Blogging is not an easy task (if you’re a blogger, and reading this post, I can see that you DO need productivity tips to get going). It demands a lot of patience and hard work. Writing quality posts, promoting them using various methods - Blog commenting, guest posts, working with advertisers, interacting with your readers, networking and lot of other blogging tasks have made blogging a full time job.
But since the majority of bloggers do blogging as a part time job , we often hear bloggers complaining of less time and large number of tasks in their to do list. Well, that is completely understandable.
And, to help you in this regard I’ve brought a list of 8 productivity tips which will help bloggers to do more in less time.
Allocate time to each task
According to Parkinson’s law, work expands itself to fill the allocated time. So it’s very important that you should allocate specific time to every task. Allocate a fixed set of time will help you to increase your productivity and to keep track of the time you’ve worked for.
Work in Distraction free environment
Blogging is a creative task. So try to work as much as possible in a distraction free environment. Turn off Television and auto-notifier applications like Tweetdeck, Google talk when you are working on your blog.
Find out the best time
The human behavior is not same whole day. It keeps on changing. There will be a time in the day when you’ll be feeling most productive and creative than others.
Some people are more productive in early mornings, whereas few prefer to work in nights. Identify which time works best for you and finish all your blogging tasks during that time.
Write as much as you can
There will be some good days to write a lot and some bad days when you can think of nothing to write.
So use your good days to the maximum extent possible by writing as much as you can. You can use these extra posts when you can’t think of anything new to write or want to take a break from blogging.
Don’t waste your time in non productive tasks
Though, reading other blogs is important as it helps in getting new ideas and keeps you updated with latest happenings in the industry, don’t overdo it. Similarly don’t waste lot of your time by checking your traffic stats, affiliate earnings, adwords revenues every other hour.
Use proper tools
Use proper tools and try to automate as many of your blogging tasks as possible. Some of the tasks like bookmarking new posts, updating your status on social media profiles every time your blogs gets updated, welcoming new commentators and subscribers can easily be automated and can save lot of your time you usually spend in these tasks.
Set Realistic Goals
Keep a daily to-do list with all the blogging related tasks you want to do each day. But don’t set unrealistic goals by filling your lists with hundreds of tasks. Setting realistic goals and finishing your to-do list every day will give you a feeling of achievement and keep you motivated for the next day’s tasks.
Avoid Multitasking
Though multitasking may be a good thing for non-creative tasks but when it comes to creative work like blogging, studies have revealed that the persons who multitask a lot lose their focus easily.
Imaging writing an article one moment, replying to a friend on IM other moment, then checking the email, you will lose your focus when you start writing the article again.
So avoid doing multitasking. If you are writing something then complete it in one sitting without doing any other task, if you are replying to comments then reply to all of them at same time.
So these are the eight most effective productivity tips for bloggers which every blogger must follow to do more in less time. Do you have any more tips which you would like to share with us? Then, Feel free to share with us in the comments below.
David Smith works for Conversion Optimization Company Invesp and enjoys writing on SEO, landing pages , conversion rate optimization and affiliate marketing.
Very useful tips for bloggers to enhance productivity. The most important is that one must blog regularly
Yup, sticking to a schedule helps building self confidence and the consistency is a good sign among your readers. They know when to expect something from you. It also shows your commitment
Hey Jane and David;
Work expands itself to fill the allocated time. So very true and is pretty much common sense but never new it was the Parkinson’s law (O:
These tips are great for bloggers to increase their productivity. I really like the tip on writing - Utilize good days to write as much as you can…awesome!
Later..
LOL, most laws are what we already know, we just don’t know their names. Know how surprised and at the same time bored were I in my Physics class at high school and college?
The multitasking is the thing that catches me, and just how you described it also.
It’s not that I lose my thoughts, but it does add (sometimes several) hours to the time it takes to write the posts.
Yes, when you switch back and forth, you spend a lot of time resetting and starting afresh.
Well, as I said luckily that is not an issue, I always remember where I was and what I was writing…the constant of it though tends to add lots of time.
Just to expand on one the goal setting, actually writing them down on paper rather than keeping mental note of them actually forced me to be more accountable and I got a lot more done that way. Great tips.
Maggie, that’s quite true. A list of goals to accomplish sitting next to my computer monitor makes m more accountable for sure. And I can’t explain the excitement when I strike out a completed goal
Hey Jane!
I’m guessing this is my first comment on your blog (I’m assuming this is your blog of course.. unless you’re doing a guest post right now!) I’m definitely guilty of multi-tasking and wasting my time on non-productive tasks at times. I’ve heard that multi-tasking damages your brain and its effects are worse than marijuana.. interesting fact huh? I bet most of us are just on drugs right now given that we are all multi-tasking quite a fair bit in the world today. It definitely pays to sit down and just focus in onto the task you’ve set for yourself.
I also totally agree with you on the point on allocating time as somehow, I’ve always completed my task whatever time I’ve set for myself to complete it by. There’s the one or two cases where I dont, but those are rare. Amazing what you can do when you’ve set your mind to do it.
Good read. Thanks for the post!
Regards,
Darren Spruyt
Darren, lol yes this is my blog. And, I am not guest posting here :). Thanks for finding me and thanks for the valuable comment.
With multitasking you not only spend time in switching between tasks but your brain gets easily tired because while switching, it has to load all the necessary data to process the new task every time. But sometimes, we can’t help multi-tasking because, certain tasks are too boring when done at one setting with full focus.
Hey Jane,
Great tips here and I also do many of them. I found that night time after the family has gone to bed is the best time for me to write.
The distractions are basically all gone. No phone calls, no one outside, no one knocking on the door and so on.
You are just like me Justin. That is a perfect and a quiet time isn’t. I usually get a top gear on writing at those hours until my eyes go blurred (and that would be past mid night usually).
Thanks Jane for this awesome list. It is super Epic!
thanks for sharing.
dilawer says
great tips Jane, i 100% agree that multitasking can completely ruin your article writing focus
Maria Pavel@Nurse Assistant says
Indeed true! People have heard of blogging as a lucrative part time option, but its really much more time and effort consuming than people have heard of, and hence it really makes things quite like a headache for them. Its really good that you have shared these tips, hope these will really help people in getting the most out of their time!
Yeah! That’s why many of the people get their hands burnt while blogging because they believe it is very easy and when they started facing one or two problems especially when the results is not forthcoming, the next they usually do is Quitting which is not the best solution to the problems.
Thanks a lot for this addition.
Jane,
As you probably have figured out, I am a big fan of productivity. All of your methods really work, because Parkinsons Law really has more of an effect on our productivity than people imagine.
I am very serious about setting time limits on EVERYTHING and I think it really helps me to get a lot done.
One thing I can add (beside wholehearted agreement with everything you said)
*When you are not working online. DO not be online. Simple unplug your your internet. Then the distractions of “quickly” checking your site stats, twitter, facebook and a host of other things goes out the window.
Being social and connected online is powerful. But give it a chance and more than anything else, it can expand to fill all of your time.
Steve,
I know what you mean. I know about you; from how you run your blog and what you preach, I can get it. Your “simple” theory is pretty effective, I can relate to it.
There is no point in dwelling among distractions and them complaining about them
Well said.
Cheers,
Jane.
Well said Jane. Improving productivity is something that we should always be aware of, specially if we are doing some sort of venture online. It is very easy to get distracted because there is just so much to do in such a little time that it takes the focus off the “real important” tasks. In my opinion though, there is not “a single” most important part of these tips you provide, because they all work together as a whole and that is really what we should have in mind. I won’t be able to focus on a tasks that I set up for that day for example if I do not “defend” myself with possible distractions.. You know, automated alerts popping up, TV on, and the whole hulabaloo
thumbs up!
Francisco, we all need to defend ourselves from our own selves. We are the ones who need to be notified instantly, we want to know the number of unread items in the feed reader, we want to know mentioned us on Twitter and yes those are the distractions we set to ourselves. Well said.
These are some really good tips Jane.
No, I mean REALLY.
I actually learnt something here and got some good ideas as to how I can get more done, or at least stop getting distracted.
Have a proposal for you - will send you an email now
OMG! I just got a comment from you. LOL
Im emailing you while you play the Google game.
Respect!
Seriously, what are the odds. (I have not visited a blog for a week and yours is one of the first I went to. Holy crap that’s just weird)
LOL Alex, must say that the Google game was a great entertainer and not just that. I know my status on Google. The results of my Version two were similar to yours
According to my knowledge blogging requires dedication and also work in relax environment by focusing on atomic task.
Atomic task? I don’t really get what you mean!
Atomic task mean one task at a time.
Very useful post Jane. I really need to start organizing my time better and set myself a daily/weekly schedule for my blogging tasks and some targets.
My biggest problem is distraction and of course, laziness :D.
Laziness and distraction are right available everywhere. They attack you from different places and different forms. Being aware of them will help a lot naturally
Hi Jane,
Productivity plays a major role in the life of professional bloggers . More productivity means more cash flow, and more time to enjoy other things that you may be passionate about like spending time with your family, hanging out with your friends, or just enjoying some leisure time. As bloggers we want to get quality work done in the least amount of time. There are times when we fail to achieve this goal, due to whimsical creativity and distracted mind.
Tips like these helps to set mind free and consider about success. Thanks for sharing. Keep up the good work.
Regards.
Glad you liked the tips useful John. “Getting quality work done in least time” is working smarter. Bloggers need to be really smart or get lost.
Thanks for stopping by.
I have been blogging since last year and now it all seems that its all like a game of SEO.
My friends who have got their SEO done from some professionals autmatically rank higher than me with very few copied articles and this actually demotivates me…
Taking out time for blogging from a busy schedule is not a problem (I love doing it) but finding someone not eligible to be high makes me lose my focus.
Ya I can see what you mean. But it is a fact that SEO and quality should go hand in hand. I hope that search engines will identify these leaks and plug them.
Hi, Jane!
Time management is really the problem these days.
In my opinion i think the people are are success full in managing their time they are good in every thing then.
That’s absolutely true Usman. Good organization surely pays off. It makes you accomplish more in less time.
Solid tips as always Jane. The one that keeps me more productive is working on a distraction free environment. When I work in a clutter, I easily get distracted and loose focus. This makes me less comfortable and thus pulls down my productivity and makes me less efficient. So before I work, I always make sure my surroundings is clean and clutter-free plus I also make sure I’m at my most comfortable position.
Thanks for the tips! You obviously know a lot about your topic!
I’m hoping to start up a blog when I leave uni, one year from now, theres no way I’d have the time to start one up when I’m actually at uni, I never have time to do anything but study! So I know I’d give up on a blog if I started it now. So thanks for these tips and I’ll keep them in mind for when I do finally getting round to starting my own blog!
Very nice.
Thanks for sharing this article!
Get motivated and staying motivated is another one. Sometimes it’s easy at first, but people lose interest. Managing and organizing time is something that usually takes a while to get the hang of. Good tips. I think many of us could be more productive if we set our mind to it.
Ray, that is typical with blogging. A surge of initial motivation is normal and then most bloggers don’t manage to “keep it”. Well said.
Listen to music which you love.. Shut up all the doors and windows. Nice post once again
Being isolated is great for productivity. Nice tip Swamy!
Great post and tips. Yes, it is really a struggle to write a single quality post with a lot disturbance around.
That’s quite typical thor. Our challenge lies in overcoming it
Good points that you presented. I have tried to follow most of them and I agree.
You’re welcome Betty!
Hi Jane. Thanks for sharing this tips. Hopefully it will help me to be more productive.
Glad that the tips helped Andrew!
India Data Center says
Many of us know all those points but don’t follow them (lol). If you are a serious blogger and writer, you must pay attention what you are presenting to the webworld.
Very true indeed!
One more: get rid of annoying popups and “splash screens” which tip vsiitors right off you’re going to try to sell them something.
First select on which platform you want to do blogging, get knowledge about that. Muster up your dedication once again. Get a second opinion on writing and improve it each day. Always share your positive blogging experience.
Great tips. I also follow these instructions and just would like to say that they are really effective!
Hi Jane,
thanks for sharing your thoughts on productivity.
I agree that it helps to set a time limit for individual tasks. However, I am not sure about your #3. I understand your intetnion of trying to take advantage of your creative moments but doesn’t that contradict to a certain degree your #1? in most cases I would prefer to stick to my schedule and the time limit I have set for myself.
BTW, is the keywordluv plugin not working properly on your site? It looks like it is not creating an external link.
yes thats right . A list of goals to accomplish sitting next to my computer monitor makes m more accountable for sure. And I can’t explain the excitement when I strike out a completed goal
Great tips. I can’t agree more with you. Productive task always make me full of passion. And do not rely on yourself, useful tools can make things much easier. I will bookmark your site for further penetration. You inspired me a lot.
These are all true and these tips are for the bloggers and not for the blogs. It’s really really great. I can also add one point, it is for all bloggers to read, learn, and appreciate other bloggers’ work. I stated one of these facts on my own blog for profit.
Take advantage of free services that will post links from your blog to Facebook and twitter on autopilot. I like to use networked blogs for posting to Facebook and the tweet old posts wordpress plugin for auto posting to twitter.
Thanks for the addition (your real name please?). I use networked blogs and Twitterfeed
They’re good. dlvr is also another great service!
Paul
Being a home based entrepreneur has its cons and one example is distraction. Working at home has a lot distractions. You can get distracted by watching television, answering phone calls or even reading not work related articles in the computer. What i usually do to avoid this is by setting a day schedule. I always adhere to that schedule which makes me more productive as well. I also have my own office in my house in order for me to focus on my work. It’s true that having an unrealistic goals could be unproductive and what you can do is by breaking that goals into pieces and try to achieve those pieces of goals everyday. That would make it realistic and easy to achieve.