Becoming a productive blogger is easier than ever.
We have access to hundreds of online tools and services to make working online easier and more efficient.
Not only that, saving time on blog tasks can open up room to focus on more difficult tasks that require a lot of time.
I recently wrote a post on the many things I do as a blogger, but I've saved hundreds of hours from using these tools below.
Blogging is such a fun way to make money. I tell myself every day that I'm incredibly grateful for the life I get to live because of blogging. Not only that, I get to inspire and motivate other women to live their best life by improving finances and health.
Below is a list of 10 ways to save time when blogging that will help you save time to work on other important things! 🙂
1. Schedulers
Roughly twice a month I will schedule everything for my blog. I set a goal of getting this completed in under an hour. Some bloggers recommend manually publishing posts, but I have found that scheduling ahead of time is no different.
You can schedule:
- Facebook posts
- Twitter posts
- Pinterest pins + Tailwind Tribe posts
- Instagram photos
- many other platforms as well
For scheduling, I like to use:
- Tailwind (which is an approved Pinterest publisher, VERY important)
- Hootsuite (for Twitter)
- Facebook Scheduler (Facebook's scheduling service)
I have been using Tailwind Smart Loop to schedule my Pinterest pins and I've been an active member of Tailwind Tribes for years. Tailwind Smart Loop had a learning curve (I like to make things difficult to learn) but once I got the hang of things, I fell in love with the process! I save a TON of time with Tailwind.
2. Work when you're most productive
If I told you I get the most work done at night, would you think I'm lying?
I recently read a book called “When” by Daniel Pink and it talked about the different personalities and productivity times of people. I was surprised to read that there were other people like me.
There are studies that recommend working in the morning because your brain is more readily available to tackle on the difficult tasks. This doesn't come as surprise to me, but then it made me realize I'm the exact opposite. I love working at night.
I say work when you are truly the most productive. That may be in the morning, mid-afternoon, or late evening. If you work mid-afternoon or late evening, make sure you're truly staying productive and getting work done just as you would in the morning. Don't tell yourself you enjoy working at night if it's only because you can put off work until the last part of the day.
3. Editing
When editing your blog posts, use Grammarly.
It's not perfect (I use it and I bet there are a few grammar mistakes in this post somewhere), but it's better than nothing.
I personally use the free version of Grammarly, and it's been tremendously helpful and a huge time saver.
I still recommend going through your posts a couple times before scheduling or hitting publish.
For major projects, such as eBooks or courses, I have someone edit all of my work for me, which I highly recommend. You can find editors on Fiver or Upwork.
4. Invest in a blogging course
I often hear people ask why they need to buy a course if they can get the information online for free.
And I always reply with this – You totally can.
You can (usually) find what you get in courses online.
This is similar to going to college, you could find what those people teach you online, but it would take you years and years and you probably wouldn't want to do that.
This is why I recommend 1 course for total newbies who want to create a 1-year plan for their blog. This is also perfect for people who are working full-time, which I assume is most of you.
Blog With A Full-Time Job is the course to take to get you started with a strong 12-month plan to create a profitable blog.
This is my #1 recommendation for new bloggers or bloggers who are not making any income off their website.
You will learn crucial things to know to start a successful blog.
You'll learn the strategies, tips, tools, etc., and it is up to you to implement everything you've learned.
You even get 15% off with my code: ALEXIS15OFF
If you are only creating a blog as a hobby to share with your friends and family, and do not have plans to monetize it, I don't recommend buying any courses. Just have fun with your blog! 🙂
5. Content Calendar
At the beginning of every year, I encourage to create a content calendar that gives you ideas and topics to publish every month.
Doing this ahead of time is crucial because you can make sure you're publishing content before a major holiday hits.
For example, I would publish posts at these times for these specific holidays:
January – Publish content related to taxes, having the best 2019, Valentine's Day, etc.
February – Spring break related content.
March – How to save on summer travel, getting ready for graduation, etc.
April – Publish Mother's Day and Father's day related content.
May – Graduation content, moving to a new state or home, etc.
June – Free summer activities, staycation ideas, etc.
July – Publish back to school content, getting ready for college, etc.
August – Back to school recipes, saving money at school, etc.
September – Publish Halloween-related content.
October – Publish content related to fall, holiday shopping, gift guides, etc.
November – Publishing content around taking control of weight loss, fitness, finances, etc. New Years resolutions are approaching.
December – Similar to November, start pushing out similar content related to New Years.
The above is just to give you a general idea of what kinds of things you should be posting during specific months. I recommend publishing content at least 2 months ahead of time so this can get seen on Pinterest and other platforms.
6. Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a handy free tool that lets you schedule your day, week, month, or year in advance.
If you have a Gmail account, you're golden!
One of the things that have shot up my productivity is setting a dedicated amount of time to a certain task.
I've found if I should just give myself no set allotted time, I'll take much longer to complete a project.
For example, if I want to complete 3 blog posts in 1 day, I will plan to do this in a certain amount of time, such as 2 hours.
If I do not finish it in 2 hours, I move on to my next task. This is called time blocking.
With Google Calendar, I can set up a time block that will give me 2 hours to create 3 blog posts.
Time blocking is incredible because you produce more results this way. At first, you will find it uncomfortable to work this way, but eventually, you will create a habit of time blocking and you'll prefer doing things this way.
7. Creativity moments
Take advantage of the time when you're feeling most creative.
Use this time to come up with new blog post ideas, new email opt-in ideas, or paid project ideas.
When I'm feeling creative, I can create up to 50 blog post topics at once.
Once you're finished, make sure to put the specific blog post topics you want to write in your time blocking sequence on Google Calendar, as we mentioned earlier.
8. Perfect Post Checklist
Before publishing any post, use my free perfect post checklist to make sure you've hit all major points when writing a blog post.
This free download (which you can print out btw!) is a huge time saver as you'll know that you completed all major tasks when it comes to publishing an article.
9. Distractions
I have a short attention span and because of that, I need to get rid of all distractions.
I used to work in my living room with the television on in the background. Now, I work in a dedicated office space in my house that has nothing but my desk in it and WOW I am getting 5x more work done.
There are no electronics besides my laptop and phone, which I use to play jazz on. A television or radio can become quickly distractive because radios usually have commercials, and television in the background is never a good idea when getting work done.
Oftentimes people play music that has lyrics while working. I recommend against this because listening to lyrics can become easily distractive, but music such as jazz, classical, and even opera is known to be relaxing, inspiring, and motivating. I highly recommend Odesza which is “chillwave”, they usually have no lyrics and it's pretty upbeat.
10. Hire a virtual assistant
If you find that you are spending too much time on tasks that are minor, and rather spend your time doing things that are producing incredible results for your blog, a virtual assistant is a fantastic idea.
Virtual assistants can save you hundreds of hours. They can be in charge of the tasks that someone else can easily do, such as scheduling blog posts, creating social media images, and so on.
You can find a virtual assistant on Fiver, Upwork, and blogging groups.
If you're interested in becoming a virtual assistant, my friend Kayla teaches people how to do exactly what she does, which is a virtual assistant full-time from home with $10K VA.
I had so much fun writing this post and sharing my top strategies for saving time as a blogger!
In a nutshell:
1. Save time blogging with schedulers, like Tailwind, Facebook Scheduler, and Hootsuite.
2. Work when you're the most productive. This may be the morning for most people, even before a full-time job.
3. Edit with Grammarly, a free editing tool.
4. Invest in a blogging course, like my audience's favorite, Blog With A Full-Time Job.
5. Create a content calendar and get content out during certain seasons.
6. Create a Google Calendar and time block to become more efficient with your time.
7. When you're feeling the most creative, get a lot of work done.
8. Create the perfect post with my checklist.
9. Minimize or get rid of distractions altogether.
10. Hire a virtual assistant to help you complete small or tedious tasks.
What do you do to save time when blogging? Let's share in the comments.
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