Well, I’ve officially completed my first year of college and with no classes for the summer, it’s time to get a grip on my blog content again. There’s no doubt my blogging schedule slows down during the semester, but there’s still a lot going on in the background. Trust me, there isn’t a day that goes by without me doing something for my blog.
I figured since I would be turning my focus to planning blog content, I should share some insight into what it takes to stay organized as a full-time blogger! I’ll also be reviewing how I plan content in bulk. It’s not as detailed as some of the plans I’ve heard of people making, but it works for me and will give you good grounds to start on!
A big part of staying organized is keeping a planner and to-do lists. They keep me on track by creating a physical timeline for projects and it shows today’s tasks vs. yesterday’s. I usually update my planner in the morning and afternoon and save to-do lists for at night when I am thinking about what to do tomorrow.
Check your email daily!
I also keep my inbox as clean as I can or I might lose track of important emails that need responses. I try to check my email at least 2-3 times a day and when school is in session I can check it 4-5 times a day! It sounds like a lot but it creates a good reputation when you respond quickly and it’s good to stay up to date.
Your drafts folder is your friend! I
keep all my unfinished blog ideas in my drafts folder for many reasons. First of all, you can come back to them at any time and never feel like you are throwing away your work. It’s also a great tool because it can help you plan content for months to come! Even if you don’t like to write entire posts and keep them saved, you can keep rough plans/bulleted ideas and titles saved. This is how I utilize my drafts folder as it really speeds up the process of writing a post.
I usually write the title first, but it sometimes changes by the end of the post, so this isn’t totally necessary. I also like to write the intro or outro to my post, which again, may be revised by the end of the writing process. This gives future-me a good idea of what past-me wanted in this post, even if it means revisiting it a few weeks later. I like to get all my ideas out in the beginning and then I have no fear of coming back to the post later because I won’t forget any important points.
Keep those random photos, they’ll be unexpectedly helpful!
This is probably my best tip so far. I love taking photos throughout my day/week to share on social media, but not all of them make it to the big screen. I will often have a whole photo album of Pinterest-worthy pics that just never got uploaded.
Rather than deleting the file to save space, I’ll move the photos to my desktop or laptop to keep space on my phone, but I still have the photo at my fingertips if I need them!
I enjoy reusing images in my posts, emails, and Pinterest pins to help my posts gain traffic and to get my work out there. Even if the photo doesn’t have a use today, it might make a good stock photo for a Pinterest pin or even be a repost later.
Bulk planning isn’t always easy, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be difficult either.
Set aside plenty of time for planning!
I enjoy bulk planning during winter or summer break when I don’t have a million academic responsibilities to focus on. I aim to plan 3-6 weeks of content at once and avoid planning longer than that, as I stick to planning for the current season or upcoming season. It makes topic generation easier when I can focus on specific themes for the seasons. For example, it’s not helpful to talk about seed-sowing in the middle of winter because no one in your zone can utilize your tips until next season.
Braindump before writing!
Creating a brain dump list is a great way to let your ideas flow freely without interruption. I enjoy using the brain dump technique to get a lot of content ideas down on the page in a short amount of time. Granted, not all of these ideas will make it to the blog, or even to the writing process, but saving the lists means an endless number of blog prompts!
To have an effective brain dump, you only need two things. pencil and paper! It’s seriously that simple. I make these lists at night when I have too many thoughts that need to be acknowledged before bed. It’s helpful to get everything off your mind while giving yourself a visual cue for remembering it later. Write down anything that comes to mind and expand on your thoughts while doing it.
Stay consistent!
Planning to post on specific days of the week or month can help to meet your deadlines on time. Setting a date and sharing it with your audience makes it feel official even if in the beginning stages of writing. I am planning to schedule posts on Wednesdays and Sundays starting in June. I hope to get enough planned posts before school starts again to keep that schedule through the next semester. Help me stay consistent and check back on 06/02 and 06/06 when I’ll be uploading the first blog posts of the new era!
I find it easy to fill a page or two, but there’s no right or wrong length to a brain dump list.
Don’t create an opportunity for burnout!
It’s also important that you don’t over-plan your schedule. I did this a lot more in the early years of my blog when I thought it was so important to post weekly, or else. Then I realized what was better for me and my blog: posting less often to post better content.
What you should remember above all is that your content is yours. No one else’s. Even though we’re all writing for our audiences, we’re still writing for ourselves. If you are not wholeheartedly invested in writing about a certain topic or you don’t think you’ll have enough to say about the topic, save it for later. You’re saving yourself time and preventing a subpar post from getting sent out to your viewers.
I teamed up with a bunch of my fellow blogging friends to bring you tips on staying organized as a full-time blogger. This is a big collaboration that is focused on Surviving and Balancing life as a teen girl! Each of us is posting topics that are related to being a teen girl and balancing life. Click the links below to see what they have shared!
- Grace from Prime Eleven will be posting about finding your style
- Abigail from Teenlogs will be talking about periods
- Patrycja from Pati-Cool will be sharing how to balance life and school as a teen
- Brianna from Brianna’s Bandwagon will be sharing insight on body image and some tips to help you love yourself
- Lauren from Laurellandco will be telling us all about being confident
It’s an appropriate time to make some plans for the longer term and it is time to
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