How to Create a Blogging Schedule: 11 Free Blog Planners {plus the Best Time of Day to Blog}

This is part 2 of How to Create a Blogging Schedule that Works for You! Previously I gave you six steps to finding a blogging routine that fits the needs of your family. If you still need to read those, feel free and then pop back here so we can take the next step!

Before we get to blog planners, I want to answer a question. Reader Sarah emailed and asked for some specific suggestions for hours and times that are best to blog. Obviously, everyone’s schedule is different, but there is one guideline we all can follow:

The best time of day to blog is when it doesn’t interfere with your family time.

With that in mind, here is my personal plan for blogging once baby comes in October. I will only be posting 2-3 times a week for awhile, including a post each week from one of my contributors!

• Weekdays during the early morning {15-20 minutes} – check email, link up posts to daily blog link-ups/hops
• Weekdays during nap/quiet time {1:30-2:30 pm} -work on writing my posts
• 3 weekdays at night {M, Tu, Th, from 9 pm to 10:30 pm} – schedule FB posts, look at posts one more time and schedule them for publishing, check email, various tasks such as researching, updating my blog, linking to link-ups that are already live
• Saturdays {during naptime or in the evening} – pin to Pinterest {Saturday night is supposed to be a good time for this}, read other blogs and network
• Sundays – NO blogging! Sunday night I may check email and Facebook but not for blogging related things except to maybe chat with my awesome blogging group! :)

cooldesign/freedigitalphotos.net

Online Stopwatch can help you keep track of your time spent on the internet in various areas of blogging. I haven’t used this for awhile but you can set it in several ways so you’re notified when it’s time to stop what you’re doing and get on with the rest of life.

On that same topic, the most helpful item you can have when you make your blogging schedule is a blog planner! 

When you begin blogging, things are fairly simple and straightforward. Write a post, push publish, link up to a few blogs and you’re done! But when you start getting more serious, you create a Facebook page, a Twitter account, do some reviews and write guest posts for other bloggers. Suddenly you can’t keep track of everything just in your mind–you need to write it down!

At the beginning of this year, I hunted all over the internet for FREE blog planners. Because who doesn’t like something for free? ;) There are many, many options, but I wanted to share with you my 11 favorites (10 are no cost, 1 you pay for). Check them out below!

• Free Printable Blog Planner from Confessions of a Homeschooler (This is the blog planner I currently use! It is the 2013 version, hopefully she’ll come out with one in 2014! There are two formats you can choose from.)
• Yearly Blog Plan from Homeschool Creations (Free and 60 pages with quite a few categories!)
• 2014 Planner from Sarah at My Joy Filled Life (Colorful and comprehensive!)
• Domestic8d (Simple monthly, weekly and post planners, great for the more casual blogger.)

• Three Little Monkeys (Free weekly blog planner.)
• Imperfect Homemaking (Downloadable weekly blog post planner)
• Infarrantly Creative (Free planner with video on how to use it–I love that she has a spot in her planner to write down bloggers she wants to encourage and connect with each week!)

• The Blogging Bug from Measuring Flower (Free printable blogging binder pages. These cover some areas of blogging I haven’t seen in other printables.)
• Ultimate Blogging Planner from Say Not Sweet Anne (For 2013, but you can print out the last 4 months anyway! Must have a Facebook account to access this planner.)
• Living and Learning at Home (Free home and blog planner in one!)

• Product Review Worksheet from Playdate Crashers (Would be great if you do a lot of reviews and need to keep track of the details!)
• The Complete Blog Planner from Multi Taskin’ Mom (This is a planner you need to pay for, but it is very comprehensive and covers every area of blogging! You’ll find forms for basic post planning as well as social media planning, monetizing forms, guest post/contributor forms and more! It has some color, but not a lot, so it won’t use up all your printer ink either! You can purchase it for $12.95.

I’m so excited to hear from those of you who have left comments so far that you’ve been enjoying this series! Next week we’ll move into some more detailed areas of blogging: Basic SEO, how to build traffic, how to build community, how to write well and effective ways you can make money blogging!

Have any questions? Comments? Feel free to ask them below!

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