Welcome to day three of the What to Expect in Blogging: The Early Years series! If you haven’t read the first two posts on why we blog and creating a vision for your blog, take a few moments and check them out!
Today we’re going to talk about how to set a blogging schedule! When you have a lot of ideas and aspirations for your blog, there are countless ways you can begin to build your blog and bring your vision to life! Along with learning about SEO, how to get other people to read your posts, how to write effective post titles, how to make money blogging and how to use social media to reach the right people {and so much more!}**, there are endless articles, books, videos and tutorials you can spend time reading and looking at to improve your blogging skills.
The big disadvantage to all this available information is that it is very easy to become obsessed with being a better blogger. You don’t expect it to happen, but it does, and suddenly you feel a bit out of control. You find yourself thinking about blogging the first thing in the morning, your family is suffering and your children’s behavior is being ignored because you are busy on the internet learning “important” skills.
While building your blog is certainly a wonderful pursuit, if it happens at the expense of your family’s well-being and your relationship with the Lord, then it needs to be brought under control–and quick! Nothing is more important that the sweet family God has entrusted to your care!
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Our family, Christmas 2012 |
If you have become overly distracted by blogging, as I have more than once, it is more than possible to take back control so you can find the balance you need to continue to strengthen your faith, nurture your family and work on your blog.
Everyone is in a unique place in life and has different needs. Therefore there is no one perfect schedule for you as a blogger. You have to find something that works for you!
Pray over your goals and the vision for your blog, asking God to help you line things up with His plan for you. Ask for the discernment to see when you are getting overly ambitious and focusing on things that are not so important.
Here are six steps to creating a blogging schedule that is accurately based on your needs and desires:
- Write down all your commitments on a piece of paper, including those that involve your husband and children, because those take up your time as well. Then write down your “extra-curricular activities”, such as TV watching, internet surfing, time spent texting and talking on the phone, reading, etc.
- Estimate how much time out of your day these commitments and activities use up, then decide how much time you’d like to spend blogging. Figure out what activities or commitments can be negotiated or cut down on so you can research, write for and build your blog. There are obviously things that are non-negotiable and you may want to talk to your spouse about what those things are in your family.
- Once you’ve established a reasonable amount of time you’d like to spend blogging, you’ll need to find time to fit that in to your day. Break down the amount of time you will use to:
- Write your blog posts {including adding images and scheduling your post}
- Read and research for your posts, when needed
- Link up your post to blog hops around the web and share on social media
- Network with other bloggers, including commenting on their posts
- Promoting other bloggers
- Learning about blogging – there’s always new information!
- Find a time of day that you can fit in these tasks. For some moms, early morning is your most productive time. For others, it may be that working at night after the kids go to bed gives you the motivation to write and learn. You probably won’t be able to fit all of these things in every single day or at the same time each day. But go ahead and pick something that you believe will work!
- Write and record your blogging schedule and keep it in a convenient place so you can remind yourself what you are doing and when. It will take a little while to get used to your new routine. The best way to do this is to use a blog planner. In the next post {tomorrow} I’ll show you some good blogging planners that I’ve found, both for purchase and for free!
- Be flexible! Recognize that even after you create a schedule for yourself, you may find that you need to adjust the time that you spend in certain areas. Or you may notice that you don’t really have enough time to do all the things I listed and need to just focus on the most important things {writing your posts being one of them!}
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Ambro/freedigitalphotos.net |
Are you wondering what my blogging schedule is like? Honestly, it’s a bit all over the place right now, because I am trying to fit a lot in before the baby comes. But on average, I spend about 2 hours per weekday on serious blog-related internet use.
Sadly, I probably waste about an hour a day on the web that isn’t as focused as it should be. I try not to spend too much time on the web on the weekends until Sunday night when I’m working on my posts for the next week.
I want to make sure that when I work on blogging I am actually working on blogging but I find myself getting frustrated quite often because I get distracted very easily by Facebook, checking email or looking at Pinterest among other things. One of the things I am trying to do is to is close out of these windows while I am typing. I’m a work in progress, but it’s getting a little better!
Along the way, you’ll figure out what your distractions and downfalls are and will have to adjust your schedule and your way of working on your blog as you go. But we can work toward this, together!
Have any “blogging schedule” related questions that I can answer? I can address them in Friday’s post when I share the blog planners I love!
**We’ll talk more about all these areas of blogging later in the series!
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24 Comments on How to Create a Blogging Schedule that Works for You, Part 1
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This was so helpful! Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks so much, Jessica!
Just wanted to say that this post, and your blog in general, have been very helpful! I really appreciated this series – I just started blogging a couple months ago, and thought I was managing the time well, but this week started to get overwhelmed by feeling like there is a never-ending amount of stuff to do and I am starting to not keep it contained to a neat and tidy “blog time” each morning. So, you have some good inspiration here! The best thing was you listing the ongoing tasks of a blogger – writing posts & inserting images, reading & researching for posts, etc. – because it made it straightforward, but isn’t too overwhelming. Like you, I can commit about 1-3 hours a day on this…. not a full-time job like many “pro” bloggers, so your info was helpful. Now I want to read your posts about teaching Scripture to kids… but I’ll have to find another time for that, not during my “blogging” time. ;)
Thanks so much, Kelly! I agree, there’s ALWAYS something more to do with a blog. It’s a never ending challenge to balance blogging and life for sure! I hope you continue to find my posts helpful. Blessings on your blogging journey!
I LOVE researching the how-to of blogging. So much so that I need to remind myself to stop and just write instead. :)
I am very new to blogging and am struggling with a few things regarding schedules & priority. I found so much encouragement here!! Because many articles are similar but you mentioned this: “If you have become overly distracted by blogging, as I have more than once, it is more than possible to take back control so you can find the balance you need to continue to strengthen your faith, nurture your family and work on your blog.”
I will be remembering that. Thanks. :)
Thank you Emily! I really appreciate you taking time to comment. I totally do the same thing–too much piddling around and not enough writing, lol! But it’s great to learn new things too and then slowly implement them :)
This is good. I see far too many women getting addicted to blogging and ignoring their family’s needs. There needs to be a great balance.
Thank you for the encouragement and tips. Especially since I just entered the blogging world about a month ago. It takes a lot of time to get it going no matter what your goals are. I definitely will take the time to follow some advice.
http://www.thehealthyandfithomeschoolmom.com
You’re welcome!
This is something that I have been struggling with since the beginning of summer. I have small children also, but lately at naptime I’m exhausted and at night my husband wants to spend time with me. Right now I am working on increments instead of blocks!
Thanks for your helpful tips!
Increments is perfect. Whatever works best!
Pinning this and coming back to read and re-read. Thanks you for all of these great advice and a way to ORGANIZE my blogging. You must have snuck over to my home and seen the need.
I would be delighted to have you share this with our group of moms. Stop by to be encouraged as we have a guest post splashing us all in God’s goodness. And as always, I would be crazy honored to have you link up.
Just moms. Sharing our notes. Creating a melody.
https://justsarahdawn.blogspot.com/2013/09/thank-goodness.html
Thanks, Sarah! I will link up tonight.
Thank you for such a great post. I sort of have a schedule but want to work out something more structured. I don’t have to worry so much since my kids are almost 18 and older with only 2 at home now. When they were little I stopped moderating on a board for a curriculum company before it overtook our lives. I was only doing it for 2 hours a day weekdays. I don’t know how girls blog with little children and keep up with the amount of time it takes plus social networking that goes with it. I can forget what I intended on doing and get that distracted or I can be totally focused and ignore Facebook and Pinterest and email.
Honestly, I do most of my blogging during naptime and at night! My husband often has meetings later into the evening or things going on at church (he is a pastor) that he needs to be at, so when he’s gone and the kids are in bed, I try to do as much as possible.
But now I do need to get more organized and intentional about my time, since I have a new baby coming soon! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, with the wisdom that I need to be on guard so my blog doesn’t take over my life.
This is so helpful. Thank you!
Awesome! You’re welcome!
Thanks, Jenn! This is a great series! I have really enjoyed each post so far and I’m looking forward to reading the rest. You are such an encouragement! I really backed off my blogging when I was expecting our 4th – just too tired to think! Now that she is a year, I’m getting back into it. So this series is coming at a perfect time for me. Thanks!
So glad to see you back!
Great series! Wish I had some of these tips before I started. I’ll be pinning it to!
Thanks, Jennifer!