We’ve been doing our ‘Bloggers We Love‘ series here on the Outside.in blog for a few months now, and one theme that keeps coming up amongst bloggers is that there simply isn’t enough TIME to get everything done. Blogging takes a lot of time, and it can be challenging (though not impossible!) to do it regularly and effectively while simultaneously balancing a personal life, and likely another full-time job as well.
I myself have been meaning to write this blog post for about a month now, but things keep getting in the way – oh, the irony of lacking the time to write a post about time management! Clearly, I need to be employing some of these strategies myself.
So, without further ado, here are some top tips from top bloggers on how to carve out ample time for blogging! If you have more tips, please leave them in the comments or feel free to email them to me any time: esther@outside.in.
THE TOP 10 TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS
(For awesome bloggers, from Bloggers We Love)
10. PLAN AHEAD
“Pre-post your articles and preset the time and date it goes live. WordPress makes this easy. Work several hours and then take the rest of the week off.”
- Video blogging/SEO evangelist Steve Sherron of the Monroe Scoop
9. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
“I start with a tweet, the ‘Must See, Must Do,’ blurb from my homepage, a review/collection of reviews I have written, and turn it into a longer blog post. I try to get as much mileage and value as I can from the things I have already written about. Why ‘reinvent the wheel,’ so to speak?”
- the go-to gal for family-friendly fun in Vermont, Dana Freeman of Find and Go Seek (the blog and the website!)
8. GUEST BLOGGERS!
“Get others to write content. I have a series called ‘They’re Talking About Lynn,’ where I get memories from other people and then I just put a thin wrapper around it and hit ‘post.”
- The inspiring Corey Jackson of Downtown Lynn
7. GO ORGANIC
“Employ some simple SEO on your site to attract organic search traffic. This brings you a stream of constant traffic, whether you publish or not.”
- Steve Sherron of the Monroe Scoop
6. DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
“Don’t edit yourself too much. I try to check for spelling and obvious idiot mistakes, but other than that, I write and hit ‘publish’!”
5. UNPLUG & RECHARGE
“Allow yourself to shut down your laptop at a certain time every night. FULL shut down – so you don’t get into some ‘quick,’ thing.”
- The blogosphere‘s expert on ballpark cuisine and the 30-something bar scene in NYC, Sara Pepitone of Scoreboard Gourmet and 30 to Midnight
4. TAKE THE SHOW ON THE ROAD
“Get and iPad/iPhone and blog during commutes.”
- Corey Jackson of Downtown Lynn (NOTE: we do not endorse blogging while driving!)
3. BLOGGER, PING THYSELF
“Schedule time to write. Set yourself reminders to blog, follow-up on emails, gather multimedia and contact sources. I have Remember The Milk send me text message reminders!”
- The über-experienced blogger Tessa Horehled of Drive a Faster Car
2. LIVE, LOVE, BLOG
“What you write about should be something you’re living out. That way the research just sort of happens, rather than it being a chore.”
1. NO EXCUSES
“There’s never time and always something else going on. You have to make it!”
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