Blogging well will take more time than you expect!

It’s important to understand there is much more to blogging than typing in a few words and hitting publish. As I shared in my post on leveraging your existing content, I have determined I spend at least four hours on every post I write.  This includes research, writing, editing, formatting, image development, promotion, and community building. Of course, not all of this time is in one day but it is still important to understand blogging well is a serious time investment. I have several tools I use to help manage the process. But the most important aspect of my blogging strategy is time management.

We often underestimate the time it takes to manage a great blog and the investment we will need to make to see our blogs and platform grow. That is why using our time in the most effective way possible is vital to achieving the goals we set for ourselves while we prioritize the other significant relationships and commitments in our lives.

Here are seven time management tips for bloggers. These are the main suggestions I offer to all of my coaching clients as they learn to navigate the blogging world.

1. Group like tasks. This is one of those basic time management and organizational tips. But here’s the thing, it works! Here are a few of the like tasks I group as I work on my blog — brainstorming post ideas, finding images and formatting them, SEO research and updating, post promotion, and draft writing.
2. Establish your own work hours. When you establish your primary working hours, you give yourself permission to focus on the tasks at hand without feeling guilty or torn about the other things you could be doing. Whether your work hours are 5 to 7 in the morning or 9 to 11 at night or anything in between, setting specific times to work is an effective way to increase your productivity.
3. Use a timer. I love my timer! I use it to keep myself on track when I need to get specific things done. For example, I set a timer every morning to check email. My goal is to have a zero inbox and the timer helps me with that desire. I give myself 30 minutes to deal with email and then I don’t look at it again until later in the afternoon when I set my timer for 15 minutes. Many of my blogging friends use timers when they are on social media to keep from getting sucked in and losing an hour needed for more important tasks.
4. Start small. No matter if you’ve been blogging since 2004 or just started in 2014, you need to understand this: You can’t do it all! It’s better to start small and do a few things with excellence than to try to do everything and end up accomplishing nothing. It’s okay to write fewer {better} posts and not to utilize every form of social media available.
5. Choose to focus your energy where you have the most results. We all have limited time! Use yours where you will get the best results. And don’t believe the lie you have to do what everyone else is doing. If you have a great community on Facebook or Google+ but your tweets get lost in the shuffle, it’s okay!
6. Schedule social media. Please, please, please, if you only do one thing I’ve recommended, make it this one. Schedule your social media! Set up your posts to automatically post to Twitter, Facebook, and wherever else you can. Then use a tool like Hootsuite or Gremln to craft specific updates and schedule them. Also, remember you can schedule beyond today and tomorrow.  Go ahead and schedule a few posts over the next several months for those evergreen posts you write.
7. Find the rhythm that works for you. We all work differently. Try different schedules and routines to figure out what works best for you. Develop a work flow that blends with the rest of your life.

Blogging takes time. A lot of time. We need to use the time we have available the very best way possible.

What are some ways you manage your blogging time?