If you’ve been blogging for a few months or years, then you might hit the wall most of us hit:
What the hell are you going to say and how can you keep this up?
Blogging is a slow burn kind of hobby or business. For those who want to get serious about it and generate income (here’s my post on how to get started with that), the recipe for success is fairly boring:
Have interesting topics, take good pictures, and keep it consistent.
In my opinion, the hardest part is consistency. It’s easier to perfect your photography and Lightroom skills than it is to keep grinding out content on a consistent basis. But a blog rarely succeeds without it. Successful bloggers will tell you that their audience becomes accustomed to a certain schedule (have you ever been addicted to a celebrity gossip blog and they don’t make a post when you expect them to? Chaos.) and disrupting that schedule can send negative waves throughout your entire blog ecosystem (the blog, the social, etc).
But life gets in the way:
People go on vacations, or get sick. Or just aren’t feeling it one day, but the monster must be fed. So how do you create a workflow for blogging that helps you keep a little sanity?
How to Create a Blogging Workflow
Time block
What’s that saying, “nothing scheduled, nothing done?” Or am I just making that up? Either way, it’s true. Setting up a schedule of dedicated time stops you from slacking and makes you focus on what needs to get done. I am especially guilty of this when it comes to editing video for Beige House. So I block out 2 hours each Sunday to make it happen. I groan right before it, but once I get in the groove, it gets done so quickly.
Bulk tasks
There’s so much time lost when you make 1 image, write 1 post, send out 1 Instagram pic. Especially when you can knock out multiple tasks at the same time. I’m not talking about multitasking, but rather grouping the same tasks together in bulk. Make a month’s worth of featured images. Plan out your social media posts for the week, write 3 blog posts. And knock out multiple, repetitive tasks at the same time.
Front-load and Schedule
This goes along with bulk tasking, but rather than feeling like you’re scrambling all the time to create content, try to get as much done as you can in advance and be proactive. Getting more work done at the beginning (front loading) allows you to take time to work on your brand and engage with your readers more, while still having consistent content.
Invest in apps/tools/people
I get sad when I see people afraid to spend money on their businesses. I was like that, too. Which is why I burned out from my first company and walked away (but now I get to talk to all of you, so silver lining!). Now I invest in a staff of 3 people. And at least a dozen apps that help us keep my businesses running smoothly.
I don’t expect you to drop that much money right away. But remember that your time here is finite. And the ability to earn money is more fluid than your time. Remind yourself what’s most important and invest in maximizing your time (I rant about this more here).
If you want help, I’ve re-released What to Write When You Have Nothing to Say. But remember that workflows don’t have to be perfected in a day. Work on getting one task down first (I’d recommend the front-load) and add on as you get more comfortable.
