marilyn
Bonnie, the Pin Junkie
Tip Tuesday with Debbie in Shape
Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie, Michelle, Sarah, and Angelena Marie
Wednesday Wisdom with Nanna’s Wisdom
The Blog Booster Party with Kathleen
Friday Fitness with Jill
Blogging definitely is very time-consuming (but also very rewarding!) These are some great time management tips. I always make sure to make an editorial calendar at the beginning of every month so I can know what posts I want to write and them set time aside (usually Sunday’s) to write <3
You are quite organized. I usually write on Sunday’s too, but sometimes things (like husbands 🙂 ) interfere.
All awesome tips! Repurposing content is one of my favourite ways to blog more efficiently. There are so many posts in my archives (like today’s!) that could do with some updates and more love and it’s a lot easier/faster to work with existing content and ideas 😀
It was funny when I was reading your post. I thought, she’s taking my advice! Lol
Great tips! Blogging is time consuming thing and often it feels like a full time job 😀 I just wish I could earn enough money with it so I wouldn’t have to go to work 😛
I feel that way sometimes too, then I remember how much I love my job. I wish I could do it about half-time though.
Scheduling Scheduling Scheduling is what I am trying to get better at!Great list and I definitely need to organize better too!
Thank you. I actually could use some improvement on it too.
That’s the first thing I always tell people about blogging – it takes way more time than you’d expect! Some weeks I’m ahead of the game and have things scheduled . Others, I’m feverishly typing the night before the post goes live. Not ideal at all!
I am usually the latter, though I’m really going to try to get better at planning. I don’t want to lose what I gained this summer and I know it will take work.
Great tips! Blogging is like a second job…I don’t think that people who don’t Blog realize that! Thank goodness my husband understands 😉
You’re lucky. My husband usually understands. That’s partly my fault for not standing firm about my work time.
Yes, most people don’t realize how time-consuming blogging really is. It’s definitely not all that glamorous! 🙂
Thanks for sharing some great tips to blog on a time budget!
Thank you. There certainly isn’t anything glamorous about my blogging life 🙂
Blogging is pretty much a full time job for me. Between sponsored posts, photography sessions, cooking, writing, and promoting, I have to be careful not to let it completely take over my life. I try my best to be done by 6 PM. each night. These are all great tips!
I can see that it could be difficult to define your blogging vs. real life. When it’s a “hobby” you tend to do it when you have the time, but as a career, if you don’t set yourself some limits it could easily take over your life.
Great tips. I’m trying more and more to get organized and schedule. I’ve neglected a lot if things (emails, page, older posts, social media) and trying to clean those up prior to jumping in head first.
It’s really hard to do everything! I try to set priorities, but I can get caught up in things too. And I admit I’m a bit of a procrastinator.
Great tips! Bloggers definitely need a schedule. 3 out of 5 days a week I m working on my blog during my lunch hour. Then I come home and work on it some more. Very time consuming, but worth it!
That’s one of the things I’ll do when I go back to work. I do have some down time, lunch and between clients, so I plan to make good use of that time.
Yes, many people think blogging is a walk in the park… in fact, unless your a blogger it has been my experience that people think it’s nothing. The key is to prioritize and sometimes that means nothing gets done on your blog ( in my case, my family always comes first) You make a good point to put up only quality content, because on those weeks or even months when you are unable to blog, your good content will keep your blog going! As always, geat list Debbie!
First of all, how did I not see this vegan caramel sauce??? Heading there next :-).
Yes, blogging is so time consuming. Even without kids, and laid off work I always felt like I was running behind. I Definitely need to follow some of my own tips!
Good tips! I did not expect to spend so much time blogging. It’s fun and rewarding but yes time consuming. I like the idea of re publishing some older posts. I need to start doing that. Thanks!
I love repurposing older posts. I’ve written some things that I’m really proud of, so bringing them back makes me feel good. Not to mention, new readers haven’t seen them (plus that whole time saving aspect 🙂 ).
I don’t mind the blogging part… it is the social media that gets me. I end up spending most of my time promoting my blog posts. It just makes me crazy!!!
I agree. I have found it very helpful to use Hootsuite and Ahology. They will both pick the best times to post for you, all you have to do is load it up. Board Booster (for Pinterest) will also do the same thing. Yes, you still have to spend some time on social media, but it really helps to sit down and plan things out for the week.
Wait – HootSuite picks the best time to post?? How am I missing that?! Gotta get over there and check the back end…
Great post…I so love blogging (probably way more than I should!). It’s the writing part…the research…the contact with other bloggers…the putting it all together!
Maybe someday it’ll even be a source of income 😉 LOL
Great tips Debbie!!! I have cut way back & some weeks only my Gratitude Monday post. It is what it is especially since I make no money at this. YES to if it is getting too stressful, rethink it! 🙂
Blogging is supposed to be enjoyable right? When it becomes so stressful it’s time to rethink.
These are great. I always mean to get a scheduling tool, like Buffer. I know it would be helpful.
There are free versions of Buffer and Hootsuite, so you can try them out to see what you prefer.
This is a great post. I have not used any of these Pinterest tools because I already so many things to pay for. At one point CoSchedule was working with Pinterest but they have stopped, which is a huge bummer.
Your point about expectations is such an important one. We have to pace ourselves in all aspects of life and blogging is no exception. Good luck this winter.
I pay $5 a month for Board Booster (they give you the first 100 pins, which somehow ended up being around 300, for free). That’s for 500 pins a month. They have an affiliate program of sorts. Every time someone signs up using your link you earn $5 (I can’t remember if it is just credit or if they pay out though). I had one person sign up this month so October is FREE! 🙂
I also just started using Ahalogy. You have to request to join, but they accepted me and it is free. I don’t think I’m using it to it’s full extent yet, but they have tutorials I just have to take the time to watch.
I struggle with time! I want to have a certain time on the computer and a certain time to be with my family. I feel like though I am always ditching my family to finish stuff up on my blog 🙁
That’s why planning saves you time in the long run. If you’re always being interrupted, it is so much more difficult to concentrate on what you’re doing, so it takes much more time.
Bookmarking this post. I can really use some tips on balancing my time between family, work, and blogging.
Thanks Jenn, I’m glad you find it helpful!
I love your #4 best! Most of us need to be presented with material many, many times before it sinks it and starts to affect our day to day lives. I don’t think readers remember what you wrote about last week, let alone last year! And there are always new readers and newsletter subscribers signing up who aren’t familiar with your old posts.
I’ve been re-purposing some of mine on Periscope. Different medium, different audience, same message!
I was thinking of you when I was writing about repurposing. I think your idea of a spreadsheet is fabulous!
I haven’t been brave enough to do periscope yet. I’m sure I will at some point 🙂
This makes a lot of sense to me. It’s crazy how much time I spend doing things for my blog. I need to try some of these strategies.
They will help, I’m sure. It always help to get organized and plan, instead of (like I tend to do) work randomly and by the seat of your pants. 🙂
I had no idea how time consuming blogging was until I started blogging myself. Its so easy for it to become a time suck. Btw, thanks for the reminder about going back and revisiting older posts. I definitely need to take time to do that, especially as I get closer to my due date, since a lot of my blogging time will have to be shifted to other priorities once my son is here.
You’ll find that you have a lot of things you can re-use. I’ve been blogging a long time, and I have written some things that I’m pretty proud of, so I love bringing them back.
I find if I don’t work out a schedule I would be SO far behind. I am so not organized if I don’t follow one, so it’s an absolute must for me! These are some great tips!
Good for you for making a schedule. It really help, doesn’t it?
This post is so great! I have such a hard time with managing my time and my time seems to be all over the place as my daughter has been home sick a lot. I love the idea of scheduling blocks of time throughout the week. I am trying to get better at using an editorial calendar. Thanks again for all of the tips!
I feel encouraged whenever I stumble upon blogging tips and ideas. I love to blog but there are times when I just don’t know what to write about or just can’t express myself.
Great ideas! I need to repurpose a few of my older posts now that I’m much, much better at taking photos, LOL!
LOVE THESE AS WELL.
I tend to write write and WRITE and then only after that do I go back and add images.
Great tips on managing time! I can definitely put some of those to use! Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome. I’m glad you find them useful.
Oh boy, so I ever need this. I’m embarrassingly disorganized… because I think it takes too much time. In reality, it takes more. I know, I know.
I understand. In spite of my words, I’m not the most organized person I know 🙂
As usual Debbie, you have amazing tips! I know I am going to need to cut back on the number of days I blog soon, but I love blogging so much. Unfortunately other things will have to take priority.
I used to blog five or six days a week, but it was burning me out. Now I blog three days a week, get better pageviews, and I’m a much happier person 🙂
Wow! Have you written about that? I would love to hear more about why you think less was more.
I haven’t written a post entirely about that (ooh, post idea!), but I’ve referred to it a few time. I have found that when I write three times a week I not only produce better work, I can use more time to market my work. When I was trying to keep up with all that writing, that’s really all that I had time for. Now, I have (started to) pull my social media together, I have time to read and comment on a lot of other blogs, I belong to other facebook groups where we share each other’s work. Plus I have more time to actually live an interesting life worth writing about 🙂
All great tips, it makes such a difference when you have a game plan in place! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! A game plan is a great way of putting it!
Yes, Blogging takes up a lot of time. Another option is to hire a virtual assistant to help you out with all of those things, including writing! It’s a small investment that will give you more time to grow and develop your blog. (I’m a VA – can you tell?)
Thanks Stephanie for giving me an idea for a new blog post! I’d love to talk to you more about virtual assistants. I’ll send you an email.
Hi,
Your graphics are amazing. How do you know what font combinations go together?
Janice
Thank you. I read long ago that you should never use more than two fonts on a graphic or flyer, so I usually just pick on “fancy” font and one plain, like Arial or Tahoma. The other one is a Picmonkey font, Playball. I just like it so I use it a lot. 🙂
I like Playball, too! Thought I recognized it 😉
I love your list, Debbie.
I’m home now, but I’m in no way 100% on blogging. In fact, I realized Debbie in Shape needed much more from me than I was giving it in the past months.
Life happens and we need to adapt. It’s adapting our planning with the tools you shared and also our expectations.
I’m sure your efforts won’t be wasted because you built a strong base here.
Thanks for joining #tiptuesday!
Social media is the biggest time sucker for me- it is so easy to do a link up respond to blog posts and then look up and see two hours have gone by and I haven’t done any writing yet. I am trying to schedule my time better.
I have only been blogging for a few months, but I find it difficult to have time to promote my content. Between working full time, being a mother, and attempting to blog, sometimes it all seems very overwhelming. Scheduling my blogging time would be very beneficial in helping alleviate some of the stress. It helps keep things in perspective. I enjoy blogging, but it does not need to consume my life because then it would become a chore. Thank you for these tips. ~Jennifer
These are great tips. I’m about two weeks away from my due date with baby #3, and things are about to get hectic in my household. I’m definitely worried about juggling it all, and not losing everything that I have built so far with my blog.
These are wonderful tips. I feel like more and more of my days are being taken up with my blog, in one way or another, and it’s been hard to accomplish other tasks that need to be done. I came over from TheSitsGirls and I’m so glad I did.
I always seem to get sucked in by social media. It’s like Alice inWonderlands giant rabbit burrow for me!
Excellent tips Debbie! You always have wonderful tips and advice! I host a link up called The Leisure Link (that many of your fitness posts would be welcomed). Here is the link if you are interested…I think you have linked here before! It re-opens Thursday. http://terriwebsterschrandt.com/the-leisure-link-link-up/
Love this! Coming back to it later, too!
I need to remember that my real job (as a lawyer) pays better. I’d rather blog most days.
Some great tips here Debbie especially the Social Media Management, revamping old posts and also thinking about out priorities in life. These three I definitely need to adhere to. Thanks always for providing such great advice to bloggers and sharing at #AnythingGoes.
I swear that my friends think I blog in about five minutes a day! My husband, on the other hand, thinks I blog all the time.
The reality is it is limited, but well planned out.
Wonderful list. I think I’d add “Stay in good shape so you have the energy to keep up with all that you want to keep up with!” I’m an old (54) runner sidelined by joint problems. Any advice to me for how to rejuvenate my ankles and knees? I miss the running, being in shape, fitting nicely into my jeans, the energy boost, and the endorphins, baby! Any advice or links that you could share, I would appreciate!
Scheduling large blocks of time definitely helps me. I can focus on a task so much better if I know I don’t have to work on other priorities during that work time. I really, really need to start using Buffer and CoSchedule. I know they will save me time, I just haven’t taken the time to figure them out.
Thanks for entering this helpful pin in #ThePinterestGame. Good luck and we hope to see you again next week!
~~Wendy, co-host
Congratulations. This post was in the TOP TWO most clicked on Fridays Blog Booster Party #28 It will be featured on Friday
Kathleen
Liked on SU. Twitter tweet
Guess what? You won the Inspire Me Monday linky party with this post. Congratulations!
Janice
PS I think your graphic is amazing.
It’s really hard to budget and allot time for blogging when you have such a busy life but we do have to make time and your tips here will surely help a lot.